Japan - The Basics: Accomodation

When planning, I was pleasantly surprised to find that hotels don't have to be that expensive in Japan. I stayed in 3 different ones and I'm pretty sure they were all between $70 and $90 a night. Two of the hotels were in great spots, and the third didn't matter because we were only there to catch the train the next morning.

Desk clerks at hotels speak enough English to check you in or out, but most of them weren't going to be carrying on a conversation with me. When you check in you will need to present the passport of everyone in your group and then fill out a short form. There's a good chance you'll be given an actual key, and not a plastic card.

Hotel rooms are smaller than they are in America, but other than that are mostly the same. Except for the toilets. Japan has some space age, robot toilets. Sometimes there's a normal flusher, but usually there are buttons. A bunch of buttons. I wouldn't sit down and then push them. Stand away from the toilet and push with a stick, cause you can't tell what all of them do. One's to flush. One's a bidet. Two don't seem to do anything. One might heat the seat. One might make flushing noises but not actually flush. It's trial and error. Sometimes showers are a bit weird too. There's a just a bar with two twisty knobs on either side and a spout.. The left knob controls temperature, the right knob controls whether water comes from the spout or the shower head. And if you have a mirror in your shower...well, we couldn't figure that one out either.

All of our hotels had free wi-fi in the lobby, but no where else. One hotel had computers to use in the lobby too. If you need internet you might as well use it while you're in the hotel, because you aren't going to find it anywhere else. At least not free and unlocked wi-fi.

If you arrive at your hotel early, or have to check out but aren't leaving the area, chances are good that your hotel will store your luggage and give you a claim ticket. It's a great resource, which we used at two of the hotels.

I was really worried about being able to find the hotels from whatever train station we were getting off of. And I never really found a solution to the problem. Once we had a taxi take us (not in Tokyo), once we had to ask several people for directions and wander somewhat aimlessly a time or two, and once we found it easily because it was across the street from a major attraction. I would suggest you get a hotel right at a train station or major attraction. Strongly suggest.

I'll give short reviews of the hotels we used in Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. We were lucky enough to use a relative's apartment building in Tokyo. All of the following hotels were great places that I would stay in again.

Kyoto: Kyoto Kokusai Hotel

This was a great hotel! Very clean, quite pretty. It was only a couple of blocks from a subway station that had direct access to Kyoto Station. It's directly across the street from the Nijo Castle (a major historical attraction) so it's easy to find and buses stop right in front of it.

The rooms were nice. Both western and traditional Japanese rooms available. There's a beautiful garden with a pond and swans (babies when I was there). There's a large gift shop that has some really nice and traditional gifts, as well as one of the few places I saw single post cards for sale. Nice and air conditioned lobby with lots of places to sit and enjoy the free wi-fi (lobby only), plus computers available for use in the lobby.

Pay upon arrival, not upon booking. One night was $75 - which is of course subject to change based on time of the year and promotions.

Hiroshima: Sunroute Hotel

View of the Atomic Dome from our window.

Another great hotel with a great location. Two or three blocks from a streetcar stop, and only one block from the Peace Memorial Museum and Park. We could actually see the Atomic Dome from our room.

Wi-fi available in lobby only. Small gift table in lobby. The rooms were nice. Check in was easy. Around $60 a night. Primarily, this hotel was fantastic for its location.

Fukuoka: Hotel Monterey La Soeur

Since we weren't planning to do anything in Fukuoka, we didn't pay much attention to where the hotel was located. Had I been planning to stay in the city, this might not have been the best location, but I'm really not sure. It wasn't close to a train station, but a taxi ride was around $10.

The hotel was beautiful. By far the fanciest we visited. Our room had a little lobby area. You open your door and you still aren't in. The weird thing was the lights. We could not get any of them to come on, except for the ones by the bed. We flicked every switch to no avail. We finally located a key slot in the lobby area by our front door. Once the key was inserted we were able to turn lights on. When the key was removed, all the lights went off and we could no longer operate them. So, the key card must be inserted to work the lights, but it makes it very easy to turn off all the lights when you leave.

The room was spacious, and beautifully decorated. A little over $80 a night, so we were certainly paying for the fancy. So basically, see what's around the hotel and if it's a good location before you book, but if you want some luxury without paying the price, this is the hotel!