Arrival
When you arrive, step inside the Genkan street-level entrance area. Call out ‘gomenkudasai’ to attract attention if necessary. Remove your shoes and step up onto the raised interior floor, without touching the Genkan floor with your stocking feet. Leave your shoes in the Genkan area.
Slippers usually are available near the entrance for your use. Your hosts may ask you to write in the register or hand over your passport so they can take your details. The Ryokan owner or staff member will show you to your room and explain the time and place for meals, the location and hours of the bathing area.
As you enter your room, remove your slippers before stepping onto the Tatami matting. You should only tread on the Tatami mats in socks or bare feet. The slippers can be worn anywhere else inside the inn, except the toilets. Many inns provide special outdoor Geta clogs if you want to go outside without putting your shoes back on.
In your room, you will usually find a small table with a tea set, a hot water flask and a welcome sweet. Look in the closets for your Yukata cotton robe and an Obi sash to tie it. You will usually find a small, white towel for washing and bathing. You may also find a small toothbrush and toothpaste kit.
Put on your yukata over your underwear. You can wear the yukata anywhere inside the Ryokan, including the dining area; it is also acceptable to wear the yukata outside. Wrap the left side of the Yukata over the right side. Most guests like to bathe before dinner – some like to bathe both before and after! If your room has a private bathroom, you will find the shampoo and liquid soap, but do not take these to the communal baths as they will be supplied there too. Do bring your small white towel to the communal bathing area.
Bathing
Ryokans have communal bathing areas, segregated by gender, with large baths and showers. Ryokans near thermal water sources have natural hot-spring baths called Onsen. There may be both indoor and outdoor baths - see our page on Hot Springs for more information. Even if your room has its own private bath, it is well worth trying the larger gallery communal facilities, read the reviews online.
Smaller Ryokans and Minshukus may offer bathing only in the evening, and they will tell you the times when you arrive. Japanese guests traditionally bathe in the evening, and communal baths or showers may not be available in the morning.
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The bathing area will normally have Noren curtains over the entrance - red for women, blue for men. Inside you will find the changing area, with shelves and baskets for your clothing. Remove your clothes, place them in the basket and keep with you just your small white hand towel. If you have a larger bath towel too, leave it in the basket as it will get wet if taken into the bathing area. It is acceptable for men to take a razor for shaving into the washing area.
Proceed to the bathing area. Smaller inns may have a bath large enough for only a few people, or a small domestic tub used privately in turn by guests. Larger Onsen inns may have baths which can accommodate 25, 50 or more people. Take a small stool and bucket and find a free space in front of the taps and showers. Sit on the stool and use your white hand towel to wash yourself, using the supplied shampoo and liquid soap.
Once you have scrubbed yourself thoroughly, rinse all the soap from your body before entering the bathtub - you will be very unpopular with your fellow bathers if you make the water soapy! Leave your hand towel on the side of the bath or nearby, but do not immerse in the bath water. If you are bathing privately, do not drain the bath following your soak.
Many Japanese wash, soak, then wash again. It is fine to take your time soaking, relaxing and chatting to your neighbors.
Dinner
Dinner is served in your room or, more usually, in the dining area. Dinner time and breakfast time are explained when you check in. Ryokan staff may announce when your meal is ready. You can eat dinner in your regular clothes or your yukata, whichever you prefer.
Most Japanese guests eat dinner in their yukata but wear regular clothes for breakfast if they are planning to check out shortly afterward.
Please be ready for dinner at the appointed time. Leave your room fairly tidy as Ryokan staff may come and lay out your futon while you are eating dinner. They will move the table to the side of the room and put the futons in the middle.
You can order drinks with your meal - beer comes in medium (‘chu’) or large (‘dai’) bottles; sake is served hot or cold; soft drinks and juices are available too. Wine may also be offered – either imported or Japanese wine from Yamanashi, west of Tokyo. There is no charge for iced water and tea; pay for other drinks when you check out from the inn.
After dinner, you may find your futon laid out and ready for sleeping in your room. If you are staying in a Minshuku, your futon is stored in the cupboard ready for you to lay out by yourself. Some inns have vending machines for beer, sake and soft drinks. Others sell drinks at the front desk or in the gift shop; it is perfectly acceptable to purchase drinks and consume them in your room.
Departure
Some inns may not accept card payment. Please make sure you have sufficient Japanese Yen cash if they don't. Settle the bill for drinks and any additional extras at the front desk.
Your shoes will typically be placed neatly in the Genkan ready for you in the morning. The staff may come out to wave goodbye to you.