Welcome to Volume Two: Accommodation Evaluation. I’m not going to lie, the volume numbers may get a little fuzzy as we go along. We have henceforth embarked together on a big journey, almost as big a journey as the actual journey itself back in June. You’ve had the first article recounting the trials and tribulations of the booking process for the trip elements, and now, settle in for a whirlwind voyage through the Osaka and Tokyo hotel reviews.
The good, the bad, and the bed covers. These hotel reviews will give you an insight into general Japanese trends, as well as top tips and kind advice for making the most of your stays. Which type of hotels are the best value, and we highly recommend? Find out in this article!
Analogous to everything in my blog, these are based on my opinion and experience. If you have any different experiences, opinions, or even simply agree with me, let me know in the comments below!
Let’s Get You Checked In: Japan Hotels Introduction
Over the entirety of our 3-week trip, we stayed in 16 hotels across the country: a total of 20 nights. That’s a canny few hotels. In sum, that totals 6 Tokyo hotels, 1 ‘hut’ on Mount Fuji, 2 hotels in Nagoya, 1 hotel in Fukuoka, 2 in the Kobe area, 2 hotels in Osaka and 2 in Kyoto.
I realised whilst writing this that there’s a bit too much for one article. And so, it’s been split into two. We’ll start with Tokyo and Osaka, and then a second article will cover Kyoto, Kobe, Fukuoka and Nagoya. For details on the Mount Fuji hut, you can check out the dedicated Mount Fuji article!
General Hotel Observations
Most of the hotels that we booked were fairly standard, budgety business hotels. Planning three weeks of travelling, we generally opted for the cheaper hotels. Before we look at Tokyo hotels in detail, here’s a wee overview of Japanese hotel trends we noticed:
Breakfasts
Breakfasts varied quite greatly and it was often a guess as to what was on the proffered platter. With English being fairly thin on the ground to non-existent, labels could be either totally in Japanese, or badly described/written. The Japanese-style breakfasts boasted dishes such as soups, rice, fish and mixed vegetables. Whereas, when the hotels offer a ‘Western-style’ breakfast, this can contain pizza, broccoli and croissants.
Bathrooms
Generally, the economy hotel rooms were fairly pokey and small. My partner and I don’t require much, especially for one night, but these were still a tad cosy. However, the main common element of all the hotel rooms minus a couple I’ll highlight were the TINY bathrooms.
Indeed, without going into too much detail, many of the world’s population sit on the toilet to attend to their business. Should you want to do that in these bathrooms, you feel almost like a contortionist, squeezed in between the sink and the wall at the slightly diagonal angle the toilet is facing. In a word: Uncomfortable.
By the same token, those ridiculously technological toilets also sing, open up, squirt water both on your behind and front (women-only), blow air, heat up and goodness knows what else. All the technology no one asked for, and no space to ‘enjoy it’ in. As mentioned in Volume One, these were an enigma the whole time and certainly in the Tokyo hotels.
Pillows
Never have we had such an issue with pillows. Are the Japanese allergic to them? In most hotels we only got one each, and it was mostly so thin or hard, you needn’t have bothered. By the end of the trip, we were requesting an extra pillow each. In one or two hotels, they had shelves with various pillowic options. Pillows were a struggle. It might seem so trivial, but when you’re exhausted from travelling and backpacking, sightseeing and God forbid enjoying yourself, you really value resting your head.
Hotel Amenities
Surprisingly, even the cheap hotels offered a range of amenities for the intrepid traveller. Though more luxurious hotels provided more amenities, the general basics covered: body and hair wash, cotton buds, toothbrush, mini hairbrush, nail file, razor, body sponge. Then you have the other offerings such as creams, bath salts, toothpaste.
Furthermore, they provide you with PJs and accompanying slippers which we didn’t use for the first week in Tokyo hotels but gradually, we used them more and more. It was pleasant to relax on an evening in some different clothes other than the same three tops and shorts we had with us for three weeks.
