Hotel Park Side - Tokyo, Japan 

Subarashi means great or fantastic in Japanese. That would sum up this hotel in a nutshell. The hotel was very clean everywhere throughout. The rooms were spotlessly clean, I was very impressed. The beds were comfortable, you had a TV and computer with keyboard in the rooms too. It was a high-quality flat screen TV, which served also as a computer. In the bathrooms, the toilet was supermodern: it was a toilet, bidet and a cleanser for your "private parts", all in one. I had never seen anything like it ever. As a nice touch, the hotel offered high quality body soap and shampoo/conditioner by Shiseido in the bathroom, that was nice. You can also control the temperature of your room, to your liking. Also, there is a tea-kettle along with free tea samples in the room, and also fresh kimonos with obi (sash) and "towelling" slippers for the guest. None of the channels on the TV were in English, only Japanese. But it was fun to watch Japanese TV and watch their expressions, etc. Interesting it was. My room faced towards the front of the hotel, looking towards Shinobazu Pond. Nice view, and don't forget to bring your camera and get a few pix of it. I used one of the on-premise restaurants once for the buffet breakfast, called the Italian Trattoria. It was okay, not bad, but not really great. My opinion only: if you reserve a room here, don't bother getting your meals included in your reservation. I am glad that I did not. You can try them out once or so, and just pay regular price, which is reasonable. There are many shops, restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, grocery stores in the immediate area, so you have more than amply choice for food and drink! The staff at the hotel was friendly on check in and check out both. Some of the staff have limited English, but they tried to speak English and they were helpful. It also gave me a chance to use my limited Japanese with them: I learned a few key words and phrases from Lonely Planets "Japanese Phrase Book." I did not see any swimming pool or whirlpool on the premises. The hotel is in a good location, just a few blocks from the Keisei Train Station, which is also beside the Ueno Station. Very convenient. (The Uneo Station handles trains and subways both and the Keisei Station has direct trains to Narita Airport.) There are quite a few homeless people hanging around the outer hallways and corridors of the train stations, but they did not present any problem. So don't worry about that. All in all, the hotel is really great, highly recommended. When I was making my reservation on line, they were very prompt and helpful. They went out of their way to get me a non smoking room, which I requested. They even held my room (reservation) without a credit card. Not many hotels do that nowadays. So, this is a nice place to stay for sure. It is not too expensive, very reasonably priced. I paid 10,900 Yen per night for my room, which was one double bed and private bath of course. The hotel is in the district of Ueno, in Tokyo. It is a good area, and subways are everywhere, so nothing is inconvenient.