Future Japan Trip Planning

[Gunzel]

I’ve stayed in lots of different Toyoko Inns and for the last few years the breakfast always starts at 6.30am, you’d want to be there by 8.30 to be safe, but leaving it that late you’re wasting time that could be spent on a train 🙂 They now  usually offer a takeaway option (sometimes you have to ask specifically). Breakfast has a common thread, but some local things are often included, and the overall quality and variety does vary (we’ve stayed in three different ones near Hakata station and one had a much better breakfast than the others). 

 

 

As other have mentioned rooms (and bathrooms) are small, beds are firm, as are pillows (usually using some sort of grain rather than foam), but I’m 6’1” and no issues with length. They only change all the sheets every four days, but you get fresh towels every day (you can opt not to have them even make the bed and they will leave them in a bag hanging on the door). 
 

Join their club and you get the single price of a room free for every ten nights that you stay, and early access to book with a small discount. It also make using their self checkin machines a bit easier. 
 

Check their location, they often stretch the definition of “eki-mae” a little to my mind. And make sure you select non-smoking, it can be a bit miserable if you muck that up and they don’t have any availability when you arrive. 

[Phantom]

13 minutes ago, Gunzel said:

I’ve stayed in lots of different Toyoko Inns and for the last few years the breakfast always starts at 6.30am, you’d want to be there by 8.30 to be safe, but leaving it that late you’re wasting time that could be spent on a train 🙂 They now  usually offer a takeaway option (sometimes you have to ask specifically). Breakfast has a common thread, but some local things are often included, and the overall quality and variety does vary (we’ve stayed in three different ones near Hakata station and one had a much better breakfast than the others). 

 

 

As other have mentioned rooms (and bathrooms) are small, beds are firm, as are pillows (usually using some sort of grain rather than foam), but I’m 6’1” and no issues with length. They only change all the sheets every four days, but you get fresh towels every day (you can opt not to have them even make the bed and they will leave them in a bag hanging on the door). 
 

Join their club and you get the single price of a room free for every ten nights that you stay, and early access to book with a small discount. It also make using their self checkin machines a bit easier. 
 

Check their location, they often stretch the definition of “eki-mae” a little to my mind. And make sure you select non-smoking, it can be a bit miserable if you muck that up and they don’t have any availability when you arrive. 

This is exactly what I was looking for thanks. 630 may be a bit late somedays so I will definitely look ahead of time for alternatives. I will probably look into their membership, easier checkin sounds useful when communication could be an issue. Regarding smoking, I assume you are saying that there are rooms or floors where smoking is allowed? I definitely want to avoid those then.

[Tony Galiani]

I think the breakfast really varies with the hotel so read the booking info.  I am pretty sure that the Toyoko Inns include it without an extra charge but others, like the Mitsui Garden Hotels and My Stay hotels charge extra.

Tony

[Phantom]

I've also seen "Richmond" hotels pop up a few times in the Tohoku region and I'm guessing by the name they are a bit more western and are at a reasonable price. Have any of you guys stayed at one of those before?

[Gunzel]

9 hours ago, Phantom said:

This is exactly what I was looking for thanks. 630 may be a bit late somedays so I will definitely look ahead of time for alternatives. I will probably look into their membership, easier checkin sounds useful when communication could be an issue. Regarding smoking, I assume you are saying that there are rooms or floors where smoking is allowed? I definitely want to avoid those then.

I am always disappointed when I have to leave early and miss the free breakfast. If you can eat on the train and get takeaway you can get away a little bit earlier, but realistically not much before 7 (and get down early too, there’s usually a queue before 6.30). 
 

Yes, they have rooms where smoking is allowed, I’m pretty sure they are segregated by floor because it’s never been an issue when staying in a non smoking room, but I’ve been in a hurry and booked a smoking room by accident in the past and it wasn’t fun. 
 

I don’t think I’ve stayed at a Richmond. 

[Kingmeow]

15 hours ago, Kingmeow said:

This is from memory but depending on location, breakfast is over at either 9am or 9:30am.  Warning, they are bringing stuff back into the kitchen 15 mins before end of service.

 

Different items at different hotels.  I think it *may* depend on what's more common for the region the hotel is in.

 

The Toyoko Inn at Kawaguchiko actually had two adjoining buildings and they set up two breakfasts, one in each building with one being Japanese style and the other being Western style (more pastries, etc.).  The two buildings interconnect so you don't have to go outside.  One morning I actually tried both sides.  ☺️

 

Yes, I'm quoting myself.  🤣  I had to run yesterday without giving all the details.