In like fashion, hotel rooms have a bottle of fabric freshener which is great for backpacks and clothes that have been trekked everywhere on a 3-week trip… 😊
Environmental/Eco-friendly Considerations
It can be hard to reel it in and still give a monkey’s uncle about the environment when you’re moving around different Japan hotels and ‘on vacation’. But hotels can be a hotspot for wastage, on account of all the washing, power and disposable amenities.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome when hotels offer so many freebies and it’s super easy to get carried away and start squirrelling them away, but at what cost? Most of the amenities come in plastic wrap, so there’s the first waste product. Then, you might use the free hairbrush for a couple of swipes and do you then bin it? Unfortunately, many hotels we saw did not offer any recycling facilities for these single-use or disposable amenities.
On the other hand, some did! Wee little bins to supposedly send the disposables off to be recycled. And some hotels even had green information displayed in the rooms, and on the screens, which was awesome. They informed us that the rooms may not be cleaned, sheets changed nor slippers replaced within a four-day period.
My Top Travel Tip would be to take only what you really need, and re-use it if possible. You could very well not pack a tooth or hairbrush and use the hotels’, but then keep those for the duration of your trip: don’t get a new one in each hotel. I’d always recommend pocketing small soap bars, or tiny toiletry bottles, as I’ve heard many hotels simply bin these after each guest has left for hygiene reasons.
Recycling Bins
Notably in the APA Hotel Roppongi Six (Tokyo) and the Hotel Pagong with M’s (Kyoto), I remember there being recycling bins in the rooms themselves, which was good. Others had some bins next to the amenities downstairs, again to prevent people taking unnecessary amounts and wasting. It wasn’t a huge thing, however, even in the streets. There were not many bins in the streets either, only besides the drinks vending machines to recycle the bottles and cans purchased.
Overall, I wouldn’t consider the Japanese hotels to be very eco-conscious or generally very environmentally friendly. But perhaps there are things going on in the background I am not aware of (there usually is…), so let me know in the comments if you know something I don’t!
Laundry Facilities
In three separate Japanese hotels we did our laundry. Researched in advance, it is included on the itinerary which hotels we chose to do the laundry, booked with timing in mind for when we’d need to wash our clothes.
The laundry room was normally on the same floor as the reception, and had a couple of washing machines and a couple of dryers inside. The price was a uniform 200 yen for a wash, and 100 yen for a drying cycle of 10 minutes. We used two or three cycles to properly dry our clothes. As for laundry detergent, there was either a small dispenser in the laundry room, or you requested it at reception; the price was 80-100 yen.
It must be said that it wasn’t the most intuitive system in terms of how to operate the machines, and Google translate was imperative for the instructions. Indeed, the first time I tried, I accidently set the machine going without any clothes or detergent inside! Oops! We worked it out in the end, and our clothes were freed of the grime and grit of the trip.
Automated Check-In
One of the first things we were greeted with, was a machine to check yourself in on. Reception staff didn’t seem too interested to talk to you, but instead directed you to check yourself in on the machine and follow the instructions, which were not necessarily in English. This was quite daunting and thankfully wasn’t in every hotel but in enough. For us, this added to the fairly unwelcoming attitude I mentioned in Volume One.
Tourist Taxes
Certain cities have a tourist tax that must be paid at the hotel. This is becoming so common these days. In the next year or so, our home city of Edinburgh will also be imposing this tax with the aim of contributing to cleaning and maintenance costs swollen by tourists.
The tax isn’t always declared when booking, but sprung on you once there, and I find this is also fairly common. There is a general accommodation tax of 200 yen per person, per night, for any hotel room costing less than 20,000 yen (around £100). It can increase to 300 yen for more pricier digs. Please find below some extra taxing brackets for specific cities 😊
Tokyo: For Tokyo hotels priced roughly £50 (10,000 yen) or more, the fees are 100-200 yen person, per night
Side note – I don’t recall paying this in every hotel in Tokyo, especially on the automated machines, although it may be to do with the exchange rate and price of room at the time.
