00:00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Shimbashi Station. This is right in front of the station. What you see behind the train station, those tall skyscrapers, is what's called Shiodome. It's a new development, I guess you could still call it new, about 25 years ago. The year was 2000 and they started building these skyscrapers, a new city area of Tokyo. And then there's the old Shimbashi Station here. But when it comes to accommodation and where to stay, sometimes there's some questions because these neighborhoods are so close together.

00:00:38 John Daub: How you doing everybody? Welcome. It is so darn hot. I'm melting out here in Shimbashi. In this episode, I want to show you the differences between the two neighborhoods in relation to accommodation, which I think is pretty useful. I know Brandy was brought up possibly staying over here in Shiodome. Maybe this is better. But the great thing about this being a live stream is that you also have the ability to comment and leave comments after the fact. A lot of people have stayed in this area. I love it that our community shares that kind of information of value to subscribing to the Only in Japan channel.

00:01:19 John Daub: Alright, let me go over and break down where exactly we are in Tokyo. Alright, let's start off with a very wide map here. So this is the difference between the two skyscrapers. You see Shiodome on the left side and the train station on the right side, the low rise buildings, just old Showa era buildings pretty much. So as you can guess, the accommodation prices are going to be different between the two. Let me go back into another video that I just made this one. Boom. So this will give you a better 3D concept of it here. That's Hama-rikyu Gardens (Hamarikyu Park), which is one of the attractions you might want to stay in this area for.

00:02:02 John Daub: Shimbashi is a great place to stay because you can access the JR Yamanote line as well as the Oedo line, the Ginza line which takes you to Shibuya and Asakusa, connects you to the two as well as the Asakusa line and the Oedo line so it's very convenient in that respect. You see the tall skyscrapers of Shiodome on the left side and now we're getting into Shimbashi station that flat white panel there along the tracks and you can see that the difference between the two neighborhoods one is new one is old and you can tell that in the accommodations although in this low region that you see there a lot of renovations have happened in particular since the pandemic a lot of places renovated. There's really interesting drinking places in Shimbashi so staying in Shiodome is like luxury I'm going to show you what I mean when I break down the prices staying in Shimbashi a little bit rougher but you are in the heart of things.

00:03:15 John Daub: The hotel spaces in Shiodome are going to be much much more spacious much bigger you get what you pay for better views in particular from the Conrad hotel which is the five-star hotel in this region but you got the Yamanote line right there and you hear that the Keihin-Tohoku line rolling through right now in the background this is a huge selling point of this area. What makes both these neighborhoods very attractive is that it's very close to Haneda Airport. The monorail is at the station just before this on the Yamanote line called Hamamatsu-cho which actually in this direction and it's a very fast taxi ride from there you could even walk it not in the summer but it's a very quick taxi ride from the monorail to get to a hotel in this area you can get a taxi from here and be at Haneda airport in like less than 20 minutes depending on the traffic but you can move pretty quick from this area you get around the highway and boom you're at Haneda it's that quick.

00:04:28 John Daub: But I personally love this neighborhood Shimbashi because it retains that old Showa era feel Showa era I mean like 1930s to 1980s the bubble era like there's so much happened in Japan at this time not just World War II but the economic miracle and the amazing development in the 80s because the yen was so strong opposite of what it is today. It retains all of that in this neighborhood and that's just so exciting about staying here a lot of feeling. I don't like the Shibuya Shinjuku area for staying you could be different and that's cool I think if it's your first time in Japan or to Tokyo perhaps you like to stay there because it's the most glitzy but this just has so much more it's not as crowded it's probably cheaper and I think you're gonna get more of an authentic Tokyo experience whatever that means because Tokyo is so big and it's so much more than just Shibuya. Shibuya is just overpriced it's too crowded and I think it's dirty this is really clean I don't smell anything funky here I do when I'm in Shibuya every time you can feel the funk in Shibuya.

