27714 3 Location 532107 <p>Our first destination in Japan was Tokyo, during Cherry Bloosom season.&nbsp; Accomodations were hard to come by, especially ones that were remotely affordable. The Mercure Hotel Ginza is a pretty new facility, in the heart of the Ginza district.&nbsp; An entrance to the Ginza-itchrome station on the Yurakucho Line can be reached from within the hotel and its a 5-10 minute walk to the Ginza station on the Ginza, Hibiya and Marunouchi Lines.&nbsp;&nbsp;And its a&nbsp;700-850 yen ($7-$8.50)&nbsp;cab ride to Tokyo Station.&nbsp;</p><p>The hotel is modern, with large bathrooms but very small rooms.&nbsp;&nbsp;We ended&nbsp;up sleeping three (2 adults, one 8-year-old) to a bed (queen size).&nbsp; Not ideal - but, hey,&nbsp;at least we&nbsp;had a room!&nbsp; Not much room for suitcases either!&nbsp; On the&nbsp;plus side:&nbsp;Good, firm mattress; very quiet hotel on a side street.&nbsp; Staff at the front desk speak moderately good English.&nbsp;</p><p>The breakfast buffet was not included in the room rate, but ask at the front desk for a 500 yen discount coupon, bringing the buffet down to about 1600 yen ($16)&nbsp;per person (kids eat free).&nbsp; Fairly good selection of&nbsp;both western and&nbsp;Japanese cuisine.&nbsp; There&nbsp;are two mini-marts within a block or two of the hotel where you can pick up juice, yogurt, rolls, etc for a take-out breakfast (we did that two of the four mornings).&nbsp;</p><p>There's a great little Tempura restaurant&nbsp;1 block south and then one block east of the hotel - no clue as to the name - but three of us could eat there for under $40 including beer.&nbsp; The department stores on Ginza also have&nbsp;entire floors devoted to take-out food (including Mochi ice cream!).&nbsp; And its not too long a walk to the&nbsp;Yurakucho station area with lots of relatively inexpensive dining options (including a conveyor-belt sushi place).</p><p>All in all,&nbsp;a decent place to stay - just make sure you get a room with enough beds for your party!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> 2008-04-20T02:38:25-07:00 287309825 2008-03-31T17:00:00-07:00 0 16 225665 6871113 27714 0 0.0 2008-03-27T17:00:00-07:00 Published 0.0 Small, Functional & Good Location 2008-04-20T02:38:25-07:00 88521 0