00:00:01 John Daub: Hello and welcome to the city of Tokyo. I have an audio connection here. Alright, we're good. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a budget area for the city of Tokyo. Those of you staying near Tokyo Station, near Shimbashi, Tsukiji Market, those areas might be a little bit more expensive. I can see Tokyo Station. If you just look down the street, you can see the Tokyo Station roof over there.

00:00:42 John Daub: So in this episode, I wanted to show you a little bit of this area. This is Hachobori and Shintomicho. These two areas are very close to Tokyo Station. A lot cheaper, much more of a budget option if you compare it to staying at Tokyo Station, Shimbashi, Ginza, Kanda. These areas are going to be a little bit more expensive because they're on the Yamanote line. But this area is within 10 minutes walking distance to Tokyo Station. So it's a pretty good deal.

00:01:07 John Daub: If we take a look at the hotels using Google Maps, you can see the pricing here is pretty reasonable. Let me pull that up right now. If you just search hotel on Google Maps, you'll get in a certain area. It'll pull up all the hotels. You can search this area and you'll see exactly where it is. There's Tokyo Station. That's to the Shinkansen. Very convenient. Just about 10, 15 minutes walking away, tons of hotels. A lot of them have been built in residential areas that were formerly there.

00:01:47 John Daub: The one that I'm standing in front of is the Hotel Yai no Midori. It looks really good in here. It's about $100 a night. And this is set up for in January. It's got a garden up there. Brand new hotel. I think it's about four years old. I remember when they were building it during the pandemic. $100 a night right there. That's pretty good, considering you could walk to the Shinkansen.

00:02:13 John Daub: Now, if we pan down a little bit, you'll see APA Hotel. There's the great APA Hotel. The design of it is not my style. It looks a little gaudy in there. That's the way the CEO likes it. She's an interesting character. But a lot of people stay here because it's a part of a group. You can get loyalty cards. They're all over the country. It's a big network of hotels. So a lot of people do like it. It's very close to Hachobori Station, which is the JR line and also the Hibiya line. So you're connected into the network of Tokyo. You can see everything's pretty clean, but the colors and the style of it is not my taste. I've stayed there before. It's comfortable, but I don't feel like I'm in Japan for some reason. It's kind of weird.

00:03:01 John Daub: This one I would highly recommend. This is the Dormy Inn in Hachobori. It's on a beautiful canal right off of the Sumida River. The rooms are a lot better style, but Dormy Inn is famous for having the hot spring baths, the onsen, like a bath culture to the hotel, which is cool. I feel a little bit more of the Japan feeling to it. There's a lot more character to it because I've stayed in these hotels where you feel like you're in a ryokan, sort of. But the room sizes are similar to APA, meaning if a single room is going to be pretty tight in there. But for $100 a night in central Tokyo, you're going to get a pretty good deal, I think. And you get a pretty good bath out of the Dormy Inn.

00:03:39 John Daub: So this one's on a beautiful canal. Hold on a second. I'm going to stop right there. I have a video that I can pull up here. I took a video around there when I was riding my bike past there. Check this out. This is just a quick one. This is the canal right there, and that's the Dormy Inn. And for central Tokyo out in the residential areas, this is a pretty nice location. There's the canal right there, leading over to the Sumida River in that direction. So I would say it's a pretty good place to stay if you're looking for hotels.

00:04:14 John Daub: Let's cruise through here past the APA Hotel. Now this one is, yeah, you're going to get nighttime soba at the Dormy Inn. So they kind of have like more of a Japanese feel to it than the APA Hotel, but the services at both of them are pretty good. Dormy Inn also has a loyalty program, and they're all over the country as well. I thought that the location, really quiet. You kind of feel like you're getting away, so if you're spending the day in Tokyo, in Shibuya and Shinjuku, when you come back to your hotel, you feel like you're going home. And that's kind of another reason why this area is really good for that, right off of the Kanejima Canal, the little river. That's Shinkawa as well, which is a man-made island in there.