00:05:49 John Daub: Alright I'll take some of the questions here let's break down the transportation first this is a map of Tokyo's central subways this does not include JR. You can see Tokyo station just on the right side of the green patch which is the Imperial Palace Shimbashi is right in the center of your screen now and I want to bring this up to highlight you can see the train lines that go through here. Shimbashi back in the Meiji era was the first main train station to the city of Tokyo this is where the hub the gateway to the city was of course it's now moved to Tokyo station which is just a couple of stations up there from here but you can see just the access point just below there you can see how close Haneda Airport is at the bottom of the screen there it's really just a taxi ride or you could just jump on the monorail and you get there so quick monorail is one station away at Hamamatsu-cho on the Yamanote line one hop and you're done from the platform of JR you can transfer walk right to the monorail as well so makes this an extremely convenient place.

00:07:07 John Daub: Shimbashi unlocks a lot of other areas here you're in walking distance of Tokyo Tower you're in walking distance of Ginza of Tsukiji market which is still quite popular in particular with street food and there's a lot of history there you're in walking distance of Yurakucho my backyard and Tokyo station in walking distance of the Imperial Palace even Toranomon which is a newly developed area and Akasaka probably get there in 25 to 30 minutes you're in bicycle distance of Shibuya Shinjuku and everywhere else and there's direct trains of course on the Yamanote line awesome pretty cool huh.

00:07:52 John Daub: Moving along live stream gotta move it along all right it is super hot it feels like 80 degrees Celsius 150 out here because the air is so humid yesterday was worse because of the typhoon it feels like you're breathing in soup it's like hard to catch your breath because there's so much humidity in the air and it feels like that right now it's gonna be worse in a couple of hours alright let's go over here don't look at something more attractive that train let's look at the prices now break this down of the area first let's start off with Shiodome Shiodome is that patch the bottom is Hama-rikyu Gardens a very very nice park to stroll through.

00:08:42 John Daub: The price of the hotels here are usually between a hundred and twenty dollars to sky's the limit that means Conrad and you get what you pay for I think these are cheaper than comparable hotels on the side of Tokyo Station for example comparable hotels in Shinjuku Shibuya this is a bargain you get it's like an upgrade from Shibuya because I think you get more for your money in the Shiodome area and you get a really easy access to Shimbashi. Shiodome is a very nice area to walk around but right outside your door you have this like new area of office buildings and it's not that great in that sense but if you don't mind walking a little bit to the train station you are actually better positioned to get around the city than you are in Shibuya so I would recommend I think the Park Hotel Tokyo and the Royal Park Hotel I always get those confused they both have parking they're both really good hotels.

00:09:36 John Daub: The Fontaine Chiodome is quite nice, but the Conrad is a must. And if you're in the area, going up there to get a drink at the bar and overlooking Tokyo Bay, you got to do that. It's a really beautiful hotel. I've done that. I see Michael Sassano's here. How you doing, buddy? Up there, you can see those, you get views because your hotel would be up there in those skyscrapers. Dentsu, the marketing company that's under a lot of heat for the Olympic scandals and stuff. I think they had one of their headquarters up there, too. You can see really depressed marketing people now walking around, perhaps. Michael writes in here, Aloha, John Snackron. If you have time to grab something refreshing to keep cool. We're going to go to the other side. Let's see if we can find something. But you know, Michael, I am on a diet. I'll talk about that a little bit later, too.

00:10:28 John Daub: Here is, I believe this is one of the hotels on the other side. It's very modern looking over there because the hotels are newer. Some of them are so new. They've actually been built in the early 90s. They've actually been renovated, even though they are pretty new. I think this is the Royal Park Hotel. You have views of Tokyo Tower. You got Skytree coming out of there. So, you know, you get a nice view from up there. Now let's take a look quickly at the Shimbashi Station side.

00:11:07 John Daub: So this is more Shimbashi Station side. These are hotels between zero, like sleeping on the street, and 15,000 yen, which is approximately like 120 bucks. Most of them, or no, in fact, all of them at this price range are on the other side of the tracks because this side is older. Hotels have typically been renovated. There's some nice hotels here. Don't get me wrong, but you'll find the bargains on this side of the tracks and you can see that in the price range. So, you know, you can find some nice places. In particular, if you get a little bit away from the tracks there.

