PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

Whenever a foreigner living in Tokyo, soon to host first-time visitors to Japan, asks me to recommend a moderately priced ryokan in Tokyo, this is the one I most often suggest. It has a great location in Asakusa just off Nakamise Dori, a colorful, shop-lined pedestrian street leading to the famous Sensoji Temple -- an area that gives you a feel for the older Japan. A member of the Japanese Inn Group, it represents the best of modern yet traditional Japanese design -- simple yet elegant, with shoji, unadorned wood, and artwork throughout. Traditional Japanese music or the recorded chirping of birds plays softly in the public spaces. Two public Japanese baths have views of the nearby five-story pagoda. There are eight Western-style rooms, but I prefer the 15 slightly more expensive Japanese-style tatami rooms, which include Japanese-style mirrors and comfortable chairs for those who don't like relaxing on the floor. This ryokan costs no more than a regular business hotel but has much more class. What a pity that the front-desk staff can be brusque.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Tokyo, 10th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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