00:05:00 John Daub: This is Shintomicho. This is where I usually get off on the highway. I'm taking the highway. There's a ton of hotels. There's like two APA hotels here as well. There's a Mon Apartments. They're a little bit pricier. But this one, this is $10,000 yen a night or about $70 a night. But you can see the hotel, it's been renovated on the inside, but it does look a little bit older, a little bit more run down. But it's very functional in that way. You got a water heater and a refrigerator, and the bed's probably a little bit more broken in. But they promote the fact that it's very close to Tokyo Station. Again, this whole area is within 10 minutes walking to Tokyo Station or Shimbashi or Ginza.

00:05:42 John Daub: That one's pretty close to Tsukiji. Tsukiji's got a ton of hotels because that market's become a tourist trap, but a lot of tourists like to stay there. But I prefer the Hachobori and the Shintomicho area for the budget options. This one's a little bit pricier. I don't know why. I guess sometimes if they have less accommodations available, like only a couple of rooms, the price will be up higher. But this is the Sotetsu, which is another Japanese chain. I haven't stayed there, but it seems like a business hotel. It looks nice inside. They're promoting the proximity. The toilet looks a little bit older. But that's under $100 for that one.

00:06:21 John Daub: You can see there's a lot of budget options. It's kind of fun to take a look around. But the closer you get to that Yamanote line, the more expensive it is. This one is under $100, about $90 a night, pretty close to Tsukiji market. Very new. Looks very new. Comfortable. Close to Kabukiza Theater. So that's going to be a pleasant area to walk around. Shintomicho Station is right there. You can see Hamarikyu Gardens right there. That's a really nice garden to walk around. You can catch the water bus, which will take you around the city.

00:07:02 John Daub: The closer you get to the Shinkansen line, the more expensive it gets. Alright, here's... That's where I am, Yai no Midori right there. But going down the street, yeah, you can see the price is starting to increase a little bit. There are some cheap hotels like this Terminal Hotel here. But for this price, you get what you pay for. It is a much older, like a 1980s looking hotel. You're going to get what you pay for. But for this same price, if you walk five minutes away, you're going to get a newer hotel. So that might be a difference maker for you when you're looking at places. The Shangri-La, of course, five stars. It's $700 a night. You get a pool. It's one of the best tea time places in the entire city. Very close to the Shinkansen.

00:08:00 John Daub: So that's where I think that the budgets are right there between the Sumida River and Tokyo Station. It's a good area. I like the fact that it's quiet. Many of you have stayed here. This is where Brandania likes to stay because it's really close to us. And I can ride my bicycle to go see Brandy. As you can see, I've ridden my bicycle here. But the Peninsula is closer to Ginza. That's a great hotel. And the Mandarin Oriental, also very close, and Nihonbashi.

00:08:22 John Daub: The Hilton and the Western hotels, a lot of them are more centered towards the Shinjuku side of things because a lot of business was there. The Hilton and the Hyatt is on the Shinjuku side. And you're going to pay for that. Marriott opened up a new hotel in Ginza right in the heart of it. They're not high-rises in that area, but it's really great. You walk outside and you're in the middle of Ginza with the tree-lined streets. It's very comfortable. But again, those hotels start at around 50,000 yen a night, which is about $350. But that's five-star comfort. The Peninsula is like at another level.

00:09:08 John Daub: Most of the streets look very residential across the street here. So you get an idea. It's not as attractive as staying in Shinjuku or Ginza. It is a much quieter experience, you could see. But this is Tokyo. This is residential. There's some businesses in here. People live around this area because I do. And I think this is the one hotel here, the Midori no Yae. And there's a bunch of APA hotels in this direction too. But again, you could see it's a different kind of Tokyo. It's a more functional Tokyo. Not much of an attraction. There's a convenience store across the way. A brand new Lawson's that opened up. And those are all 24 hours a day. Tokyo Station, 10-minute walk.