00:11:54 John Daub: Let's take a look at some of the accommodations here, which include capsule hotels. This is a video I flipped through. This is a local hotel. You can see it just looks older. I mean, it's pretty nice. It's a Japanese business hotel, sort of. It just looks older. The food isn't quite as good. Everything is just like a step below because it's old school. Even the lobby looks like 1975. But there's nothing wrong with that. You're in the location. You're just going to crash. In fact, you might be into this kind of a style of hotel. It's got some interesting architecture to it. Maybe the area around it is not the cleanest because it's a little bit older. But you've got a decent place to stay and probably going to save 50 bucks a night by staying there, which you could use towards going out and having a party, which is a big deal for some people.

00:12:55 John Daub: Those are the main differences. Personally, if I was younger, I'd be staying in Shimbashi. Your first impulse is to stay in Harajuku. I wouldn't do that. Stay in Shibuya. Stay in Shinjuku. I'm going to say consider staying here. It's better for multiple reasons, one of which is that it's just cheaper. If you go up to Ueno or Kachidoki, that's another really budget-friendly place that also has quite expensive hotels. But you can get more cost performance out of that. And I think for people staying in Tokyo, that might be what you're looking at.

00:13:38 John Daub: My favorite place to stay in Tokyo is no secret. I think some of you might be able to mention that in the chat right there. But it's Asakusa, as normal people say. Asakusa is my favorite place to spend the night because it's quiet, it's got good access to the Ginza Line, which will take you to Shibuya. It's not far away from Tokyo Station by taxi. And you're in a cultural area, meaning the streets feel like you're back in time. And I like that image of Tokyo. I don't like the modern place. It's clean there, it's a little bit older. But they speak English better there as well. And as I said, it's in the heart of history. You feel Japan in Asakusa than you do in Shibuya. Shibuya is more of a modern place. I know I'm not giving Shibuya high recommendations. They don't need it. They're going to get people no matter what.

00:14:38 John Daub: Shiodome is great for business travelers in particular. But don't let that scare you away. Business is not the only reason people stay there. You get more space for less money. And people ask me, if you've got a family of five or four, and you're looking for a hotel room in Tokyo, you're going to get like 15 square meters, which is not a lot. You're going to feel confined in there. If you pay a little bit more, you can get maybe 25 or 30 square meters at the same price you would like 40% less space in Shibuya, for example. That's a big deal. You don't realize it until you enter the room, how much space matters.

00:15:19 John Daub: If you really want good space, go stay for the first two nights at Tokyo Disneyland at the Sheraton. You don't have to go to Tokyo Disneyland. But you're going to have jet lag. You want to move around after a long flight. The Sheraton, the Hilton there, they're really good. They're good cost performance hotels. And you get a lot of space, in particular if you book well in advance. The rooms that we had were huge. Great views of the ocean. You get to take the monorail, and it's easy to get into the city of Tokyo from Maihama Station, because that access between Tokyo and Tokyo Disneyland has to be pretty good. But the great breakfast, they got pools, gyms, recreation. You can run. So I do recommend that area.

00:16:11 John Daub: I like walking from Sensoji Temple to the Skytree, right? It was a peaceful walk once you go over the river. That walk between, walking anywhere, Asakusa is so much better because of that old feel. Like you can see the buildings with history. You feel it. A lot of it was bombed after World War II, that area. But you feel the Showa era more. You feel also it's more residential. You get more of a vibe of people who live in Tokyo. In Shibuya, you get more of a vibe of tourists right now. You get more of a vibe of business and tourism, not residents. And I like Asakusa mixes it up. Residents, locals go and drink there. Locals don't go and drink in Shibuya. They get the heck out of there. For good reason.

00:17:00 John Daub: Yeah, they're interesting places to eat behind Shibuya Station. A lot of those places are booked. Gosh, I can't remember the yokocho's name. But they preserve that, which is great. But the other restaurants, they're just like fast food touristy chain restaurants. There's a couple of old school shops in the yokocho, which is a small neighborhood just on the side of Shibuya Station. But it's really small. It's old Showa era, like shack restaurants. It's really small, but I would recommend eating there. I think Enoshima was the place that I filmed for NHK there. I love the owner there. She makes all the food, brings it, brings some of it to the restaurant, cook some of it there. And she's a one woman show inside that table where everyone who goes and sits there can talk to one another and has a lot of fun. So you're doing kanpai with locals. But more and more locals aren't eating there though. Unless they want to practice English because it's just overrun with tourism. Shibuya stinks most of the time.

