00:00:05 John Daub: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Kobayashi in Miyazaki Prefecture. Behind me is flowing water. Can you hear the sound? It's one of the most relaxing things you can do when you come to Japan: soak in an onsen bath (hot spring). This has a lot of minerals in the water. It smells a little bit metallic, not a lot of sulfur—no egg smell—but the minerals make your skin really soft. You can hear the water rushing into this private bath.

00:00:42 John Daub: Oh, it's really hot. If you look around the bath, you can see the minerals caked on after years of use. One of the most special things is to get a room with a private bath like this. Nobody else except you and your family can be in here. So if you're shy about being in these baths, you don't have to worry—it's private.

00:01:23 John Daub: All right, I'm getting out of this bath and show you what this room looks like. We're going to give you a tour of this ryokan (Japanese inn). If you're thinking about coming to Kobayashi or staying in a Japanese ryokan, this might help you decide what it looks like inside. Look at this—the sediments have caked on, leaving residue from years of use. This is the water I was soaking in. It feels really good. Yeah, I'm not wearing anything—this could be dangerous for a live stream.

00:02:10 John Daub: Typically I put my clothes in here. There's a little changing area even inside the room. I'm going to take you in there in about a minute after I change and dry off. Looking back, this is what the bath looks like—where I was soaking to start the live stream. Pretty crazy, just that sound of it. I'm going to change and leave you to soak in the wonderful sounds for about 30 seconds. Nothing more comfortable than your birthday suit, though. Enjoy the cool sound of the onsen. Almost changed. Welcome back—nice, isn't it?

00:04:01 John Daub: Now Kanae is in this room. This is the door that exits in the back, and here's the room. Nice. Good morning, how's it going? Kanae is making some tea—very wonderful after soaking in the bath so long. Let's get a quick look around. For some reason I can't see any of the live stream chats. We do have Wi-Fi in the room, but it's super slow—you don't get good reception out in the countryside. And that's not a bad thing. It means you should stay off the internet a little more and enjoy and relax. Does that make sense?

00:04:52 John Daub: This here is a TV—we didn't turn it on once because you're probably using the internet too much. The room came with free water. If you look outside these windows, each room is private and separated. Piece of good news: if you have tattoos, it's okay to be in this particular onsen. With a private room and bath, they don't have problems with tattoos. There's still a stigma in Japan where tattoos mean gangster, but I think it's going away with the next generation. With the 2020 Olympics, it's accelerating. It's something older people grew up with—they're in power and make the rules.

00:05:58 Kanae Daub: [preparing tea]

00:06:05 John Daub: Rooms always come like this—every ryokan I've stayed in has a tea set in the middle. This is matcha. Oh, they're like tea bags. Smells so good. The tea bags go here, I believe. The tea might drip—maybe you don't know. Sometimes you don't know.

00:06:43 John Daub: Wow, that is that for beer or tea? Shiitake. All right, you're gonna try it? I don't wanna try this right now—it's still like 8:00 in the morning here in Japan. Aoshima—that's where we were staying a couple days ago. White cream—okay, we can open that one. I don't want the spicy salty shiitake. Do you want to eat it? Really, with tea? Very nice.

00:07:26 John Daub: The reason I'm showing you this is because the room always comes with amenities. One is these robes—you'll get a yukata (light kimono) or jimbei (casual summer kimono). The jimbei might not be in your size—usually one size too small for me. I roll with it. I'll ask the front desk for XL or XXL—they sometimes have it if you ask. Typically you just walk around looking ridiculous—I've gotten used to it. This room came with tabi socks, so you can use these. See how short this is? Not bad. You can take the socks home, just like the towels. I have an amazing collection of towels at home.

00:08:35 John Daub: The name of this onsen is Kanogo Onsen—link in the description if you're interested. As you saw, the bath is incredible. The water has magical properties—they say it keeps you young. When we did the akiya (abandoned house) live, I showed how beautiful Kanae's skin is after a day of Miyazaki's onsen water. Kyushu is a volcanic island—you always get really good water here. Here's the bathroom.

