[Japan tour 2026] Onyado Nono Sakaiminato ~ accommodation and dinner buffet

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Date: 18~19th January 2026 (Sunday~Monday)

We left Daisen at around 16:30 and, after passing through Yonago (米子) and Hiezu (日吉津), arrived at tonight's destination, Sakaiminato (境港), at around 17:30 – about an hour later. Sakaiminato City is located at the very tip of the Yumigahama Peninsula (弓ヶ浜半島), with Yonago City being the only city it shares a land border with. Although Sakaiminato is the smallest city in the Chûgoku region by area, covering just 29.11 km2 (roughly a quarter of the size of the City of Manchester, or about the same size as the London Borough of Southwark), it is nevertheless the most important port in the San'in region, serving as a hub for fishing, international freight and logistics, as well as domestic and international passenger services. 　 The name 'Sakaiminato' can be divided into two parts: 'Sakai' and 'minato'. 'Sakai' means 'boundary', as this area lies at the boundary between present-day Tottori and Shimane Prefectures, as well as between the ancient provinces of Hôki and Izumo. 'Minato' means 'harbour', so the two together essentially mean 'Boundary Harbour'. 　 ▲ Main entrance of Onyado Nono Sakaiminato 　 ▲ Front desk of Onyado Nono Sakaiminato 　 ▲ Entrance lobby of Onyado Nono Sakaiminato 　 ▲ Shoes storage locker 　 ▲ Lift lobby on G/F 　 Tonight's hotel was Onyado Nono Sakaiminato (御宿 野乃 境港). Yes, another 'Onyado Nono', just like in Osaka. I really do like the Dormy Inn chain! (Tomorrow's location will be different, but it will still be an Onyado Nono!) 　 Onyado Nono Sakaiminato was the first hotel operated under the 'Onyado Nono' brand by its parent company, Kyoritsu Maintenance (共立メンテナンス). It was originally planned to operate under another existing brand, La Vista, but was eventually launched under a completely new concept as a 'Japanese-style Dormy Inn Premium'. It turned out to be very well received. 　 The hotel has a car park with 58 spaces, costing JP¥500 per night, and cars need to leave by 12:00 the following day. When we arrived, there weren't many spaces left, so it looked like quite a few people were staying tonight! The car park is behind the hotel, but as there is no rear entrance for hotel guests, we had to take our luggage around to the main entrance after getting out of the car. Of course, a fairly full car park alone isn't enough to prove that the hotel is busy. But when we entered the lobby and saw a large group of tour guests who had just checked in waiting for the lifts, I thought, 'Oh no, there are going to be a lot of people at dinner tonight!' 　 ▲ Lift lobby on the guest-room floor 　 ▲ Corridor on the guest-room floor 　 ▲ Room hallway (wardrobe with slatted doors, with the toilet door beside it) 　 As with all Onyado Nono hotels, suitcases have to be wheeled through a disinfecting passage before they can be taken onto the tatami flooring. You also have to take off your shoes and leave them in a locker before proceeding to the front desk to check in. The check-in process is again completed using a self-service kiosk, but there was no need to enter Todd's details. All I had to do was enter my full name and scan both passports. 　 The hotel is 12 storeys high, with the restaurant and front desk on the G/F, guest rooms on 2-11/F, and hot-spring baths and relaxation facilities on the 12/F. I always prefer staying on a higher floor, and this time we were assigned the highest guest-room floor – the 11/F. 　 There are 194 guest rooms, divided into Moderate Double (one double bed), Moderate Twin, Superior Twin (for up to 4 guests), and a Universal Room. All rooms are non-smoking, with smoking only permitted in the smoking rooms on the G, 3 and 9/F. We booked a Superior Twin this time, with a package including both breakfast and dinner, for a total of JP¥31,500. 　 ▲ Loungewear inside the wardrobe in the hallway 　 ▲ Washbasin in the bathroom 　 ▲ Shower and bath area 　 ▲ Toilet 　 There is only one Superior Twin room on each floor, so there are only 10 of them in the entire hotel. As a 'Superior' room, it is naturally somewhat larger than a Moderate Twin room. According to the information provided by the hotel, the room measures 33 m2 (roughly 350 square feet). Because the room is larger, the washbasin is located inside the bathroom, rather than taking up space in the hallway. 　 