Oakwood Shinjuku

Japan was the first stop of our RTW trip. Although I booked and paid for most of the accommodations while the AUD was high, Japan is the one place where I did not. This taught me a lesson as our ~AUD200/night Hilton booking quickly turned into ~$400/night! I cancelled the booking and started browsing Tripadvisor for suggestions.

I ended up deciding to stay at the Oakwood Apartments Shinjuku based on the feedback on Tripadvisor, and it certainly did not disappoint! It had the right balance of cost, location, service and amenity. We are definitely going back there next time (if the AUD is still crap).

(Oakwood Shinjuku Sky Lounge by night)




The Cost

We stayed in the smallest Studio room which was around ¥10,500 per night, and Internet connection was around ¥1,050 per day. I didn't want to mock around finding free wi-fi spots and opted-in for the Internet connection.

The Location

It is located north of Shinjuku station although you'd probably take the west exit instead of the north exit. The reason being the north exit is near the east side of the station where as Oakwood is off Otaki Bashi Dori which is on the west side of the station. It is within walking distance - around 6-8 minutes (without luggage!).

There are couple of convenient stores across the street which are good for stocking snacks and drinks. There's also a 24hr bento place (オリジン弁当) next door which saved us many times in the middle of the night when we craved for some hot food. Alternatively there is also a "fast" Japanese eatery (松屋) across the road.

The Service

As expected from the Japanese, the service is very polite and helpful - nothing is too much trouble. The staff all speak a reasonable level of English.

The Amenity

Although the Studio room is super small (as expected in Tokyo), amazingly it still has all the typical apartment amenities - washing machine, fridge, cook-top etc. The bed doubles as the couch, as the TV is mounted on top of the desk. I didn't think we could unload the 2 luggage but Jen's amazing skill in packing / unpacking proved me wrong.

(as taken sitting on the bed using a wide angle lens!)

Being a male Asian, I also loved the high-tech "gadgets" of the room. E.g. the shower room can also double up as a dry room - so you can dry your washed clothes in there over night. Another example is the movement sensor as part of the light switch near the entrance - so at night you don't have to fumble for light switch when coming in. Note it also has setting for how long you'd want the light to stay on and how dim/bright you want it to be. Brilliant!

Oakwood Shinjuku also has a "Sky Lounge" which all guests have access to. It's located at the top of the building and has an amazing night view of the Shinjuku area. You can go outside to the roof-top, but you cannot go next to the edge as it's fenced off for security reasons.

(Sky Lounge by day. Jen is playing the piano in the background)



Getting There

The only gripe I have is that there are no direct airport bus from Narita Airport. However I suspect it is possible to catch the bus to other nearby hotels (e.g. Prince) and walk there. I have not looked into this - if you know an easier way (than N'EX) please let me know!

We took Narita Express (N'EX) and arrived in Shinjuku. And instead of lugging around 2 large suitcases, we decided to just get a taxi there (only ¥710 as it's so close).