00:09:22 Kanae Daub: [on phone, asking about price]

00:09:31 John Daub: While she's doing that, I'm gonna go in here—this is the toilet. It looks like you're in a log cabin—I like this cozy feel, but it's got a Japanese washlet (bidet toilet). They're busy, probably with checkouts. Usually it's like 10,000-14,000 yen if you have meals. We didn't have dinner here—we went out to a jidori (free-range chicken) restaurant, which was really nice.

00:10:09 John Daub: Each ryokan offers meal sets. Depending on how remote it is, you might eat there or not. There are good restaurants around—we have a rent-a-car. We stayed two nights, had the dinner buffet—all-you-can-eat viking (buffet style). Quality was good but not great—buffets are hard to do really well. We went to a local jidori restaurant. I'm posting pictures on Instagram tonight—you'll see chicken nanban (fried chicken with tartar sauce). She had oyakomago don (chicken, egg, and grandchild donburi). Incredible, and nice to eat outside the hotel. They have a buffet breakfast, which you might eat.

00:11:24 John Daub: It's 8:30 now, but I wanted to give a quick tour of what a room is like. I love these paper doors—shoji (sliding screens). She's still searching for the price. While she does, we're jumping through these delicate paper doors—easy to put your foot through. This is the genkan (entryway)—leave your shoes here. You can tell to take off shoes if there's a genkan or step. Good residents turn your shoes around, like how people park cars in Japan—you want to park your shoes the same way.

00:12:19 Kanae Daub: [found price info]

00:12:34 John Daub: Oh wow, so it's per person—less than 9,000 yen a person to stay here. Is that with dinner? Super cheap—usually 14,000 yen per person. This is half the price—pretty amazing. Folks, I can't see chats for some reason—thank you YouTube update. Let me go outside, show the bath one more time. Any more info?

00:13:20 Kanae Daub: [speaking quietly, inaudible to viewers]

00:13:31 John Daub: She said hold on, nobody can hear you. You took like six baths over two days—we'd go out, she'd come back, take a bath. This morning too. I've been taking as many as her. When I fall asleep, she'll take a bath, then I wake up and take one. Good thing about private baths: if you come with wife or girlfriend or boyfriend, you can go in together. Nothing stops you except your own creativity. I wouldn't do anything funky—next people use it, so be respectful. Extremely beautiful bath. Water in Miyazaki and Kobayashi is very special.

00:14:30 John Daub: This bath goes back in and is refiltered—some secrets behind the onsen. There's a shower here. Room shower is outside—hot water, but cold outside right now. This is the part where I'm supposed to take questions, but I can't see live chat. Room price: per person weekday main building 7,450 yen or about $75. This building with private bath: 9,000 yen, about $90 per person per day. That's a steal—usually 14,000 with food. This place is out of the way, so you pay more to get here, but effort rewards you with amazing nature.

00:15:48 Kanae Daub: [on tattoos and day use]

00:16:03 John Daub: You can do just the bath at private, but not with tattoos. Day use bath is 500 yen—like $4.50. Pretty cheap. All right, going outside—this is the nature around: privacy, then thrown into Miyazaki nature. These are all private rooms. Walk to end of corridor to honkan (main building)—cheaper, but share bath. There's our rented car—going back to Miyazaki Airport in two hours.

00:17:27 John Daub: There you go—hope you enjoyed the tour of the onsen room with private bath. We're in number seven. Wonderful trip to Miyazaki Kobayashi is finished—11 o'clock flight. Quite an adventure. Glad we came for the mango auction. She has the mangoes—$300 mangoes gifted by guy who bid $5,000 for one. Amazing story on main channel. If interested, like and subscribe so you never miss videos. See you in the next one—thank you for watching, love you all, great day.

00:18:46 John Daub: If you have questions—can't see anything—leave in comments below, I'll answer. Love to see you make a trip to an onsen whenever you come to Japan. Don't know why people fly into Tokyo, go Kyoto, Osaka half day, Hiroshima, back to Tokyo—never stay in ryokan. What a waste. Sleep on futon on tatami floor—most traditional Japanese experience, ryokan with onsen.

00:19:25 John Daub: No limitations anymore—private baths like this. Tattoo or not, you can enjoy. Great if older, slower, disability, not comfortable naked in public. Guess what? You don't have to be. Wall surrounding this—you see? Hope this info helpful. Link in description—check it out. See you in next livestream, maybe Miyazaki Airport.