How rare, we thought, arriving at the Claska Hotel website and seeing a button for "English." An independent Japanese hotel that has an English version of their site. Alas, it seems that the button labeled English is the only thing in that language, apart from a few other headings that also lead to tantalizingly interesting pages that we can't read, and you can't actually click through on "English"--we hope it's a "coming soon".
Apart from that problem, the Claska looks gorgeous. It's just been listed as one of the top five design hotels in Japan. It's small, just nine rooms, but also features an art gallery, bookshop, organic restaurant and apparently even a poodle parlor. There's even an online shop which sells lovely-looking Japanese stuff: tea sets, a fan, even a broom, all without ugly hotel logos.
A night at the Claska ain't cheap, with double starting at over 62,000 Yen (US$600). The website suggests the possibility of weekly residence rates too, but they probably don't get much cheaper. They might throw in a free broom, though.
Head for technology-rich Japan and you might be expecting that the hotel WiFi scenario improves a bit. Well it does, a bit, depending on where you stay. In beautiful Hiroshima, we've found that the Comfort Hotel Hiroshima does a good job on providing internet access.
The Comfort Hotel's website boasts all kinds of tech-based amenities, including a computer to use for free in the lobby, computer hook-ups and work desks in all rooms, and high-speed, FREE wireless internet access everywhere. Recent guests even confirm that this is true, with the following warning:
There appears to be a wireless access point on every floor! The instructions in the room compendium tell you how to connect in Japanese, but anyone used to using wireless connections should be able to get by. The compendium contains the WPA-PSK key you need and it is written in English. So worked great for connecting my notebook and PDA.
So like WiFi nearly the whole world over, it's not as straightforward as it should be, but it's there. As an added bonus, the Comfort Hotel Hiroshima is near Peace Park and the Hiroshima Castle too, so when you've finished surfing or working, the sightseeing is at your doorstep.
Should Barack Obama be elected president, one of the first place he should visit overseas is Hotel Sekumiya in the Japanese town of Obama.
ABC News reports the people in Obama are crazy for Obama, the senator.:
Obama's name graces posters hung in the main hotel. Headbands and T-shirts with drawings of the candidate's face will be available soon. Local confectioners are designing Japanese-style sweet bean cakes with Obama's portrait on them.
But their obsession has nothing to do with politics. They just like his name!
And the town is hoping that Obama will be elected president to elevate their town's tourism. (Obama means "Little Beach" in Japan) One woman said:
"If he becomes popular, I'm hoping this whole region will get recognition."
In 2007, we decided to map out some of Japan's most interesting love hotels with our Japanese Love Hotels Map.
Some of these love hotels have sexy themes like Hotel Chapel Sweet and some have random names and decor like Gang Snowman's, which actually closed. RIP tommy gun-toting snowmen. From a hotel with an S&M Hello Kitty room to the Alcatraz-inspired Rock Hotel, there should be a love hotel for everyone's fetish.
The New Nishino Hotel in Kagoshima, south-west Japan had this ghastly view of corroded iron from one of its rooms. It's "views" like these that make us wish some hotels wouldn't even offer windows.
However, don't let this view deter you from visiting Kagoshima one day. The city boasts the reputation of "the Naples of the Eastern World," has an exotic aquarium and an active volcano, Mount Sakurajima. If you do have to shack up here and take this view, we say consume a lot of local-made sweet potato alcohol to make it "go away."
If we had to say goodbye to 2007 with a bang, we would hop on a plane to Tokyo and spend three party-filled nights at the Mandarin Oriental. We've never actually stayed inside a Mandarin Oriental room and we are making a point of doing this in 2008.
We've also never been to Tokyo although we done plenty of reading on it. So what better way to see a new city than from the top of this Mandarin Oriental. The lobby is actually located on the top floor (the 38th) and has panoramic views of Tokyo from every inch. So if you can't splurge on a penthouse suite, sipping tea in the lobby lounge is the next best thing.
From there, things only get better. The MO has some of the largest hotel rooms in all of Japan filled with high-tech gadgetry. The hotel also has a killer-looking spa on the 36th floor and several dining options, all with amazing views of the city.
We found a Mandarin Deluxe room from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 for $635 a night. Wowzsa. So we won't be ringing in 2008 here but we can dream right?
Dipping into the new members of the design hotels group again, a new hotel in Japan has caught our attention. Opening on December 13, the Hotel Screen in historic Kyoto, north of Osaka, is a 13-room hotel that sounds pretty unique.
Hotel Screen is designed around the concept that "no two guests will have the same experience on any given night". That means that each room was designed by a different designer so you could, theoretically, spend almost two weeks getting a completely different experience each night.
As well as the varying rooms, guests can experience the open-air sky lounge (kind of a fancy name for a garden with seats, we suppose) and buy the hotel's very own soundtrack CD.
Once a week, in a nod to the environment, the restaurant in Screen has "Candle Night" to save electricity, although presumably the kitchen still operates in full light. They turn out "Kyoto nouvelle cuisine" which is a mix of traditional Kyoto-style food and French cuisine.
It's probably pretty tasty, but you just won't be able to to see it so well if you happen to eat there on Candle Night.
What a difference a room allocation can make. Not so long ago, we featured the Keio Plaza Tokyo as a hotel with a killer view over the night lights of Tokyo. But that picture came from an entirely different side of the hotel to this one, which we can only include as an anti-view.
Checked in to a lower floor and with a view of modern but boring gray buildings, there's nothing inspiring about the view from this particular Keio Plaza window. Please ask for a room higher up if you stay here; only not too high if you're feeling a little on the depressed side.
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by amandak
In 2007, we decided to map out some of Japan's most interesting love hotels with our 