00:10:05 John Daub: So that's all I wanted to show you today. The budget areas, I would say Shintomicho, Hachobori, and even Kayabacho. That's where the Bank of Japan is located. But there are some budgets around there. And as you go towards the Tokyo Bay, the prices are going to increase a little bit because they're more resort-ish. But that's it. It's very interesting, I think. Do you have any questions before we stop the livestream?

00:10:36 John Daub: Have you heard of Toyoko Inns near Ueno? No, I haven't. There's so many chains now. So many hotels in Tokyo. I really don't know. I'm in part of an IHG loyalty program. I usually stay at the ANA Crowne Plaza because I have an ANA credit card. And I get triple miles. And I get a lot of loyalty. So I usually will stay at the Crowne Plaza, the ANA Crowne Plaza. I get so many points. I always get the Ambassador for the Intercontinental. And we stay there maybe once or twice a year. And we get a free weekend night as being part of an Ambassador. And the platinum level for IHG. So I always get a discount. The Holiday Inns are nice. So I kind of stick with the loyalty stuff there because it just pays for itself in a way.

00:11:31 John Daub: But I think when you're looking at places to stay, you should shop around in Tokyo. This one's nice. Let me show you quickly. They have a tea time inside here. And it's very Japanese-ish. This is a beef shabu-shabu. Not a lot of marbling on that beef. 2,600 yen. There's a tempura set here. Those look pretty good. So it's got a nice little cafe you can go into. And the hotels are adding in amenities like this. You can smell it. There's a pipe putting out an amazing smell of food here. But the lunch menu might be what you're looking for when you're staying in a hotel. This food looks pretty good.

00:12:26 John Daub: I don't understand why people spend on hotels. It's just a bed. But a lot of it has to do with location. This location is pretty good. A lot of it has to do with comfort. I feel the difference in staying in a nice bed with pillows comparatively. I usually get a better night's sleep. It just depends though. The older you get, probably the nicer the hotel is. Because when I was in my 20s and 30s, I was staying at youth hostels and stuff. But if you're just looking to save money and you should be using your money to go spending on... I'd rather spend the money on food than I would want to spend the money on a hotel.

00:13:17 John Daub: But if I had a deal because I get upgrades and a lot of benefits for being in this IHG program and there's also the Marriott Bonvoy. Those perks often make it about the same price for an upgrade in the hotel as if you were to stay here for $90 a night. I could stay at the ANA Crowne Plaza for $80 a night. I will be upgraded to sometimes a junior suite. When I go to Nagasaki and I stay at the Crowne Plaza, they upgrade me to the junior suite. It's like I paid $75 a night and you guys upgraded me to a junior suite. Not too bad. So just depends. You got Hilton points. You got credit cards that help to work out with paying for the accommodation.

00:14:09 John Daub: So there's reasons to stay at the Marriott, besides the price, if you're not a member, then it sort of doesn't pay off for itself. But if you're not a member of any program, there's tons of Japanese hotels, chains like the APA Hotel, like this one here and there's a couple of others that really give you a pretty good experience. So you don't need to be a part of any loyalty program. I find that IHG is not in a lot of places outside of the cities. Some of them have onsen baths. Some of them have more resorts. Some of them are great for business because the company is paying for it. So it just depends. I like the Hoshino Resorts. They have a breakfast that's incredible. They have one of the best breakfasts in Japan. The rooms are super clean and functional. The Mimaru has bunk beds. It's a fun experience for families, I think, the Mimaru Hotel chain.

00:15:04 John Daub: So each one of them has a perk, something that you can look at the Google reviews or some of the other review sites. Jalan.net is a site that I use quite a lot. Maybe cheaper than booking.com. And you can check out Google as well. So those three are probably going to give you the best. All right, guys. Take care. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below. I'll see you in another live stream real soon. Mata ne.