One part of a photo tour often taken for granted is the lodging during your stay, but the choice of a Ryokan, or a traditional Japanese Inn can help create an authentic Japanese Experience while you enjoy the photographic treasures of a Japanese winter.

While photographing the infamous Japanese Snow Monkeys, you could stay at the Ryokan used as the model for Hayao Miyazaki animated film “Spirited Away.”  If you have had the pleasure of viewing the film, then immediately upon arriving, you will notice the telltale bridge and building’s facade that allude to the magic and mystery held within the walls of Sekizenkan Inn.

The main building’s construction was finished in 1691, making it the oldest standing onsen hotel in Japan.  Within the walls of the ryokan, you may walk the winding tunnel to the secondary building (finished in 1936).  It is this same connecting path that Miyazaki used to demarcate the human and spirit worlds.  The final building is by far the newest being completed in 1986, and is shows the Japanese desire to create a union between the manmade structures of the inn and the spectacular forest that surrounds it.

As you immerse yourself into the warm, relaxing waters of the onsen, you’ll notice that you are not in Miyazaki fantasy world, but a world fashioned after Ancient Roman Style Baths.  The evenings after your Japan Photo Tour should be refreshing, and the Genroku no You bath house in the Sekizenkan Inn is the precise spot to make that happen.  The town where the onsen is situated is 四万 or Shima which means 40,000 which was the number of diseases that the local onsets were alleged to cure.  Japan Dreamscapes can’t promise a cure for anything except your tiredness after a full day of once in a lifetime photo ops, and this ryokan is only one part of a larger Japan Photo Tour experience.