27. Nikko

We finally left moved our base from Kyoto to Tokyo, checking in at the Century Hyatt. The Park Hyatt is one of my five favorite hotels in the world, and where I usually stay in Tokyo. Unfortunately, it was full and on this trip we ended up at the Century Hyatt, something like the Park Hyatt's ugly stepsister. The only thing the Century Hyatt shares with the Park Hyatt apart from its last name is its inconvenient location in Shinjuku. The area around Shinjuku train station is a very lively shopping and nightlife zone, but apart from that, it's mostly government skyscrapers that hold little tourist appeal, and both Hyatts are stuck in that area. But the Century Hyatt is probably ten times bigger than the Park Hyatt, and does nothing to dispel the feeling that you're in a huge bland factory of a hotel. Like our hotel in Kyoto, it's not horrible, just boringly bland, and from my blog's perspective that's the worst because I can't even write anything interesting about its faults. I'll talk about the Park Hyatt later, but I can also recommend a dozen other hotels over the Century Hyatt.

We stayed in Tokyo for about a week and also took several day trips. It's a bit confusing to go chronologically since Tokyo is interspersed among the day trips, so I'm going to put off Tokyo to the end and dive into the day trips. The first, and most impressive, was Nikko, a huge complex North of Tokyo, the gate to which is pictured above.