Arc Hotel Yamato

My wife and I stayed at the Arc Hotel (Ark Hotel on their website) in Yamato just five minutes' walk from the Yamato train station while we were in Japan for my business (I got to bring my wife with me, which made the trip!). My Japanese host made the reservations for me, which I was glad for because I would never have found, much less reserved, this room. We stayed three nights, the first two in a smaller room and the third in a larger. The hotel has Western style rooms as well as Japanese. If you're a Westerner I can't stress enough that you should stay in a Japanese style room. You can get a double bed in any hotel in the West; take advantage of the Japanese culture while you can! Japanese style rooms have futons on the floor and tatami mats to sit on. As a nice touch, the floor cushions do have backrests. An electric teapot is in the room as well, which will make you a great pot of hot water for tea in a matter of minutes. A pants steamer is available in the hallway for all guests' use, and an iron can be borrowed from the front desk. The front desk also has a substantial selection of toiletries, including individually wrapped q-tips and a variety of brushes and combs. The bathroom is really impressive. Japanese toilets almost universally have bidet attachments, and this hotel is no exception. A console attached to the seat lets you start the rinse, which is a little wand that extends under you while seated, and sprays water right where you would imagine. Our toilet also had controls to adjust angle, pressure, and temperature. There's a button for the back (colored light brown) and a button for the front (colored pink). Gentlemen will not be needing to use the pink button. Ark Hotel has very nice shampoo and conditioner, made with royal jelly and olive oil. It makes for gorgeous hair (see pics), and we were excited to have some to take home. Unfortunately, they do not sell it at the hotel and the containers are NOT free samples. We had to actually get a hotel professional at another hotel to order us some, as it is not available commercially and can only be ordered by hospitality professionals! Glad we did! Breakfast is available, but be sure to make a reservation (and pay) the day prior; the manager gets supplies for breakfast based on who orders it. We made the mistake of not reserving on our first night, and we were not able to get breakfast as a result, which was very embarrassing for the lady who had to tell us no. We loved our stay at the Ark Hotel Yamato. I was so glad we had a Japanese national to make our reservations or we never would have visited. A caution: as a small hotel in a local prefecture, they do not see a lot of Western guests and as a result English speaking is not a priority for employees here. They are all very nice and polite, and can all say "sank yu" and "Weh-com" but that is likely to be all the English you hear. If you stay here get an app for your phone that translates, or bring a phrase book. I had to email them for a copy of our receipt, and just using Google Translate with my email I was able to get a copy easily. They will work with you, just make the effort to try to work with them. If I ever go back to Yamato, we will definitely stay at the Ark again.