Iruka Hotel

As one of the several accommodations in our 10-day Hokkaido self-drive vacation, my family and I stayed two weekday nights at Iruka Hotel. Getting to hotel & parking: We reached the hotel using Apple Map and Google Map on the Apple Car Play in our rental car at about 6:30pm after seeing a fabulous sunset just half an hour ago. The Apple Map directed us to drive down a sharp u-turn bend. Subsequently hotel staff told us of another route of along the small coastal road from the hotel and then through a narrow lane passing through residential houses. There are 7 free parking lots on the gravel patch. Once you enter the hotel, we changed into the coloured slippers and left our shoes on the rack. We chose this hotel because: (1) it is about 1 kilometre away from Utoro town (2) all the hotel rooms, including ours, face the sea except for one family room with two bedrooms and a kitchenette (3) use it as our base to explore the Shiretoko National Park and the Shiretoko Peninsula (e.g. 8 scenic wonders of Shiretoko) (4) it is next to a rock formation attraction known as Kameiwa (カメ岩) translated as “Turtle Rock” which is best viewed just before reaching Iruka Hotel Hotel staff: We were welcomed by a gentleman receptionist at the reception who spoke little English. Thankfully, there was a past hotel employee, Mr Wang (we addressed him as “Wang Shifu”), who conversed with us in Mandarin (Chinese language) and showed us the facilities within the hotel and to our room. Hotel room: When we stepped into our Japanese-styled Superior Room (corner room 101), we were greeted with a huge and well cleaned room that comes with grey bird-themed and blue dolphin-themed wallpapers, two large square windows, two single beds, one bed mattress on the floor, two wooden chairs with blue cushion seat, a white round coffee table, a refrigerator on the floor, a long white narrow table along the window connected to a white low lying dressing table, a mirror, a heater, a hair dryer, a kettle, a small Toshiba LCD television, four porcelain cups and a tissue box. The quilt cover over each bed is very thick. There was a plastic bucket that contained the bath and face towels. In the middle of this huge room is a sliding door that opens into a sink and bathroom. There is a separate toilet room. At the end of the room is a open wardrobe with clothe hangers and a clothes drying rack. There is no ironing board, no iron and no safe. With exception of the toilet, bathroom and sink area, the entire room floor is laid with tatami mat, which is very comfortable for our feet. One of the two windows looks into the sea and the town while the second window looks into the gravel-laid car park. As this hotel is not in a big city such as Sapporo or Tokyo, we had to lower our expectations. Nevertheless, I liked the following about the basic room: (1) the beds were comfortable such that we have a good night sleep (2) it is well maintained and very clean (3) it was quiet including the aircon (4) there was complimentary Wi-Fi with fast connection speed (5) picturesque window view of the Sea of Okhotsk, concrete wavebreaker structure with a red lighthouse, Utoro fishing port, Cape Utoro, Oronko Rock (one of the 8 scenic wonders of Shiretoko (知床八景)) and the Shiretoko Mountain Range Hotel Restaurant: The hotel has a restaurant comprising a kitchen and a dining area (or “lounge” as the hotel calls it) with bar table, dining tables, colourful chairs and even a stationary bike, a small telescope and two pairs of binoculars (Nikon and Tasco). At the long table facing the sea was this helpful rectangular wood piece entitled “SHIRETOKO MOUNTAIN RANCH” with sketched mountain peaks and the following mountains mapped to the peaks: Mount Iou 1526m, Chiebetsu 1544m, Ochikabake 1450m, Sashirui 1564m, Mitsumine 1509m, Mt Rausu 1661m (I believe “Mount Iou” is “Mount Io” and I cannot find “Ochikabake” and I am unsure whether it is “Okkabake“ instead). According to the hotel staff, Iruka Hotel stopped serving breakfast at the restaurant post covid-19. Nevertheless, we loved this restaurant because it has been opened to the hotel guests - it was here that we cooked brown rice using the rice cooker and microwaveable dishes (bought from nearby 7-eleven and Seicamart convenience stores) using microwave oven and then ate our lunch and dinner using the plates, cutlery and utensils from the kitchen at the long table facing the sea. It was such an unforgettable experience eating and enjoying the picturesque scenery at the same time. There was also free coffee available. The facilities in the restaurant served us well in view of the limited dining options in Utoro town. We enjoyed our stay at this 3-star hotel. This is the first hotel in Japan that we stayed that is next to the sea. It reminded us of our home when we did the food preparation and cooking in the kitchen and then eating it in the dining area. We would come back to this hotel the next time we explore further the other attractions in the Shiretoko Peninsula. For that matter, I would also recommend this homely hotel when you are sightseeing the Shiretoko Peninsula.