When you visit Japan, I highly recommend spending one night at an onsen ryokan to relax and understand Japanese culture better. Onsen 温泉 means hot spring and ryokan 旅館 is a traditional Japanese inn, a place where you can experience genuine Japanese omotenashi おもてなし hospitality. A stay at an onsen ryokan will include dinner and breakfast and unlimited entries to the onsen (hot spring baths) of that facility, as long as it is within their operating hours.
During my summer trip to Hokkaido, I stayed at the newly opened Hoshino Resorts KAI Poroto (opened in January 2022), where I could enjoy the unique moor onsen, learn more about the Ainu culture, and enjoy the delicious local cuisine for dinner and breakfast.
The KAI 界 brand of Japan’s representative lodging operator, Hoshino Resorts, introduces modern onsen ryokan around Japan based on “rediscovering the charm of the region.”
The main three elements of the KAI brand are:
- 温泉 ONSEN (hot springs)
- 食事 KAISEKI (traditional multi-course Japanese dinner)
- ご当地楽 GOTOCHI-GAKU (CULTURE Discover the culture of each area through local crafts, traditions, and performances)
Omotenashi, or Japanese hospitality, is also a prevalent quality of the Hoshino Resorts brands, and here, you can be sure that the staff will try their best to exceed your expectations.
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Hoshino Resorts KAI Poroto 星野リゾート 界 ポロト
1-1018-94 Wakakusa, Shiraoi, Hokkaido 059-0902
059-0902 北海道白老郡白老町若草町1-1018-94
TEL Reservations +81-50-3134-8096 (10:00 AM – 6:00 PM)
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How to get there?
KAI Poroto is conveniently located only one hour by car from Sapporo. And if you prefer to go by train, JR Shiraoi Station is the closest, only 10 minutes on foot. You can find more access information here.
Room and facilities
As soon as you enter your room, you will see the Ainu influences in the room’s design. As the Ainu people previously had their homes on this land, KAI Poroto honors their heritage in different ways, including designing the KAI Signature Rooms – “Shikaku-no-ma” square rooms. “Cise” is the typical house of the Ainu people, and the guest rooms were inspired by Cise, with a square table resembling a fire around which Ainu people would gather. This fire represented the center of their community.
The interior also has many other elements reminiscent of the Ainu people, such as the wooden oar, Ainu patterns on the walls and cushions, white birch logs, and tea cups.
There are only 42 rooms at KAI Poroto, and all of them face Lake Poroto. You can admire the beautiful view from the sofa positioned by the window. The mesmerizing lake, surrounded by a natural forest with white birch and maple trees, unfolds before you. When we visited, everything was of a vibrant green color, but depending on the season, the landscape will change. I bet it will look stunning in autumn’s colorful foliage and winter’s silent white tones. Which season would you like to visit?
Facilities include the lobby, dining, travel library, shop, “Yuagari lounge,” and the two Public baths, “Sankaku-no-yu” and “Maru-no-yu.”
温泉 ONSEN
Going to an onsen has many benefits for your physical and mental health. For example, it is known to improve blood circulation, alleviate pain, improve sleep, improve your skin condition, and prevent aging, depending on the minerals the onsen contains. Staying at an onsen ryokan is the perfect way to enjoy onsen for as long and as much as you wish during your stay (as long as you go within their open hours). Here, I could enjoy the onsen immediately after check-in, at night under a starry sky, in the chilly morning, and once more before check-out, so around four times of onsen time in total!
The onsen here is “moor spring,” a hot spring rarely found worldwide, also known as the “spring of beauty,” thanks to its skin conditioning properties. The water of a moor spring has a unique color that I have seen for the first time: dark brown because it contains organic minerals derived from plants.
You can enjoy this unique onsen at the two public baths, Sankaku-no-yu and Maru-no-yu.
Sankaku-no-yu is located inside the cone-shaped bathhouse, designed by architect Hiroshi Nakamura and inspired by “Ketunni” – a tripod structure that supports the roof of a traditional Ainu house. The cone-shaped forms became the symbol of KAI Poroto, standing against beautiful Lake Poroto. Here, you can experience an inside bath (uchiburo内風呂) and an outside bath (rotemburo露天風呂). There is also a lounge area where you can relax after taking a bath called Yuagari Lounge. Here, they serve refreshing drinks, and it is also the space where you can listen about the qualities of the hot spring and how to use it effectively, an activity known as “Yumori of KAI” for the KAI brand Ryokans. At the end of this explanation, I received an Oyuincho お湯印帳 – a stamp book where I can collect stamps from onsen across the 22 KAI properties.
Maru-no-yu has an indoor bath in a dome structure that gives the feeling of a cave. There is a hole at the top of the dome ceiling, where a soft light slides inside the dark room, creating a magical atmosphere.
*Special permission was acquired to take photos of the public baths. Please do not take photos here without permission.
食事 KAISEKI
Something to look forward to when staying at a ryokan in Japan is the dinner and breakfast served there! When booking a room at KAI Poroto, I recommend choosing the option with dinner and breakfast included for a unique culinary experience. A significant advantage of choosing to dine here is that it will save you time in looking for a restaurant in the area and make it easier to enjoy the onsen and then come for dinner and finally get some rest afterward.
At KAI Poroto, you can choose between the Standard Seasonal Dinner or the Special Dinner with Daigo Nabe. We enjoyed the Standard Seasonal Dinner, a kaiseki course meal this time. Each dish was beautifully presented in dishware inspired by Ainu craft traditions. The course menu started with an appetizer of fresh local seafood brought to us by these cute ceramic bears.
You can also try different types of local sake by choosing the sake-tasting set.
The Boat of Appetizers is a beautiful work of art inspired by boats used by the Ainu people in the past. Local ingredients are used for each dish; besides being beautifully presented, everything was just as delicious as it looked. There is an excellent variety of dishes, from fried to nabe (soup), the main wagyu steak with miso soup and rice, and traditional pickled vegetables.
For dessert, we had a lovely milk pudding presented creatively in a milk bucket and served with yummy haskap sauce.
The following day, we could also enjoy a delicious traditional Japanese breakfast set, including Ainu cuisine dishes such as Ohaw, a savory soup flavored with fish or animal bones and full of earthy vegetables. It was the perfect way to start a new travel day in Hokkaido!
The menu changes according to the season, but overall, I loved the presentation, the kind explanation about each dish, and how well the Ainu culture was integrated here.
ご当地楽 GOTOCHI-GAKU
KAI Cultural Discovery – Learn how to make a charm used by the Ainu people to ward off evil with a plant called “Ikema” and other dried plants.
Other activities to try at KAI Poroto
Morning exercises – Start your day by exercising! We did a group exercise session at the hotel’s lobby on the second morning of my stay there. The exercises were inspired by Hokkaido’s Tanchozuru, or the Japanese red-crowned crane, considered a sacred symbol in Japan.
Visit Upopoy National Ainu Museum – located only a few minutes from KAI Poroto, where you can learn more about the Ainu people and their fascinating culture. Many performances, workshops, and movie screenings are being held, making this museum interactive and fun to enjoy as a family as well.
Bar time by the fire – enjoy a romantic night with your partner by the fire and taste local drinks, such as Hokkaido wine.
Would you like to experience a perfect onsen stay during your trip to Hokkaido? Then I recommend staying at the only KAI ryokan in Hokkaido, KAI Poroto, during your trip! Bookmark this article now so you do not lose it!
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Happy travels!
