This is a functional hotel for local businesspeople. Although the rooms are small, they are quiet and really good construction. You can't hear anything from your neighbours or outside traffic. The bathrooms are spacious. The hotel linens and beds are new. Rooms have working desks with lots of lighting. The flatscreen TV is large. Every room has their own dedicated Wifi.

The location is fabulous. This place is accessible to the Tokyo Metro, JR line, Keisei Ueno line to Narita, Ueno Park, Ueno shopping street, and Ueno restaurants. All within a few minutes walking distance.

Definitely you should consider staying here for the authentic local experience.

Hotel staff here were excellent, very friendly and helpful. Rooms were small but had everything you needed. I found it very clean and comfortable. I stayed for 7 nights and had no complaints about my stay here. Free wifi with good service. Coin operated laundry at reception, which could get a bit busy at times. No breakfast options, but there are lots of places you can get breakfast nearby. Strange environmental policy that you get a free bottle of water if you didn't want your room cleaned every day. 5 minutes from Ueno station, where Kesei trains arrive directly from Narita airport and 5 minutes from Ueno Park which was fascinating for small food vendors and lovely cherry blossom.

APA is a Japanese hotel chain that offers no frill low cost accommodation. This property stands out because of its great location. It's a quick 5 min walk from either the Yamanote JR line Okachimachieki station or the Keisei Ueno station if you arrive from Narita airport.

Another unique feature of this hotel is that the room doesn't really have a window as the hallway of each floor is exposed to outside elements, so the room only has a frosted window next to the room entrance. To me it's not a bad thing. First because the hotel is surrounded by buildings anyway, so view will not be great. Also, this way with the bed further away from the noise coming from door entrance. My room number is 06, which is an end unit room. It has a Queen bed and a huge walk-in shower. The room size is very decent for 2 people with ample of space for suitcase near the entrance. Wifi works great. Friendly reception staff. Convenient stores are within a block on each side of the hotel.

I personally feel that Ueno is a great area for tourist. Unless you are big on nightlife and bar hopping, which Shinjuku would be the first choice. But Ueno has a lot to offer in terms of eating and shopping. Great supermarket under the huge Uniqlo store. And if you plan to go to other Japanese cities, the main hub Tokyo station is only a few stops away.

I would not hesitate to stay here again if the room rate is competitive.