When I discoverd the Yachiyo ryokan on the internet, I was thrilled. It looked amazing and beautiful. And after reading the previous review, I thought ok, well my aunt can spend the equivalent of 200 bucks for her room and my husband and I will spend the equivalent of 320 bucks per night for our room. Why not experience a peaceful beautiful ryocan as the web page said. I wanted to tour the gardens and be at the foot of a gorgeous mountain.

Well, when we got there we were wondering who their photographer and website designer was because they made the place look 100 times better. We were not at the foot of the mountain and the gardens were not as big as they stated. You can go and walk for 30 seconds and their gardens.

We were greated nicely by the staff and immediately taken through the mold smelling quarters, through to the ugliest bath house rooms-one for men and other for women. We thought, ok well maybe the main area isn't that nice. We then proceeded to our rooms. My aunt seemed very dissapointed with hers. Yes it's true we had 2nd floor garden rooms over looking a very, very small garden. We were all the way in the end-room 19 and my aunt, next to us, room 18. Our room was covered with mold stains with the wallpaper coming off. It really wasn't pretty.

We drank the tea and told the woman at what time we wanted dinner. My aunts room was a bit nicer than ours-mainly because she had less mold stains and could see more of the tiny garden than we could. We actually had the view of 1/2 garden and 1/2 railroad tracks. We had been told on the phone that we would have a room on the ground floor next to the garden(like the one on the website) and we were also told different rates, so when we arrived, we found out it was more expensive.

I tried to go and solve the solution and ask why we didn't get a nicer room but after a game of charaides and picture drawing, I left frustrated and defeated. I don't expect everyone to understand English, but it wasn't that difficult to show how much it was. I am now taking intensive Japanese classes-but I don't know if that would have helped at this hotel. Basically we were mislead by the person on the phone, by their website and by the last person's review.

WE were going to have to stay in this mold infested place. I even got a rash on my hands from the molds.

The good point is that we were very happy and surprised with our dinner. My aunt came and ate in our room where two women in Kimonos brought us a few different courses. If anything, the food was delicious. The good thing about the place is you don't have to stay there to experience the food. You can go there for lunch or for dinner. It's right next to a really beautiful Nanzenji Temple.

At 9pm they came and made our beds. Typical foutons with uncomfortable pillows-with a bit of rice in them?????!#@@!@ We retired to our separate bedrooms and soon later fell fast asleep for about 10 mins.

The rest of the night we spent battling mosquittos, listening to the motorcyles and trucks. We were not at the foot of a peaceful mountain. The foot was about 800 feet away. We were actually at the foot of a busy street that doesn't sleep.

My husband and I had a horrible sleep. We felt like we were paying an awful lot of money to be camping. But we got up trying to be positive, since my aunt was visiting Japan for the first time. My husband decided to take a shower to help him wake up. And, it definitely woke him up and even boiled his blood . There was no hot water. How wonderful... a cold shower. The thought of going to the comunal baths was not an option. Not because we were afraid of nuditiy, more like the smelly mold.

AFter the shower experience my husband went to change our room. This was difficult but he spoke more Japanese than me. They were not happy with us, really not happy with us. But somehow we got another room. This time it was a western style room. My aunt stayed in her room because she had an ok night sleep and there weren't any other rooms. So the Western style room had hot water and the shower was attatched to the bathtub, not separate, but that was about the only difference. It was a bit nicer meaning there wasn't any moldy wall paper falling down and the windows could shut. But otherwise that, it's not a western room. You still have the foutons in the closet, only to be taken out when you are sleeping at night.

I hate to write such a bad reiview, but we truely had a bad experience. Even the first morning we weren't given a choice for food. We had a Japanese style breakfast that couldn't be changed. It's fine for some, but I personally can't eat salted fish, raw egg, rice, miso soup and tofu at 8am.

On a positive note, the breakfast hall is gorgeous, overlooking another small but prettier garden. So if you choose not to stay at this place, you can go there and eat in this nice hall, over looking the garden.

So to all who don't worry about money and who love camping. This is the place. i just think there were nicer places when we walked around Kyoto and Gion. It was annoying actually to see some ryocans that looked so inviting. But who knows. It's worth looking for a good one. I really wouldn't recommend this place for a quite and relaxing time.

I wish you luck.