Two years ago, when I had to choose the kind of hotel where to spend my days in Tokyo, I found a chain of serviced apartments / hotel called TOKYU STAY. The hotel presents itself as a cross between a traditional hotel and a small apartment with all necessary services. Within each room there are in fact a microwave, a hot plate for cooking, a sink, a work shelf as in classic cuisine, and above all a convenient washing machine with dryer function. The presence of the washing machine immediately caught my attention! Unfortunately, as everyone knows, airlines companies raise the weight limit of baggage to be put in the hold of aircraft. But Tokyo is a city where you can’t walk the streets without buying anything …. indeed, is exactly the opposite! You can not think of spending a holiday in Tokyo without having to deal with everything that you buy and that you have, sometimes doing magic tricks, to bring in your suitcase!

ENTRANCE

Having a washing machine in the room is of great help! Knowing to be able to wash your own clothes when you want, allows you to pack the bare essentials, leaving free space for all the things you will buy on the way back! So I opted for this hotel and more precisely to the Shibuya Shin-Minamiguchi one.

TOKYU STAY SHIBUYA SHIN_MINAMIGUCHI

Another interesting aspect is how to make reservations. Through various travel booking sites such as lastminute.com or expedia.com when you book a trip, you must pay by credit card. If you are a common man like me and do not have a Gold , Platinum or Black card this could be a problem! When you book for two or more people at once the flight and the hotel, these sites give you the choice of paying  with 2 differents credit cards, only 2 …. at least my experiences tell me this …. and you can find you in the condition of not being able to pay for the entire trip! The Tokyu Stay chain allow, after the registration at the website, a reservation without payment, enabling you to pay once your arrival in the lobby!

MY ROOM

The hotel is very quiet and there is not a big lobby like in the Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, but it is very organized and clean! In the square below the hotel is open 24 hours a Family Mart (like every convenience stores) very convenient to stock up on food or drink just before going to your room.

MY ROOM

THE VIEW FROM MY BALCONY

THE BREAKFAST MENU

The rooms, being like small apartments, are larger than the common rooms of the hotels in Tokyo. Mine had even a balcony! In the lobby there is a free wifi network (indinspensabile in Tokyo) and breakfast is included! The hotel, being very small, there isn’t a space where they could serve the breakfast. But in the same building there is a family restaurant called Jonathan’s where, by submitting name and room number, you can have breakfast for free!
Prices are in line with those of business hoels in Tokyo, so pretty cheap, but the services are definitely more interesting!

LINK:

http://www.tokyustay.co.jp/e/hotel/SIM/

Tokyu Stay Shibuya Shin-minamiguchi
Shibuya 3-26-21, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0002

In tokyo, opportunities to eat in a good restaurant, are really a lot! I really liked a restaurant in Shibuya, where the Japanese culinary tradition is merged with the more westerly one of Spanish tapas. 

The place is called 209, a name that recalls the most famous shopping center Shibuya 109, and in fact is very close. To reach the restaurant from the famous Shibuya crossing takes very few minutes! 

Looking at the building with the biggest screen where they are located StarbucksCoffee and TSUTAYA shop you must take the main road on the left that goes to the Dogenzaka districtt. At the corner  intersection where the Shibuya 109 is, go straight until the first road on the right. Just before Mos Burger. Turn right into the street and immediately you’ll see the orange sign of the restaurant 209.

Inside the design is very nice, you get a feeling of warmth as you enter. The scents are is not the classic of Japanese food, but it will be easy to feel the aroma of Gorgonzola cheese with red wine.

In this restaurant, the candles are everywhere and lights and very low but it’s not the classic romantic restaurant, but a place to relax and chat with friends eating delicious Japanese/Spanish tapas drinking some good wine or a fresh beer. The prices are really cheap and central location makes this a landmark in Shibuya.

A strange kind of soup Gazpacho-style

Marinated Salmon, rally tasty!!

Cheese Gunkan

The restaurant ( sorry for bad quality )

Among entertainments  that Tokyo offers, certainly the most curious for all the foreigners visiting this city is the KARAOKE! 

I think in any part of the world as there are facilities for Karaoke like in Japan. Certainly singing along with the words on a screen is a common practice everywhere, but in Japan goes far beyond! There are whole buildings of several floors, full of small rooms where people go to sing! The feeling is to be in a hotel , where you can choose your room type,a small one or a big one, for 2 or more people, with round or square tables, there are even large rooms with a small theatrical stage to recreate the feeling of singing for an audience.

Singing at Karaoke, for the Japanese is not only a moment of relaxation! Widespread is the practice of organizing meetings between businessmen in special rooms for Karaoke, then celebrating, singing, the success of a trade agreement! Especially it is important to know that the practice of Karaoke is taken very seriously from everyone in Japan. It is NOT important the personal tone, but the diligence that each one brings to sing the song. From beginning to end! Never interrupt a song if you’re singing along with some Japanese! That said, it’s easy to find in the corridors of the buildings of karaoke business men just trying to practice for the songs that will sing in front of the leaders of their company!

In Tokyo there are several chains offering Karaoke services. Among the most famous there are SHIDAX, BIG ECHO and KARAOKE KAN. In all these chains as you sings you can order drinks or food, and the fee system is by hours, with supplements every half an hour of longer occupation of the room! It  is very important to know that Karaoke has different prices depending on time of day you want to go and sing! The morning and afternoon is a lot cheaper, while the evening can get pretty expensive! My advice for the evening, which is the moment generally preferred by everyone, is not to exceed 2 hours stay and not to abuse ordering spirits! Otherwise it becomes expensive like a bottle of good Champagne in a top class restaurant!

Once inside you’ll find a tablet like the iPad, where you can search songs organized by artist, by name, sometimes by language, but usually there are songs in English and Japanese. By default the keyboard that appears on the tablet is character-Japanese, often in the lower left corner  there is a system folder (such as those that appear on top of the screen when you surf the internet and show you all the pages you have open ) that enables other alphabet keyboards to request the song! Once you find your one the song starts and appears on the screen! Remember to turn off the lights while you sing! When the room light is off, automatically colored lights starts following the rhythm of the song you‘re singing! On the screen of the tablet is also possible to change the tone of the song to bring it closer to your own voice! Usually it is a button with the arrows and dots like this: <…………………. >

To me, the chain that offers better price / quality ratio is definitely Karaoke Kan, and it is also the most widespread in Tokyo! The rooms are perhaps less pretty  ( in Shidax each floor is themed, and you can find you in a room with the submarine porthole ) but almost all foreign songs are updated.
Don’t be afraid to try the Karaoke in Japan, once you try it you can understand why it’s so successfull in that country …..