I recently had a one night stay at the Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel and Towers.

I never been here before, but the Sheraton is right next to Yokohama Station and a short drive from Tokyo. I went by car, so it was nice to have the Times parking lot right next to the hotel. It’s an underground parking lot that’s about ¥1900 per night. Once I went up into the lobby area, my first impression was that of an older nostalgic Showa-era design hotel.

They don’t make hotels like this anymore.

It’s almost a snapshot from history with the lavish chandeliers and gold and marble accents everywhere.

Taken in a negative context, it’s a bigger version of a common business hotel that you could find all over Japan.

It was older, but kept in very good shape, as with all other Japanese properties. But it still felt old, especially compared to the Hyatt properties.

Being Marriott, Bon Voy member is meant we could check in at the club lounge on the 26 floor so we decided to move towards the elevators. The old Showa era design decor, continued hear portraying a sense of older Japanese views of what luxury meant. It’s quite intriguing actually.

The elevators remind me of an old Japanese department store.

I don’t have many pictures of the lounge itself because the entrance of small and crowded and I didn’t want people to think I was some blogger but you can check out pictures here.

 

To their credit, the service was excellent, and check-in was a breeze. The lounge offered free drinks and a variety of appetizers. Some things that stood out or many of the Chinese theme dishes, I suppose that, because Yokohama has a huge Chinatown in a large population of Chinese customers, they had lots of items that Chinese people would like. Actually, come to think of it, there were a lot of Chinese customers in the lounge.

The hotel was nice enough to upgrade our room.

Was, wow, this is big! Which was a very good thing!

However, in essence, you realize that it was two rooms, renovated and combined together. The layout was long and rectangular with the bedroom area on one side and the shower bathroom split on the other. All in all, it was a very spacious area, so no complaints there. We had a nice silhouette view of Mount Fuji in the morning sort of obstructed by some sort of tower but some Fuji is better than no, Fuji.

The bathrobes were plush and the bath was nice.

Because I only stayed one night, obviously the highlight of my trip was breakfast. It could’ve been the lounge and free drinks the night before but really, when you look online, especially with the Japanese reviews, the breakfast here is the best. Retail price is ¥4400 for adults, but I think it’s very worth it. They source many of their ingredients from local Kanagawa Prefecture, and they also had a Hokkaido festival going on. The star item at the buffet would be the Maguro-don. I also enjoyed the Roman, Jon, and the other selections. To be honest, this Buffay may not have as many items as some of the other Hyatt hotels I have gone to, but, the satisfaction level was extremely high. Also, one thing I love about this place is the fresh orange juice squeezer. That is a treat.

My only gripe for the room would have to be the positioning of the toilet. I understand that you could close the sliding doors at either end of the bathroom zone to get full privacy, but this is where the large space becomes a hindrance, and I just thought it would be better to give it its own door, not see-through glass, and give it a look. That would add so much more freedom to how the occupants use the room. But that’s just my two. Cents.

Also, there are little things, not from a hygienic level, that bother me, but you could definitely see the wear and tear over the years.

Considering this place can cost upwards of ¥27,000 a night, I think they could do better.In conclusion, my final thoughts are that this is a decent, solid hotel right by the station and would fit the needs of many people. It is old, but they have kept it in very good condition. My only gripe would be that in my own personal experience, I don’t think the high prices match the experience that the hotel has to offer. However, it is important to note that the location is very good so their cost must be expensive as well.

I think I still prefer the Hyatt Regency in Yokohama.

The Hyatt Regency Seragaki has been one of my original favorite hotels even before it was upgraded to a category 5 property. It’s situated on the northern side of Okinawa’s main island and sits on top of its own cozy little island. 

I came here for the first time during Covid with low expectations but the place has been fabulous throughout the years. 

I had one last weekend before the end of summer break so I decided to go for a weekend getaway and learned they just celebrated their 5 yr anniversary. Until now, the lack of crowds was something I took for granted.

Being a Globalist member, I’ve been able to stay in numerous suites and rooms, which I’m sure you can find online from other well-established travel or influencer blogs.

