Rather than a traditional hotel, Craft Inn is more like 2 separate full - sized traditional Japanese homes ( with modern luxuries) in one. It has both the Indigo room and the Bamboo room, but when I say room, it's more like a full home! I was lucky enough to enjoy both and honestly couldn’t pick a favourite. The inn itself was once home to the Tsuakamoto family as both their residence and family store, which had been in business since the end of the Edo period and then reborn into the Inn as we now know it in 2021. When you first step through the doors, it's more like entering a peaceful storefront, with shelves filled with local crafts and pieces that you can also find throughout the rooms you're about to stay in.
Every inch of the building is crafted and filled with local furnishings and fixtures handmade by the local craftspeople of Kyushu, making it extra special. My overall favourite part of the property is, hands down, the massive wooden bath tubs! Both rooms have these incredible handmade tubs, made by Kyushu craftsman, Matsunobu Kougei. If you’ve stayed in Japan before, you’ll know the average hotel often features a very small soaking tub (which I still love, but I’m sure the less vertically challenged person might enjoy them a little less, haha) so these baths are really something special.
Other highlights include the incredibly comfy futons, the locally made glassware and the beautiful private courtyard exclusive to the Bamboo room! If you're staying in the Indigo room, the highlight is the big street-facing windows, perfect for watching the world go by and experiencing the local day-to-day happenings outside.
I would be crazy not to mention, though, both rooms feature their own full-sized tatami tea rooms...!!! Complete with big wooden tea boxes with local Yame tea and all the tools and instructions needed for steeping the perfect cup.
A very lucky coincidence is that right across the street, there is this incredible Taiwanese restaurant called Kumu Of all the places in the world, in little rural Yame, there is this incredible place, 10 seconds from the inn, selling amazing vegan food!
I honestly couldn’t believe it. We went back each day, it was that good. If you are lucky enough to visit, I highly recommend any of the steamed buns as well as the Mapo Tofu (everything they make is good, though, it isn’t just vegan food either if you’re worried about that.)
This place will forever hold a special place in my heart as it’s where I was staying when I got engaged last year, too!
