Ryokan

[tanyayuan]

The last couple times I visit Japan I went to onsen and stayed at onsen hotels. So they're not the western style hotels where dealing with hotel is limited to getting the keys from the front desk and go to the room... Instead some hotel hostess always follow us to our room, made us tea and some snacks and tried to strike up some coversations with us. From my limited ability, and by asking them to repeat over and over again, I gathered that they mostly want to make us feel welcome, and explain the rules for using the onsen to us. But I could never fully understand everything. The last time I pre-ordered dinner in the room ahead of time, and it was quite challenging trying to communicate to the hostess as when the dinner should be sent, because it seems like the hotel have certains rules about when dinner can be served.

So can we have lessons on dealing with this type of hotel situations? also what are the custom with onsen hotels? I know many onsen hotels allow 'day visit' (ie., be able to use the onsen without staying overnight), how do those work? I don't know if this topic has already been covered. If so, please let me know when, so I can get it.