Hotels, Meals & Drinks

ACCOMODATION AT HOTELS AND INNS AND RYOKANS

Accommodation: Japan offers hotels of all categories. Hotels range from economic to standard, superior, deluxe, and luxury options that can be booked. Clean rooms and stable quality of service are the highest benchmarks in the world.

While rooms in the economic and standard categories are smaller compared to those in Europe and India, they are decently equipped with all amenities such as showers, bathtubs, European-style toilets, soap, shampoo, bath towels, hand towels, toilet paper, shaving kits, and toothbrushes with toothpaste. Travelers who prefer their own brands of soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, shaving creams, and razors should bring their own.

Rooms also feature a hot water boiling tea pot for guest use. However, tea, coffee, milk powder, and sugar sachets are not provided, so travelers should bring their own.

Japanese Hotel "Ryokan": Japanese-style hotels, also known as Ryokan, provide a traditional stay experience and traditional food. These hotels typically have their own hot springs where guests can enjoy ofuro (hot baths) to relax in large communal baths. The hotel provides bathrobes, towels, and all bath amenities. Certain rules must be followed, such as washing your body and having a shower before entering the bath tub. Detergents, soaps, and shampoos are not allowed in the bath tubs, which are meant for relaxation and warming in hot water only. Male and female ofuro (bath rooms) are separate.

For honeymoon or ordinary couples, luxury rooms with separate open-air baths are available. Couples can enjoy a private bath without any outsiders or other guests allowed.

BREAKFAST AND LUNCH AND DINNER AT HOTELS:

During the stay of your hotel, be careful, as not all hotels provide lunch and dinner. Normally Japanese hotels provide Japanese style buffet breakfast. If you stay in Economical category hotel, you won’t find continental or European standard breakfast. Mostly these are Japanese taste menus and only 1~2 kinds of bread and muffins, with butter jam, juice, tea and coffee. Higher category hotels have these European standards buffet breakfast. Also, during the tour travelers are on sightseeing so lunch is normally during your sight seeing’s. But once if you intend to stay for a long vacation in same hotel except the higher category hotels you won’t find sufficient varieties of lunch and dinner menus. So, while opting your hotels category one should consider. Needless to mention higher category hotels come with a good expensive price and economical hotels with a lower price.

ABOUT MEALS

Fish, Prawn and Rice is a common food in Japan. Most of the Japanese have theirs lunch outside so we can find local restaurants everywhere. These restaurants offer Japanese set menu lunch ranging from 1,000yen. Set menu lunch consists of sea food and rice. There are Noodles called UDON OR SOBA AND Chinese Noodles called RAMEN. But the soup of these Ramen has pork or beef stock. So, for vegetarians and halal food eaters have to take special care and avoid this. There are many local Chinese restaurant, then there are Mc Donald everywhere. In Italian restaurants one can search pasta pizzas etc. Generally, Japanese use only chop stick to eat Japanese food, but spoons and forks can be asked to provide in most restaurants.

ABOUT BEER & ALCOHOL

All restaurants serve beer. Alcohol is served in some restaurants and not everywhere. Although at night most of the restaurant’s server spirit alcohol also. Japanese alcohol Shochu or Sake both made of rice are more in use. Foreign brands whisky is not available in all restaurants. If needed to buy in urgency can buy at 7 Eleven, Sunkus, Family Mart shops (convenience stores) which are operational 24/7 round the year, where you can buy some brands of Whisky, Gin, Bourbon etc.