Fukuoka: 200 yen per person, per night. This actually comes from 150 yen City Tax, and 50 yen Prefectural Tax, to make the 200 yen. For accommodation over 20,000 yen the fees are 500 yen.
Osaka: For hotels priced roughly £35 (7,000 yen) or more, the fees are 100-300 yen per person, per night.
Side note – the Capsule Hotel was cheaper, so we didn’t pay taxes there.
Kyoto: For hotels costing upwards of £100 (20,000 yen), the fees are 500 yen a person, and upwards of £250 (50,000 yen) a night, the fees are 1000 yen a person.
Side note – if I could afford to stay in a £250-per-night hotel, then I probably wouldn’t mind the fiver in tax…
Arima Onsen: They charge a Bathing tax, at 150-500 yen per person, per night.
Terrible Television Services
Remember when I said the most technologically advanced thing is the toilets? Well, I wasn’t joking. We couldn’t even get movies or TV in most of the hotels we stayed in, without paying a premium. The screens in the rooms did not have the option, on the most part, to connect to your streaming accounts (Netflix etc.), and in order to watch the movies and series it did have, you had to pay 500-1000 yen. When moving between 16 Japan hotels, that would amount to a large amount.
To clarify, we made do with our phones on WIFI and on some rare occasions we had free access to the movies and shows. Sometimes indeed we found our way onto the broadcasted television… and didn’t understand a word.
Tantalising titbit: Whilst we couldn’t understand a word, a lot of the broadcasted TV content seemed to be ‘react’-type reality shows. Wherein we watch someone, watching a TV clip or the likes. Think Gogglebox, if you’re from the UK, only louder, more exuberant and usually with a ‘shock factor’ or something. Not really our jam, nor our cup of tea either way. We idled away some time making up our own scripts to some dramas we found broadcasted. That was amusing.
Love Hotels
Hands down the best hotel option in Japan. Unquestionably, undeniably, the best value for money, the best quality and the best comfort. Love hotels are the way to go if you want a bit of luxury and a good time, but not in the way you might guess 😉
Yes, in essence these hotels were created with the intention of a romantic weekend, night, or even two-hour timeslot (yes, really). However, they are furnished with more interesting décor, larger rooms and more facilities than the standard hotels, for the same or cheaper cost. Check out the below hotel reviews for all the ins and outs, but believe me when I tell you that putting aside the general adult theme, they tick all the boxes for good service and a good stay.
We booked two different love hotels: one to try the so-called theme, and then another as it offered so much more, for better value. Jacuzzi-type baths, luxurious bathrooms and space (omg space!), massage chair in the room, comfortable bed and free movies and media content (general and adult) are just a few highlights.
Accommodation Evaluation: The Hotel Reviews
The lengthy introduction is over, I promise. Now, let’s get down to business, to defeat the H…. Wait, wrong country altogether. I’ve divided the hotel reviews into each city, so if you only give a hoot about Osaka, you don’t have to wade through everything else. We’ll also go in alphabetical order, because why not.
Click on the below links to jump to your preferred city, or just read on at your ease 😊
In the next article:
Tokyo
We’ve got to start at the beginning, and the longest we spent in any city. 6 Tokyo hotels, 7 nights in total. This was our introduction to Japan, and final goodbye. We stayed from the 28th June to the 4th July, and then one last night on the 17th July.
2 Chome-3-11 Roppongi, Minato City, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan
£75.67 for 1 night, Double Room, Breakfast included
We found our first Tokyo hotel to be eco-friendly but there were lots of individually wrapped plastic amenities. As mentioned above, this turned out to be a standard not just in Tokyo hotels but across Japan. Despite our bare minimal packing, we didn’t need nor use any of them.
The Room
There was a recycling bin in our room, which turned out to be uncommon for the rest of the trip. The aircon was good and we found the bed pretty comfortable. The pillow, a sign of times to come, was hard, although didn’t sleep poorly on that first night. The room was small but had everything we needed and we had our first experience of the technical terrors, a.k.a. the toilets.
