One of the places Daniel and I looked forward to the most on our trip to Japan was the Satoyama Jujo Hotel. The expectations of staying at this stunning boutique hotel reached its peak after three busy days in Tokyo, which felt just like a marathon run and made us fall off our feet. As difficult as it was to part from Tokyo, we felt that moving from the busy city to the nature for a few days was exactly what we needed to give our feet the rest they needed so much and to refill our energy towards the last days we had left in this crazy city.

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During our vacation at the hotel, many people asked me in private Instagram messages where I was and how I found this magical hotel. After all, this isn’t a hotel located in a big city or a famous tourist destination, so a simple search on Booking or hotelscombined.com wouldn’t give me this hotel in the results.

So before I even start talking about the hotel itself, I think it's time for me to tell you a little secret about how Daniel and I occasionally find amazing hotels in remote places that are simply amazing! Before every vacation, we check Design Hotel’s website, which represents boutique hotels that are specially designed and decorated all over the world, and we know that we will always find hotels that will make our eyes sparkle 🙂 This was exactly the case with this hotel. We searched for hotels located in Japan and found that there are currently only two of them – Satoyama Jujo and another hotel located in the ski town of Japan, Nisko. When we discovered that Satoyama Jujo is just a two-hour train ride from Tokyo, we decided that this is where we want to experience our first Ryokan experience {traditional Japanese hosting}. Since I knew at first sight that this was a hotel I would want to write about to you, I wrote to the hotel and they agreed to host us for a review of the hotel on the blog. Have I mentioned how much I love my job? 😉

And now, back to Satoyama Jujo…

The train ride from Tokyo to the Niigata countryside quickly passed and we got off at the nearest station to Satoyama Jujo, where a vehicle was waiting for us to take us directly to the hotel up the mountains. After a short 15-minute drive, we arrived at a small intimate boutique hotel, nestled among magnificent rice fields and tangled forests in a 150-year-old wooden building. From the moment we entered the impressive wooden structure, which illustrates the Japanese architectural style of the area, we felt that we had made the right choice. This is exactly the place to answer the three things we were looking for – traditional Japanese hospitality in a stylish Ryokan, a connection to nature and a wonderful sense of isolation.

We spent most of our time at the hotel between dipping in the open-air bath {which was on the outside deck of our room balcony}, lounging on the comfortable armchairs in the lobby with tea and biscuits, bathing in the natural onsens facing the spectacular views of the area, napping on super comfortable beds in the room, and an authentic experience with traditional local Japanese food. You could say that we took advantage of our stay at the hotel for maximum rest just as we hoped and returned full of energy for the Big Finale of the trip in Tokyo.

Let's Cut To The Chase – All The Things You'd Like To Know About The Hotel

LOCATION

A short two-hour train ride separates Tokyo's vibrant metropolis and the village area of Minami-Uonoma in the Niigata Mountains, where Satoyama Jujo is located. The hotel is relatively isolated, so if you plan on arriving by train and not by a rental car, you have to take into account the fact that there isn’t much to do around the hotel, and that if you want to visit the nearby town or the area of the sake factories you’ll have to rely on expensive taxis.

Daniel and I didn’t plan on leaving the hotel at all, because our whole goal was to take a short break from the long trip for rest and relaxation purposes, but we ended up deciding to go out for a short time and visit a factory store and a weaving museum in the nearby town following recommendations of the hotel staff. The taxi was expensive, but it was one of the most special and authentic things we got to experience on this trip. Despite the language barrier, thanks to Google Translate and a lot of body language, I finally managed to learn the old Japanese silk weaving method and it was a really special experience that we never encountered in such an authentic way anywhere else during the trip.

DESIGN

If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you already know that I love hotels with special designs. This is why I often prefer to choose small boutique hotels instead of the chain hotels designed in a relatively generic manner. The Satoyama Jujo combines traditional and modern Japanese design in a wonderful way with touches of Scandinavian chic. The interior design draws inspiration from traditional Japanese homes, which are reflected in soft tatami floors, low beds and Japanese art, along with expansive modern western spaces and artistic furniture by renowned designers such as Charles and Ray Ames. These two design styles have a lot in common – clean lines, moderate colors and a relaxed appearance, so the holistic design of the hotel manages to impart a harmonious feeling that naturally blends with the local view of the hotel. The attention to the smallest details is reflected in every part of the hotel – so no matter where we decided to hang out lazily during our stay at the hotel, we were always surrounded by interesting design items that managed to create a warm home feel.

