I loved this hotel!

It's cheap, priced at the bottom end of the range for business hotels in Tokyo. It's funky, with a very designery lobby and louche decor. It's in Ueno, the last bastion of non-globalised Tokyo, overlooking beautiful Shinobazu pond in Ueno park. And it has great facilities (tho' all in miniature - you're in Japan!). It's a 3-minute walk to the Keisei Ueno station, where you can catch the Skyliner to Narita airport, your fastest connection from Tokyo (faster than the JR Narita Express).

Check-in was fine. The staff don't speak English but have English-language materials with the information you need. The room was small, of course, but had kettle, humidifier, flatscreen TV with iPod connection, foot massage machine, a comfortable bed (with massage pillow!), and a tiny but well-designed unit bath with a currently-fashionable window into the bedroom. I booked a double room, and I suggest that unless you're travelling light AND familiar with Japanese business hotels, you do too - a single room would have been a miracle of miniaturisation but need a shoehorn to get most non-Japanese and their luggage through the door. Internet is free and works well. It was just about the most comprehensively equipped budget room I've ever stayed in, and I've stayed in a lot.

The public bath is worth a visit. There's a good sauna (at a respectably Scandinavian temperature) with a clean and welcoming soaking bath, as well as good washing facilities and a comprehensive massage chair in front of a window facing the park.

There's no restaurant, but you're staying on the edge of the main entertainment district of Ueno; there must be fifty restaurants and a hundred bars within a 10-minute walk. No gym, either, but in the morning you should be jogging around Ueno Park with everyone else!

The minuses are integral to the proposition. The rooms are small; they're designed for Japanese so the signage in your room will be frustrating if you don't read Japanese (tho' you won't break anything - just keep pressing the buttons and see what happens!); and it's a cheap no-frills hotel so expect your business associates to be impressed with your local knowledge and frugality, not your status. And although Ueno Hirokoji (the entertainment area behind the hotel) is safe and great fun, it has its fair share of dodgy bars and rocket-polishing establishments, so your mother-in-law's eyebrows will rise (but the hotel fronts on the park, a prime tourist and local destination - nothing untoward there)..

I'll be back!

i had to stay near ueno and univ of tokyo.
so i was satisfied with the location.
there are some departments and a traditional market nearby.
newly opened recently.