Another rarity we had the pleasure of experiencing that first night was free movies in English accessible on the TV. In fact, other media such as adult content was very easy to find also on the TV. This might be a worry for any children staying there and playing with the remote…
The Common Areas
This hotel was quite posh downstairs. Not just in Tokyo, across Japan, we saw many APA hotels: it was a hotel chain. This particular APA Tokyo hotel had several buildings, most connected by a semi-inside corridor. When raining, you realised it wasn’t fully inside. And the first day in Tokyo was absolutely pouring down. In our building, there was a microwave and vending machine for guest use.
The Breakfast
Our first hotel breakfast in a Tokyo hotel was very exciting and so good. Very filling. The room was small, and was also available to non-residents. I could barely contain my excitement and incredulity when I saw the edible offerings. This ‘Western-style’ breakfast served up pizza, gyoza, scrambled eggs, broccoli, salad and potato wedges, to name a few.
Hotel breakfast is one of my favourite foods, and this did not disappoint. I think this was actually the best breakfast out of all the Tokyo hotels. The hotel was a 20-minute walk away from one of the top Tokyo highlights for us: teamLab Borderless Digital Art Museum. I’d recommend this hotel to stay in Tokyo.
1 Chome-14-3 Taito, Taito City, Tokyo 110-0016, Japan
£58.81 for 1 night, Double Room, Room only
Our second Tokyo hotel we got in the popular anime area of Akihabara. To keep costs down, the hotel wasn’t exactly in the centre of the area. We needed to walk 10 minutes or so to enjoy the shops and entertainment of the lively area.
From the outside, it’s somewhat similar to the Knight Bus from Harry Potter. This hotel is not suitable for persons with mobility issues. There were three flights of stairs and no lift.
The Common Areas
There is no reception as such, but a rather messy room and a shelf on the side of the staircase. There is no receptionist or staff. Instructions and security boxes can be found where you must fill out check-in forms, and get your key to your room. Some boxes with standard Japanese amenities offered are also found next to the self-check-in area.
On the first floor, we discovered a common room with a water dispenser, where fellow backpackers were also utilising on the morning before leaving. There were a couple of sofas and a fridge but the room was fairly messy and not really professional (likely from other guest usage). I wouldn’t personally want to hang out there.
The Room
The room was quite basic and tiny, but had everything we needed. The bathroom was larger that we grew accustomed too, and analogous to other bathrooms in Japan, it was actually a wet room. The difference in this place was that the toilet and sink were in a separate, large room. The bath tub wasn’t exactly a hot tub as described in the advert, but it was pleasant enough. More space in the bathroom than in the actual bedroom.
A budget option for a popular area in Tokyo. Not a chain hotel, like many Tokyo hotels.
1 Chome-10-4 Narihira, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0002, Japan
£43.31 for 1 night, Double Room, Room only
Another chain hotel, and this specific hotel was in a pretty great location for visiting the Tokyo Skytree. It’s also close to the Asahi Beer Tower. Out of the Tokyo hotels, this one had the most nicely-decorated room. A small and narrow building with a small, but professional reception, with a human at the desk.
The Room
A bit on the dark side, the room had black furniture, black bedding and own-branded wallpaper which I actually didn’t get a photo of. It was smart. Every other hotel, minus the love hotels, had just standard white bedding. The view from the window was of the large Tokyo Skytree, which was awesome until we actually went up the thing… You’ll have to read a later article to find out about that fiasco.
It was comfortable enough and no issues. We weren’t able to watch anything on the TV without paying, but there was free WIFI. We used our phones to watch a movie. A cheap budget option close to tourist attractions.
2 Chome-3-11 Roppongi, Minato City, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan
£126.30 for 2 nights, Double Room, Breakfast included
A feature hotel. One of the more interesting Tokyo hotels, and in fact, Japan hotels. It was one of the first hotels we booked and we were excited to see robot dinosaurs manning the desk. Being another one of the chain Tokyo hotels, you could get various different types of robots manning the reception desks. On balance, we preferred the idea of dinosaurs. In reality, it was the proximity to DisneySea and the promise of a free shuttle right to the park that led to us booking this particular Tokyo hotel.