THE SUITE

This intimate boutique hotel has only 12 rooms. We stayed in the Maisonette Suite With Spa-bath, which was especially large and spread over 2 floors. With a private outdoor spa bath, beds that the body refuses to leave and a perfect view, I must admit that it was very difficult to leave the room during our stay at the hotel. All the luxuries in the room were just like I like them – organic toiletries, useful bathroom accessories {the folding comb and the best hair bands I've ever encountered}, and snacks that included homemade cookies, organic tea, a special coffee blend of the hotel and beers, but the crème de la crème, were without doubt the organic cotton pajamas that awaited us on the beds and served us throughout the stay at the hotel. Yes, what you heard – you don’t have to pack any clothes for this hotel! The pajamas can and should be worn outside the room so if you arrive at the hotel at night, I recommend you leave the suitcases in the lockers at the train station and simply arrive at the hotel with the clothes you are wearing and a small bag.

HOTEL FACILITIES

As expected from a traditional Japanese hospitality house, the highlight of the Satoyama Jujo is the hotel's onsens. In the hotel complex there are 2 onsens different both in terms of design and landscape, separated for women and men {the entrance to onsen is fully nude}. There are defined bathing hours for men and women in each of the onsens, so that the hotel guests can enjoy the uniqueness of the various onsens.

Besides the onsens, the hotel also has a small, stylish lounge and a large, bright library. Both are equipped with books and offer a range of sweet and savory drinks and snacks, a small garden in front of the hotel with a seating area and a specially designed gift shop that sells a variety of regional delicacies, dishes, magazines and even furniture.

FOOD

One of the most special things in Satoyama Jujo is undoubtedly the culinary aspect. All the food served in the hotel restaurant, Sanaburi, is organic Japanese inspired by the mountainous nature of the Minami-Uonoma region, and as such it emphasizes the natural flavors of the local ingredients. Organic vegetables, green leaves, nuts and mushrooms are all picked by the hotel staff in the local mountain area and are served to the table in their fresh form or after being conserved using traditional methods without any artificial means. Alongside the vegetarian ingredients that we were served at breakfast and dinner, Japanese seafood accompanied the meals, pork and Japanese Hyogo meat.

Another unique aspect of dinner at the hotel is that the main course was surprisingly not meat or fish, but rice, which is the star of the Minami-Uonoma region and is famous all over Japan. The rice is cooked every evening in a ceramic pot right on the dining table, and there’s a kind of festive aura around it. At the beginning of the meal, the hostess serves the rice preparation instructions and, during the meal, helps prepare it. After about 10 minutes of cooking, the hostess returns to the table and serves a taste of the rice from the center of the pot. This taste of rice before it’s completely prepared is considered to be the most delicious part of the rice, and rightly so 🙂 I’ve never tasted rice as delicious as I ate at that tasting. I especially liked that although we spent 3 nights in a row at the hotel, every night the menu was made up of completely different dishes besides the hotel’s famous rice dish.

Like dinner, breakfast is also traditional Japanese, with a miso soup cooked in the middle of the table with cooked mountain vegetables, carrot juice, a small bowl of nato, tamago {Japanese eggs}, cooked fish and more.

Although we stayed at the hotel during the last week of our trip, it was without a doubt the first time that both Daniel and I had tasted traditional Japanese food of this kind. Our western palate is used to much more powerful flavors, and the delicate flavors of the authentic Japanese mountain food have surprised us. Although not all the dishes were to our liking, however, a significant part of the menu succeeded in conquering us in its delicate and special flavors. In the end, staying at the hotel opened up a magical window to the Japanese food world and managed to provide us with an authentic experience of the traditional cuisine.

Since I was invited to stay at the hotel as a blogger, I also received an amazing glimpse behind the scenes of the hotel's kitchen. The chef of the hotel restaurant invited Daniel and me to join a magical morning gathering of vegetables and other plants for the meal, along with whom she called the Master of the Mountains. The Master was born and raised in the Minami-Uonoma Mountains and knows all about the types of plants that grow in the mountains and where and when to harvest the different species. After a few hours in a small pickup truck in the mountains and picking plants I would never have known are for eating, I truly understood the amazing uniqueness of the food served at the hotel. These are truly foods that are very difficult to find in other places, and in order to get them we really need to know the nature around us. It’s food that glorifies Mother Earth, that tries to bring us back to the time when we ate food as it is, without artificial flavors and smells. Only real flavors as nature intended.

What do you think about Satoyama Jujo? Tell me in the comments 🙂

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