Journal
Writing from Mori no Auberge Mitsu
How to enjoy an auberge, how to choose an inn in Hokkaido, and the ingredients of Atsuma.
Pieces we hope you will read before you travel, written a little at a time.
The bath at Mitsu
A private bath, not a hot spring: what to know
If you are searching for a hot spring, read this first. Every room has its own goemon-style soaking tub, heated, and there is no shared bathhouse.
Yuni Garden in Autumn
Kochia turning deep red in an English-style garden
Yuni Garden is an English-style flower garden in Yuni, Hokkaido. Its Kochia Hills, with 32,000 plants, turn deep red in October. It is about 45 minutes by car from Mitsu, an easy stop before check-in.
Hokki in Tomakomai
Tomakomai's Hokki and Hokki Curry, No.1 in Japan
Tomakomai landed about 750 tonnes of hokki clams in 2024, the most of any municipality in Japan. Try the local hokki curry by day, then drive about 40 minutes to Mitsu. A plan for autumn into winter.
Getting to Mitsu
From the airport to the inn by rental car
There is no shuttle, so you rent a car at New Chitose Airport and drive about 30 minutes. Here is the exit at the Atsuma interchange, the address for the sat-nav, the parking, and when to arrive.
Reservations at Mitsu
Why a meal-focused inn closes cancellations early
Mori no Auberge Mitsu takes three groups a night, by reservation only. Because ingredients are bought in for each booking, cancelling is free until four days ahead, then rises step by step. Dinner is at 18:00 and the last check-in is 19:00.
Staying with Children
What to know before booking with children
A small auberge in the forest of Atsuma, Hokkaido, taking three groups a night. For those thinking of a stay with children, we set out honestly what suits and what does not, and the size of the rooms, before you book. There is no television in the rooms.
Haskap Picking
Haskap Picking in Atsuma Starts in Late June
Atsuma grows the largest area of haskap in Japan. Picking usually runs late June to mid-July, and each farm opens on different days. The farms are about 15 minutes away by car, easy to fit into your stay.
Breakfast at Mitsu
Pot rice and dashi-broth rice: why the breakfast is loved
The word guests use most about the food is the rice cooked in an earthenware pot. Breakfast brings that pot rice, a free-range egg omelette, and dashi-broth rice you finish yourself, treated here on its own.
Autumn Around Mitsu
From Lake Shikotsu foliage to Atsuma's golden paddies, by car
Lake Shikotsu, an hour by car from Auberge Mitsu, turns colour in autumn. This guide gathers three Hokkaido autumns—the foliage, Atsuma's golden paddies and the salmon run up the Chitose River—with drive times.
Rice of Atsuma
Atsuma's Sakura-mai Rice and the Golden Autumn Paddies
Atsuma is rice country, and its Sakura-mai brand is really Nanatsuboshi rice. In autumn the paddies turn gold. Mori no Auberge Mitsu cooks this rice in an earthenware pot for breakfast.
Lunch around Mitsu
Where to eat lunch before you check in
Check-in at Mori no Auberge Mitsu is from 15:00, so your arrival day has an open midday. Here is where to eat around Atsuma, from Kobushi-no-yu Atsuma to hokki curry in Tomakomai, with drive times from Mitsu.
Budget at Mitsu
What a two-meal rate includes, and what it does not
An auberge rate brings your room and your meals together in one figure. Here is how to read a two-meal price: what the rate covers, the lodging tax and cancellation terms, and the option to come only for dinner.
What is an Auberge
What is an auberge? The meaning, and the difference from a hotel or a ryokan
An auberge is a house where the cooking comes first. What the word means, and how it differs from a hotel or a ryokan, explained simply.
How to Choose
How to choose an auberge in Hokkaido
The cooking, the location, the rooms, the price, the size. Five things to look at so you do not regret the choice, and how to choose by purpose.
Ingredients of Atsuma
Ingredients of Atsuma: pork, rice, hokki clams and haskap
Mailabuta pork, Nanatsuboshi rice, the seafood of the Iburi coast, and haskap berries grown here on the largest planted area in Japan. The gifts of Atsuma that fill our course.
Digital Detox
A digital detox, at an inn with no television
There is no television in the rooms. Turn the screen off and the sound of the forest comes through. A night away from screens, at a hideaway that takes three groups a night.
Forest Bathing
Forest bathing: a night in a Japanese oak wood
Open the window and the forest is right there. Herbs from that forest go into the bath. Forest bathing that lasts the whole night, in the way only Mitsu can offer it.
Quiet Stay
For those looking for a quiet inn
Three groups a night, no television in the rooms, a Japanese oak forest all around. What is inside a hideaway that has quiet built into its design.
Solo Trip
An inn for solo travel in Hokkaido
We welcome guests travelling on their own. A full Japanese creative course and a goemon-style tub in your own room, for time entirely to yourself.
Before & After Your Flight
Where to stay near New Chitose Airport, before or after a flight
A late-night arrival, an early departure, or the first and last night of a longer trip. An airport hotel, Chitose town and a forest inn 30 minutes away, compared honestly.
A Night in a Kominka
What a night in a 120-year-old farmhouse is actually like
Arrival at 15:00, the forest in the late afternoon, dinner at 18:00, an evening with no television, a bath at 07:00 and breakfast at 08:30. Nineteen hours, in order.
Guide
Guides to staying and exploring
Pages that show how to spend your time at Mitsu, according to what brings you here.
Staying in a 120-year-old farmhouse / The forest herb bath and the goemon-style tub / An inn for anniversaries / 30 minutes from New Chitose Airport / Staying in Atsuma / What guests say