The Bigger the Group, the More the Trip Scatters
The first thing that happens on a trip of more than ten people is that the group scatters. The rooms are split three or four ways, and meeting up means agreeing on a time and going down to the lobby. Meals begin with the hunt for a table big enough, and at night everyone disperses to their rooms. You came as a group, and yet the only time you are together is in transit and at the table.
This is where a whole-house kominka rental (a traditional Japanese house rented in its entirety) gains the edge as the group grows. Everyone is under one roof, and yet there are rooms closed off by doors. You can spread out without scattering. That combination is the real substance of the advantage for a large group.
One Roof, and Doors That Close
A large group is usually a gathering of small units: couples, parents with children, friends, someone who joined on their own. In a whole-house kominka rental, the things to look for are whether the rooms close with doors and whether the rooms come in a range of sizes.
Take the Kazenoyado Main House in Yatsuo, a whole-house rental restored from a machiya townhouse built in 1877: two rooms for four, one for three, and three for two. All six are fully private rooms with their own doors, and the house sleeps up to 17. Each unit has its own side of a door, and step into the corridor and everyone is in the same house.
The knack with a large group is to settle three things before you arrive.
- Who sleeps behind the same door with whom
- Which meals to cook in the kitchen, and which to eat out in town
- Where everyone gathers, and what the signal to gather is
The Kitchen Solves the Large-Group Meal Problem
Meals are where large groups stumble every time. Restaurants that can seat a dozen or more at one table are few, and even when you find one, you are tied to its hours. In a whole-house rental with a kitchen, the problem is settled inside the house. The more people, the more hands, and the preparation itself becomes a scene from the trip.
At a room-only (no meals) inn there is no dining room with fixed hours; instead, the kitchen and the table run on your own time. An evening around a shared pot, a rota for cooking the next morning's rice — these only work because there are enough of you.
Because There Is a Place to Gather, You Can Spread Out
The last thing to look for is a place where everyone can gather. In a whole house, that is the living room or the space around the table; at the Main House there is also a small courtyard garden at the end of the corridor. It need not be an entire house, either. In a floor rental like the Kazenoyado Annex (up to 11 guests), you can sleep apart in seven single "wooden box" berths and one private room with a door, then gather on the shared second-floor veranda and lounge.
Spread out into private rooms, pitch in together in the kitchen, meet again in the gathering place. If you are staying in Toyama with a large group, before you count the rooms, check that these three are there.