Kameya Hotel

Every room at this renovated onsen hotel on the Yamagata coast has its own private bath and a direct view of the Sea of Japan, which covers the basics handsomely. The rooms range from tatami-and-cypress traditional to a suite five stories up fitted entirely in white and glass, with one wild card: a room with a copper ceiling inspired by a nearby shrine. The communal stone baths and the town's only natural spring-fed drinking fountain round things out.