We had a mixed experience at this ryokan. First, our expectations were high both because of the other reviews of this place and my excellent experience at a different Japanese ryokan 5 years ago. When we arrived we were assigned a tour guide who was an elderly, somewhat gruff woman who didn't speak a word of English. She rapidly showed us where our room was, and where the onsen was (bathhouse) but was in such a rush, and communication was so poor, that she failed to show us many important things such as the customs for the bathhouse, where to go for dinner (it was in our room previously), and how to operate things in the room. She was also our server at dinner, with the same rushed, gruff manner, which included failing to remove dirty dishes as each new course was served. Add to this that dinner was not very goo, and we only had one sitting chair (vs the floor) and no hot water in our room and we were quite unhappy. But once we complained the next day they fixed the hot water, gave us a new chair, and changed our server to a delightful young woman who at least used Google Translate to communicate. And the second dinner was excellent (I included photos). Based on our first day I wouldn't recommend this ryokan. Based on the next 24 hours I would.