Nakaya Fudokaku

I stayed here after watching it on YouTube. The Olympic bath is as long as a swimming pool. I would sneak in and swim when no one was there, and it reminded me of my childhood. The quality of the hot spring was also good. The open-air bath along the river had a great view, so I ended up soaking for a long time. The inn is old and undeniably outdated, but from another perspective, you can feel the wabi-sabi atmosphere, which was nice. The food was made with local ingredients, which was unusual and made the meal fun and delicious. I would like to make a reservation again when I visit Yonezawa.

When checking in, it was very hectic, probably because there were several other guests. The staff also often ran down the corridors, and the noise could be heard all the way to the guest rooms. They didn't use carts to clear the food, so the staff were constantly moving around. It was an inn that couldn't shake the feeling of being rough. I think the retro aspects have their own charm, but when the roughness is too obvious, the retro aspects can also be seen as a negative. It was the first time in a while that I felt like there would be no next time.