We Might Stay Here #1: Claska, Tokyo

We were thisclose to buying our plane tickets to Japan last night. My fault really, I was too tired to get back on the computer and instead decided to read under the covers. I'll update once it's official. =D

I also wanted to thank everyone for their input about typhoon season. After checking weather history and our own schedules for 2010-2011, we realized that skipping the country wouldn't be possible...well...for a very long time. A long weekend away we can manage, but a couple of weeks? It just won't fly in the future with our school and work schedules. We even talked about ditching Japan altogether and going somewhere new, but our arguing just put us right back where we started. SO...

We're going to suck it up and hope for some sunny days and eat a lot of ramen to compensate for any bad weather. You can help me pick out rain boots later this year.

I've also been doing some obsessive hotel and ryokan research. I'm a fan of boutique hotels, and I've realized that they don't really exist in Tokyo. Every time I do a search on tripadvisor I'm bombarded with a lot of business hotels.

But, I did find one that looks promising. I'm intrigued by Claska, an arty 9-room boutique hotel located outside the city center that was voted hotel of the year by Wallpaper Magazine. It's further from the action and would require a good walk to public transportation, and it's not exactly cheap but it also isn't as expensive as the Conrad Tokyo or the Park Hyatt which are both hovering in the $400-500+ USD a night category. And, we all know we need that extra money for ramen and paying for the wedding.

Claska, Tokyo, Japan

Onward with the research! If anyone has any hotel tips, feel free to shoot them my way!