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Cheap Japanese ryokan at Kusatsu Onsen is hidden at the back of a traditional store

A budget stay in the centre of town that’s like visiting grandma’s house in the countryside.

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Stay in an eerie Japanese ryokan inn near Tokyo Tower for US$40 a night

Traditional accommodation in Tokyo’s ritzy Minato Ward doesn’t get much cheaper than this…but there’s a catch.

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How should you use the small hiroen in a Japanese ryokan hotel room?

Answering a question that’s puzzled travellers for decades.

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Step into the old pleasure quarters of a former red light district at this Japanese inn

This Japanese ryokan with a colorful past offers a modest place to stay near some major city attractions. 

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Bored with hotels? Abenomics bringing new lodging options for foreign tourists in Japan

With Japan’s population steadily decreasing, the country is finding itself with a bigger and bigger surplus of vacant houses—7.75 million of them, according to a 2008 survey. That makes more than 10% of all housing units in Japan unoccupied and that is set to increase to 30% by 2030.

But Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic reforms, lovingly dubbed “Abenomics,” hopes to turn this vacancy problem into a cash cow for property owners by changing hotel laws and loosening restrictions on renting out your home to tourists planning their ultimate Japanese vacation. And to jumpstart the initiative, a Japanese real estate giant has teamed up with a home rental website to match up homeowners to prospective overseas tourists who want to experience a more authentic Japan.

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