Marubun the seaside inn

Marubun is a small, family-run minshuku (guesthouse) right on Hamasaka beach in Shinonsen, taking only three parties a night. It has two private natural hot-spring baths, rock baths that guests use in turn rather than by advance reservation, so whichever one is free is yours for as long as you like. Most rooms are plain tatami looking straight out at the beach, though the inn's one twin room faces inland instead. The kitchen runs on fresh local seafood year-round, with snow crab as the winter draw; the owner is also a crab wholesaler who picks the day's catch himself.