Tokyo Station Hotel: the night we slept inside Tokyo Station

I'd been to Tokyo four or five times before, but I'd never stayed at Tokyo Station itself. This time, with the children coming along, we decided to give it a try.

We were getting around mainly by train on this trip, and Tokyo Station happened to be the starting point for the trains we needed. Our plans included Yokohama, Kawazu, Yuzawa and Disneyland.

It was our first overseas trip with the children, so I had plenty to think about. I wanted the walk from our hotel to the train to be as short as possible, and as few train changes as we could manage.

Our Dome Side room at Tokyo Station Hotel

The rooms at Tokyo Station Hotel are actually part of the brick-colored building you see at the front of the station. The hotel stretches all the way from the Marunouchi South side to the North side.

On the South side, there was a door into the hotel from inside the station, so we didn't need to go outside. On the North side during our visit, there was a guest entrance near Marunouchi North Entrance that required a room key card.

We chose a Dome Side room because I liked the idea of looking out into the station. When we booked, we could choose either the North or South side. Our view was down into the hall beneath the dome, watching people come and go. You don't see the train platforms from this side.

The children had told us they liked trains. Well, there was no shortage of them on this trip! We could take them down to watch from the platforms or find a window with a view from above. The next photo, showing the tracks and trains, was taken from Marunouchi Hotel, beside the station.

Finding food with the children in tow

There were plenty of restaurants beneath the station. For the adults, food wouldn't be a problem at all, but once I started thinking about the children, I began to worry. As our departure got closer, I did a little more homework, looking for places with high chairs and room for a stroller. I searched Tabelog for "Kid friendly" or "family" and picked out two or three restaurants.

After all that research, we ended up eating twice at the same sushi restaurant beneath the station: Tsukiji Sushiko Nagomi. The food was fine; it had a 3.27 rating on Tabelog at the time. But what really helped us was being able to bring the stroller in, sit the children in high chairs, and order on a tablet.

When we wanted to eat in our room, we could pick up freshly prepared food from the supermarket area in Daimaru department store. That made things easy too.

A little shopping beneath the station

Beneath the station, Ichibangai, or First Avenue Tokyo Station, had all sorts of food and souvenirs. We weren't really planning to buy anything in particular this time, though. More than 90% of our time went into looking after the children.

I usually have to fit in a visit to Akiba when I'm in Tokyo, so having Character Street right beneath the station helped. Once the children were asleep, I managed to pop down for a browse. 😁

I'd also planned to pick up some size 90 Heattech for my child. There were three Uniqlo branches around the station, so I thought that would be easy. No luck: none had children's clothing when I looked. I ended up walking to Ginza, where there was a much better selection.

Leaving our bags, and what the location cost us

We brought two 28-inch suitcases. Whenever we traveled out of Tokyo on this trip, the idea was to take only one large suitcase, or just a cabin-size case plus the stroller.

I slipped up by not asking the hotel about luggage storage beforehand. We were going to spend three nights at Disney Resort and wouldn't be coming back to stay at Tokyo Station Hotel afterward. Even so, the hotel was happy to keep our bags for us.

We just came back to collect the bags before heading to our next hotel. They were happy for us to do that, which I really appreciated.

The main drawback for us was the price. Staying around Tokyo Station cost quite a bit more than staying near other stations.