It was a decent place in town to stay for the single night that we were in town, in between the places we came from (Shiretoko) and the place we needed to be to catch our flight home (Sapporo). We had some nice cookies and milk to welcome us.
Our visit was during wintertime, and we had bad weather too!
Location - near to Heiwa Dori, the second site of the Asahikawa snow festival, which is were the ice sculptures were so this is already ideal. The ryokan is also within walking distance to restaurants dotting the area. If you walk to this place during night time during winter from the JR Asahikawa Station, I think the 10-minute walk here would not be that easy if you have luggage and are slogging through snow or icy paths (though for us, we were having backpacks so it was manageable).
Hosts - the owners were a lovely older couple who were very hospitable even if we arrived at almost 11 pm on that winter night. The weather made us more late than we had planned but they were quite hospitable, stowed our shoes to dry off and showed our room and the shared toilets/wash area/bathing facilities/ofuro. We also got snacks of cookies and delicious warm milk the following night - quite welcome from being frozen from our walk.
Building/Facilities - it is not a very new, modern structure, but it does have a charm of its own and was warm enough in the winter month. As expected of Japan, it was all very clean and the biggest surprise for me was of having a "living area" room aside from our bedroom. I had thought that the our sleeping quarters was where we would dump our things but that was a separate room while the room across it was where we could put our luggage, have tea, relax and dry out our things so that in itself was value for money! It is the only ryokan I have stayed so far in Japan which gave me so much space for the cost :-) I also greatly enjoyed their Japanese-style bath - even if you have to take turns, just cleaning up and then lying in it to fight off the chill was very welcome. The internet was fast and free, the room heater helped dry some of the hand-washed clothes I had to do, and there were enough washbasins to ensure people were able to do their personal ablutions without queuing, while toilets were male and female, so didn't really experience any delays.
Breakfast - as expected I greatly enjoyed their home-cooked meal. Definitely worth having breakfast here instead of outside but you need to have it arranged beforehand so do sign up for it.
Con: the only issue for me with this visit was that I never got a reply to all the emails I sent to them after my booking - from before my trip to even after my trip. I asked about the free shuttle, and tried to arrange for breakfast for all the days we stayed at the ryokan but there was no yes or not at all. The email address seen on some websites for them is wrong, so I contacted Agoda helpdesk and they gave me the correct one (mimatuso-258ryokan@alto.ocn.ne.jp), but even with that, I never received any reply to either confirm or refuse my request or answer my questions. I gave up and just went there instead of also trying to call them as I wasn't sure also if my English could be understood over phonecalls. So we walked to the ryokan that night, and also did not have breakfast the first day. *sigh*
But aside from those cons for me, I still would recommend staying here for those wanting charming small ryokans which are not that expensive. I really enjoyed staying in Asahikawa and one reason was my lodging at this place. They also gave us a little pouch of souvenirs (candies, little origami cranes and such) at the end of our stay - I was a little regretful not staying longer in Asahikawa.
I run a newsletter highlighting unique and affordable places to stay all over the world and Mimatsuso is one of those unexpected gems I've found on my travels.
Mimatsuso is a curious little guesthouse located in the thick of downtown Asahikawa. The building’s teal exterior is like a homing beacon as you pull up and just one of many examples of the ryokan’s unique aesthetic personality. I’ll admit, I initially wanted to judge a book by its cover and was skeptical of Mimatsuso’s stellar reviews based on its somewhat dated exterior, but like many of the guesthouses we stayed at, Mimatsuso is also run by a kind, older couple that truly embody the spirit of hospitality.
They took extra care in helping carry our bags to our room (despite my protests) and making sure we were able to access their free parking spot. We booked the ryokan’s spacious private bedroom with living room that can accommodate up to three people, which made for a nice dual live/work space. In the evenings I took up the host on her offer of trying on a kimono with her assistance, and in the morning we enjoyed a vast and varied breakfast spread— perhaps my favorite breakfast out of those provided at places we stayed in Hokkaido.
Hospitable and obliging humble owner. Good breakfast. Old building showing its age. Good location - walking distance to railway station and eating places. One room for sleeping and another across corridor as living room. Shared toilet and bathroom.
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.
