Staying at inns without meals to savour the tastes of the area should include a trip to Kaga hot spring for a well-established inn that offers a good deal. The inn at Yamanaka hot spring is reputed to a VIP favourite. This is also the place to go if you want to feast on snow crabs in winter.

Begin by heading to Hashitate,facing the Japan Sea, from Ishikawa by bus and then to the port town at the south end of Ishikawa prefecture. The Japan Sea will greet you after the short bus ride. Take in other sights such as famous scenic spot, Kasano Misaki a 30m-high bluff. You might spot the fishing boats as they return froma nearby fishing bank which is a favorable habitat for crabs. Hashitate is known as the home of very fresh and also very tasty snow crabs and it's worth visiting places like Maruya Suisan, a direct sales store for fresh seafood of Ishikawa. Give a taste to freshly boiled crabs before heading off for the inn. Yamanaka hot spring,a tasteful hot spring in the mountain, was opened 1300 years ago. The inn stands opposite Kutani bridge surrounded by nature. Kayoutei is internationally well known as an authentic Japanese inn with 10 rooms on a site of 300,000m square. Guests are greeted with a cup of herbal tea with hand-picked leaves from a mountain

nearby. A Japanese room is 23,000 yen (S$ 349) with breakfast which is 16,000 yen (S$ 243) cheaper than the normal price with 2 meals. It features an open air  granite bath that was opened last year. The inn’s dinner is a Japanese course with fresh seafood from the Japan Sea but skip that for a good local crab restaurant in town. It’s called Kensan Tei and about a 5 minutes walk. Try the local fish course which consists of mainly crab dishes when they are in season. Savour freshly boiled crabs, dumplings of local crabs, steamed crabs in a clay pot and a plate of sashimi of 6 kinds of fish, including the expensive Nodoguro fish, that is dried and grilled. Also on offer is grilled crab with a delicate taste. It costs only 20,500 yen (S$ 311) for a meal for two. Back at the inn, guests can enjoy the evening immersed in the traditional arts. In the morning the hot spring town is filled with steam and breakfast at Kayo-tei is well-reputed as the best in Japan. The best ingredients are selected for the unusual breakfast with no additional preservatives.After breakfast stroll to the hot spring town and try the “walker” bus that goes around the hot spring town with a local guide from the town on board. It could be anyone including a local geisha ! Stop at 'steam street' at Minam town where you can visit Shouzan-do to make your own bowl. Established in 1868 the well-established shop also offers lacquer ware and will lacquer the bowl you make before it's delivered to you a month later. At Mr. Mishima’s grab a taste of crab miso soup that's available to only 500 people each day. A bowl costs 100 yen (S$ 1.5) and is on the menu up to March.

Next, catch a two hour flight from Tokyo to Kagoshima airport and then take a bus from the airport to Myouken hot spring. Use the hot spring bus for the 20 minute trip to one of the best hot springs at the foot of Kirishima mountain range. The peaceful feeling of the village is welcoming for visitors. Look out for the entrance to Gajoen, a relaxing inn with a thatched roof annex that is popular among women. It offers an overnight stay with breakfast only. Each room of the 10 rooms is a detached building with clay walls and a fireplace. There's alaos a kotatsu (heating table) and an open air bath.Guests are made to feel welcome with little messages and home-made wild herb cakes. It normally costs 32,910 yen (S$ 499), it goes down to 19,260 yen (S$ 292) if you stay with breakfast only. The larger room is normally 38,160 yen (S$ 579) but it can also be discounted with the breakfast only package. There is a public bath within the premises, too so visitors can enjoy the luxury hot spring with a massage waterfall. Take a stroll in the neighborhood in the Kirishima highland and enjoy nature at its best. Try hot spring eggs (half-cooked poached eggs in the hot spring) where the egg yolk is rich and has a very thick taste,for 100 yen (S$ 1.50). There is also the Maruo waterfall, a nature viewing track and a river walk. Due to the hot springs the river water is warm and you can swim in it even in winter. There's also a natural foot-bath with hot spring water. Dinner at Gajoen consists of healthy home-made dishes of plentiful mountain products or head out to town for exquisite pork dishes at a restaurant that is popular among locals in Kagoshima. You can try Black pork Shabu Shabu and a variety of black pork dishes like stewed sweet pork, pork wrapped in seaweed, pork miso and uncured ham of black pork. The black pork Shabu Shabu course is 3000 yen (S$ 46)per person so it shouldn't break the budget with some side dishes. At the inn try some shochu (distilled liquor) warmed up by the fireplace, and served to staying guests for free.Breakfast at the inn includes local speciality, freshly laid eggs of Satsuma local chickens, rice cooked in firewood, miso soup and many village mountain products. Scorched rice balls and omelette are packed and given to departing guests along with a wild flower pendant.