00:18:08 John Daub: Writing this from Shibuya. I see that comment there. I highly recommend going to Asakusa when the cherry blossoms bloom. I highly recommend that any time of the year. How about staying in Shinagawa? Alright, Shinagawa has no personality. There's not really any attractions there. It's a business town. The transportation hub, it has Yamanote and that's about it. If you want to go to the Shinkansen, there's the station there. But the reason why I don't like Shinagawa for the Shinkansen is, you're getting sloppy seconds on non-reserved tickets. Meaning, everyone's already gotten on the train to Tokyo Station. You got whatever's left over at Shinagawa. Unless you got seat reservations, it's really hard to get on the Shinkansen there. There's nothing there in Shinagawa.

00:19:02 John Daub: So, I don't recommend Shinagawa. There are some hotels there if you've got a convention or something. There's an aquarium, immigration center. Why is Shinagawa so attractive to you? Leave me in the comments below. I can't figure it out. People will ask me about Shinagawa. It's all about getting to Haneda Airport and out. It's about business and access to the airport. That's the only reasons that I could think of you staying at Shinagawa. Other than that, there is a TGI Friday's there, I think. Or Outback Steakhouse. I don't know. A lot of foreigners tend to stay there. Group tours might stay there. There's a Prince Hotel. Maybe there's a little bit more space. Cost performance, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me because you don't have many things to see. Yamanote Line, quite packed there usually. A lot of business travelers. Shinagawa Station is kind of nice. Some decent restaurants. Aquarium. You know, I went to the aquarium in Okinawa and that episode got maybe the least amount of views because it's so politically incorrect or something to go in an aquarium. I don't understand. But I like aquariums. You can go and learn about the fish there. We catch and eat the fish. So I think they're getting it. Except if the place is too small for them, they're getting a pretty good deal.

00:20:33 John Daub: Michael writes in here, I stayed in Shinagawa during my visit. Stayed at the [?]Guus Hotel right across the street. It was okay, but I didn't spend much time in Shinagawa. That's the point. You don't spend much time in Shinagawa. You kind of get out. I'm going to do in this series, this is the reason why I hope that you guys do subscribe. I want to go to different areas of Tokyo and do this kind of episode to address the questions that you might have about accommodations in the city because since tourism returned, that's one of the things that people have been asking me.

00:21:05 John Daub: I got a bag down on the ground here. You see this? This is Stephanie's in Los Angeles. This is your postcard. And there's several hundred down here. So this is the postcard for this month. I'm taking it to Tokyo Station after this to send them there. Who else do I have here? I have yours, Michael, I think. There's Kate's in Clarkston, Michigan. Alex in Fresh Meadows. Austin in San Diego. Bela in Lakeland. Lake Zurich. Bobby in Chicago. Brian in Honolulu. I got all you guys' postcards down here. So I'm going to go take them there. They're on the way. Yeah, typhoon left us with this. Blue skies. No wind today. Any final questions that has something to do in particular with accommodations between these two areas? I don't really see anything.

00:22:09 John Daub: Shin-Okubo. I did a live stream there last year. It's a great area. I don't like the crowdedness of it. It just seems like it's too crowded for my taste. Here, look at, you get a lot more space. But I like to visit Shin-Okubo, but probably wouldn't stay there. But that's me. The thing is, when everyone asks my advice for where to stay, it's very hard to answer this because everybody is different. Airbnb is not very popular in Japan. I think it has to do with the fact that the Airbnb places can't operate year round. They have to, they can't compete with hotels. I believe that law is still in the books. So a lot of Airbnb places, that means they can't make money on those properties for half the year or something. So it discourages Airbnb. So this is a shame. If you go out to the countryside, it's hard to find an Airbnb.

