Ueno

MIMARU Tokyo Ueno Okachimachi

★★★★★

MIMARU is a Tokyo apartment-hotel brand designed around the problem every family visiting Japan meets: standard hotel rooms are small, and two rooms cost twice as much. Its answer is apartments with space for four to eight, a kitchen and a table big enough to eat together, and staff who are used to international travelers. The Ueno Okachimachi property, on a quiet street in the busy shopping district between Ueno and Okachimachi, is one of the best placed. Every unit has an IH stove, refrigerator, microwave, electric kettle, cookware and tableware, plus coffee and tea, so breakfast and the odd supermarket dinner can be made in the room. Room types range from a 35-square-meter Family Apartment with bunk beds and a 38-square-meter apartment with four single beds, up to a 49-square-meter Japanese Apartment with tatami and futons for six, a 64-square-meter One-Bedroom Apartment with a sofa bed, and two 75-square-meter concept rooms, the Ninja Room and the Premium Family Apartment, which sleep up to eight adults plus two small children. Free baby cribs and bed guards are available on request, there is a coin laundry, and the international staff can arrange luggage delivery to the airport or your next hotel. Ueno Hirokoji Station on the Ginza Line is three minutes away on foot and JR Okachimachi on the Yamanote Line four, and the Keisei Skyliner reaches Narita Airport in about fifty minutes from nearby Ueno, while Haneda is about forty minutes by train and monorail.

Why stay here? For a family of four or more, MIMARU usually costs less than two standard rooms elsewhere and is far more comfortable: there is room to unpack, a table for breakfast, and a separate sleeping area in the larger units, which makes jet-lagged evenings much easier. The location is a strong one for families. Ueno Park, with its zoo, science museum and swan boats, is a ten-minute walk; Ameyoko's market stalls and cheap eats are on the doorstep; Akihabara is one stop south; and Asakusa and Senso-ji are a short ride on the Ginza Line. Supermarkets and convenience stores nearby make self-catering simple.

The trade-offs: this is an apartment hotel, not a full-service hotel, so there is no restaurant, spa or pool, daily housekeeping may be limited compared with a conventional hotel, and the building's public spaces are functional rather than stylish. There is no in-room washer-dryer here, only the coin laundry, which matters for long stays. The surrounding Okachimachi streets are lively and practical rather than picturesque, and nightlife on the west side, in Shibuya and Shinjuku, is thirty minutes away by train.

Room advice: book the Japanese Apartment if you want the experience of sleeping on tatami without the price of a ryokan, the One-Bedroom Apartment if parents want a door to close after the children are asleep, and the Ninja Room only if the kids will love it, since it is priced as a concept room. Request cribs or bed guards early, as supplies are limited. Note that guests aged seven and over count as adults for occupancy. For families who want more hotel services, OMO3 Asakusa is nearby; for the Disney part of a trip, consider adding a night at Hilton Tokyo Bay.