Hi — I’m Tabiiku. I travel around Japan with my daughter on the principle that experience is the best thing you can give a child. This is Ryugujo Spa Hotel Mikazuki Fujimitei in Kisarazu, just across the bay from Tokyo. Everyone in Japan knows the Mikazuki name; I went in with low expectations and came away genuinely pleased.
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Getting there from Tokyo
If you have a car, drive — it is the simplest option. We do not, so we went by public transport, and for that the bus is far and away the best choice. Keisei Bus runs from Yaesu Bus Terminal at Tokyo Station, and at weekends there is a morning and an afternoon service that stops directly in front of the hotel. It costs 1,500 yen for an adult, which is remarkably cheap, and takes just under an hour.
One catch: it is very popular and it gets full, and you cannot book. Queue thirty to forty minutes before departure. If it fills up you will be turned away.
The pools and spa
Mikazuki means pools. Hotel guests can use them from 11am on the first day at no extra charge, and at a discounted rate on the second day.
You check in first at the Fujimitei entrance, and you are given a wristband with a QR code printed on it. That code gets you into the spa building and also works as payment inside it.
The reviews I had read beforehand said things like “so crowded it was like a washtub of potatoes” and “the cleaning is not up to standard, I was worried about hygiene”, so I went in braced for a repeat of our Suginoi Hotel disaster.
In October, presumably because it is off season, there were a reasonable number of people but it was perfectly comfortable. Parts of the outdoor lazy river are heated and open all year. The slide had waits of about three minutes at some points and fifteen at others — and since the slide at Suginoi Hotel had a wait of over thirty minutes, that is entirely acceptable.
There is one place to eat inside, with a short menu and quality I will decline to comment on. If food matters to you, eat at the hotel.
One genuinely clever piece of design: the communal bath sits on the route between the changing room and the pool. After swimming you can wash, warm up in the onsen, and then get changed. Very convenient.
Omatsuri Land, next to the spa
Connected directly to the spa building is Omatsuri Land, an arcade plus souvenir shop. It is an old-fashioned sort of arcade, but perfectly good for half an hour. My daughter was delighted with the claw machines and the air hockey.
The Dragon Circuit was a write-off — we were told every battery car was broken.
The rooms at Fujimitei
We had been playing in the pool and the arcade for more than four hours, so we headed off to check into the room. Fujimitei is just far enough from the spa building that my daughter did not want to walk it. I was resigning myself to waiting for the shuttle when some horses appeared and her mood transformed.
For 1,000 yen they will carry you to Fujimitei, so we rode a pony. Apparently these horses work in television and one of them has been on a well-known Japanese variety show.
Because we had already checked in, we only had to collect the room key from the desk beside the front counter. It happened to be the welcome drink hour, with free drinks in the lounge, so we had one on the way. Set your expectations at family-restaurant drinks bar rather than luxury resort welcome drink.
The lobby is spacious and very clean; the rooms are clean but oddly dated at the same time. Ours faced the sea, and fireworks going up directly in front of the window at night was wonderful. The onsen on the eleventh floor is also lovely and felt great.
Food: the buffet
We had both dinner and breakfast at the Fujimitei buffet. Next to the buffet hall they have set up a theatre room, which struck me as a properly family-minded touch (nobody was using it).
The buffet hall gets extremely busy at both meals. Go as early as you can.
Each adult gets one ticket to exchange for a special dish. On our night the choice was roast beef or abalone. I took the abalone, and it was excellent. The range was wide, and the seafood in particular was fresh and very good. I had not expected any of that, so it was a happy surprise.
Nearby
Kisarazu Outlet Park is about ten minutes away by car, and there is a hotel shuttle, so access is easy. On day two we skipped the spa and went straight there. The morning was fairly quiet and it filled up in the afternoon, so go early if you can.
Right beside the outlet is a small amusement park, Kisarapia, which I would also recommend. It is small but nicely put together and there is essentially no queuing.
One last warning if you are taking the Keisei bus home: the return bus is also extremely busy. Queue thirty minutes before.
So — Fujimitei at Kisarazu. Having actually stayed, I would say that for the price the pools are good fun and the food is genuinely good, and I was very satisfied. Questions and comments always welcome.
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