Name: Hotel Korakuso
Address: 34-1 Myoko Akakura Onsen Myoko Niigata 949-2111; 34-1, Myoko, Myoko, Myoko, 9492111, Japan
Rating: 4

Air conditioning

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Family room

Indoor Fireplace

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Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

Internet

Barbecue grill(s)

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Parking

Swimming pool

Indoor Pool

Pool and beach

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Hotel Korakuso

Myoko

child-bed

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kitchen

We stayed at Hotel Korakuso while we were skiing in Myokokogen. The hotel was booked by my brother-in-law but it was impossible to find any English reviews so we weren't sure what to expect. I'll take you through step by step what this hotel is like.

Getting there
We flew into Narita Airport. Boarded the Narita Express to Tokyo Station then the bullet train (shinkansen) to Nagano. Then got on a local train to Myokokogen. From there, we took a taxi (about 10-15 minutes) to Hotel Korakuso.

Arrivals
There was so much snow in Myokokogen, the taxi dropped us on the street in front of the hotel. When you enter the hotel, you take your shoes off and wear slippers that the hotel provides. Check in was fine and two guys brought our bags to our room. 

What the hotel is like
This hotel is difficult to describe. It's a 4-storey building (actually two buildings joined up) with winding corridors and an interesting collection of knickknacks and curiosities. There is a room with a fireplace, movie projector, kids play area, sofas, and counters that have items for sale but no one is manning the shop. There is a giant stuffed bear toy that sits in one of the chairs.There is also a games room in the basement, a coffee house (which was closed the whole time we were there), a dining room and an onsen (hot springs bath). It's an older building with some nice features but overall could use an update. The staff are super friendly and helpful but don't speak much English.

The room
The rooms are traditional Japanese. We slept on futons on the floor with lots of blankets and duvets because there is no central heating! This was the biggest surprise of this hotel. Instead, they supply a heater with a propane tank. There is a clear warning to use the heater only with the window open to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning so we had a strike a fine balance between staying warm and keeping the fumes down. The good thing is that Myokokogen isn't that cold compared to other ski resorts we've stayed at so cracking open the window was fine. Otherwise, the rooms were spacious and came with bathrobes and a tea set. We also liked the heated toilets.

The onsen
There are separate onsens for men and women. The men's (which I did not use) was quite large although my husband complained about the algae. The women's was pretty small and the dressing room was cold so instead we walked across the road to the Hotel Akakura and used their very nice, large indoor and outdoor onsens.

Breakfast/dinner
Breakfast was included and from Monday-Wednesday was excellent. From Thursday-Saturday, it was buffet style (Japanese and Western) and the food seemed to deteriorate in terms of quantity and quality. We had traditional Japanese dinner twice at the restaurant which was excellent. 

Town
The town of Myokokogen is really cute. There are lots of restaurants and small shops to buy snacks. The Udon noodle place underneath Pomodoro Pizza is a must. What struck me though is the snow. There is a LOT of snow. More snow than I have ever seen and I grew up in Canada. The locals seem to spend a fair amount of time on snow removal and not just from the street but the roofs!

Skiing
The snow conditions were great which makes the skiing great. We bought passes that let us ski both sides of the mountain (Kanko and Onsen). I would describe the mountain as a good beginner/intermediate place to ski. If you are an advanced skier, you would probably find the runs a bit boring after a day or two. On our last day, we skied at Sugahara which we really enjoyed. Some challenging runs and good powder through the trees. You can take a free shuttle bus but because of all the snow, it takes awhile to travel between ski areas.

Babysitting
We brought our 10-month old baby with us and he spent a few hours each day with Shige-san who babysat him at Myoko Snowsports. She was great and the baby room was really cute. It's 2000 yen per hour (about USD$20/hour).

Overall, it was a fun cultural experience. If you are expecting a more Western style hotel, then I would stay across the road at the Akakura.

Quirky Japanese Hotel in Myokokogen

Id just like to firstly say I'm not one that writes reviews, but this place made me feel like I had too, the sweet old Japanese receptionist asked me to write a nice review, I said I would and ultimately that was a lie

The place is filthy, no heating, no hot water in our room, to have our shower unlocked in our room was another 35000 yen, rice filled bags for pillows. In almost 2 weeks our room hasnt been cleaned once. There is one washing machine in the hotel and the dryer is broken and there is no where to hang your clothes, cant lock up snowboards anywhere. The onsen is covered in mold and stinks, the water is filled with what looks like algae. I'm not sure what was more physically demanding 2 weeks of snowboarding everyday or sleeping on the beds provided

I guess I should have looked at the reviews previous to booking this trip, live and learn

11 nights in hell

The good: our room was quite spacious, attractively decorated, and recently updated.  Location was convenient to the slopes of Akakura Onsen ski resort. Staff were friendly and helpful, although they didn't speak much English. 

Not-so-good: we booked half-board, and felt the food was average and expensive.  Quality declined markedly on the weekend, which was much busier.  

Bad: there is no central heating!  The only source of heat in our room was an evil-smelling kerosene heater that wasn't vented to the outside, which means that it produces carbon monoxide that builds up in the room unless you open the windows twice per hour.  Which also means that you can't run it while you're sleeping (there are warnings - in Japanese only - on the heater to that effect).  Also, without central heating, all of the hallways in the hotel were freezing cold.  

Even worse, there was no hot water in the sink, only ice cold water to wash your hands, face, etc.  Our room had a shower, which produced hot water only intermittently.  The only place to get consistent hot water was in the indoor onsen downstairs, which was near scalding hot, and full of algae.  The floor surrounding the onsen was dirty.  Every other Japanese onsen I've visited has been scrupulously clean.  The lighting in the onsen is very dim, presumably to hide the dirt.  

The ski locker area in the basement is the dirtiest place I have ever seen in Japan.

Housekeeping is pretty much nonexistent.  We left to go skiing early in the morning and returned at 5pm to find that our room hadn't been cleaned.  We noted this at the front desk, and someone came by to straighten the futon sheets and replace the towels, but otherwise didn't clean the room at all.

In sum: I wish I had trusted the other one-star reviews and stayed elsewhere!  This was definitely the low point of our trip.

Hotel Korakuso

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