Suggestions for good but inexpensive ryokan or minshuku in the Kyoto/Kansai region?

Glacier, do you speak any Japanese? If you do, there are tons of websites that you can use to locate both ryokan and minshuku in the Kanasi area.

If you don’t however, you might want to stay in the few establishments which advertise in the English press. One website to check out is http://www.minshuku.jp/english/list.html
I think that the folks at the Japan National Tourist Association can also help you with making reservations. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/accomodations/minshuku.html

Hi Osakarob, I do speak some Japanese (through 2nd year college level—although I’m a bit older than your average college student, I know all major grammar and about 300–400 kanji), but my reading is pretty poor! Even with Reading Tutor, WWWJDICT, and Rikaichan (a great Google add-on) it takes me forever to wade through Japanese sites! I was hoping maybe someone out there had a place to recommend. For example, when I was in Tokyo in May 2007, I stayed at a Ryokan Sawanoya and it was great—near Ueno in a cozy suburb of Tokyo, clean rooms, reasonable prices, nice baths. I’d like to find more places like that.

Thanks for the links, I’ll check them out.

Hi Glacier, I am going to Kyoto Sept. 20th and wondering if you had any success in finding a place to stay in Kyoto. I too stayed at the Ryokan Sawanoya (2006) and it was perfect, looking to find a similar place in Kyoto.
Thanks.

Booboostarz—we stayed in two places in Kyoto, both great. One was the Shinkoin Temple (http://www.shunkoin.com) which was clean, cheap, and very interesting. We got a tour of the temple, and we were able to participate in a Zen meditation class. It is part of a larger temple complex in Kyoto. I highly recommend it. 5,000 yen per person per night.

We also stayed at the Gion Fukuzumi (http://www.gion-fukuzumi.com/eng/) in the Gion district of Kyoto. It was a traditional ryokan, and we ended up with a huge room! We paid about 11,000 yen per person.

Enjoy your trip! I am, of course, envious. I do so want go back to Japan.

If you are interested, I’ll send you the URL to our photos.