Pencil House:
Tracey and Ash were out of town but their assistant was able to meet us nearby at the Tokyo Park Hyatt. The hotel will let you drop bags there (just tip them...even though they say they dont take tips you arent staying there so its really above and beyond for them to hold your bags. ..so give them ¥1000 yen). We went and had drinks at the amazing 52nd floor which is where Lost in Translation was filmed. We had 5 "grown" adult women in our group. We originally had reserved the room with only 3 going on the trip and 2 more tagged on at the last minute. Tracey and Ash were ok with a lil surcharge per person. While the house was able to sleep 5, I would only suggest it if there were 2 couples and some kids. The 2 private bedrooms had comfy mattresses along with the bunk bed. the pull out (sofa and the trundle bed) had springy matresses that the 5th girl in our party complained a lot about. I emailed Tracey and she told me there was a mattress pad for it that helped a little but I still think an old school futon would be a better solution. There is only 1 bathroom and to be honest it worked fine. The toilet room is always seperate in Japanese homes so you can still goto the "potty" if someone is in the shower. The shower room is also closed off from the sink, so we could do our makeup while someone was in the shower. If 5 girls can make it work anyone can! The kitchen was well equipped. We went to the local market inside the Tokyo Opera City down the street (although this market is expensive... the other girls found a cheaper 24 hr market a lil further away). We made breakfast every morning with rice and tea and fresh eggs etc . It definitely saved us a bundle having access to a kitchen. The house is roughly 8 feet wide... I could spread my arms out and have about 2 ft left to spare....if that, but it was laid out well. We are all tall girls 5'9"+ but the house still felt roomy. -skinny but roomy....lol. There is hulu and appletv... I was able to put in my netflix password and catch some shows.... but who is watching tv while in Tokyo anyways??? When traveling around Tokyo set your gps to go/return to Hatsudai station. Its the closest and most convenient to the house. We didnt figure that out for a few days and our gps had us taking buses and different trains. Overall we enjoyed our trip to Japan. It is such an amazing and safe country that I believe everyone should visit at least once.