There is a wardrobe in the hallway. Although it has doors, they have a slatted design, making it quite easy to see whether you have left any clothes inside. Japanese-style loungewear was already hanging in the wardrobe. In a traditional ryokan, guests would usually wear the clothes the ryokan provides while moving around the property. But in a modern Japanese-style hotel like Onyado Nono, locals generally still wear what the hotel provides, although choosing to wear your own clothes wouldn't exactly make you look out of place either. 　 The other door beside the toilet door leads to the bathroom. The washbasin is immediately inside, while the shower and bath area is separated from it by another door, making it a completely separate wet and dry area. Personal amenities such as toothbrushes and combs, as well as the hairdryer, are all kept in the drawers beneath the washbasin. As this room can accommodate up to four guests, all the amenities are provided for four people. 　 ▲ Twin bedroom 　 ▲ Japanese-style living area 　 ▲ Sink, fridge and kettle in the living room; tea set and cups are stored underneath the sink 　 ▲ View from the window – Sakai Channel 　 At the end of the hallway, the sliding door on the left, directly opposite the bathroom, leads to the living area. The bedroom and Japanese-style living area are separated by a single step, making the room feel quite spacious. The bedroom has two 110-cm-wide single beds. If four people are staying, two additional sets of Japanese-style futons are stored in the wardrobe and can be laid out on the tatami mats in the living area. 　 One particularly useful feature is that there is also a sink in the living area, so you don't have to go all the way to the bathroom washbasin just to fill up the kettle. The fridge, kettle, tea set, tea bags and coffee are all stored in the cupboard beneath the sink. Inside the fridge were four bottles of water and four portions of the complimentary welcome snack – pear pudding (the same as in Osaka!). 　 The view from the window is of the Sakai Channel (境水道). It isn't exactly a sweeping sea view, but at least there are mountains and water! The Sakai Channel is a narrow waterway connecting Miho Bay (美保湾) on the Sea of Japan with Lake Nakaumi (中海), and forms part of the River Hii (斐伊川) system. It is around 7 km long and approximately 500 to 1,500 m wide. The northern shore is Mihosekichô (美保関町) in Matsue (松江), Shimane Prefecture, while the southern shore is Sakaiminato in Tottori Prefecture, where we were staying. So the mountains we could see across the water from our window were already in Shimane Prefecture and the City of Matsue. 　 Lake Nakaumi is a brackish lagoon. Around 7,000 years ago, it was still part of the Sea of Japan, until sediment began accumulating around 2,400 years ago to form the Yumigahama Peninsula. This left the Sakai Channel as the only connection between Lake Nakaumi and the Sea of Japan. In the 1950s, the Shimane Prefectural authority planned to turn Lake Nakaumi into a freshwater lake and reclaim land around it, but the project was eventually abandoned in the 1980s due to environmental and ecological concerns. 　 Fresh water from the River Hii flows into Lake Nakaumi via Lake Shinji (宍道湖) and the River Ôhashi (大橋川). At the same time, there is no difference in water level between Lake Nakaumi and the Sea of Japan, allowing seawater to flow into the lake with the tides. This creates a brackish lake with a salinity of roughly half that of seawater. 　 ▲ Hotel restaurant – Minatomachi Shokudô Umitsubaki 　 ▲ Inside the restaurant; there were only a few tables occupied apart from ours. 　 ▲ Starters: Surf clam and smoked pickles, tomato caprese, salmon marinated, raisin baguette, and Napa cabbage with turnip and thick sauce 　 ▲ Starters: Kazunoko (herring roe) Matsue pickles, pufferfish and Chinese cabbage pickled in koji, simmered cod roe with ginger, simmered scallops and aubergine, crab and okra with cranberry 　 ▲ Bread: croissants, white bread and grain bread 　 As I mentioned in the previous article, I strained the muscles in my shoulder and back while bending down to grab the handrail when leaving Daisenji temple. I took some painkillers before driving away, but by the time we arrived at the hotel, things hadn't improved at all – in fact, the pain had become even worse! After having a look around the room, I immediately lay down on the bed to rest, and it wasn't until around 19:00 that I finally went down for dinner. 　 Onyado Nono Sakaiminato has only one restaurant, Minatomachi Shokudô Umitsubaki (港町食堂 海つばき), on the ground floor. 'Minatomachi Shokudô' literally means 'the dining hall of a harbour town'. Dinner is served from 17:00 to 21:00, with last orders at 20:30, and each table has a time limit of 90 minutes. 　 