About japanstays

japanstays compares places to stay in Japan by the things you actually want to know before booking and that booking sites rarely show clearly: whether the room has its own bath and whether spring water flows into it, whether you can see Mt Fuji, what the tattoo rule is, whether vegetarian food is available and how to get there. We start with 21 ryokans in Hakone and the Fuji Five Lakes.

Where the information comes from

We have not stayed at these inns ourselves. Every detail comes from the inn’s own website, an official tourism site or, if nothing else is available, the booking site; sources are listed on each inn page. Anything an inn does not state itself is shown as “not stated” and never as no. We check regularly that each inn is still bookable.

Which inns we include

An inn is included if it calls itself a ryokan or the booking site lists it as one, offers Japanese-style rooms and at least one meal, and can be booked on Booking.com, Trip.com or Agoda. Places that call themselves hotels but work like a ryokan are marked “hotel in ryokan style”. Inns that can only be booked through Japanese booking sites are not included.

How the site is funded

The booking buttons are affiliate links. If you book through them, we may earn a commission; your price stays the same. Inns bookable on Booking.com are shown first in their own group, and within each group we sort alphabetically. The size of a commission never moves an inn or changes any detail.

Who is behind it

japanstays is run by Franziska Mende, who also runs airporthotel-tokio.de. The site is independent and not affiliated with STAY JAPAN, the inns mentioned or the booking sites. Spotted a mistake or a change at an inn? Email us at hallo@franziskamende.de.