It’s safe to say that, just like any other Hyatt property, all the amenities you have come to expect are there, plus the Japanese standard of Hyatt, which includes impeccable service, unbelievable attention to detail, and super super clean everything. Once again, it’s amazing that everybody can do this without getting tipped.

The main attraction here is the variety of pools, it’s cute little beach and the view ( if you get the good side of the building facing the ocean.)

One of the first things you see when crossing the bridge onto the property is the private beach on the left-hand side. To be honest, it’s quite small and on low tides, it looks like a kiddy pool. However, it’s not too bad when you actually go to it. They keep the buoys floating around to keep the jellyfish out. Unfortunately, it also keeps many of the larger size fish out as well. If you have some goggles, you can still look underwater and see some nice tropical fish. I was lucky enough to find a blue starfish once. It’s worth noting that snorkeling is not allowed. The sand is soft and you can also see hermit crabs, which make for great sand playing fun. (not for the hermit crabs themselves tho…) The water is extremely warm during the summer, but it was a bit chilly when we went in November. The hotel offers lounge chairs and umbrellas free of charge, but you have to go early to get your spot. We usually just drop by for an hour or so and head back up to the numerous pools or leave the property altogether to head up to some of the more beautiful northern beaches on the island.

It may be called Hyatt Regency, but this is definitely a tropical resort property! The pools are one of the main draws and attractions of this hotel and it doesn’t disappoint. There are two Infiniti style pools, one on top and one right by the ocean. The lower pool is designed as a sort of artificial beach and has a little side area where kids can enjoy rides in paddleboats. This is definitely the pool to be at during sunset and what a great experience! It is flanked by some VIP lounge chairs, which I never get to use …but they are there. The upper pools include three sections. One side houses the kiddy pool where they sometimes put in little colorful balls, and the opposite side has a jet-bath style area where you can lounge. This upper deck pool is also an infinity design so if you sit back just right, it looks like you are connected to the ocean. Despite having many lounge, chairs around, they fill up quite fast, so like with any other resort, be on the lookout for an open seat. They also have full drink and food service as well. There is also an indoor pool with a Jacuzzi for when it is chilly outside or if you were looking for a more controlled environment. Either way, the pictures speak for themselves, and this is where we were for most of our stay.

Food menus, especially breakfast, is where the Japanese Hyatt properties truly shine. There is an endless selection of fresh vegetables, salads, local foods, and cooked cuisine which you can choose from. This hotel also offers a choice between western breakfast and the Japanese breakfast. My favorites for the western breakfast are the eggs, Benedict and local foods. The steak is a nice touch, but they are a bit thin and tough. That’s more of a Japanese problem than the hotel itself. Unless it’s Wagyu beef, beef, and Japan is expensive so don’t expect it to be as great as the fish selections throughout the country.

When I went during Covid, I took for granted how empty the place was, but this past trip brought me to reality. There were lines everywhere with Japanese and tourists from Southeast Asia. It wouldn’t be so bad if the Asian tourists could be patient and wait in line but I guess that’s a whole different story.

The Regency lounge is stocked with great soft drinks and snacks. Cocktail hour  is always nice and they really upped to their game for food offerings. During Covid, it was just finger foods, but this time they had lasagna and other dishes so we didn’t even need to go out to eat for dinner.

One cool bit of trivia that the hotel told my kids was that there are three hidden hearts embedded in the stone pathway outside the hotel. Next time you are there, see if you can find them! It’s not as easy as it looks. lol

The property has great food, and great pools, but the real reason I keep coming back is for this view. If you can get the ocean, Sideview, you’ll notice that the hotel sits on a big chunk of volcanic rock looking land. On top, there is nice vegetation, and a small wedding chapel to the left. There is a small lagoon with substantial water level changes depending on the tide, but nothing beats opening up the sliding door to your room and looking outside at a beautiful sunset or a beautiful see-through ocean. It’s different from Hawaii, it’s different from the other islands and this is truly unique. You can see to thethe intercontinental hotel across the bay to the left and sneak a peek at their fireworks show sometimes. However, I really think this property is set on a very special piece of land and that’s what gives it its charm.

