Hoshi Onsen Chojukan

Hoshi Onsen Chojukan, part 3, food Hoshi Onsen Chojukan The weakest part of the place by far 🤷‍♀️ The basic kaiseki was really basic, and the hot pot with pork, which I don't like. The only thing I enjoyed was the river fish 👍 Maybe the more advanced options are more interesting. But thank you very much for the option to book food for one person 🔥 As a bonus, evening photos. Iconic view with the red post box 😍 06-07.06.2025

Hoshi Onsen Chojukan, part 2, overall impression and room Hoshi Onsen Chojukan A ryokan in the best tradition. Lots of details in the interior of the common areas, some with references to the Showa/Taisho style, some themed around the local area and nature. Even though it is in the middle of nowhere, it is clear that the place is very popular, and there is English-speaking staff for foreign guests. They assigned me a guy who looked either Indian or Bangladeshi. It was telling that on the bus here with me there were two gaijin, two girls from Taiwan, and two Japanese people, although, of course, Japanese visitors mostly come by car. I booked on the official website a week before check-in. Only higher-class rooms were available. I stayed in one of the rooms converted for comfort, with a toilet, in the Horyuden building (as far as I understand, this is Horyuden Special Room 82, 2nd Floor). But it faced the street, not the river. In total, the ryokan has four buildings, two of them, the main building and the annex, face the river (opposite each other), with Horyuden next to them, and across the street from it is Kunzanso. By the way, when I arrived, I casually asked whether it would be possible to count the Hito achievement, but they said no. 06-07.06.2025

Hoshi Onsen Chojukan, part 1, onsen Hoshi Onsen Chojukan A ryokan in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, with a bathhouse from 1875. Out in the countryside, all by itself. Hito-yu. There are three onsen, one of them the original 1875 bath, Hoshi-no-yu. It operates as konyoku, except from 20:00 to 22:00, when it is women only. Tamaki-no-yu and Choju-no-yu alternate between men and women, the schedule is on the official website: https://hoshi-onsen.com/onsen/. The rotenburo is only in Tamaki-no-yu, but in this case the roten is not really the main point. Hoshi-no-yu has a fully wooden interior with very high ceilings. There are four tubs, each divided by a wooden beam into two sections, not reaching the bottom. Judging by feel, I do not carry a thermometer, two are 38 to 39, the other two 40 to 41, more or less. The bottom is fine gravel, and in places carbon dioxide bubbles come up. There is no shower, only washbasins, so it is better to wash beforehand in another onsen. Absolutely amazing impressions, architecturally the only thing that comes to mind as a comparison is Tamagawa. Photo (1) is from the official site, and it matches. The water composition in the photo is from this tub. Tamaki-no-yu has a wooden interior and a stone rotenburo outside. Inside it is 38 to 39, outside around 42. My photos are (2-6). Choju-no-yu is purely a practical option for washing. Small, unremarkable interior, water at 42 to 43. Photo (8) is from the official site, somewhat embellished, though I was there after dark, so maybe that is why it seems that way. 06-07.06.2025

📍Hoshi Onsen Chojukan, Gunma (pt.3) A little more about the food. Dinner and breakfast are served in a separate shared room, and it was quite noisy in places. Dinner itself was fairly modest, the first 5 photos are from the first day and the last 3 are from the second. Since we stayed for 2 nights, they offered us a kind of lunch during the day, for an extra charge: soba or udon 20.12.2025, 21.12.2025

📍Hoshi Onsen Chojukan, Gunma (pt.2) There are only three types of baths at this onsen: Hoshi no Yu: the main highlight of this onsen, a separate bath pavilion. Its special feature is that the water in the tubs rises from the bottom, through pebbles. There are no showers at all here, you undress and go straight to the bath. Closer to the entrance the water is hotter, in the farther tubs it is cooler. This is a mixed onsen, and for most of the time it is open to everyone, but there are two hours a day when it is open only to women, and that is when I went. Tamaki no Yu: there is an indoor bath and a large stone rotenburo. In the rotenburo the water is cooler. Choju no Yu: a wooden indoor bath, although here too the water in the bath rises from the bottom, not from a tap. I did not go here, but my onsen companion liked it too. 20.12.2025, 21.12.2025

📍Hoshi Onsen Chojukan, Gunma (pt.1) A secluded ryokan in the middle of the forest, made up of four buildings. We stayed in the newest one and booked a Japanese-style room. The room itself is divided into 2 parts, a tatami room where futons are laid out at night, and a second room, or rather a kitchen with a small stove, sink, refrigerator, and, most importantly, a kotatsu (if I’m not mistaken, it was a hori-gotatsu with a recessed space for the legs underneath). Since this is a historic ryokan, I was worried we’d be freezing, but no, it was warm and comfortable everywhere, in the room, in the corridors, and really everywhere. In the main building near the entrance there is an irori hearth, and it seems tea is brewed there at certain hours, but we asked exactly when they do it and they made some for us right away, although they seemed very unhappy about it! 🫠 There was still very little snow in December, but there was plenty of mud around, so at the ryokan exit they offer rubber boots so you can walk around comfortably. The main downside for me is that, despite it being December, there were BUGS in the ryokan. They got into the room, and it wasn’t clear from where, since we didn’t open the windows and there didn’t seem to be any gaps anywhere. They were outside the room too, lying around on the stairs and in the passages between the buildings(( Another downside, probably, is that it’s not very convenient to get here by public transport, because the ryokan is literally in the forest, and there’s nothing around it. You can only go for walks in the forest, and there are signs there saying “beware of bears”. But if you want to chill in an onsen and sit in total silence in the middle of nowhere, this is a good option! 20.12.2025, 21.12.2025