Japan - Hotels and eating breakfast in Tokyo

I am in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Tokyo to ride the Bullet trains. I am one of those that likes to start the day with a hotel breakfast buffet when traveling.

Are there hotels that have a decent breakfast for around 150 a night in downtown Tokyo near Tokyo station? I would be staying about 6 or 7 nights in the same hotel.

I have explored tripadvisor, and am intrigued by some of the business class hotels around Tokyo. However, many of these have difficult to understand booking websites. Or they require payment in advance. Are there some chains that allow one to book with day of arrival cancelation.?

Thanks

USD150 currently equals about JPY11,800. Nothing decent around Tokyo station, and certainly no hotel with a breakfast buffet, will go for that price. About the best you can do is the much-maligned (on this forum) Toyoko Inn chain, which will definitely not have a breakfast buffet.

You can get more bang for your buck by staying at Shinagawa station. All Tokaido shinkansen stop there and for the JR East shinkansen it is just a few minutes ride to Tokyo station.

However even in Shinagawa, you should consider raising your budget to $200 a night, then you could stay in one of the Prince hotels there -- maybe our forum expert on those hotels will tell you which one. I can't as I've never stayed in one.

One of the best of the business hotels is called something like the Washington Duke across from the Tokyo Big Sight convention center. Rates depend very much on special events. It's very close to the monorail station toward Ginza, on a reclaimed island in Tokyo Bay near the Friendship Bridge. I don't remember the name of the business hotel I know near Shinagawa Station, but it's over the big street in front of the station, at the food of the small hill to the right that leads to the old Meridian Pacific Hotel (IIRC now reflagged) and the somewhat fancy full service Prince hotel with Japanese gardens and a very good tempura restaurant.

Expect very small cell-like rooms (the ones I've seen have windows and are in modern high rise buildings with elevators) with a single narrow twin bed, tiny desk and desk chair, TV mounted on the wall, and small en suite bathroom with small sink, toilet (perhaps with a heated seat if you're lucky), and small shower, probably all one piece of molded plastic. There might be a place to put your suitcase and hang up a few clothes. These hotels are self service, with vending machines for everything (including beer), and at most a very modest food outlet. Front desk staff might speak only minimal English.

Capsule hotels are even more extreme with no ensuite facilities. You're basically renting a sort of enclosed bunk bed.....and then there are the fantasy love hotels, some of which rent by the hour.

When you say buffet breakfast, do you want an American-type breakfast or Asian foods or both? The price of a large and nice buffet breakfast is about 3000-4000 yen per person. Some hotels sell such breakfasts to people who are not guests of the hotel. For example, the top-floor Viking buffet restaurant in the Imperial Hotel seems popular with locals on weekends; there's also an American cafe/diner on the first floor that has a la carte and prix fixe American breakfasts until at least mid-afternoon, but I don't think they have a buffet. There are also fast food (American and Japanese) places that do breakfast, attractive cafes, coffee places, bakeries, etc. for breakfast. A number of top hotels have their own food boutiques or excellent bakeries in house; you can also buy food items of all sorts in the basement food halls of Japanese department stores. Brunch is becoming fashionable and major hotels do it to crowds on Sundays and holidays, but this an be expensive, although some people feel that it is good value.

Right across from Tokyo station is a hotel with a name something like Ysubeo that's a step above an older business hotel but has some of the same characteristics and is in a great location for trains. It has a lobby level coffee place for continental breakfast and an OK breakfast buffet in their second floor dining room; IIRC room rates do not include breakfast. There's a somewhat fancy grocery store very nearby plus a 7/11 or Lawson's type convenience store next door that sells Japanese take out meals. There are also lots of take out and fast food outlets in Tokyo Station, including a wonderful bakery that is very popular. (It's to the left if you enter from the side of the Y-whatever hotel, grocery store, etc., on the opposite side to the Imperial Palace. This is also the side for the airport limo bus.)

How close do you need the hotel to be? The area around Tokyo station tend to be more upscale.

I agree with RichardInSF that Shinagawa is good alternative station for Tokaido Shinkansen. If OP plans on taking the Tohoku/Nagano Shinkansen, consider Ueno.

