Mitsui Garden Hotels in Fukuoka

The location was incredibly convenient. After exiting Nakasu-Kawabata subway station, you'll immediately spot the distinctive Matsuya restaurant on a prominent corner of the intersection. A quick glance around from there and you'll easily see the hotel building. Plus, there's a large Don Quijote discount superstore directly above the subway station – a great bonus! As we were only staying for two nights, we opted for the most basic room. It had a window, was roughly 20 square meters, and offered enough space to comfortably open two, possibly even three, medium-sized suitcases. The king-size bed was also quite generous by Japanese standards. Soundproofing was decent, though we occasionally heard some noise from the hallway. The hotel features a communal bath, but unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to experience it. The front desk staff were fluent in English, but their Chinese was limited. Japanese hotels typically offer basic housekeeping services. We also noticed that the cleaning staff were primarily Indian gentlemen. Therefore, it's advisable to temper your expectations regarding room cleaning.

Northern Kyushu Trip: Mitsui Garden Hotel Fukuoka Gion We traveled from Kurokawa Onsen to Fukuoka by bus. There are three daily services: 10:15 AM, 11:15 AM, and 2:15 PM. The fare is 3,470 JPY, and the journey takes approximately 3 hours. Again, we asked the hotel front desk to help us call and book tickets. The 11:15 AM bus was the most suitable choice, as we would arrive in Fukuoka around 2 PM, allowing us to walk to the hotel and check in directly without needing to store our luggage. A special shout-out to the front desk at Kurokawa Roku Ryokan for proactively booking our bus tickets for the next day. Roku Ryokan also offered a drop-off service to the bus station. Though it was a short distance, it was a nice gesture and much appreciated. Upon arriving in Fukuoka, the bus made three stops: the airport, Hakata JR Station, and Tenjin. We got off at Hakata JR Station. From there, we used Google Maps to navigate and reached the hotel in just over 10 minutes. The hotel's location is excellent, very close to Hakata Station. There's a 7-Eleven and a bakery downstairs, and Tenjin is just one subway stop away. Hotel rooms here are typically small, so traveling with large suitcases in Japan really isn't ideal. The hotel's onsen (hot spring bath) is on the 13th floor. It's a public bath only, with both indoor and outdoor pools. In the hotel lobby, you can pick up complimentary disposable toothbrushes and other amenities. I particularly recommend the sample-sized lotions; they were quite good. The only complimentary item from the hotel was a single cup of coffee, which was nothing special. One important thing to note is that the name on the reservation must match the name of the guest checking in. Both rooms were booked under my name. One room was checked in smoothly, but for the other, the front desk insisted on changing the name to the actual occupant's before processing. The problem was that changing the name took time. I had to contact Ctrip, who then contacted the hotel, and once the hotel agreed to the change, it took a while for it to update in the front desk system. So, we could only check into one room initially. Such rigidity!