What $250 Buys You at a Japanese Hot Spring Inn

Come to the very spring where Nagai Sake Brewery sources its water and sample sake right by the stream. It's surreal to drink sake out of a champagne glass in the forest, with the air cool and refreshing from the cold spring water. It gives you a true sense of why the water is so important to sake. While others are in offices, you're getting drunk in a forest, and it feels like you've won at life.

Head to Maebashi, the 'City of Pork,' for lunch and try a freshly breaded and battered tonkatsu pork cutlet. It's heavenly, with a crispy batter and juicy, thick meat inside—the thickest tonkatsu I've ever had. I always save the fatty edge for last, as it's the best part. If you're feeling hungry, tonkatsu is one of the best things to go for.

Stop off at a sake brewery to appreciate how different cup sizes and temperatures can subtly change the flavor of sake. Try it at 48 degrees Celsius; the heated sake brings out the flavors a lot better, though you're more aware of the alcohol. It's a safer and better way to drink sake in winter when it's cold.

Arrive at the Kawaba Onsen inn, so large it stretches up a mountain, and be chauffeured to your room in a fully automatic, self-driving cart. It feels like an opening cutscene for a video game, slowly making your way through the vast hotel. It's a unique and memorable way to reach your accommodation.

After a relaxing private hot spring, meet downstairs for a wonderful dinner feast. Enjoy a sukiyaki hot pot, an assortment of fresh sashimi, and sake from the breweries visited earlier, recommended by the ryokan for pairing. The chopstick holder, a sardine, is so brutal that half the guests end up eating it! It's a perfect end to the day, with beds magically appearing in your room while you're at dinner.