The Robot Dinosaurs
The hotel reception is decked out in a Jurassic, nature theme with two robot dinosaurs at reception. Rather underwhelmingly, they didn’t do anything other than move their heads, lips and just read aloud the words appearing on the self-check-in screen on the guest side of the reception desk. Entertainment value aside, they weren’t particularly useful.
Here to the left, a wee series of images showing the dinosaurs, bellow, there are two videos. In the first video, you can hear the dinosaur reading the screen.
The Room
T’was rare we had free watchable media on the hotel TV rooms. In this feature hotel, however, we didn’t even have the option of paying for it. There was no TV, on the TV. It was filled with screens of hotel information only. There was a strange clothes steamer thing in the room, which ain’t nobody got time to meddle with that. The technical toilets are bad enough…
I could have stayed in a tent for all I cared though because we were staying here for DISNEYSEA and that was exciting enough.
The Hotel Facilities
There were three prize claw machines in the foyer, and the breakfast area doubled as a free and unlimited bar on the evening. Yes, you read that right: a free bar. Hotel amenities were located close to the lift (for which you needed the room key for security). This prevented lazy and unthoughtful use and subsequent wastage of the disposable items.
The “bar” consisted of some flavoured liqueur bottles laid out with a comparatively small quantity of soft drinks as mixers. We had a bit of amusement trying a couple of options but then retired as the novelty wore off and it wasn’t very relaxing. Nice enough novelty. And who doesn’t like a free tipple.
The Shuttle Bus
The shuttle bus is small. Perhaps 15 people can fit, I’d say. The timings are posted at reception, and you need to queue there in the morning to get a little bus ticket pass. No pass, no travel. These are, understandably, limited. My boyfriend went during breakfast (30 minutes before travel, although we highly recommend perhaps 45+ minutes to be sure) and successfully got us two passes.
The shuttle leaves on the dot (we booked 8am). Our’s was full for the journey, although it wasn’t until the last minute where folks boarded. For the return journey, you must wait at the designated Stand C and know what your bus looks like. There are several different shuttle buses for various Tokyo hotels and companies. This can mean yours may arrive a little tardy, as ours did, but this is to be understood with traffic and everyone vying to get stopped at the stands. They worked very well, and are recommended.
2 Chome-20-15 Kabukicho, Shinjuku City, Tokyo 160-0021, Japan
£55.62 for 1 night, Double Room, Breakfast included
This was one chain of Tokyo hotels and across Japan, I swear we were calling “Tokyo Inn” for, like, the whole time. We stayed in two of them: the second being our last night. This particular night was the 3rd July.
The Room
On the positive side, the room was quiet and cosy. There were a few small comforts, a picture frame and a book shelf of religious texts. We are not religious but it adds a bit of character to an otherwise white washed basic hotel room (standard in Japan). My boyfriend asked for extra pillows, which was a great idea.
On the negative side, the TV media was chargeable, as usual. The pillows were heavy sacks of rice (worryingly literally) and the bed was very hard. Not very comfortable at all.
Laundry Facilities
Being the first time doing laundry in Japan, it took us a wee moment to figure it out. After having set one machine going without anything in it… we figured out enough to wash and dry a load.
It was 200 yen a wash, and 100 yen for ten minutes drying in the large, industrial-sized tumble dryers. Our clothes took three lots of ten minutes = 30 minutes drying in total.
The laundry room was located just next to the breakfast hall (it was large), and the rooms were all wood-panelled and on the ground floor. Not only was this part accessible for mobility-impaired individuals, but also multiple lifts for the upper floors were in operation.
The Breakfast
The scrambled eggs and sausages were alright, but we had the memories of the epic very first morning’s breakfast in our minds, and this one did not overwrite that. Furthermore, the salmon was dry. What was amazing though, was the mushroom soup with cheesy bread. I could have that every day, no problem.
