Shiba Park Hotel

This article is based on a visit made on Sunday, 20 May 2018.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I finally returned to Tokyo after leading my grandmother on a whirlwind trip around central Japan.  But, before I can wrap up this trip I've dragged out over the past two years in blogging about, there is some unfinished business that I need to attend to.  And that includes sharing with you the hotel which I not only chose for both of my Tokyo stays for this trip, but also slept at for my very first night in Japan: the Shiba Park Hotel (芝パークホテル, Shiba Pāku Hoteru).

Shiba Park Hotel is made up of two buildings, a main building and an annex.  For our first visit in 2010, we stayed in the annex.  Eight years later, however, I booked one of the newly-renovated rooms in the main building.  These Deluxe rooms, formerly called Comfort rooms, offer a roomy 30m² (323ft²) of floor area; the regular rooms in the annex are also above the usual standards for Tokyo hotels, at 21m² (226ft²).

Whereas the annex rooms I remember from last time were clean and functional, if a little dated in their decor, these renovated rooms in the main building have an all-new look that is warm and modern, with little traditionally-Japanese touches here and there to define the look.  A shoji-style sliding door separates the bedroom from the entrance hall, allowing extra privacy if, for example, your partner is getting in the bath.  Conveniences are plenty, from the free and fully stocked coffee/tea set, to the USB wall ports beside the beds.

One minor difference, which even I had not seen before in all my time in Japan, was the toilet being situated in a separate room from the bath.  There is a small sink present, but unless you move some soap in here, you'll have to go around to the other room to wash your hands.

A unique amenity offered by Shiba Park Hotel is their series of Japanese Cultural Experiences.  An instructor, who speaks English to a decent degree, will guide your small group in one of several activities, including origami, tea ceremony, calligraphy.  I signed us up for the calligraphy course, the results of which you can see above.  Different courses are held each day of the week at 9:30 AM and 5:30 PM, and range in cost from free to ¥1,000 per person.

Shiba Park Hotel, and the Shiba-koen/Daimon neighbourhood as a whole, makes for a convenient base when flying into or out of Haneda Airport.  Both rail options from the airport, the Tokyo Monorail and Asakusa subway line, have stops in the vicinity (Hamamatsucho and Daimon stations, respectively)  After our arrival experience, walking the 10 minutes all the way from Hamamatsucho with our luggage, proved less than ideal, we asked our hotel to arrange a taxi to pick us up on checkout and take us to the station, from where we would ride the Tokyo Monorail the rest of the way.  It was an ideal compromise, compared to the cost of taking a taxi all the way!  Since Shiba Park Hotel receives a lot of visitors from overseas, especially with tour groups, their staff speaks good English and is able to accommodate a variety of requests like these.

Whether or not you wind up using Haneda Airport as your entrance or exit to Tokyo, the Shiba Park Hotel is a welcoming choice.  I'm glad I got to share it with you when I could, because I have only a couple of articles from this trip left to write.  Find out where in Tokyo I went from here, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Shiba Park Hotel

Address: 1-5-10 Shiba-kōen, Minato-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0011

Access: Shiba Park Hotel is 3 minutes from Daimon (Toei Asakusa (A) and Oedo (E) lines) and Onarimon (Toei Mita (I) line) stations, or 10 minutes from Hamamatsucho Station (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), and Tokyo Monorail (MO) lines).

Directions: From Tokyo Station, take the JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku line to Hamamatsucho (JY28/JK23, 5 minutes, ¥160).  From the North Exit, cross the street and turn left.  Continue on for 5 minutes (400m), and cross and turn right at the third traffic light, just before the large torii gate.  Continue on for 2 more minutes (200m), and after the next traffic light, the hotel will be on the left side.

Alternatively, walk to the nearby Otemachi subway station and take the Toei Mita subway to Onarimon (I06, 5 minutes, ¥180).  From exit A2, head forward, cross the street ahead, and turn left.  At the next traffic light, turn right, and the hotel will be on the right side.

From Shinjuku Station (not Shinjuku-Nishiguchi), take the Toei Oedo subway to Daimon (E20, 15 minutes, ¥220).  From exit A6, head forward and turn right at the next light, as described above.

Website: (English) (Japanese)