Ofunato Onsen

In a word, it's a "big guesthouse." The facilities and food are not particularly elaborate. They served us a lot of seaweed. The stewed head is served in small bowls, but we can have as many refills as we like. The taste is similar to canned mackerel with miso. The grilled fish was salmon (?) fillets like those sold at supermarkets. The abalone sashimi was delicious. The tempura was like something you'd get at a drive-in. I don't think there was any meat dishes. The main breakfast was dried pacific saury with mirin. It's not that it's not enough, but I felt like I wanted something a little more. The room is the bare minimum, but it's enough for a night's sleep. The hot spring is shallow and a little lukewarm. The indoor bath is about 40°C. The outdoor bath was a little warmer than that. I guess it's suitable for people who like to take long baths. The bedding, yukata, and amenities were just right. The view from the room was the sea as far as the eye could see. Time passed just by watching the boats going by. The staff are not as friendly as hotel staff, but I felt their kindness and liked them. Compared to other hotels, Jodogahama Park Hotel has one more star. My wife also said that it was better. I recommend the seaweed snacks sold at the shop. They are surprisingly delicious.

This is a large facility that combines a day spa and a hotel. It is said that the inn serves delicious fisherman's meals, so I thought it was a fisherman's inn, but I was surprised to see that it was a large hotel. It seems to be a new facility. Guests can drink coffee (for free) in the lounge at the front desk. The beautiful Japanese-style room was 10 tatami mats in size, and a futon was laid out. There was also one chair. There were two card keys, which was very helpful. I registered for the Ofunato Onsen official app at the information desk in the room and was given 300 grams of wakame sashimi. It was plentiful and ready to use, so I use it at home. My partner bought two bags of wakame seaweed at the shop because it was cheap (he also got a coupon to use as a souvenir, so he got a discount). The day spa has a large public bath with hot and lukewarm water, and the view of the sea from the open-air bath is spectacular. There are all-in-one products in the washroom area. Although it is a day spa, it was around 4pm on a Monday, so it was quiet and not crowded, so I was able to take my time. Dinner was the best dinner I had during my six night stay at the Tohoku Ryokan Hotel. It was a seafood dinner, with appetizers of wakame crackers, mekabu, and sashimi of sea squirt delivered directly from Sanriku. The sashimi consisted of abalone, umami-sugahi and its liver, bonito, and sweet shrimp. I much prefer abalone sashimi to grilled abalone. The crunchy texture was amazing. I was surprised when the Ofunato Onsen specialty, swordfish head stewed for three days, was served. The swordfish head was very large, about 50 cm (or more?), and its eyeball was about 10 cm (?). I could eat the bones as well, and it was full of collagen (they cut it up for me). The steamed scallops were the biggest scallops I've ever eaten (about 5 cm in height). The chawanmushi was made with home-grown wakame seaweed, and they also served salt-grilled pacific saury and crispy deep-fried warasa (yellowtail). Unfortunately, I didn't order the Iwate Prefecture Hitomebore rice and pacific saury meatball soup because I couldn't eat them. My partner only wanted soup, so we both passed on them, so dinner was very filling. For alcohol, we ordered the nigori sake Yukiko, a local sake from Ofunato Town (300cc, 1,100 yen). It was dry and delicious, and went well with dinner. Breakfast was served from 7 to 9, so I thought it would be a buffet, but it was a Japanese meal. It was a buffet of juice, Koiwai milk, coffee, and other drinks, as well as natto seaweed, fruit, rich almond tofu, and Ofunato's local sweets, "nabeyaki." The nabeyaki contained brown sugar. A lot of local ingredients were used for breakfast. The abundant wakame seaweed was from the Sanriku region, which was grown by the owner. The simmered shredded kelp, ginger-flavored wakame stems, Sanriku mekabu and tuna with grated yam, grilled fish, and fluffy rolled sushi rolls* all had a gentle flavor. This breakfast was also very filling and very satisfying.