Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Guesthouse U-en

Guesthouse Uen Front Door

As a lovely gift for rating all our wedding vendors we receieved a free linen photo ablum which we promptly decided to use for our travel photos. One problem was we needed to get our photos fully sorted before deciding on the final 100+ to be printed. The majority of our photos have been scrubbed and cleaned up but the ones from Japan were the last ones we needed to go through.

As we began sorting through the 400+ photos of just Osaka alone we came across photos of the Guesthouse U-en and realized that it was one of the most unique places we have stayed during our 4 months of traveling.

Guesthouse Uen

In fact all our accomodations in Japan were very unique and completely different, but the Guesthouse U-en was beyond our expectations and we're so glad we took a bunch of photos.

Front Door to Guesthouse Uen

We arrive at the train station and with the help of a kind man, headed down an unassuming street, which initially looked more like an alleyway.

Guesthouse Uen Street

As we walked closer to the building our excitment grew when we realized which building was our guesthouse for the next 5 days.

The Exterior of Uen GuesthouseEntrance to Uen Cafe and Reception AreaGuesthouse Uen Entrance

The open garage door, concrete floors and initially nothing resembling a hotel lobby or guesthouse registration area made us think we were possibly in the wrong place. Was this the guesthouse or an autobody shop?

Lobby of the Guesthouse Uen

We made our way towards the back of the house pass a group of people lounging in the "cafe" to where the cashier/kitchen/reception area was.

Cafe Uen & Lobby of Guesthouse UenGuesthouse Uen LobbyGuesthouse Uen Reception Area

From the internet description we knew the guesthouse had a cafe and print shop, but wasn't aware that these were separate businesses in the same building.

Guesthouse Uen Building DescriptionsUen Buildings SignsPrintshop

Upon check in we were given the passcode to the door for afterhours entry, a short tour of where the shared bathroom is (out front by the short little truck. A whole separate blog post could be used to describe this tiny and strange bathroom - wooden plank and plastic stool in a room tucked underneath the staircase. We had no idea how to take a shower this bathroom, but we managed). We were given a key that unlocked the padlock to our tatami room and told rooms are upstairs and ours was at the end of the hallway.

Inside Cafe UenStairway to GuestroomsHallway Infront of Our Room
Guestroom HallwayGuest Floor Hallway

Once we stepped into our traditional tatami room we were beyond happy with our decision to stay at the Guesthouse U-en.

Guesthouse Uen GuestroomMike & Our Room

Our time in Japan was way too short and we're so glad we found the Guesthouse U-en, a serious gem of a find!

Mike infront of the Guesthouse Uen

All our Osaka photos can be seen on our flickr site.

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