With the tour group and the almost full car park, I had been a little worried that the restaurant would be packed at dinner time. After all, buffets can get a bit chaotic when there are lots of people. Japanese people are generally very polite, but there are exceptions. I had experienced this in Kagoshima (鹿児島) before, so I know better than to overestimate the buffet etiquette of some elderly Japanese guests – especially when the group happens to consist mainly of elderly people! And it can be particularly interesting when the restaurant isn't replenishing the food very quickly. 　 But... I was worrying for nothing. Including us, there were only three tables occupied at the time. Whether the Japanese people simply eat very early, or the tour group had arranged a separate meal for its members, I have no idea. 　 ▲ Salad: frilly lettuce and herb salad, chrysanthemum leaves and flowers, broccoli, and roast herb chicken breast 　 ▲ Chilled dishes: Chinese jellyfish salad, and Yuba (tofu skin) and Aosa Konjac salad 　 ▲ Crab chawanmushi (steamed savoury egg pudding) 　 ▲ Port-style oden (foods simmered in dashi fish stock): konjac, quail eggs, tomatoes, white whelks, deep-fried tofu, flying-fish chikuwa, daikon (mooli radish) and flying-fish cakes 　 ▲ Beef curry 　 The pain in my shoulder and back was still there, and at first I really wasn't in the mood to eat, let alone take photos of the food. I quickly brought back a plate of food, but as I could only use my left hand properly, I was even having trouble lifting chopsticks with my right hand. So I asked one of the staff for a fork, and she looked slightly taken aback. An East Asian guy asking for a fork! 　 After finishing my first plate, something miraculous happened... The painkillers finally kicked in after almost three hours! It didn't make the pain disappear, but at least I could lift my arm again. So I went back out for another look around and took some more photos of the food. 　 When booking the hotel, I chose the package that included dinner for two reasons. First, Sakaiminato is a port city without much nightlife, and most restaurants nearby close quite early. Second, both online reviews and recommendations from friends had generally been very positive about the dinner here. And given that the breakfast at Dormy Inn hotels are already pretty good, surely dinner couldn't be that bad either! 　 Of course, when planning the trip, I never imagined that I would end up with the pain. So I was actually quite glad that we had dinner at the hotel. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have been in the mood to go out looking for somewhere to eat. 　 ▲ Potato Potage 　 ▲ Steamed rice, miso crab soup and blackthroat seaperch fish-ball soup 　 ▲ Daisen Okowa (a local dish made with glutinous rice) 　 ▲ Crab and salmon roe chirashi sushi 　 ▲ Sashimi: yellowtail, tuna and seared marinated mackerel 　 Don't imagine this as some 6-star luxury buffet at the Grand Hyatt or the Ritz-Carlton! In fact, luxury buffets are much more common in Chinese-speaking countries. Even the Grand Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons hotels in Europe don't usually offer buffets other than breakfast! That said, Minatomachi Shokudô Umitsubaki does offer quite a wide variety of food, and the dishes are tasty enough, with plenty of local flavours from the San'in region and Daisen. At the regular price of JP¥4,000 for hotel guests (JP¥4,500 for non-guests), I would say the buffet is reasonably good value. 　 Dormy Inn has always placed quite a lot of emphasis on local specialities. The oden may look quite ordinary in Japan, but it also includes local ingredients. Tomatoes, white whelks, flying-fish chikuwa and fish cake are among the ingredients commonly used in oden in the San'in region, for example. Daisen Okowa and crab chirashi sushi (scattered sushi) are also local specialities of the San'in region. 　 Daisen Okowa is a type of home-style dish from the area, made using glutinous rice, and mushroom and vegetables grown around the foot of Mount Daisen. There is no fixed recipe, so the ingredients vary somewhat from one household to another. 　 ▲ Sashimi: sweet prawns, sea bream and finely sliced squid 　 ▲ Tempura: sweet potato, Shishitô pepper, lotus root, maitake mushroom, prawns, and crab-shell gratin 　 ▲ Sushi: red snow crab and blackthroat seaperch 　 ▲ Sushi: salmon and tuna 　 ▲ Teppanyaki (grill): teriyaki squid tentacles, saikyôyaki herring, courgette, shiitake mushrooms, sirloin steak, and potato 　 Although the local dishes were certainly tempting, the actual dinner theme was 'an all-you-can-eat Japanese and Western buffet featuring freshly fried tempura and sushi, with the emphasis being pretty obvious!' (職人技が活きる！