00:23:20 John Daub: Akihabara, compared to five years ago, there's better options. I can do an episode on this, like the hotel series, Ueno versus Akihabara. I would say Ueno probably, Ueno is probably your better option than Akihabara. But Akihabara has gotten a lot better over the years. I just don't think that there's a lot of attractions in Akihabara. Unless you like maid cafes and stuff. I think Asakusa is so much better. Shimbashi is so much better. Because there's more places to go out, eat and drink than in Akihabara. Akihabara is pretty much dead after 6 p.m. You got Yodobashi Camera, and that's about it. It doesn't have the same liveliness. A better option than Akihabara is Asakusabashi, which is a five, ten minute walk away from there. Vibrant neighborhood, loads of locals, residential, good characteristics to the streets there. It's near the Sumida River and Akihabara. I would recommend staying there over Akihabara. But what do I know? There's nothing wrong with Akihabara. If you ask me my personal opinion, you're going to get my personal response. I'm not you. So I think it is extremely hard for me to give you advice on where to stay. I don't know your budget. I don't know how much money you make, your occupation, what your age is, how you live. So when people ask me, they'll just write a message on Instagram. Where's the best place to stay in Tokyo? I usually don't even respond. Unless you tell me what your budget is, what you like to do, are you an otaku? Why are you coming to Japan? Give me the details. John wants to know the details. I'll recommend the Aman Hotel. That would be the best place to stay in Japan.

00:25:18 John Daub: I'm going to walk through the station, get to the other side, and I guess it'll give a feel of the... Oh! There's the Shizuoka Shimbun newspaper building. They just did some renovations on this. It's a funky looking building right in front of Ginza. And there's the authentic taco truck. He was on CNN recently. Not that that makes him more popular, but it might. He was on CNN recently as someone who studied making tacos in Mexico, and he's often down underneath that building selling his tacos. So now that I see that, I'm like, maybe I'll ride past there for lunch.

00:26:00 John Daub: So they've really renovated the inside of Shimbashi Station. It's made it easier for access to get in and out comparatively. And I think compared to like 10 years ago, five years ago even, but it is really clean. And Shimbashi, again, an old neighborhood, it doesn't feel like that in many areas anymore. Alright, let's get across the street here with my bicycle. My bicycle is hopefully still there. This place usually has a line. Look at those cinnamon rolls. Wow. That is a good looking cinnamon roll. Do you see that? Oh, Michael, I might have to. Oh, no. There's that Shizuoka Shimbun building. And you can hear the Shinkansen going up above us.

00:27:12 John Daub: So the area, the neighborhood, it feels quite different. My bicycle is still there, thankfully. And it does feel more like a city in Shimbashi. But it's not as crowded or as dirty as Shibuya. It's just wider avenues. It's a better feel. You walk this way, you're in Ginza. And there's a place called Ginza Corridor. Amazing restaurants and nightlife. You can find some great restaurants there. There's a Shinkansen going by. Again, the access to the Shinkansen is really awesome from Shimbashi as well. You can walk there or it's like a three-minute taxi ride to Tokyo Station. Maybe five. Lots of advantages to it.

00:28:05 John Daub: I hope this is useful. Maybe it helps you, gives you an idea of the situation staying in a hotel in Tokyo. You're going to want to stay near a hotel, near a subway station. You're going to want to stay near more than one if you can. And that access is going to really make a big difference in the quality of your stay. And then from there, upgrade the kind of room that you want. And you can find just about anything. But expect to pay more than you think because even though the yen is weak, prices have gone up here. So it's not the same as 2019 anymore. It just feels different. You can stay in what about the OG area. What about it? You can stay anywhere that you want. I'll talk about more places to stay. Send me your suggestions in the comments below. I love reading about it. And I'll see you tomorrow in another live stream. John's got to get to the post office. Maybe eat a little bit of lunch. Thanks again, Michael, for the Super Chat. Looking forward to seeing Brandy in a couple of weeks. And Brandy, if you're thinking of staying in this area, I hope this helped a little bit. That hotel is right near the Imperial Hotel where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe honeymooned at the Imperial. And that's going to be under renovation starting later this year, next year, until 2030. So everything is changing in Tokyo. Bye, guys.