This hotel is located beside the harbour, about a dozen blocks from the train station, but close to a busy restaurant area. It is a large, modern city hotel tower, with a yellow colour which makes it look unfinished. The lobby is smallish, and was one of the few on our trip which did not have a store within it. Check-in was efficient.

The rooms appeared to be in various sizes. Ours was a roomy twin, with a well-equipped bathroom with lots of counter space and good lighting. There was a well-equipped desk with stationery. There was a mini-bar fridge, with some extra space where one could keep a few things cold. The beds were firm and comfortable.

The most remarkable feature of the room, however, was the outstanding view overlooking the busy fishing harbour. This is not the main harbour of the city, but a steady stream of fishing boats land their catch - primarily salmon while we were there - right under the window. Definitely ask for a room high up overlooking the water.

The hotel boasts a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, a general Japanese restaurant and a western restaurant. We had supper in the Japanese restaurant, served by waitresses in elegant kimonos. There were several supper specials, at ¥3,000 each for hotel guests, well prepared and beautifully presented.

Breakfast was a Viking (buffet) in the western dining room and featured both western and Japanese dishes. There were some outstanding choices, particularly the broiled salmon and miso soup into which you could add a choice of ingredients. The room itself was quite crowded, somewhat difficult to reach all the dishes and hard to find a seat, but again, the view outside through the large windows was delightful.

This is a big-city hotel. Parking was tight, both inside the hotel basement and in the outside lot, and one had to pay for it. Unlike most hotels, there was no beer vending machine: one had to use the mini-bar. There were several computer terminals in the lobby which permitted coin-operated Internet access.

The hotel staff were efficient but not particularly friendly. They did not deal very well with an issue in which we lost one of the machine-readable room keys. There was no replacement key and we had to have the door opened each time by a staff member. When we checked out we were charged ¥5,000 for the key and promised a refund if we found and returned it. We found it the next day in our car and mailed it back, but did not get the promised refund until we contacted the hotel chain’s head office many months later. At that point, however, we got the refund, a present and sincere apologies.

This hotel is a good base to explore both the city and surrounding countryside. Right across the street is the Kushiro Municipal Art Gallery in a pleasant park. The local hotels cooperate to offer guided morning walks to see the fishermen bringing in their catch. The commentary is in Japanese, but there are some good photo possibilities. The Kushiro City Museum is a good introduction to the history of the port, of this part of Hokkaido, of the Ainu and even of the white Japanese cranes. From here it’s easy to tour the Kushiro Shitsugen (Wetland) National Park, either by slow train or by car.