If OP wants a railfan experience, Washington Hotel Akihabara has one room with model railroad diorama (http://washington-hotels.jp/akihabara/stay/stayplan/33.html), although it is above the stated budget at 15000 to 25000 yen.

I stayed at a Tokyu Stay hotel a couple of weeks ago in Shibuya. I was surprised by how spacious the room was for a business hotel and enjoyed the breakfast (at a Jonathan's restaurant attached). Total cost was about 11,000 for 1 night.

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

I understand that the rooms will be small. I looked at lots of pictures on trip advisor. Coffee shops are fine for breakfast. I'm open minded about location. The suggestion to stay near shinagwa is helpful. I will be riding those lines on a series of out and back trips.

Shinagawa Prince Hotel is across a street from Shinagawa Station and has rooms from under 8,000 yen on certain dates if booked in advance. Breakfast buffet including curry and rice for 980 yen but there should plenty of places for breakfast at Shinagawa Station.

If you are near a train station in Japan you are near business hotels. As you've experienced a lot of them don't have websites in English and some sites are just so damn clunky. Hotel capacity only becomes an issue on the weekends when things tend to get full. I really wouldn't worry about having hotels pre-booked if you want to be somewhat mobile.
As far as breakfast buffets, Japanese folks don't heap their plates like so many Mt Fuji's x3 with food as we North American's do....it would be out of place.
I too enjoy breakfast but in Japan I usually go for a walk before breakfast and "pre-eat" A couple hundred yen buys you couple omeboshi onigri (love them) at a combini.

Your information was very helpful. I think I am going to go with the Shinagawa prince hotel. I understand that rooms will be small. But it looks like they are modern and the bathrooms and showers will work. So I would be happy with this kind of set up.

I understand that the breakfast set up will be different in Japan. I am not sure I am ready for rice and soup, etc at breakfast. However I think a buffet allows me to rely on some things that I know I will be comfortable with, while still being able to sample some new foods.

As far as breakfast in the stations, what is available at these kinds of restaurants?

Later in the day, I will be fine. I enjoy sushi, especially dipped in teriyaki sauce. LOL. And the fried seafood would also be good too.

Thanks again. YOu all are helping me realize a bucket list trip!

Hotel Villa Fontaine is borderline within your budget, has very nice rooms, is a stone's throw from Shinbashi Station (can walk there entirely underground and avoid getting wet in the rain!), and has a very serviceable free breakfast.

http://www.hvf.jp/eng/shiodome.php

And if their breakfast isn't enough, you can "upgrade" by walking next door to the Conrad and purchasing their excellent breakfast buffet for $40 or $50 (depending on whether you order the egg dish)

Thanks.

Don't miss going to the fish market very very early and having sushi there for breakfast.

Your information was very helpful. I think I am going to go with the Shinagawa prince hotel. I understand that rooms will be small. But it looks like they are modern and the bathrooms and showers will work. So I would be happy with this kind of set up.

I understand that the breakfast set up will be different in Japan. I am not sure I am ready for rice and soup, etc at breakfast. However I think a buffet allows me to rely on some things that I know I will be comfortable with, while still being able to sample some new foods.

As far as breakfast in the stations, what is available at these kinds of restaurants?

Later in the day, I will be fine. I enjoy sushi, especially dipped in teriyaki sauce. LOL. And the fried seafood would also be good too.

Thanks again. YOu all are helping me realize a bucket list trip!
Here's a picture of the 980 yen breakfast buffet in the Cafe Restaurant 24 from the hotel's website:

http://restaurant.princehotels.co.jp/shinagawa/24/images/20110108124743_2.jpg

Shinagawa Station (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3040.html) is an amazing complex containing shops and restaurants on both sides of the ticket barriers. I'll try and find some more info in English but two areas which are "rail-side" (Ecute Shinagawa and Ecute Shinagawa South) alone contain more than two dozen cafes/restaurants, a dozen delis and convenience stores. There are other shopping areas with restaurants attached to the station. You'll have to see it to believe it!

