Takahan Ryokan Takahan Ryokan Takahan Ryokan is an historic ryokan (Japanese inn) located in Yuzawa, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The inn is over 800 years old. The inn has an onsen (bath) called "Tamago no Yu" (English: egg-water) that is supplied by natural hot springs with a slight amount of sulfur. The inn has approximately 20,000 annual visitors, many of whom visit to soak in Tamago no Yu. The setting for the book "Snow Country" authored by Yasunari Kawabata is based upon Takahan Ryokan's location. The inn has preserved the room that Kawabata stayed and wrote in when he was there, along with
Ryokan (inn) many are usually much more expensive compared to modern hotels and hostels. As elsewhere in the world, hotels have become a standard in Japanese urban tourism. Nonetheless, some major cities do offer ryokan with competitive rates. Traditional ryokan are more commonly found in scenic rural areas and in recent years many ryokan have been redeveloped to their original style particularly by resort chain Hoshino Resorts, whose first ryokan opened in Karuizawa in 1914. A typical ryokan has a relatively large entrance hall, with couches and chairs where guests can sit and talk; a modernized ryokan often has a television in