Yugawara Onsen Fukiya

Fukiya is a Michelin-starred onsen ryokan on the hillside above Yugawara that pairs serious kaiseki with an unusual curatorial eye — Finn Juhl chieftain chairs sit on tatami beside Kitayama cedar columns, and it works. The seven baths, including rooftop rotenburo and in-room hinoki tubs fed by natural sulfate spring water, anchor the stay in onsen culture, while monthly-changing in-room kaiseki built on Sagami Bay fish and seasonal mountain vegetables justifies the star.

Service is warm and personalised — staff will photograph an 88-year-old grandmother in a celebratory chananchako vest without being asked — but the shift from futon to electric beds on tatami and the contemporary Nordic-Japanese aesthetic signal a ryokan in deliberate transition. The guest who will love Fukiya is one who values craft and curation over orthodoxy.

What you will remember: opening the lid of the wan-mono and having the room fill with dashi.