This might give you some idea.
http://blog.japantwo.com/2011/06/22/3754

I just returned from Japan, traveling to Hiroshima for a conference, making a circle tour of Shikoku, and returning to Tokyo for a few days. In Hiroshima, the budget hotel alternative for the conference was the Comfort Hotel Ohtemachi, where the ¥5500 fee for a single included a buffet breakfast that consisted largely of Japanese food, but also bread, cereal, yogurt, somewhat runny scrambled eggs, and ham.

The Dormy Inn in Kurashiki had a VERY Japanese breakfast buffet, consisting of miso soup, little bits of various kinds of seafood, and pickled vegetables, and sushi-style eggs, which cost ¥1100 in addition to the room charge.

The Welcome Hotel in Kochi offered a breakfast more balanced between Japanese and Western options, again, included with the room.

The standard Toyoko Inn breakfast is o-nigiri (rice triangles with sesame, sour plums, or seafood), miso soup, and coffee or green tea, although some, like the property in Matsuyama, offer extras like bread and eggs.

The Comfort Hotel, the Welcome Hotel, and the Toyoko Inns all offered reliable free wi-fi in the rooms, and the Dormy Inn had wired broadband, which was of little use to me, traveling only with a smartphone and an iPad.

Throughout Japan, there are coffee shops that offer a so-called "morning set," with coffee or black tea, toast or rolls, a hard-boiled egg, and a tossed salad for a low price. There are also more and more bakeries that have seating areas and offer coffee or tea for ¥100 before 10:00AM if you buy a couple of rolls from their selection of sweets and savories.

I hope you realize that in order to experience the Shinkansen in all its glory you have to travel well beyond Tokyo, but you can cover a lot of ground in a day. Even traveling with a Japan Rail Pass, which does not allow one to ride the fastest trains, I made it to Hiroshima in 5.5 hours, including a layover at Shin-Osaka, and took a day trip out of Tokyo to Matsushima (near Sendai) when I had a day free of appointments.

In Tokyo, also look into the Super Hotels and the Sanuki Club.

All the budget hotels I stayed in had rules against taking guests up to one's room. I think that's because they don't want to be used by members of Japan's large and active sex industry.

My point is that the selection of business hotels is wider than ever and that if all you need is a place to sleep and bathe, any one of them will do just fine. (The rooms are reminiscent of those in a college dormitory, although the room in the Dormy Inn in Kurashiki was a cut above that.) With the yen at its highest level in my lifetime, being able to stay in budget hotels made this completely self-financed trip feasible.

To go all of the way south/west towards Hiroshima and beyond would require an over night or two away from Tokyo.

To go all of the way south/west towards Hiroshima and beyond would require an over night or two away from Tokyo.

I agree with that assessment. My day trip to Matsushima was just barely feasible and got me back to Tokyo at 10PM, and I would definitely stay overnight if I were going to Hiroshima and beyond, at least if I wanted to see anything besides train stations in any of those places.

Your information was very helpful. I think I am going to go with the Shinagawa prince hotel. I understand that rooms will be small. But it looks like they are modern and the bathrooms and showers will work. So I would be happy with this kind of set up.

I understand that the breakfast set up will be different in Japan.

I always stay at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in the Annex tower (I'm always with Mr Falconea). If you sign up for their frequent stay program (free) they will give you a free breakfast. Their Hapuna restaurant is where the breakfast buffet is and it is enormous, with western, chinese and japanese options available. It starts at 6 am as well which enables you to catch the early trains.

I usually pop a banana in my bag for lunch and then stop in the food hall of the department store just outside Shinagawa station to pick up dinner - there are lots of options here for take-away food and in the evening the prices drop rapidly.

Audrey

I was wondering about the prince hotels frequent stay program. Your info about breakfast clinched it!! There is a prince hotel in Hiroshima too.

I saw a nice review of one near the Kyoto train station. I might want to explore them too. If I can use there website and make a cancel on day of arrival reservation.

You might also want to think about staying near Ueno station, from which several Shinkansen lines depart. Ueno is an interesting neighborhood (moreso, IMO, than the neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of either Tokyo or Shinagawa stations), and you'll have a choice of several hotels in yourt price range. For those shinkansen departing from Tokyo and which don't stop at Ueno, it's an easy 7-minute ride on the Yamanote Line from Ueno to Tokyo.

