Our stay in Mimatsuso Ryokan in Asahikawa

23 and 24 August 2023

Although there are hotels aplenty in Asahikawa, I thought it would be nice experience for my son to experience staying in a traditional Japanese ryokan. 

We chose to stay in Mimatsuso Ryokan in Asahikawa. This ryokan offers affordable accommodation, free parking for my rental car, and is located within walking distance to the JR Asahikawa Station, eateries and shopping street in downtown Asahikawa.

Entrance to the ryokan with the owner’s car in the garage. The owner arranged for my car to be parked in a parking area about 100m away.

From the outside, the building looks small and unappealing, but inside this is a wonderful small hotel with exceptionally friendly staff and service, and very good breakfast

When we arrived, we had to remove our shoes and leave them at the front lobby. We were provided with some oversized slippers and it was quite comical that these slippers keeps coming off as we struggled a little to bring our suitcases up to our rooms, located on the second floor. The owner offered to help with our luggage which was nice of him.

The reason why we struggled with our suitcases. Two of our suitcases’  handles broke on Day 1.

We booked ourselves a Japanese-Style Single Room and a Twin Room.Both rooms came with futon beds laid on tatami mats.

Futon beds on tatami mats - Not the most comfortable bed but that’s what we get in a traditional Japanese inn.

We were served tea and simple snacks in our room after check-in. 

Air-conditioning and fans are provided which was really appreciated on hot summer nights.

Like most ryokans or minsukus, the bathrooms and toilets are shared which was the only downside.

This ryokan offers options to include dinner and/or breakfast. We only ordered the breakfast as we wanted to try some interesting food from restaurants in Asahikawa.

Breakfast is served in a dining room from 7 AM and the food exceeded my expectations. 

Dining room at Mimatsuso Ryokan where we took our breakfast.

Japanese style breakfast served on first morning in Mimatsuso Ryokan, Aashikawa.

And a slice of melon as dessert.

Breakfast on our second day.

Sign proudly stating that the ryokan serves the award winning Oborozuki rice grown in Hokkaido.

Overall we had a good stay in Mimatsuso Ryokan. This ryokan is a family business and the elderly man and his family are friendly and looked after us well. When we left, the owner presented us with a small gift bag containing origami cranes,  bookmarks and a souvenir face towel.