 

To contrast we also stayed at a Toyoko Inn at Matsumoto.  The breakfast area was about 1/4 the size of the one In Kawaguchiko, if you added up the two breakfast areas of the Kawaguchiko location.  As such, with limited space, the breakfast variety was much less.  Also, it was much more crowded where if you went during prime time you may have to wait for an open table.

 

We also stayed in a Toyoko Inn at Shin-Fuji.  Literally a block or two from the Shinkansen station. It was quite convenient.  The breakfast area size was in between the Kawaguchiko and Matsumoto locations.  Even though it was a fairly good size, the variety was limited like the Matsumoto location.  They could have added more items.

 

This is all in comparison with each other of course.  We were happy at each location and would stay there again.

 

14 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

I think the breakfast really varies with the hotel so read the booking info.  I am pretty sure that the Toyoko Inns include it without an extra charge but others, like the Mitsui Garden Hotels and My Stay hotels charge extra.

Tony

 

True!  All our 3 Toyoko Inn stays included breakfast.  Like what RS18U said, many times hotels have options where you can add/buy breakfast and pretty much every single one that we looked into that has this option, they are overpriced in a sense that you can get cheaper breakfast outside.  That's not to say that for the price you do have a nice environment with a leisurely pace of hot food, compared to getting some grab and go at a 7-Eleven.

 

Two trips ago we stayed almost exclusively at Intergate hotels.  We love the place.  Just slightly higher category than a Toyoko Inn.  Slightly higher price, slightly bigger room, more chic decor but no free breakfast.  When we were in Hiroshima, we bought a breakfast just to experience the buffet.  We were overwhelmed by the amount of variety and quality (good!).  We were stuffed but we also spent more time on breakfast than we normally do, thus eating into sightseeing/tourism time.

 

3 hours ago, Gunzel said:

Yes, they have rooms where smoking is allowed, I’m pretty sure they are segregated by floor because it’s never been an issue when staying in a non smoking room, but I’ve been in a hurry and booked a smoking room by accident in the past and it wasn’t fun. 

 

Yes, they are segregated by floors.  At least the Toyoko Inn at Shin-Fuji.

 

We booked a smoking room, not by mistake, but because that's what they had remaining.  This was months in advance.  We could have chosen other hotels but this one was convenient and the price was right and there were other aspects of the other hotels that we didn't like.  We figured with only 2 nights we can just tough it out.

 

Expecting the worse (compared to US hotel smoking rooms) we were pleasantly surprised.  Our noses are quite sensitive in detecting smoking rooms but we barely detected any.  Maybe because we noticed that every hotel room we stayed in there was an air purifier.  Maybe they run those and it helped?

 

Now be aware that was only ONE experience by us and not a blanket statement.  I would take Gunzel's statement about smoking rooms with more consideration than mine.

[Tony Galiani]

I think the "value" of the breakfast varies considerably.

 

At the Toyoko Inns, I think it is a pretty good deal since it is included.  At other places, I feel it can be a tad overpriced but - for me - can be worthwhile depending on the location.

 

The JR Hotels we have stayed in at Takamatsu and Hakodate had well set up dining areas with the food and beverages set up separately but adjacent to the dining areas.  They were pretty spacious as well - thinking real estate in those locations is less costly and allows for more space.  Generally pleasant environments where you could relax over breakfast and watch the world go by outside.

 

The dining rooms in the Mitsui Garden Hotels are not set up as well (except for the one in Kyoto) and so you have a lot of back and forth traffic which can make it a bit noisy and cramped.  They do have very large food selections - both Western and Japanese - up to sixty or so items IIRC.  

 

On our last trip, we opted to take the dining option at the MGH in Osaka but skipped it in Tokyo.  There was an Excelsior Cafe next to our Tokyo MGH and that was a pretty good value for their set breakfast.  I would get down there early and relax over a latte then have the set breakfast when the Princess of Procrastination would finally make it downstairs.  The concept of being out of the hotel to get the day started at 6:30 or 7:00 just wouldn't work for us.  I consider it a major event if I can get the Princess out by 9:00 AM!

 

Ciao,

Tony

[chadbag]

The best hotel breakfast I’ve had in Japan was the Hilton Odaiba.  I wouldn’t pay extra myself but we got rooms through points and we had to use up a set amount of points and so adding the breakfast in got us closer to using the maximum points available that otherwise would have expired.  These were use them or lose them points through a Wyndham program and unused points expire after a year or two and we had excess built up.   But the Hilton breakfast was wonderful.   
 

