Umioto Mari

When looking into staying at the top luxury ryokan in Shodoshima, it came down to a choice between Umioto Mari and its sister property, Shimoyado Mari. The former was newly established in 2019, and we prefer newer rooms with modern amenities and technologies, so we opted for the Umioto Mari. Upon closer inspection, however, the choice turned out to not be so obvious. First off, whereas Shimoyado is in the heart of the main town, Umioto is about a 5-10 minute car/bus ride away and is in a somewhat secluded spot with a view of the Seto Inland Sea. It's all about preference. And yes - the rooms are newer and fresher at Umioto, judging by the pictures that I've seen of Shimoyado. Price is comparable, so it really comes down to what is important to you. We chose to stay in one of the two "Hanare" (stand-alone villa) at Umioto. It's slightly more spacious than the standard rooms, at 73 square meters, although we wished that the bedroom and living room were completely separated. Bath wise, the temperature can be set to one's desired temperature, and it will auto regulate for up to 8 hours (the standard room does not have this feature.) The biggest beef we had - and it wasn't published anywhere on the website - was that Umioto's in-room bath is technically not Onsen (natural hot spring water.) Although Shimoyado has it, Umioto does not. When we brought it up with some of the staff members, they mentioned that the owner drilled deep underground but failed to hit the Onsen jackpot. So they have to haul in the Onsen from Shimoyado Mari, and even then, the bath is mixed with Onsen and groundwater. That's too bad! Another bummer - the bath is not free-flowing, meaning you have to fill it up yourself with hot water, so no instant gratifications here. Also, for a new ryokan built from the ground-up, it was somewhat perplexing to see our room only having one sink; dual sinks/vanities are now de rigueur at top ryokans, especially new ones. Shodoshima is renowned for the quality of Olives produced on the island, and Umioto Mari does a remarkable job in serving kaiseki cuisine that involves Olives (and Olive Oil) in much of its offerings. We wondered whether we would be olived out by the time dinner was over, but it was quite the opposite. It did a great job in enhancing the taste without being too overpowering - it was one of the most memorable ryokan dinners we've ever had. The only drawback has to do with the meal times - for dinner, it's either 17:30 or 19:30, and that's it... no other options. While there are other ryokans that have similar policies, we wished that they showed more flexibility when we were there, given that only 3 of the 6 rooms were occupied and we wished to have our dinner pushed out by 30 minutes to 18:00. Nope, they say. Not sure why not; there is enough seating for 4 groups of guests in the restaurant at any given time (2 tables, and 4 available counter seats.) We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Shodoshima, and felt that Umioto Mari