by Rob Goss & Akihiko Seki (Photographer)
Tuttle

ISBN: 4-8053-1392-7
240 pp
There are thousands of ryokans and onsens in Japan, filled with everything from kitsch to classic, from plastic to natural, and from relatively cheap to "how much have you got""
Akihiko Seki and Rob Goss have written a beautiful book (published in 2017) elaborating on what they consider to be the 40 best of these ryokans and onsens. Some of the places mentioned are small, including some with only three rooms. One of these three-room inns, Tenku-No-Mori in Kyushu, is located on 148 acres.
Many of the places mentioned are quite old. For example, the Houshi Onsen in Ishikawa dates back 1,300 years (built in 718) and is called "the second oldest hotel in the world.? There are beautiful pictures throughout the book, making it quite suitable as a coffee table book. Just flipping through the book might help the reader relax and feel he is already halfway to an unforgettable experience.
The writing style is elegant and informative. This was not written by a smug adolescent trying to be funny or cute.
The book starts with a two page map of Japan with a (maybe too) tiny picture of each onsen and where it is located on the map. Nine of the onsens are in Kyoto.
There are then a few pages on The Ryokan Experience (a quick but delicious explanation of the food you will get at a ryokan, and a brief description of what you will find at a ryokan). Following that the...