Authentic Japanese Inn

We stayed at an authentic Japanese Inn about 90 mins from The Woo— I’m giving it a fully honest review here, so I’m not naming names— but if you Google it you’ll find it and if that doesn’t work email me.

With a very long waiting list to get a room it just so happened that we booked it the day before we had to be in Salem to prep for Number Two Son’s wedding— with the dog still with us we needed to find a sitter— and taking the two seater meant we’d have to stop at home to drop off one suitcase for another— and I wasn’t sure my Brooks Brothers suit would enjoy being jammed into the tiny Miata trunk- so we managed to change the date to very late winter/almost Spring (notice I don’t capitalize winter).

We lucked out— the morning we left we woke to find the ground and cars with a small layer of snow— but it warmed up quickly so by the time we headed out at 1pm for our 3pm check-in everything had melted (Spring snow is the best snow).

It was an easy ride and the grounds were landscaped to look completely authentic— there had been a ton of care put into the site and our hosts, a Japanese woman from Tokyo and her husband who is an American, were very welcoming and gave us a tour of the grounds and the house.

A couple of things worth noting; the hosts live here— so while you’ve got your own private floor they are downstairs and the walls— authentically Japanese paper— don’t give you a ton of privacy. The room was spacious and featured a table and two floor chairs as well as a little sun room balcony which was quite nice. I sat and worked on some scripts in the peaceful surroundings. You’re also going to eat authentic Japanese food for the two meals included with your stay— that’s either exciting and enticing or might be a bit frightening for the picky eater.

Aspirin's