Toyoko Inn, Japan

Toyoko Inn is a chain of business hotels in Japan. For the last several years that I have been visiting Tokyo, most of my sleepong hours have been spent with this line of hotels. It was about 5 years ago and my friends and I were planning to hit the Sapporo Snow Festival. As our planning had occurred pretty late, it was hard to find rooms at some of the other places that we were familiar with in Sapporo. By chance, I was reading through the Sunday travel section when I happened upon an article of a writer who had suggessted this as a decent accommodation. The rest, as they say, is history. I primarily stay at the one in Shinagawa, shown below, since its the only location that is situated close to a fairly major JR station that has Shinkansen access, a subway line, and several JR train lines.

In the Tokyo area, most of their other sites are not as conveinent. However, with plans starting to take shape for another visit to Sapporo, Im finding their other locations to be situated near the JR train stations that we will be visiting on the way back to Tokyo from Sapporo. The one shown below is not near Sapporo station, although they do have one. This is near the Susukino downtown area where the ice sculptures are put on display and numerous restaurants amke meals very breezy. The main site, Odori Park, is a short walk from here as well.

We will be spending a night in Hakodate. By train, its about 3.5 hours from Sapporo. Most areas of Hokkaido is known for seafood and this is no exception.

Aomori is another stop on the way back. After leaving Hakodate, we will be sightseeing and trying out some of the famous local products of the area like apples and beef tongue. One of their most notable festivals, the Nebuta Festival, occurs in early August. Brightly colored floats lit up from the inside parade around the city before being set adrift

Lastly, you can find their endlish site at

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/index.html