揚げたて天ぷらとお寿司が食べ放題和洋バイキング) 　 The tempura ingredients also had plenty of local character. Shishitô pepper (kind of mild small green chilli, which I don't eat, although the onsen ryokan we stayed at the previous night also had them), lotus root and maitake mushrooms are all commonly used for tempura in the San'in region, while they are less common in other parts of Japan. As for the sushi, there were red snow crab claw meat and blackthroat seaperch, both of which are famous local specialities of Tottori. 　 Looking at the photos, does it feel like the plates are rather empty, with nothing that really says 'abundance'?! Having fewer diners certainly avoids the chaos, but it also has a downside: the food is replenished rather slowly. Tempura and sushi, for example, would basically only be replenished a few pieces at a time once there was almost nothing left. 　 The photos may make the restaurant look a little 'stingy', but avoiding food waste is important too. And in fact, when we left, there was still plenty of food in the serving area. There was absolutely enough variety and quantity to choose from, so there was no need to worry about going hungry! 　 ▲ Hot dishes: sweet-and-sour nanban-style Tottori pork, and simmered yellowtail head 　 ▲ Hot dishes: yam and sugarsnap peas, and nukujaga (Japanese braised pork with potato) 　 ▲ Fruits: melon, pear compote, and orange 　 ▲ Desserts: cookie cream cake, matcha warabi mochi, and tiramisu 　 ▲ Desserts: Tamba black soybean kinako pudding, shio-mame daifuku and soufflé pancakes 　 To be honest, though, I personally found the desserts a little disappointing! There wasn't much in the way of local specialities, and most of them were fairly ordinary and common desserts such as daifuku, warabi mochi and pudding (although I personally do quite like warabi mochi!). The free ice lollies provided at the hot-spring bath might actually be more tempting. 　 As for drinks, there was hot and iced tea and coffee, but strangely enough, no soft drinks! Alcoholic drinks were available for an additional charge. After dinner, we went back to the room to rest for a while before heading up to take a shower, enjoy the hot spring bath and doing some laundry. 　 The hot spring bath, Natural Hot Spring Yûnagi-no-Yu (天然温泉 夕凪の湯), is on the 12/F, directly above our room and at the top of the hotel. 'Yûnagi-no-Yu' refers to a hot spring where the water becomes calm at sunset – what a poetic name! Unlike Onyado Nono Osaka Yodoyabashi and Dormy Inn PREMIUM Ginza, which only have indoor baths (the Osaka one does have two fake 'outdoor' baths about the size of guest-room baths), this one genuinely has both indoor and open-air baths. 　 ▲ Natural Hot Spring Yûnagi-no-Yu 　 ▲ Comic Corner 　 ▲ Free massage chairs 　 The hot spring water comes from the hotel's own natural spring. From both the indoor and open-air baths, you can enjoy views of Sakaiminato during the daytime, as well as views stretching towards the Sea of Japan and Mount Daisen. 　 Perhaps the relatively small number of people at dinner was because the tour group had made other arrangements, but surely they would at least come back to the hotel for a bath! Yet even the hot spring bath wasn't particularly busy, with only a handful of guests having the baths. Perhaps the elder Japanese really do eat early and go to bed early! 　 The idea that hot springs can cure illnesses sounds a bit exaggerated, but I certainly wouldn't deny that they can help relieve aches and pains. After the hot spring bath, I really did feel much more relaxed around my shoulder and back. 　 As with other Dormy Inn hotels, after enjoying the hot spring baths, you can read some comics, enjoy free ice lollies, or sit in one of the massage chairs. You can also head down to the restaurant for a free bowl of Yonaki Soba (夜鳴きそば, late-night noodle), but having just had a buffet dinner, I decided to give the noodle a miss. I went back to the room, waited for the washing and drying to finish, collected the clothes, and then went to bed to get some rest... 　 ▲ The Sakai Channel outside the window in the morning 　 ▲ Small dishes: fuyugaki persimmon and daikon radish with sesame dressing, mozuku seaweed with vinegar, yuba and mizuna with sesame dressing, and grated yam 　 ▲ Small dishes: crab miso tofu, Korean-style chilled bracken and komatsuna, Akaten tofu chikuwa, onsen egg 　 ▲ Cold dishes: Loin ham, assorted cheese and winter pickles 　 After getting up in the morning and freshening up, it was of course time for breakfast! We hadn't encountered the 'too many people' situation at dinner or in the hot spring baths yesterday, but this morning we finally saw what a full restaurant looked like. We waited outside for a little while, and once some other guests had finished and their table had been cleared, we were shown to our seats. 　 Breakfast at Dormy Inn really doesn't disappoint. Compared with dinner the previous evening, breakfast was every bit as good. One of the highlights of the Dormy Inn breakfast is the 'Ajimeguri Kobachi Yokochô' (味めぐり小鉢横丁), essentially a selection of small starter dishes. There were eight choices today, most of which had a strong San'in flavour. I chose Akaten tofu chikuwa, crab miso tofu and Korean-style chilled bracken and komatsuna. 　 Apart from the Ajimeguri Kobachi Yokochô, there is another star of the breakfast – the 'local speciality dish' (お当地逸品料理). Here, it was 'Okonomi Kaisendon' (お好み海鮮丼), a DIY seafood rice bowl. Many Dormy Inn hotels offer seafood rice bowls, including Onyado Nono Osaka Yodoyabashi where we stayed a few days ago, but the selection of seafood here was much more varied, including crab meat and yellowtail. 　 ▲ Cold dishes: black pepper ham, chilled mixed vegetables with whitebait and roast duck breast 　 ▲ Sashimi for seafood rice bowl: tuna, yellowtail, crab meat, soy-marinated salmon roe and cooked prawns 　 ▲ Simmer dishes: dashi omelette and squid-stuffed daikon radish 　 ▲ Dim sum: Chinese-style chimaki, pork shumai and crab shumai; egg dishes: scrambled egg with tomato and cheese, scrambled eggs with spinach 　 Something I didn't expect at all was that the breakfast here even included some Chinese-style dim sum – crab shumai, pork shumai and chimaki. 'Shumai' (焼売) is based on the Japanese pronunciation, but in Britain it is more commonly written as 'Siu Mai' (燒賣), based on the Cantonese pronunciation. You may also see 'shaomai', based on Mandarin Chinese. It refers to an open-topped steamed dumpling, with different fillings depending on the region. In Hong Kong, the filling is usually a fairly firm mixture of minced pork, prawns and shiitake mushrooms. In Japan, the filling tends to be softer, usually made with pork and onion. 　 'Chimaki' (ちまき), meanwhile, is based on the Japanese pronunciation. It is an East Asian food made by wrapping glutinous rice in bamboo leaves (although sasa leaves are more commonly used in Japan) before boiling or steaming it. In Cantonese, it can be written as 'Joong' (糉), while in Mandarin Chinese it is usually written as 'Zongzi' (粽子). When eating it, you unwrap the leaves and eat only the glutinous rice and filling inside. Traditional Japanese chimaki are basically sweet, whereas in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China; Joong or Zongzi can be either sweet or savoury. 　 The ones served here were savoury, and the sign even described them as 'Chinese-style'. In addition to glutinous rice, they contained pork and shiitake mushrooms. 　 ▲ Teppanyaki: green beans, seafood sticks, flying-fish cake, yam, teriyaki yellowtail, salt-grilled salmon, leeks and Daisen chicken 　 ▲ Hot dishes: potato wedges, thick-cut bacon, boiled sausages, chicken tempura and fried prawns 　 ▲ My breakfast 　 ▲ Exterior of Onyado Nono Sakaiminato 　 Although the dinner theme was freshly made tempura, there wasn't any of that at breakfast. The only fried items were prawns and pre-made chicken tempura. As for drinks, in addition to the hot and iced tea and coffee from last night, there was also fruit juice – and, of course, the essential Daisen White Rose Milk from the San'in region! 　 Overall, the breakfast here exceeded my expectations by quite a margin, both in terms of quality and variety. If you stay here, I would definitely recommend booking breakfast. 　 After breakfast, I went for another hot spring bath on my own. Perhaps the tour group had to leave soon after breakfast, because there was only me and one other guest in the baths. From the open-air bath, you could enjoy the view over Sakaiminato from above while relaxing in the hot spring. It was a pleasure both physically and mentally. 　 After the hot spring bath, I packed up our luggage and we set off for our first destination of the day – Mizuki Shigeru Road (水木しげるロード). In fact, there was no need to go anywhere special to get there. It was right downstairs...

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