Japan #4 – Guesthouse Yougendo

Staying in a traditional Japanese guesthouse is an awesome experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who is traveling to Japan.


For the first part of our trip we stayed at Guesthouse Yougendo situated in the middle of Nara and Osaka, right next to JR Oji station. It’s a 100 year old traditional Japanese house that has been converted into a guesthouse. We got to enjoy traditional Japanese living in Japanese style rooms with sliding doors and slept on futons on tatami floors. Japanese living spaces are small and with three futons on the floor, there wasn’t much space for anything else. During the day the futons were rolled up and stored in the closet. 


The fascinating thing about traditional Japanese houses is that the structure is composed on wooden columns and crossbeams which are intricately interlocked without the use of nails!

Japanese Garden

The Dining Room

Included in the accommodation was traditional Japanese style breakfasts.

‘Okayu’ Japanese rice porridge with toppings, generally a variety of pickled vegetables

Grilled "Eringi" Mushroom Omelette with rice and miso soup

Yougendo is a high-standard budget accommodation, for more information, visit their website http://www.yougendo.com/