All in all, like I said, this is one of my favorite hotel properties, and I hope that you get to visit one day.

Have you been here and if so, how was your experience? Let me know in the comments below!

I recently stayed at the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa, and Hyatt House Kanazawa for about a month and here are my quick thoughts.

To be honest, they are both excellent properties with world-class hospitality and attention to detail. They really deserve their own articles that I’m sure you can find plenty of those from the professional travel websites.

I’m going to focus more on my own personal experience.

It all started with the decision to go to Kanazawa, Japan, in Ishikawa, Prefecture.

We started off at the Hyatt Centric, which is one of only two currently in Japan. The Hotel concept is to serve as a base point to go explore the surroundings and this location doesn’t disappoint.

The building is brand new and huge. It’s also pretty new, because it still shows an open lot as of now on Google maps.

Both Hyatt Centric and Hyatt House share the same building. Parking is right underneath, and 800 yen on weekdays and 1000 yen on weekends. It’s worth noting that the parking lot fills up quickly especially on weekends, so come back early if you don’t wanna park in the larger parking lot around the corner. Both hotels and the adjoining shopping complex Crossroads have direct access from the parking lot as well so it’s very convenient especially when you’re coming back with lots of bags.

After seeing about properties for about a month, I saw several extended stay customers go back-and-forth between the hotels and the staff are totally used to it. Not all the customers, but I saw some of the staff work both hotels as well.

Here are some pics of our rooms. Note that I included a picture of a king bedroom, as well as the twin room. Being Globalist members, we were given room upgrades to the twin deluxe, but opted for the king room, city view, one time for the awesome fireworks show. I included those images just for comparison.

As you can see the cleanliness, and the attention to detail that’s other properties to shame. It’s always wonderful staying in the Hyatt Japan properties just from the cleanliness aspect. The housekeeping crew really doing an incredible job and really deserve tips.

So, what was it like?

Well, for us, the answer is biased because we had two kids. We were already planning on cooking so we felt limited by the drink specific refrigerator and that’s up amenities in that area. Of course, this hotel is geared for couples and people don’t want an apartment like environment.

The decor with stylish, and you could tell the customer base was different.

I guess the highlight of our trip would be the breakfast. They have multiple items you could choose from the menu and the self-serve buffet area was well stocked with a variety of food. Service was good and overall it was a very pleasant experience. It can get pretty crowded around 8:30 AM, so prepare for a long line.

Then we moved over to the Hyatt House for extended stays.

My first impression of getting to Hyatt House was… Simplicity.

Dare I say plain?

There was obviously nothing wrong as you can see from the pictures, but I think I got that first impression because it didn’t have that extra flare like at the Centric. I am specifically referring to the stylish in sip illumination all over the place and non-kid friendly decor.

However, this minimalist design space turned out to be our favorite because of the kids.

The kitchen was great, new, and well stocked with kitchen ware. We did go to the front desk and borrow a rice cooker, and vegetable peeler.

Much better.

The front desk service was impeccable and they went out of their way to help us all the time. It was more than we could ask for.  A month later and we were still enjoying it! They really made us feel like family and I think it’s a special place.

The only gripe, if any, would be the fact that they serve the same breakfast every morning…

Every. Single. Morning.

The mushrooms, the slightly mushy grilled zucchini, and red/yellow peppers, sausages, soft scrambled eggs, miso, soup, rice, kiwi, fruit, orange, salad, okra and seaweed mix, two types of dressing, pink and yellow,… Get the picture?

I can memorize the whole menu.

At first, it was OK, but it really starts to wear down on you after 3 1/2 weeks. That would be my only gripe. They also use any of the food items from the Centric menu, obviously, for cost reasons, so you would find the same items at Centric.

I read on Japanese websites that the menu has been like this since like 2022. Also, the coffee can get really dinner depending on who who made it but that’s about it really. Small gripes.

