Momijiya Annex

Momijiya was the perfect relaxing stay over we needed after being in Osaka for 5 nights. It was truly a magical place that I will not soon forget. Getting there was very easy aboard the train. Email the hotel and they can schedule a pick up from the Hanazono stop beginning at 3:10pm. The van arrived on time and was labeled outside of the station. It’s about a 20 minute drive. One thing I did not expect was the impeccable service we received - everything was easy and clearly structured to make our time enjoyable. When we arrived, they quickly whisked our bags away to the room and showed us our accommodation with instructions. We sat down for tea in our room with a hostess and she explained how the stay would go, what to wear, dinner, etc. There is also a book with English in the room explaining their practices such as how to enter the community bath, etc. During the time you will also schedule your bus back for the day you are leaving and what time you want breakfast. We hung out in the room until our beef dinner on the terrace at 6pm. Dinner was far better than I expected. You will need to be a bit adventurous as an American (the first appetizer was a crispy fish with Head and tail intact — I was hesitant but didn’t want to be rude and it was delicious)! After dinner, two geishas in training arrived. We had so much fun talking to them and taking photos with them as they go by each table for a few minutes. Then they do a traditional dance. After this, they turned out all the lights and we watched the fireflies. The entire experience was unforgettable and we had the best time. You also wore the optional traditional kimonos which made for lots of great photos. My suggestion would be to splurge and get a room with a bath. The one downside I would say of this location is the community bath is very small and does not go outdoors like some I saw in photos so if we had not had our own in the room (but in the backyard and so among nature) I think we would have been disappointed. I have also seen a few reviews where they had dinner in the room. If you are only there one night like we were I would highly suggest the beef dinner on the terrace with firefly viewing as this was a big highlight of our time there. One night is enough here if you are only traveling for a short time in Japan.