Next is a designer inn that's 2 1/2 hours from Shinjuku by the Super Azusa express train. Stop at Matsumoto station in Nagano. The area used to be a flourishing castle town in the Edo era so take the chance to visit the symbol of the city, Matsumoto Castle - the oldest castle with 4 towers in Japan. The majestic 400 year old Matsumoto Castle is registered as a national treasure but visitors can still wander around it and even climb to the top of the castle with views of the North Alpine mountains that consist of 3000m high mountains such as Jonendake or Yarigatake. After the castle,head to Asama hot springs with 1300 years of history and was a bath for the lord in the Edo era. The designer inn Kishou-An will surprise with its interesting shape which was designed by architect Takao Habuka based on Japanese materials with a sophisticated modern design that blends East with West. Inside, the hotel continues to surprise with high ceilings in round rooms, a traditional Japanese clay wall with grass representing the ocean and lattice doors made of several thousands of cypress stripes. A room with an open air bath and terrace is normally 34,000 yen (S$ 516).

But it becomes 18,000 yen (S$ 273) for a stay without meals. Meals are either Japanese or Western course featuring local Shinshu fare but it's Japanese or French for dinner after February. If you choose to eat out, head to Matumoto city where you can first work up an appetite. Nawate street features stalls around Yohashira shrine selling items such as Taiyaki (fish-shaped pancake) which are either stuffed with adzuki beans or sausage and mayonnaise and cost 150 yen (S$ 2.20) each. Visit the Suzuki hand made seal shop where you can make your own seal in 10-20 minutes. Agetsuchi street features turn of the centurybuildings and artefacts such as an old camera shop with photos that opened in 1950. Try dining at Bell Revier a western restaurant with local ingredients and Shinshu beef on the menu thathas drawn repeat gourmets customers and celebs. Go for the onion gratin soup based with beef consomme and topped with Dutch Edam cheese, beef cutlet or a fillet Chateau Haut Brion with red wine sauce served on a hot iron plate, or a hearty sirloin steak with espagnole sauce of thick meat and vegetable flavours. Another top main dish is black Japanese beef stew using prime shoulder of beef that is flamed with red wine demi-glace sauce and stewed for two hours. It is the ultimate beef stew with tender meat and a superb taste. Back to the inn enjoy the hot springs at Kishou-an which has 8 kinds of baths and 13 bath tubs, from open air bath with a stylish round window, a cypress sawdust bath that smells of the forest, a bed bath that makes bubbles that wraps the whole body, and the  radiant bath where the water is one degree warmer than the body temperature.

Don't be surprised in the morning, to find that it has been snowing at Asama hot spring where it's a Japanese or Western breakfast of your choice. Or head out again and try authentic soba noodle for breakfast at Kouno that's an old Japanese house renovatd from the Edo era into a shop. Its authentic hand-made soba noodles are popular with the locals and include cold or warm Tenzaru made from locally produced Densoba flour bound with yam. Staying at inns across Japan without meals is definitely a tasty adventure.