Here is a glimpse of our first standard twin room with kitchen. Please forgive the green shot. It was a screen capture from a video.

This is the one bed room suite we stayed in the second round using our suite upgrade award. There is also another special suite room that comes with its own washer and dryer (which would have been unbelievably convenient during our trip) but that room is not valid for suite upgrade awards.

These suites were awesome because it had an amazing amount of space for Japanese property, was very clean and very comfortable.

Here is another one bed room suite in a mirror layout. This one didn’t have the sofa bed made up but using the sofa was nice too. One note about room placement, this particular suite was located in between the buildings, meaning that the sunlight was blocked from coming into the room.

Result was a substantial darkening of the room, which really had a larger effect on our daily mood than we expected. You really come to appreciate a sunny room!

As for daily life, plan ahead for laundry.

You can go across the parking to the train station and hit up the supermarket on the second floor up the escalator. Great selection of sushi and they often have snow crab on the weekends!

Public service announcement: If you do get the crab or sashimi, don’t be a jerk and try to throw the raw shells and leftovers into the hotel room trash unsealed. Be considerate and put it in a sealed, tight bag. House keeping works very hard for no tip and they don’t deserve to clean up rotten smelling trash.

You can write a nice note like my kids did, and give them a 1000 yen note if you like. I’m sure it would make their day.

I think that’s it for now and will add to this post as I have time.

Let me know if you have stayed here and have any experiences you’d like to share! Also, feel free to add any questions in the comments below!

The famous local crab out in Kanazawa, Japan is called “Kano kani” named after the local area it’s caught in.

But let’s be straight here, Kano-kani is just a rebranded Snow Crab or Opilio Crab. It’s also commonly known as Zuwai-kani, Echizen-kani, and Matsuba-kani. They’re all the same basically.

I usually like Kegani or horsehair crab for its sweet meat and savory crab butter, but snow crab is just as good when fresh.

As a lover of all crabs, I was super excited to come to Kanazawa to try the snow crab. We went to the different super markets, fisherman markets and noticed a majority of them were ¥5000 or higher.

The ones downtown were even more expensive clocking in the ¥11,000+ range, which I thought was a little bit overpriced.

Of course, when you get to the supermarkets, especially towards the evening when they start discounting items, you noticed that there are some for ¥2000 and then get another half off!

I was all over this and wanted to try it so, my thoughts?

I like crab butter or kani miso, and I think basically the longer the crab stays unsold, the more the meat and the crab butter deteriorates. By the end, you’re getting a very cheap crab and although you do get a couple bites full of great crab, a lot of the wonderful crab butter is actually dissolved and gone.

I read an article by a Japanese person, basically saying that everybody thinks that crabs are not in season during summer. However, they actually are and can be very tasty.

The reason why summer crab gets a bad reputation is that there’s less demand in the summer, so the crab usually stays in the store for three days, or so, then gets heavily discounted.

Tourists like me, will buy that discounted crab, and realize that half of it has melted away, and say it doesn’t taste good.

Compound this situation over tens of years and summer crab gets a bad rap.

I guess in the end, you get what you pay for so it’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is and bust up for one of the good 7000yen crabs or something and report back.

I have yet to find a good heavily discounted crab with good crab butter.

 

This article is still a work in progress so let me know if you’ve had similar experiences or love crab as much as I do!

I think that when people visit Kanazawa Japan, in Ishikawa, Prefecture, the main attractions are the surrounding traditional villages and castles.  Shirakawa go in the nearby Gifu prefecture, is another must see location for people staying in Kanazawa.

It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and it’s iconic straw roofs are famous throughout the world, especially in the wintertime.

Absolutely nothing about the village before going, I just knew that we were going so I only checked Wikipedia on the way there.

There are literally tons of dogs that teach you everything you need to know about the village, so I won’t get into that here.

It was a beautiful day with patches of rain throughout, and I was just happy driving my Kei car through the mountain roads.

