Sabae's Shinmei-en Hotel

A unique Japanese-style hotel in many, many ways

Larry Knipfing Nov 03, 2013 - 1 min read

The rooms here are all tatami mat rooms, and have no toilet or bath in the room

This sign lists up all the healthy minerals in the bath water

My name (right) on the welcome board at the hotel entrance

My room (Orchid Room) entrance with my name below the sign

Entrance to a shrine, just across the street

This Japanese garden was just outside my 1F window

A VERY Japanese breakfast of rice, dried seaweed, soft-boiled egg, miso soup, grilled fish, and Japanese pickles

The breakfast dining room, full of happy guests, some of them wearing yukata

The hotel entrance, just a 2-minute walk from Shinmei Station, and directly across the street from Konpira Jinja Shrine

I loved this place, the Shinmei-en inn/hotel. I've been living in Japan since 1980, and it reminded me of the Japan of yesteryear. Consider: 1) No bath or toilet in my room; 2) Tatami mat floor; 3) Futon bed on the floor; 4) Japanese garden right outside my window; 5) Communal bath; 6) People walking around the hotel in yukata; 7) Breakfast consisting of fish, rice, miso soup, dried seaweed, green tea. Mind you, this is not a luxurious onsen hotel (where you might expect to find all of the above), but rather, just a nice local old-fashioned inn/hotel in a pretty rural town (Sabae) in Fukui Prefecture.

Larry Knipfing @larry.knipfing

Born on Long Island, New York in 1958, I have spent the last 30 years of my life living in Japan, and enjoying every minute of it! I especially love photography, and Japan is definitely one of the most beautiful places in the world to photograph! My other love is fiction writing and I have pub...