We stayed two nights at the Mimatsuso ryokan after reading good reviews about it.
Like the others said, it is an old house. The first impression was so-so because when we arrived, we saw old TV sets and other electronic waste belonging to the shop next door piled up in the alley next to the house.
But it is very clean inside and we were given two rooms for our family of three. A living room where we could relax after a day of walking around; and a bedroom that is right across from the living room. Very nice set up. After putting our child to bed, we could enjoy tea in the living room.
The room doesn’t come with attached bathroom or toilet but it was very convenient to use the shared toilet and bathroom, which are all very clean. We never had to wait to use any of those during our stay there. The futons were very comfortable and we all slept very well.
The owners are very kind and welcoming people. They welcomed us with Royce cookies when we checked in. On our second night, we were served tea and a different snack. They kept apologising about how old the house is but we didn’t mind it.
Location-wise, Minatsuso ryokan is very convenient to get to from the Asahikawa JR station, about 5-10 mins of walking. It’s also near to the Tokiwakoen, a pleasant local park.
We had travelled in Hokkaido about close to two weeks by then and this is our first ryokan stay.
Mid-range hotels in Japan are expensive and rooms very small for what you are paying for.
The price we paid for the room included breakfast which was traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup, grilled fish, salad, fruit and tea. Simple but delicious.
We had the most comfortable stay in this ryokan despite it being much older than the hotels we had stayed in.
We enjoyed the experience so much that we booked our next ryokan in Hakodate after that.
So yes, I recommend this place if you like a clean and homely room to return to after a day of walking around and don’t mind if the house is more on the old side.