booking hotel/ryokan at kusatsu

[kms899]

I will be visiting japn in October 6th for 8 days, whiles on the 9th and 10th will be staying in kusatsu.
There are a few ryokan I would like to make reservations, but due to the site in japanese, it's not very easy to use, would it be possible to make reservations as a walk-in guest, would the price be the same as booking online as to walk-in.
on arrival to japan I can also try to get my hotel to make a phone call to make reservation, will this be too late.
In the worst case will all ryokan be booked out, my budget will be about 11000 yen maximun per night.
ﾅ?iﾋ?? ﾆ築ﾆ弾ﾆ停?ｹ 窶ｹS窶悳ﾂ静ｬ 窶伉絶?凖 窶愿淞須 窶ｰﾂｷﾂ静ｲ窶堙??倪?版筑ﾆ団ﾆ但ﾂー窶堋ｪﾅｽﾂｩ窶督昶?堙個宿ﾂ｜窶堋ｨ窶堋ｨ窶堙ｩ窶堙ｨﾆ丹ﾆ停?ｹﾂーﾆ致ﾂ｜ﾆ築ﾆ弾ﾆ停?ｹﾆ男ﾆ停?ｦﾂーﾅｽﾂｵﾂ青ｯ
at 6000 yen with breakfast
窶伉絶?凖??ｰﾂｷﾂ静ｲ 窶板ｷﾅ?ﾃ ﾂ「窶敕鯛?懌?｡ﾅ?ﾃ卍」
at 6500 yen breakfast and dinner
窶伉絶?凖??ｰﾂｷﾂ静ｲ-窶ｹﾃ嫁?yﾅ?ﾃ?
at 8500 yen
The above are my three choosen ryokan, whiles the second one is my preferred choice.

 

[nnnaaa]

It depends on the season, but it may naturally be safer to get the reservation beforehand.
I imagine that in those local inns, unless you are very lucky, usually there may be no people who could speak English well, so calling them might not be a good solution ( you can try, though). If in some way you can process the reservation through the Japanese page, and add some comments in English, they will be able to translate your words and reply back to you.

Or, it looks like the following official Kusatsu tourist office handles such reservation for the tourists, through the following contact form :
Kusatsu-Accommodations.jp

In the corresponding Japanese site, they say they do the reservation on behalf of the tourists. I am sure they have staffs for tourists from overseas.

Good luck!!

 

[Glenski]

Japanese have an easier time plowing through written English than spoken English (or poor Japanese). Try that instead. Make your sentences short.

 

[kms899]

Thanks for all the reply, I have sent most of them an email, they just ignore it without reply, I actually made a reservation with:
ﾅ?iﾋ?? ﾆ築ﾆ弾ﾆ停?ｹ 窶ｹS窶悳ﾂ静ｬ 窶伉絶?凖 窶愿淞須 窶ｰﾂｷﾂ静ｲ窶堙??倪?版筑ﾆ団ﾆ但ﾂー窶堋ｪﾅｽﾂｩ窶督昶?堙個宿ﾂ｜窶堋ｨ窶堋ｨ窶堙ｩ窶堙ｨﾆ丹ﾆ停?ｹﾂーﾆ致ﾂ｜ﾆ築ﾆ弾ﾆ停?ｹﾆ男ﾆ停?ｦﾂーﾅｽﾂｵﾂ青ｯ
it was done through Booking.com: 329,600 hotels worldwide. 22+ million hotel reviews. and cost 13000 yen for two night including 2 meal a day, the price is an extra 500 yen a day from their site which states 6000 yen, but thats isn't much.
anyone tried this hotel, is it good, I was told it's a little dated, but it's only for sleeping and I prefer a private toilet and bath.
the main thing is, it's cheap and very close to yubatake which is walking distances.

 

[nnnaaa]

Glad to hear that you made a reservation. Sorry about all the no-replies. I think they mean no ill-intent, just the ignorance of the language ( i once saw on TV that those ryokan-masters use google translation or similar web-translation tools to decipher English).
I myself often go to Kusatsu, but the town is fairly small so all the ryokans are within walking (at least strolling) distance. I recommend you do hiking to the Shirane mountain, which is an easy walk, but really beautiful, trees and the ponds at the top). Also we do this public onsen tour besides the hotel bath. we visit around the other onsens (some really old) within the town. Do not be embarrassed of being naked in public!!! Hope you have a good trip.

 

[kms899]

Thanks for the reply, i do intend to visit Sainokawara Park, Otakinoyu bath house and Shirohatanoyu, also the mount shriane at yugama on my second day, i'm ok being naked, i have been to enoshima 3 years ago, at enospa, been naked there.

can you tell me, I know kusatsu have different onsen, water that flushed out from different source, will this affect you if you visit different onsen on the same day, and also will the water pose a health problem if swallowed.

also in the onsen do they have lockers and how do people carry money around wearing yukata.

thanks

 

[nnnaaa]

Well, I am not a specialist or maniac of Onsen, but I also noticed there are several different types of hot waters within the small Kusatsu area, all of which naturally should come from similar source (probably Shirane volcano?). Some are while opaque, some are transparent and has some black particle mixed in the water, etc. I understand that they are relatively strong in mineral(sulfur, i assume?), and if you taste it, you will notice some strong saltiness or sulfur taste in the water. I am not sure why the difference in the color, etc (but the variation is good, right?). Those are known to be effective for curing diseases from ancient times, and it sure has the feel of "healing", but I guess the contact is all through the skin, so nothing strong or serious (if you are concerned about the negative effect). Drinking them is no problem (less than bathing in it ), just salty water. People has been actually drinking that for cure of diseases for centuries. There's the drinking stand, or foot-spa place near Ubatake.

One thing is that the water is really hot there (actually, hot water is running down the gutter or the neighbor river), so that would be the major cause if any effect should come out. I once stayed there for a week dipping myself in Onsen several times each day ( sorry, that's what we Japanese do), and eventually, my skin got really dry and became irritated. My skin obviously got deprived of the skin oil, together with too much continuous stimulation by the salty hot water. That was obviously too much. But one or two days, I guess no problem, if you can get into the hot water (sometimes it is too hot you can't get in...).

What I really like there, is that the hot spring is really abundant, so no heat added or nor the water recycled (it just flows over).

I guess modern types of visiting Onsen has a nice locker system. Anyway, you can just leave the major property at your inn (hopefully there's a safe box there) and grab some coins and towel and go wander around. This is the image of the Onsen-hopping http://www.kinosaki3928.com/kinosaki/images/sotoyu_title.jpg (in the bag, there are towels and purse and underwears, etc. i guess),

If you want any support there, I guess (if your inn has trouble in the language) you go to the center of the village (village office) where I believe there is a tourist guide who can communicate in your language ( I strongly hope so).

 

[kms899]

Thanks, your information has been very helpful, if I need anything else i will post here, and thanks again.