Английский язык для сферы туризма

Text 2 T H E R Y O K A N E X P E R I E N C E — IS I T FOR YOU? by Charles N. Barnard The first time I stayed in a Japanese inn, or ryokan, I thought I had never been more uncomfortable in my life. This was years ago, in Kyoto, in October. The peculiarly furnished room with its straw-mat floors and paper walls turned icehouse cold during the night, a party o f drunken Japanese thundered songs in the next room, the toilet could be reached only by putting on a pair o f wooden sandals and clogging along a stone path to a smelly outhouse — and break¬fast, when i t came w i t h the dawn, consisted o f a dozen or more dinky boxes and bowls containing pickles, dried fish, which I could not identify. There are some 90,000 authentic inns in Japan, many o f them dating back several centuries. Their numbers decline every year as competition from western-style hotel increases. For the most part, they are quaint aggregations of inter-connected wooden buildings, which sprawl around in a country setting. many are in hot-spring areas. most have a formal garden. Some ryokan are converted from old Samurai mansions; some from the estates o f wealthy merchants. (Ryo — travel. kan — mansion.) Perhaps the single most important fact about ryokan is that all have, as their most essential and traditional facility, a public (but not necessarily unisex) bath, the ofuro. Visitors to Japan are often urged to try at least one night in a ry-okan "as an experience." This will not be as easy as checking into a hotel, however. I t is possible to make reservations at some ryokan through U.S. travel agents, but a wider range o f accommodations will be available through any Japanese agency after arrival in To¬kyo. The choice w i l l come from a select list o f about 2300 inns, which are members o f the Japan Ryokan Association. Although often rustic and plain in appearance, ryokan are not usually low-cost accommodations. Charges typically include one dinner and one breakfast and are st...