Environmental Considerations
This Toyoko Tokyo hotel specifically outlined their environmental policies on the TV screen, accompanied with an optional question regarding breakfast.
In order to counter food wastage, you are able to select whether you will or will not be sampling their sausages and slurping their soup. They can then plan and order accordingly based on statistics etc. Pretty cool. If you don’t select anything, you will still be able to eat, but you wouldn’t be contributing to the collaboration to reduce wastage.
They also advise that, in brief, they operate an “Eco-Stay” policy with reduced room cleaning and linen washing for more than 1-night stays.
In this case, it didn’t affect us directly on our one night per hotel kind of trip, but it was nice to see the notice. Overall, the hotel was perfectly adequate, despite the hard and beany bed.
4 Chome-23-2 Takanawa, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0074, Japan
£71.36 for 1 night, Double Room, Breakfast included
Our last night! The 17th July came around and this was our last night before flying home to Scotland. We grabbed a hotel next to the major station in Tokyo where we could also get a metro to the airport the following day.
The Room
Similar to the other Toyoko Inn we stayed at towards the beginning of our trip, this room had some small comforts in that set it apart from other Tokyo hotels. The painting was quite nice, and even had a QR code on to find out more info on your phone about the artwork in the Toyoko Tokyo Hotels. The room was an alright size, and the bathroom wasn’t the pokiest.
The Breakfast
The dining room was on the ground floor, to the left. The hotel being a stone’s throw from the Shinagawa Station, there wasn’t too much around abouts. The dining room was quite cramped and you seemed to be sitting on top of each other, and on top of the waste disposal areas, which wasn’t very pleasant. The food was alright, but I can’t recall anything really positive or negative, I’m afraid. I didn’t make any notes as I was absolutely exhausted. The hotel did the job and was in a very useful location.
Osaka
Osaka was our second-last city and we stayed here on the 11th, 12th and 13th of July. Rather different experiences and more interesting than our Tokyo hotels…
〒533-0023 Osaka, Higashiyodogawa Ward, Higashiawaji, 4 Chome−33−6 プレミア淡路ビル 5階,Japan
£30.14 for 1 night, Two Single Pods, Pod-Only Basis
This was a pod hotel, meaning you get a large coffin-sized space all to yourself to sleep in, and then communal bathroom and living spaces. It’s not, how you might imagine, the hyper-tech stasis pods with buttons and steam released as the pod opens… Nope.
The Pod
There are lockers into which to put your stuff. I preferred however to keep it with me in my pod, for safety and ease of access. The walls were more designed than half the ‘normal’ hotel rooms, and it was fairly pleasant. A small mirror, shelf, light and plug socket, not to mention the duvet, sheets and pillow, gave me more comfort and amenities than the £70pp mountain hut…
I have to say, I slept alright in this here pod thing. Missed my other half, of course, but it was an experience. He, however, barely slept because of a large group of loud individuals who had no consideration for their hotel-mates. It’s a shame that you get twits no matter where you go…
The capsule hotel gave us loungewear and a towel in the locker, which was pretty comfortable too. For obvious reasons, I didn’t photograph the bathroom area.
The Communal Spaces
A lift takes you to reception, and to go any further, you need the wristband you acquire upon checking in. So, it’s pretty secure in that sense. On the same floor as the reception, there is a lounge with Japanese decor. Power sockets, a vending machine, a sink, microwave and sofas await the guest, as well as an outdoor space. Due to the high walls, there isn’t much of a view, but a breath of fresh air is pleasant. Genders may mix here and talk quietly.
As for the rooms and bathroom spaces, there is one floor for men, and one for women. The men’s wristband does not allow access to the women’s floor; only the men’s. A huge array of lockers are available, as well as makeup spaces, showers and sinks take up half the floor. Personally, I didn’t use the shower in this place, but I did freshen up easily using the sink. It’s similar to a gym changing room. Go about your own business and don’t mind anyone else’s.
