Raining, it was always raining. It was almost midnight as we splashed through the wet sidewalks of Asakusa, avoiding puddles and hugging ourselves against the one-digit coldness of the evening. We arrived at Senso-ji Temple, surprised to see the oldest Buddhist temple this side of Tokyo sans the usual throng of picture-takers. It was almost more than four years since I went here alone one rainy morning; it’s still raining now, but this time, I have friends to share the downpour with.

WE BOOKED OUR VARIOUS TRAIN TICKETS VIA KLOOK

Scoring an unbelievably cheap flight to Tokyo via Cebu Pacific, we arrived in Narita Airport all excited and pumped up. We were rarin’ to go but we still have to redeem our Klook vouchers for 4G Simcards (PHP882.00, 3GB good for eight days) we would use to surf the net while in Japan, Tokyo Skyliner train tickets (PHP990.00, one way) which we would use for the ride from the airport to the city, and most importantly our Unlimited Tokyo Subway Pass (starts at PHP382.00 for a one day pass)—this one is heaven sent, traveling around Tokyo is expensive, but with this, it became a lot cheaper. Like really, a whole lot. It was a breeze booking all these prior to our trip, we just fired up our Klook app on our phone, and it was easy as saying arigato gozaimasu.

WAITING FOR THE TOKYO SKYLINER AT NARITA AIRPORT

The Tokyo Skyliner has its own station right at the airport and forty five minutes later, we alighted at the Ueno Station for a transfer to the subway line. A few stops later, and we’re already in Asakusa—one of the city’s main tourist hub. Besides the famous Senso-ji Temple, it’s here where most travelers go to buy souvenirs and all sort of weird Japanese stuff. Some block away looms the Tokyo Skytree, now the highest tower in all of Japan—an honor that used to be held by the iconic Tokyo Tower since forever.

LOVE THE ORGANIC TOKYO VIBE OF ASAKUSA

On foot, we went straight towards the temple, turning left on one sidestreet, and felt the shift from touristy Tokyo to normal Tokyo. Asakusa still has a very traditional Japanese feel that I only get to see on TV when I was growing up on shows like Bioman and Shaider.

WIRED HOTEL ASAKUSA, OUR HOME IN TOKYO FOR ALMOST A WEEK

WIRED SHARES THE BUILDING WITH A LEGIT JAPANESE THEATER

Eventually, we reached our lodging, Wired Hotel Asakusa. Passing theater posters on its red brick walls, we found that our home in Japan actually shares a building with a real theater, how cool is that! Checking in was cooler though, while processing our stay, we were asked to roll some sort of lottery drum filled with marbles to win locally crafted bags and what-nots. It was very Japanese indeed!

MAKE YOUR ORIGINAL TOKYO GUIDE USING THESE FREE POSTCARDS

Like contestants in Takeshi’s Castle, of course, we didn’t win anything. But as we entered Wired’s Standard Room [CHECK RATES & AVAILABILITY] near the top floor of the hotel, we felt we’ve won. It was lovely. Not lovely five-star hotel lavish gorgeous, but boutique hotel lovely, which is more to my preference really.

OUR VERY COMFY BED

Spread on the honeycomb-pattern wood parquet floor are two leather lounge chairs, a round metal table, a working desk connected to cabinet bins and a hidden mini-fridge, and a very inviting queen-size bed. On the right is a massive sliding window, which you can actually pull back to open to a mini garden on level with our room. It looks out across the rooftops of Asakusa, which is specially beautiful during the mornings.

ROOM WITH A VIEW

Adjacent to it is a matte black wall mounted with a flatscreen television. We didn’t find any English shows on, but it was really fun watching all sorts of Japanese shows! Spell My Girlfriend is Shobitch, haha.

JAPANESE TOILET FOR THE WIN!

The room has its own toilet and bath. It was a tad small, but very workable. And, of course, it wouldn’t be complete without the venerable automatic Japanese toilet! Besides the usual squirty effects, it has a seat warmer to boot too, lol.

ZAKBARAN, WIRED HOTEL’S STYLISH CAFE BAR AT THE GROUND FLOOR

OUR USUAL BREAKFAST MEAL AT MCDONALD’S ASAKUSA

Breakfast wasn’t complimentary at Wired Hotel, but they do hand out stubs for free coffee and tea. What we usually do each morning, after availing ourselves of coffee while watching people stream by on the covered street adjacent to the hotel, we head out to the nearest McDonald’s [GPS MAP], which was just five minutes away, for our morning grub. Food is extremely expensive in Tokyo, so don’t scold us if we’re always in McDo. Our meals, good for two, is usually set at JPY800.00 (USD7.12 | PHP361.00).

BECAUSE KATSUDON IS LOVE

There are actually a lot of small restaurants and mom & pop’s shops around Wired Hotel, and we also got to try a few of those. I especially can’t forget the really excellent pork cutlet and shrimp katsudon we had at Katsuya [GPS MAP]. At JPY745.00 (USD6.63 | PHP336.70), it wasn’t as cheap as McDonald’s but it wasn’t that expensive either.

THERE’S A SECRET FLOOR?

On our last night at Wired Hotel, we transferred to their dorm rooms just for the heck of it. And that’s where I found out what the secret floor on the elevator meant. At first, I thought it was just a joke, but like most things Japanese, you just have to expect the unexpected.

X MARKS THE SPOT, THE PORTAL TO THE SECRET FLOOR

And indeed, the hotel’s dorm rooms are located on a sort of secret floor that cannot be accessed by elevators. We went a floor higher, then went through a passage going down the third floor, then another world opened up. A lounge, complete with kitchen and dining hall greeted us with a very hostel feel! Coolness.

SECRET LOUNGE AND KITCHEN AREA

WIRED HOTEL’S MIXED DORM ROOM

They have a total of five dorm rooms—one is a female dorm—and Wired’s four-person mixed dorm was just right for our group. It wasn’t as cramped as you would expect from a hostel, and it has an en suite separate toilet and bath. The bed, surprisingly, was as comfortable as those with our previous room too!

CRUISING ON LAKE ASHI IN HAKONE

Wired Hotel became our base of operation while in Tokyo as we also got to explore other parts of Japan. During our five-day stay, we got to do Hakone Free Pass day tour—hoping to have a glimpse of Mount Fuji—and we got to do a Nikko Temple Run Tour too. Besides its superb location and affordable rates, I definitely like its quirks and surprises!

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► FLY TO TOKYO VIA CEBU PACIFIC FOR AS LOW AS PHP6,000++ ROUNDTRIP
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Wired Hotel Asakusa
Address: Asakusa Kokono Club, 2-16-2 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Contact Number: (+81) 03-5830-7931
Email: info@wiredhotel.com | Website | Facebook | Instagram
GPS Coordinates Map: 35.715854, 139.793864
►► CLICK HERE FOR DISCOUNTED ROOM RATES