I don’t  remember where but we’ve had some pretty good breakfasts at Japanese hotels and some pretty bad ones (or at least small and boring).  We don’t usually get the breakfast but when it’s only ¥1000 or ¥1200 per person we opt for it to save the hassle of having to go looking.  

[Phantom]

I think for what I am trying to do it would be best to avoid included breakfast. Sunrise is around 630 in Feb/March and if I want to see a few locations near sunrise breakfast opening at 7 is not reasonable obviously. I think for those days it may be best to get something from a store that is held on a shelf at room temp to eat the next day. Or get a small breakfast to go from a convenience store open 24 hr and eat a large and early lunch. For the other days when a hotel breakfast may workout it might just be better to get something elsewhere where I can see what I'm getting ahead of time by looking at available menus online from either their own website or google maps for example. This opens up my hotel options. When I am confident with where (currently looking at Omiya, Odawara and Okayama areas) I'm staying I may ask you guys if there is anything in those areas you like. If not Toyoko seems to be a non-controversial safeish choice.

Regarding other practical things to know, where might I fill up a water bottle? I assume the tap water at a hotel is fine or there may be specialized water stations. Out and about during the days in public areas I am uncertain. A quick google search lists an app called mymizu that lists places, but some of them may be in places like restaurants which aren't particularly convenient. In the same way that US airports often have water filling stations near restrooms do shinkansen stations have a similar setup? I suppose I could just buy bottled water as well since vending machines are apparently everywhere. That does mean disposing of more trash though. From what I understand the rules on trash disposal are strict, but places such as stations generally have pretty clearly laid out trash bins and types are clearly labeled also such as differing types of recycling?

[Gunzel]

Public water filling facilities are not common in my experience. 

 

The tap water at the hotel is fine to drink, but the flavour may be not to your taste (depending where you are). I just buy as needed from vending machines generally, water is commonly available for Y100-150 in 500-600ml bottles. You can usually pay a little less at a convenience store, and even less at a supermarket. All vending machines have a receptacle for recycling what they sell, it’s commonly accepted to dispose of a bottle at a vending machine even if you don’t buy from there. 
 

Other rubbish is harder, stations are usually good (once you get to more remote/quiet stations they won’t have bins), and also convenience stores, but at a convenience store you’d probably be wanting to make a purchase and it should be small amounts, not more than the packaging of what you bought. Lastly your hotel of course. 

[Kingmeow]

I would just buy water either at vending machines or convenience stores.  They are pretty inexpensive and if it's the warmer months (I know you are going Feb/Mar) nothing beats chilled water.  Refill stations are rare from my experience.

 

If you are staying at one location for 2 nights or more what we did is initially buy two 500ml bottles.  When we run out, we bought 1L or 2L bottles at a convenience store.  You'll be surprise how cheap they are.  For a little more than a 500ml bottle, you can get a 1L or 2L bottle.  We fill up the empties at the end of the night, put them in the room fridge and take them with us the next day.  We leave the liter bottles in the room.

 

The key is timing and estimating as you don't want to travel with a 1L or 2L bottle in tow or have to pour them down the drain before traveling to your next location.  This way you save a little and you don't feel like you are contributing to landfills.

 

For the two of us, we usually fill up three 500ml bottles for the day.  And if we really run out, we'll get a non-water drink; coffee, soda, green tea, etc. as a treat.  We've never had to pour water away or lug around a mostly filled liter bottle of water.

 

 

[Phantom]

Ok, I think I'm sorted with water then. Or at least a good enough idea about it to start with I'm not going to be to worried about figuring it out when I get there. I think I'm going to have to find something I can store with me overnight to eat as a small breakfast on a few days though.

 

Also seems like excessive packaging material on food may be a problem, so will probably carry my own small plastic bag inside of my day pack like a ziploc or similar to put it in till I get to the hotel or somewhere I can throw it away.

[kuro68000]

There are lots of "health drinks" that are flavoured water, like DA KA RA, and of course a lot of green tea drinks, all bottled. The cheapest place to get them is the supermarket, but they are cheap enough even at the conbini. If you want to eat cheaply, Saizeriya is hard to beat. You can get a hamburger steak, rice, unlimited drinks, and corn soup/bread for under 1000 yen.

 

Finding waste bins in Japan is a bit of an issue. JR stations usually have them inside, and so do some conbinis. Beyond that it's mostly just PET bottle bins next to the vending machines. So yeah, a plastic rubbish bag in your pack is a good idea, that's what I sometimes do. Many places also charge for shopping bags now, it's only a few yen but it does mean they will usually ask if you want one. Japanese for shopping bag is "fukuro" (like foo-coo-row), so you can just say "fukuro kudasai" (shopping bag please).