I was pretty excited to see my first gassho-style house on the way up. It was in a rural town and was really the only one set amidst more modern looking places. After driving a while, I got really excited to see the Suganuma Gassho village. For a second, I thought this was the main village, but ¥500 later, I realized this was a smaller version of the main village. (In retrospect, however, I prefer the cleanliness and quaintness of the smaller village compared to the main attraction.)

Absolutely nothing about the village before going, I just knew that we were going so I only checked Wikipedia on the way there.

There are literally tons of dogs that teach you everything you need to know about the village, so I won’t get into that here.

It was a beautiful day with patches of rain throughout, and I was just happy driving my Kei car through the mountain roads.

I was pretty excited to see my first gassho-style house on the way up. It was in a rural town and was really the only one set amidst more modern looking places. After driving a while, I got really excited to see the Suganuma Gassho village. For a second, I thought this was the main village, but ¥500 later, I realized this was a smaller version of the main village. (In retrospect, however, I prefer the cleanliness and quaintness of the smaller village compared to the main attraction.)

In actuality, I was actually surprised at how much of a normal town it was! To be specific, I am talking about the telltale signs of day to day life that would be normal in any other circumstance, but unexpected for a UNESCO world heritage site that is famous for being rural.

I guess it is just my own one-sided expectations though.

I couldn’t help but notice the trucks, empty plastic crates, drying towels and other items behind and around the houses. I could take a series of photos without the rooftops and you wouldn’t know where it was.

I guess this is normal and to be expected though considering the various restaurants, hotels and gift shops that keep the village alive. In retrospect, it’s probably better that way because it would be pretty boring if it was a perfect soundstage.

But enough of my one sided expectations.

In the end, I’m glad I went. I know what the place looks and feels like and it was truly beautiful. I miss the smell of greenery and fresh water already.Usually, I’d be content as is and not consider a repeat visit but this place is known for its winter time beauty so I might have to make an exception in this case.

Whatever the season, it’s a cool place to visit, at least once in your lifetime.

Ishi no Sato Park

I found this park on the Japanese blog and thought I’d share my experiences there with you.

If you find yourself in Kanazawa during the summer, have small kids, and have a rent-a-car, then a short, half-day excursion to Ishi no Sato Park might be your thing.

It’s deep in the mountains about an hour drive on local roads from downtown Kanazawa, and is a very fresh, little portion of river perfect for kids to cool off in during the hot summer.

After driving down the highway, you will start coming into rice fields and be driving through some pretty countryside roads but that’s part of the fun.

Once you get there, there’s a small parking lot and you can walk down to the river there.

There are three main portions of the river, upstream, middle, and a little bit downriver where the ponds are deeper.

The deeper portions, actually all the portions have little fish.

We brought some nets and some little plastic buckets from Daiso, but there was no way we were catching those fish. They were so fast, we were dreaming if we thought we were gonna catch one of them.

The water was cool and really made for a pleasant experience…

until a bus load of kids from the local school pulled up and turned the once serene stream into a loud rambunctious playground.

I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.

Hopefully you won’t run into this situation and to be honest, I think it’s rare. However, it does happen, and we were lucky that we got a few hours of playtime before they came.

Anyways, check it out totally a cool hidden spot. Bathrooms are clean and modern too!

Have you been here or do you have a similar place you like to take your kids?  Let us know in the comments below! 

Chirihama Nagisa Beach Drive Way was one of the more surprising activities that we enjoyed during our stay in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture.

Little did we know that it is one of the most recommended tourist spots in Uozu City.

The exclusive and unique road is an approximately 8-kilometer-long sandy drive along Chirihama Beach.

Not only cars, but also buses, motorcycles, and bicycles can travel along the sandy beach.

The exhilarating feeling of driving by the water’s edge is quite addictive once you experience it! I only meant to drive it once but ended up driving it EVERY time we went from Kanazawa to Noto Peninsula and I enjoyed 3-4 beach days by parking along side the road. The summer water was super warm and it was one of the most memorable places on my trip.

The secret of this road lies in the size of the sand. It’s super fine, almost like a powder and features grains that are about 0.2 millimeters in size.