Thanks for the Ueno suggestions. I'll look into that.

You might also want to think about staying near Ueno station, from which several Shinkansen lines depart. Ueno is an interesting neighborhood (moreso, IMO, than the neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of either Tokyo or Shinagawa stations), and you'll have a choice of several hotels in yourt price range. For those shinkansen departing from Tokyo and which don't stop at Ueno, it's an easy 7-minute ride on the Yamanote Line from Ueno to Tokyo.

The nice thing about Ueno is going to be a significantly lower price, as you're in a further out part of the city. I would note, though, it's much less upscale than the more expensive parts, and I think you'll still have problems finding a breakfast buffet.

On the note of buffets, if your manhood can handle it, you should try a cake buffet. They mainly cater to high school girls and young women, but they also have all you can eat delicious cake, in a variety of fancy forms.
(Edit: I just noticed I necroed this thread; sorry about that, you can just ignore this.)

If you stay in Ueno, you really know that you're in Japan, as opposed to the Generic International Business Land of Shinagawa.

I haven't investigated the breakfast offerings of the various hotels there, but an increasing number of business hotels offer *something* in the morning, and on my recent trip, I noticed more and more bakeries and coffee shops that offer a low-priced light breakfast.

I signed up for the frequent stay program. Since this is my first visit I'm looking for a hotel that will be a decent home base where I can get a breakfast that I am comfortable with. For lunch and dinner I look forward to trying Japanese cuisine.

Perhaps as I become more comfortable I'll be more open minded about the Japanese style breakfast.

Thanks for the cake buffet info. That sounds interesting. If my manhood is threatened I can exit stage left. Lol.

I see that this hotel is huge. Once I Signed up for there program, I saw rates for 6 or 7 sections of the hotel. Which part is best? Which part to avoid at all costs?

Thanks.

I signed up for the frequent stay program. Since this is my first visit I'm looking for a hotel that will be a decent home base where I can get a breakfast that I am comfortable with. For lunch and dinner I look forward to trying Japanese cuisine.

That's certainly a valid plan. I think that the Prince Hotel breakfast will be adequate for your needs, though it reminds me a bit of a college dorm cafeteria.

If you get bored with Prince breakfast, and have about $20-$40 to splurge, there are several great breakfast options a short train ride away.

The luxury hotel breakfasts are the best, but also the most expensive.

Two regular restaurant breakfast options in Tokyo that I'd highly recommend are slightly cheaper:

Eggs 'n Things
http://www.eggsnthingsjapan.com/menu/

bills
http://bills-jp.net/

Better or worse. Is there a USA chain that is a good point of comparison?

Better or worse. Is there a USA chain that is a good point of comparison?

Hard to say. The "Prince" brand covers a wide array of hotels, from cheap business establishments to quasi-luxury resorts. The Shinagawa complex is somewhere in the middle, though leaning towards the former.

They have such a Japanese way of doing certain things that it really isn't fair to try and make a direct comparison to a US chain.

I saw a nice review of one near the Kyoto train station. I might want to explore them too. If I can use there website and make a cancel on day of arrival reservation.
This looks like their official website (linked from the Japanese website (http://www.hotespa.net/hotels/kyoto/)).
http://www.japanican.com/hotels/shisetsudetail.aspx?st=6231A11&ref=dormy

I see that this hotel is huge. Once I Signed up for there program, I saw rates for 6 or 7 sections of the hotel. Which part is best? Which part to avoid at all costs?

Thanks.
I haven't stayed there but have been to meet friends who were staying there. Have you checked TripAdvisor reviews which seem to cover different types of rooms? A quick glance suggests the Main Tower (especially upper floors) is good but the Annex and East(?) Towers are not so good.

I can recommend the Hotel Celestine (http://www.celestinehotel.com/en/index.html). It's a very nice business hotel. It's about a 5 minute walk from Tamachi station and 2 minutes from the Mita subway station. There's a Jonathan's about 5 minutes north of there if you want a relatively cheap breakfast. In the past I've stayed there for around 11,000-12,000¥/nt. If you prepay, I think you can stay even cheaper.

Lpols like a great hotel.