Our first day back in Tokyo was the perfect example of the way you can cram so many fun activities into one day there without breaking a sweat. Any one of the four or five sights we saw would easily have required half a day or more in LA, but somehow we managed to do it all and still feel like we were on a day off from hardcore touring.
In the morning we checked out of the cracker box and hauled our luggage across the street and through a plaza to our next hotel, the Metropolitan Marunouchi. This sounds easier than it was, since the street we crossed was about 8 lanes and the corner belonged to Tokyo Station, the second largest train station in Japan. Even Patrick acknowledged that it had been a good idea to walk the route the night before so we weren't wandering around crossing and re-crossing streets with two giant suitcases and four large bags full of souvenirs as we tried to figure out which side it was on.
Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi on the train station map
I picked
Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi because I wanted a place right next to Tokyo Station so we could make an early-morning departure for Kyoto, and I needed one that was cheaper than the oft-recommended
Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo (which itself is among the least expensive hotels near Tokyo Station). In fact, the building Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi is in, Sapia Tower, is literally steps from the north exit of Tokyo Station. The trick is finding the *right* north exit (Nihombashi), because there are at least two with "North" in the name among the dozens of station exits… It's also the entrance where buses drop you off at Tokyo Station.
The entrance at night…
…and in the daytime!
There is an entrance to the Otemachi subway station right inside Sapia Tower and one directly across the street, but don't be fooled! It's really just a tunnel that takes you blocks and blocks away, while the Tokyo Station subway stop is a shorter walk away.
Otemachi "Sta," and by "Sta" we mean "endless tunnel"!
Like many of the hotels in Tokyo, Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi starts about halfway up, with the lobby on the 27th floor and the rooms above.
We were only there to check our bags cuz it was too early to check in, but I'll post the pictures we took of our room when we finally got one. I usually try to keep our stuff out of them so you can really see the room, but in this case, there was no other place to put it!
The closet!
Our room looked out over the area of Tokyo Station where the bullet trains arrive and depart—very cool!
I didn't know we could see Tokyo Tower from our room til I saw this photo just now!
As I'd expected from the price, Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi fell somewhere between our first Tokyo hotel (Akasaka Excel Hotel Tokyu) and the closet we got at Yaesu Terminal Hotel. It was quite compact and not laid out very well (did we really need a massive piece of furniture next to the desk that provided just three slender shelves?). The bathroom felt more like a room and less like a closet, which was nice, but wasn't as big as the one at Akasaka Excel Hotel and could've benefited from a window instead of a wall. Also, I was disappointed to learn that Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi does not have laundry facilities as advertised on Expedia. After missing our chance for clean clothes at the Disney hotels, this was my last hope of being able to refresh our wardrobe. Instead, we did a lot of washing in our sink—gack!
But I liked that the décor was sleek and the room finishes didn't feel "budget-y" like in the last place. Also, the view was fabulous! Best of all, the hotel is ideally located if you want to be able to nip down to Tokyo Station at a moment's notice. Besides being our departure point for Kyoto, the station gave us ATMs, a convenience store, access to the subway, and almost all of our meals, thanks to the numerous food courts and easy access to the Daimaru department store food hall—plus a fabulous underground shopping "street" for anime characters. More on that in a sec! We were also able to buy limo bus tickets back to the airport from the concierge. Maybe this is common in most Tokyo hotels, but it was an unexpected bonus when we needed it.
After we checked our bags with Bell Services, we headed down into Tokyo Station for lunch.
ATMs, in case anyone's curious
I knew I'd picked a good one!
I know we should prolly save a buck and stay in the Hilton next time, but I can't help longing for those Disney resorts...
... 
If you had a decent chunk of time, 2 days at each is not as traumatic as it sounds, and 3 days at two of them would be great too!
