It is such a wonderful home, run by equally wonderful people. We loved staying at SOY, it was super cozy, neat and beautiful. Tai and his parents are incredibly lovely and go the extra mile to make their guests feel at home and have a great time. Tai even offers to pick up and drop off his guests where needed, he also helped us reserve train seats for our next travels and gave recommendations when our other plans fell through. At SOY you can enjoy a delicious breakfast made by Tai’s sweet parents, while looking out at a beautiful view of the garden. This was our favourite stay ever and we highly recommend SOY to others!

SOY impressed us on many levels. First of all our host Tai was very helpful long before we even flew to Japan. He spoke to us using the chat feature on Booking.com and helped coordinate some plans. When we arrived, he welcomed us warmly into his living room (with a nice fire going and a cute cat awaiting us). The room we stayed in was great (we got the one that had two floors). We stayed during the winter but our rooms was always warm and comfy. The food his family made was really nice and they even offer you two different styles of meal. I could go on and on about how much we enjoyed this stay. The location for us was great, but that could have been because we rented a car. Tai offers shuttle rides, but we never needed one, as we drove everywhere.

Staying at SOY Guesthouse was an unforgettable experience! My husband and I were blown away by how beautiful and thoughtfully designed the home was. From the moment we arrived, we felt so taken care of and completely at home. Tai-San and his Mom are some of the kindest, most welcoming people we’ve ever met, and their sweet cat, Tara, made it even more special. Every single detail of the guesthouse was perfect, and the breakfast they prepared for us was absolutely delicious. You can tell so much love and care go into everything they do. This was hands down one of the best experiences we’ve ever had away from home, and it’s something we’ll always remember.

We loved everything about it.

The lovely old Japanese house is beautifully restored and it was a pleasure to be a little out of the city among the rice fields. There's a 7-eleven around the corner and an organic farm shop. The family were very welcoming and very attentive hosts. Tai was exceptional; meeting us at the station when we arrived, chauffering us to restaurants for dinner and picking us up afterward, taking us to a nearby trailhead for a hike, making sure we purchased the correct tickets for our onward journey as well as helping us shop for some items we needed. The breakfast was exquiste. Nabuko is a fabulous cook and the dishes she prepared for breakfast were so delicious and flavourfull. It was the most delectable breakfast you could imagine and a real Japanese experience. Plus the setting looking out on their garden and the coi in the pond was so restful and peaceful. We were glad we had time to linger and really enjoy the authentic atmosphere.

Where to start.. I highly recommend this place. Tai and his parents are lovely, friendly and helpful. Little Tara (the cat) was a joy to watch, playing around with her little ball as we were having breakfast. The food is amazing, the common area very laid back, a place to enjoy a cold beer next to the fireplace. Tai happily drove us to the city centre and gave us several useful recommendations for restaurants, places of interests, onsens,... The room was spacious and the futons comfortable. The showers and toilet rooms were very clean and well looked after. It's a quiet area, a place to truly relax and use as a base for exploring the surrounding area 😊

Tai and his parents were fantastic hosts. We felt so at home and were so comfortable in the beautiful house and room. Tai went above and beyond to make our stay in Takayama memorable and special. We are so grateful for our time at SOY and are very much looking forward to our next visit. The Japanese breakfast was amazing, and Tai makes a great and beautiful flat white! We were picked up and dropped off in town very promptly, which made staying in the area so much easier. Although the house is located somewhat out of the centre of town, we did not feel that this was a problem at all as Tai and his parents were so accommodating and helpful. The house is so beautiful and everything is so well thought out, this is a phenomenal place to stay. Thank you for everything! This was such a memorable and fantastic trip for us!

Nothing! Only leaving!

We had a wonderful stay, pity we didn't remain for longer! Tai-san and his family have been fantastic hosts, warm, kind and always willing to go the extra mile to help us out. From the moment we got off the bus, we felt treated like family members. The guesthouse is a beautiful, 100 years old traditional house. Every detail is extremely well taken care of, inside and outside, and its a perfect space to relax and enjoy the peace of the garden and the surroundings. It's a few kilometers from the city centre but that won't be a problem, Tai-san will take care of you. And I haven't even mentioned the delicious breakfast (both the Japanese and the Western-style) that Tai's mother prepared, another reason to come back!

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This property was everything and more! What I mean by that is, we were first greeted by Tai at the station and he picked up our luggage to take back to the bed and breakfast. He made an excellent recommendation for a restaurant which he booked for us as well. The accommodation is absolutely beautiful and unique. Tai’s mom Nobuko San is exceptional cook! Breakfast was one of the best we had in our 17 days in Japan’! The property is not in the town center but that is not at all an issue as Tai picks you up and drops you off whenever you need. Would definitely stay here again!! We already miss Tai and his family home already. Can’t wait to be back.

Nothing! It was perfect

not many accommodations are rated so highly -- 9.8, as i write -- but this VERY exceptional ryokan certainly deserves at least that! it's beautifully & aesthetically maintained, with carefully selected artifacts throughout & comfort at a premium. tai is super sweet, truly cares about making your stay as pleasant as possible & is certainly worthy of all the praise reviewers have heaped upon him. our breakfast, wholeheartedly prepared by his very nice & caring mother, was abundant & absolutely delicious. we stayed in the spacious "maisonette" room, which is actually on 2 floors (connected by an internal staircase) & seems ideal for 3 people ... which, in our case, was a couple & their adult child. thanks to tai's kind cinematographer father, the top floor space had an excellent "old-school" audio-visual setup: with a good sound system & assortment of movie videos that u can project on to a large-sized screen .. which we enjoyed while kicking-back after an excellent dinner in "downtown" takayama. in short, we thoroughly enjoyed "soy" & highly recommend it!

[no complaints whatsoever]

Our stay with Tai and his family was exceptional. Tai went out of his way to make our trip special: ferrying us back and forth into town, providing expert advice for our sightseeing, and even making reservations for us at several local restaurants. Tai’s mother prepares a delicious breakfast each morning with dishes that reflect the local character of Takayama (enjoyed with views of their garden and koi pond). And best of all, we got to watch their new kitten, Tara, bat a toy mouse around the lounge each morning. We will absolutely stay at SOY again during our next trip to Takayama.