How we choose
Every guide follows the same five steps, and none of the order is decided by what pays us.
1. One theme, narrow enough to test
A theme is a place, who you are travelling with, and one thing you care about. It is written as conditions a property either meets or does not. If a new theme would share three or more properties with a guide we already have, we do not write it.
2. Gather every candidate in the area
We start from the full list of properties bookable in that area, not a shortlist. The number is printed at the top of each guide.
3. Cut on the conditions, then on reviews
The theme's conditions come first, then a common bar on review count and score.
4. Score on five criteria
| Criterion | Weight | How the stars are set |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | 20 | Guest scores for the room, the bath and the food, averaged. A private open-air bath in every room adds one star. |
| Value | 20 | The nightly price against the median of every property we compared, shown as a range for a weeknight and a Saturday. |
| Easy for a visitor | 25 | The one that matters most from abroad, and the one other guides skip. See the checklist below. |
| Trust | 20 | Guest reviews weighted by how many there are — and separately, how guests from outside Japan rated it. |
| Only in Japan | 15 | What you cannot get anywhere else: a kaiseki dinner served in your room, a temple stay, a bath fed by its own spring. |
The weights differ by theme and always add to a hundred. Four of the five are calculated, not opinions.
What “easy for a visitor” means
This is where our non-Japanese editions differ from the Japanese one. A ryokan that is perfect for a Tokyo couple can be unusable for someone arriving from abroad, and almost no guide says so. We check all of this and print what we found — including when the answer is no.
| We check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| English at the front desk | Whether someone who speaks your language is on site, and at what hours — not just a translation app. |
| Menus and signage | Dinner menus, bath rules and room instructions in a language you can read. |
| Tattoo policy | Whether the onsen admits guests with tattoos, or offers a private bath instead. This decides the trip for many visitors. |
| Payment | Cards and IC payment accepted, or cash only — still common at older ryokan. |
| Getting there | Minutes on foot from the nearest station or bus stop, and whether a pick-up exists. |
| Luggage | Whether the property forwards suitcases, so you can travel between cities with a day bag. |
| Cancellation | Free cancellation and how late, which matters when flights move. |
| Meal restrictions | Vegetarian, halal or allergy-aware meals on request. |
5. Keep five that differ
We take the highest score first, then keep going down — but no more than two properties of the same character. The highest total is marked “If you can’t decide”. We do not number them, and we never call one the best.
Keeping it honest
- Prices are ranges from live availability, per person, with the date we checked.
- Every guide is reviewed again within 90 days, and swaps are logged at the bottom of the page.
- Guest comments appear as the booking site returns them, unedited, with a link.
- Pages carry affiliate links. What we pick is not affected by commission; commission only tells us which themes to grow.