Motonago Ryokan in Kyoto's Gion District
"Good morning! This is your wakeup call. May we take away your futon bedding now so we can bring your breakfast in?"
The early morning wakeup call summarized Brian and my overnight stay at the Motonago Ryokan in Kyoto's Gion district.
In front of Motonago Ryokan in Kyoto's Gion district
Motonago Ryokan in Kyoto's Gion district
A few months ago I booked this stay because I wanted Brian to experience a traditional ryokan stay in Kyoto: a Japanese style inn that has kaiseki (multi course) Japanese dinner and breakfast served in the room, a public ofuro bath, and sleeping on futon beddings over tatami floor mats.
Being the thorough researcher that I am, Motonago Ryokan sold me because it was a much cheaper price compared to other ryokans. It was also of great value, ranked as top 20 Kyoto ryokans in Kyoto on Tripadvisor, as well as being decorated with a Michelin star and Zagat ratings.
Our Japanese style room at Motonago Ryokan, with a beautiful garden view
Our Japanese garden at Motonago Ryokan
Our Japanese garden at Motonago Ryokan
Simple but elegant decorations at Motonago Ryokan
View of a Japanese garden from the room
Public ofuro bath at Motonago Ryokan, rented by the hour
What Brian and I found out during our 1 night stay was that the Motonago staff took their jobs very seriously and were extremely diligent about being on schedule. In fact, most of the time Brian and I felt that we were an inconvenience to the staff because we wanted to relax and take our time enjoying our stay.
Japanese people by nature are reliable and punctual like Swiss trains. When an airplane flight or train is even 1 minute late, the train conductor or pilot will apologize about being 1 minute late.
Western style hotels train their hospitality staff to have customer service that puts the customer's experience first. That means that customers can relax and take their sweet time. They can sleep in if they want, or they can be 15 minutes late to an appointment without being reprimanded.
Motonago Ryokan's kaiseiki meal menu, a 10-course meal served in our room
Kaiseki dinner, 1st course (out of 10 courses)
Brian wearing traditional yukata in our room at dinner
It was a hot day! Fanning myself at dinner.
At Motonago Ryokan on the other hand, Brian and I had 3 "Only in Japan" instances occur during our short overnight stay:
Brian and I were scheduled for a 7:00 pm kaiseiki dinner. We were running about 10 minutes behind however, because Brian went to go buy water at a nearby Family mart. The ryokan dinner servers kept knocking on our door every 1 minute from 6:55 pm onward, asking when Brian would be back.
"Please wait patiently " I pleaded. "My husband should be back any minute."
Once Brian finally arrived, we began dinner 15 minutes behind schedule. We wanted to sit down, relax, and enjoy our meal slowly tasting every delicious course served in our kaiseki meal. However, the ryokan dinner servers kept coming back into our room every few minutes to check up on us. One woman even said in Japanese, "Ara! Mada tabe teru wa," which means, "My goodness, they are STILL eating this dish." She wanted to bring the next course even though we were still enjoying the current dish we were taking our time eating!
Kaiseki 10-course meal served by Motonago Ryokan's kimono clad servers in our room
The next morning we had breakfast scheduled in our room at 8 am. We set our alarm for 7:40 am to give ourselves enough time to brush our teeth and prepare for breakfast. At 7:30 am however, the phone rang loudly and woke us up. Then immediately after the phone began ringing, one of the ryokan staff members in a kimono banged on the door, barged in, and said: "Good morning! We hope you slept well last night. May we put away your futon bedding now so we can bring your breakfast in?" Breakfast was scheduled at 8 am, but yet they barged in on our room 30 minutes before breakfast to put away our bedding while we were still sleeping!
Although Brian and I felt rushed the entire time and could not relax at Motonago Ryokan due to them sticking strictly to their schedule, we realized that perhaps this Swiss train-like punctuality was all part of the authentic experience staying at a Japanese ryokan in Kyoto's Gion district.
We still got to enjoy authentic kaiseki meals in our room served by kimono clad servers, sleep on tatami mats, bathe in a public ofuro, and wear yukatas.
Our stay at Motonago Ryokan in Gion will always be a memorable one.