Ryokans in Yagaji-Jima

"The rooms are huge and the view amazing. The beach is not that nice as the one of the hotel nearby. In July the place was full of families with toddlers. What ruined the experience for us was the plethora of rules and restrictions eg around use of the pool, which made it very hard to relax. Also, you needed to present a voucher for almost anything like comfortable beds at the pool. The extra costs for the pool beds and other services in the hotel were ridiculously high. But most of all there are real safety concerns. The hotel is occupied mostly by Chinese guests. Staff rarely speak any English with the exception of a few. One night the alarm went off and there were loud PA announcements in the room in various Asian languages but not one word in English. We had to evacuate as the emergency exits were blaring to do so. This created panic as we had no idea what was happening. Having experienced a fire before in my life, I know that seconds can matter. Not having any sense of what was happening was deeply upsetting and a real safety concer for future guests. The hotel apologized when we raised the issue afterwards but seemed unaware or unconvinced about the need to communicate in English about such things. "

"Heel groot hotel. Vriendelijk personeel, maar spreken amper Engels. Wij verbleven in de tower, een grote kamer met balkon en zijdelingszeezicht. Kamer stonk elke dag naar vocht en een beschimmelde kelder. Badkamer erg klein. Een ouder hotel, vandaar de goedkopere prijs. Ontbijt was erg druk en typisch Japans. Eerder beperkte variatie. "

"Especially liked the spacious rooms compared to other places we stayed at in Japan. Heated pool (31degrees C), large breakfast buffet, indoor shop, lots of free amenities such as hair oil. Easy parking for a small fee. Friendly staff. Small side note: pool bar is only open during high season (3 months in summer)"