Kei-Kei

Finally! A high-end hot springs ryokan in Kusatsu Onsen! That's what we thought upon learning of the opening of Kusatsu Onsen Kei, a 7-room ryokan that was established in 2019. Kusatsu Onsen (in Gunma Prefecture) is one of the most famous and revered onsen locales in all of Japan, but it was missing a flagship luxury property. It's also priced accordingly - it's up there when it comes to room rate, so we thought it must be awesome. Unfortunately, Kusatsu Onsen Kei has quite a few kinks to iron out before it is elevated to the upper echelon of Japan's high-end ryokans, if it ever gets there. First off is the location - it's not inconveniently situated, but neither is it in the heart of the action, which is the main "Yubatake" area of the Onsen town. It's about a 5 minute walk, but it's a bit of an uphill climb to get there. Ideally, it would be facing the main Yubatake area with views from the room; however, given the limited amount of real estate in the town center, I wouldn't hold that against them. The building is nondescript and faces an area that is home to "Jizo Gensen", which is one of several hot spring sources at Kusatsu Onsen. There's a cute little shrine and an area where you can see the spring water flowing beneath the ground via a cut-out (there's a glassed area where it's visible.) The ryokan has no garden or any sort of grounds, for that matter - it's simply a small building; note that it's an Onsen town with limited land, so I doubt any ryokan near the center has a tranquil garden regardless. Once inside, the architecture and decor is modern and relatively stylish, if a bit dark. Aside from the main lobby lounge, there is no other communal area - the purpose of most visitors is to explore the town, so it's no big deal. While we wanted Takasago, the ryokan's top room at 95m², unfortunately it was already taken. We settled for the next best thing, the 85m² A01 Type Suite with Open-Air Onsen Bath. The Suite had a separate living room and bedroom, although it's not completely sealed off from one another - rather, it's separated by a sort of partition. There's also an odd, alcove area (call it the "dungeon") next to the bedroom that can serve as a work area (it contains a small desk and a chair.) The bathroom has two sinks, an indoor shower area and the open-air onsen bath. Overall, it ticks most boxes. We also appreciated the living room having both a Western style sofa as well as a Japanese tatami floor area that has a cutout where you can lower your feet to a heated "ditch" - way more comfortable than having to sit cross-legged on the floor. One thing that puzzled us was the toilet: for a property that is new, I'm not sure why the controls of the toilet do not allow one-touch button functionality to lift (and put down) the toilet seat itself. This is de rigueur in Japanese accommodations, even in typical hotels. Also, the towels were extremely thin, not soft at all and did not absorb moisture very well - they really should not c