To me this is a touristy mid budget hotel to both locals and foreigners although I noticed that the presence of foreign tourist is higher in this resort as compared to others. It is the first onsen (hot spring) Resort in Noboribetsu hence the name Dai-Ichi which means number one in Japanese. Being the first established resort here also means that this is a very old resort which retains the traditional Ryokan design. We paid about 36,288 yen for a night which includes a buffet dinner and traditional Japanese breakfast.
The room is fairly spacious with pretty simple design. It is separated into two sections. Upon entering the room, we found ourselves at the dining area which is covered by tatami mats. The second section is the resting area equipped with a sofa set for 4 persons. Complimentary Japanese traditional jelly is placed on the dining table in place of welcome fruit basket usually provided by Western hotels. You can usually buy those jelly at supermarkets and are usually quite pricey. Yup of course it is delicious. So delicious that I ate it almost immediately and I forgot to take picture of it :).
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| Our room at Dai-Ichi Takimotokan |
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| At the sofa area, we found two equipment for neck and shoulder massage respectively which reminded us that we are in Japan, a country famous for quirky inventions. |
By now you should have noticed that there is no bed in the room. That is because housekeeping will only bring out our futon bed after we left the room for the buffet dinner.
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| The futon bed is just as comfortable as the normal conventional bed. I slept soundly throughout the night, |
Dining Experience
Buffet dinner was at one of the resort's restaurant which looked somewhat like a canteen (understand that it had been renovated recently). Frankly, I went there with quite a low expectation and I even left my camera in the room as I figured out that probably there wouldn't be much things of interest. And....I was proven wrong. The food was actually quite delicious but the thing that is worthy to note here is the all you can eat crab legs (Red King Crab). It is super fresh, sweet and would have cost us a bomb if we had this in Malaysia. Anyway, I doubt that we can get crabs in Malaysia that is as fresh as what we had.
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| Source: Tripadvisor |
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| Source: Tripadvisor |
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| Rice served with grilled salmon, japanese omelette, condiments comprising of various types of pickles and a bowl of soup made from soybean. |
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| The bowl of soup tasted like soybean milk except that there is no preservatives and sugar added. |
Onsen (Hot Spring) Experience
After spending much time reading about the dos and don’ts when going to a Japanese onsen, Wifey and I finally were going to our first onsen experience at Dai-ichi Takimotokan. The first thing one need to know and overcome before heading to the onsen is that the only thing you are allowed to wear is your “birthday suit”. As a first timer, we decided to go later at night around 11pm so that there will be lesser a crowd and therefore allowing us a slow start to blend in lol.. This particular one that we went opens 24 hours so there was no rush. Sorry no pictures since no camera is allowed inside the onsen.
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| Picture from resort's website. |
There are also procedures to follow (click on link for recommended site for a quick reference) if you do not want embarrass yourself in front of the locals. Fortunately most onsens adopt similar procedures so once you get a hang of it, you can go for a Onsen escapade in Hokkaido without any further issues. One thing to note is that sometimes the resorts in Hokkaido alternate / swap the onsen between male and female to allow both genders to enjoy the different scenic views in the resort. So make sure you check the signage at the entrance carefully before entering. Imagine, if you are a man and you just walked into a changing room full of naked ladies...oh my....total disaster.
Anyway, Dai-Ichi Takimotokan's onsen offers 7 types of different pools which consist of different properties and minerals which carry different health benefits from healing your skin to improving
your blood circulation and blood pressure. One of the pool is located outdoor. For a "gaijin" (meaning foreigner in Japanese) like myself who probably won't be able to do this over a long term to extract that kind of benefits, I just tried out the pools randomly and relax. After soaking myself in the pools, I especially like the refreshing feeling of taking a cold shower at the area just nearby the pool. The complimentary premium shampoo and shower gel with fantastic aroma enhance that experience as well.
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| Shower area looking something like this. You are supposed to take your shower seated at the stool provided. For a little privacy... try to find hidden corners :) |
Good and comfortable resort with fantastic location just nearby hell valley and near shopping street. Good value for money.
Food is fantastic. Triple stars for the buffet crab.
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