On each gendered floor, there was one washing machine, and one dryer. I left this one up to my partner and I went to my pod. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say…
At £15pp, it’s an interesting experience for a cheap night in the big city of Osaka.
〒533-0023 Osaka, Higashiyodogawa Ward, Higashiawaji, 4 Chome−33−6 プレミア淡路ビル 5階,Japan
£139.00 for 2 nights, King Room, Breakfast Included
I’ve mentioned it already in this article, but I’m going to do it again. Love hotels are the best hotels to stay in when visiting Japan. This property was the first love hotel we stayed in and boy, was it worth it.
The hotel is on a small street which is quite hard to miss but seemingly in one of those areas rife with host clubs, posters of pretty boys, girls and everything in between and love hotels. Interesting stuff.
The Reception Area
The tiny reception desk in the small reception area is in front of a door, where the staff seem to stay at all times unless guests require assistance. And even then, it takes a minute for them to come out. We were able to leave our bags with them no problem to explore, and when we came to check in later, there was a kindly older woman who helped us find our room and get settled in.
Other features of this entrance include a menu of hotel room images, with the available rooms illuminated and a price list of the hourly and nightly room starting rates. These were also in the Kyoto love hotel we visited next! This kind woman asked us what we wanted for breakfast for the mornings and was one of the most patient people we met in Japan.
She personally escorted us to the room. In love hotels, there is a light above the doors and directional signs, literally lighting your path to love. Or just a good nights’ sleep, whatever. She helped with the payment on a machine located just inside the door (it was booked but as a ‘pay-on-stay’ situation). And she strongly warned me to lock the door after she left. Incidentally, on one occasion I forgot and they actually phoned our room to advise us it was unlocked and to lock it.
The Room
The rooms are all decorated differently, from what we could tell, and certainly more interesting than the white washed, décor-free, hotel rooms. We got leopard-printed material wallpaper, with a leather bed runner and a wooden floor. Pretty exciting. A small sofa area with a table where we could eat breakfast and a large TV with free movies and shows! Awesome
A more adult-orientated vending machine in one cupboard, personal massager for guest use and adult-only hygiene products on the bedside table. Everything you could really want! A gorgeous mirror I would have loved to pop in my bag and take home. The bed was large and comfortable too.
The Bathroom
Then a well-stocked and bathroom and separate spacious toilet with amenities and hair machines for guest use too. It was a good-sized bathroom with a fancy, large bath. A TV screen hung above the bath: I watched a Japan soap drama although we had to imagine the story due to the language barrier. The whole room was a wet room and I swear bigger than most non-love hotel bathrooms.
The Breakfast
Our kindly reception woman came on the first morning with breakfast and brought it right into our room for us, laying it on the table and re-warning me to lock the door after she left. We had requested it earlier than their usual serving, due to going to Harry Potter World (again so stupidly excited food wasn’t first on the agenda for once), and she brought it as promised early. I got the breakfast sandwich which was soooo good, and juice. I didn’t take a photo, apparently, which is a shame.
On balance, you can see why the love hotels were such a good value option for both comfort and convenience. The adult products and influence are minimal enough to ignore, if you want to, and the space and facilities certainly trump the “normal” hotel rooms.
Thank you for reading this article: I know it’s been quite long, and perhaps hasn’t interested some of you. So, you’ll be happy to know the next article is pretty much just as long and contains even more hotel reviews! We stayed at a lot of hotels, and that means a lot of reviews. Hopefully, there are those among you for whom this has been invaluable in helping plan their trips! If that’s you, let me know in the comments! If it’s not you, I promise that exciting articles are to come: highlights of Tokyo e.g.
2 responses to “Jam-Packed Japan: Genuine Osaka and Tokyo Hotel Reviews”
Yes it was very long but so informative with humour too. Could imagine having the conversation rather than reading it.
Very detailed with photos too.
Can’t wait for the next instalment
Comprehensive review. Well done.