Sand of the same size solidifies firmly by absorbing seawater and makes it possible to drive over whether it’s a two-wheel drive or a four-wheel drive vehicle.

More than anything however, it just feels weird and fun driving on the sand and having the waves break so close to your car. Definitely a must try!

Take a look at the Naminoko gai, and Funabashi gai digging onto the sand. They are all over the beach and kept us entertained for hours. They are famous for “riding” the waves and then burrowing into the sand as the waves retreat.

Supposedly, they have a very great flavor and people have used it since the old days for miso soup and other broths.

Here is a live cam of the Chirihama Nagisa Drive cam.

One of our most unexpectedly memorable adventures during our stay in Kanazawa was north toward the Noto Peninsula at the Noto Island Aquarium.

Our trusty Kei-car took us up the Chirihama Nagisa Beach Drive Way, through beautiful country scenery and up to the aquarium.

To be honest, we didn’t expect much, and we were just looking for some sort of activity to do in that direction. My first impression of the place was that it was old and from the Showa Era (golden years of Japan 10-20 yrs ago).

We paid the reasonable entrance fee and made our way in. The sun was blistering and it was a super hot 35°C outside. We took the walk from the parking lot and freely rushed into the air conditioner building.

Unlike other aquariums, the Noto Aquarium opened up immediately into one of its main attractions, the huge whale shark exhibit.

It wasn’t as big as the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa but it turns out that this aquarium is the only one in northern Japan that houses, whale sharks, so that was sort of cool. The whale sharks seemed like younger ones, and were accompanied by other two sharks, a bunch of stingrays and other larger fish…

I didn’t think my kids would be too into it, but they spent a fair amount of time in all, just staring at the fish and at the ominous blue light. The path spiralled around the water tank, giving us multiple views of the aquatic environment.

After that, we walked through some actually pretty innovative and clever projection mapping displays and other illuminated walkways that really updated the feel.

It showed that the staff were actively trying to update the entertainment factor as much as possible. That is something that we really appreciated.

After that, we made our way through variety of different, aquatic, displays, fish, and crustaceans, which I kids really enjoyed.

After moving from building to building, we enjoyed the dolphin show outside and got up close with the penguin walk. Each penguin had a name and they were probably more than 30 of them. It was funny, watching the younger caretaker try to figure out the name of which penguin was giving him trouble. The more experienced caretaker was quizzing him on bodily markings and other hints.

We also got to feed the fish. That was actually more enjoyable than expected. There was a discreet little box with some fish food and a sign written in Japanese saying leave ¥100. Foreign tourists would totally miss this but it was definitely a lot of fun. The fish were used to getting fit so they were swan wherever you were. Try to throw the food as far as possible to watch them. Consequently, other tourist could walk underneath that particular aquarium, so they probably had a great show watching the fish swarm in different directions.

After lunch, we noticed a pier where you could go fishing for a fee. You could rent all the equipment and it is something we will definitely try it the next time. Even on other local, attraction, blogs, that fishing pier is highly rated so I think we will check it out.

The drive up there was also half the fun taking you through quaint old fishing villages and beautiful country sides with old school Japanese houses.

I’d give the aquarium a 3.5 out of 5 for facilities bit a 4 out of 5 for fun.

It’s just an enjoyable place to be and I look forward to going back there again.

We actually stumbled upon Suganuma Gassho zukuri Village while driving on our way to the UNESCO World Heritage Shirakawa go Village.

We were driving along the road and saw some of the iconic houses along the road and hastily pulled over to take a look. We missed any signs labeling it and would have missed it if we were any later.

To our surprise, there was a parking lot attendant waiting in front of the small parking lot ready to take our 500 yen. We were sort of committed to visiting as soon as we pulled off the road.

Anyways, we got out and after visiting the restrooms, we walked to a specially made elevator that took us down to the ground level. This elevator was obviously added to accommodate tourists and was dug into the rock. The precipitation was intense  and there were water droplets all over the elevator. It was wet and damp and I couldn’t help but wonder if they made sure all the cables and equipment were made waterproof for the long haul.