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Akabane-Iwabuchi APA Opening on Tuesday, February 4, 2025

2025年2月8日 15:13

What kind of place is Akabane-Iwabuchi? It's just a boring town where cars are constantly roaring by.

The funeral home and Toyoko Inn as seen from the subway exit.

I accidentally came out of the furthest exit. I ended up on the opposite side of the Toyoko Inn.
If you're going to the APA Hotel, the exit with the elevator is closer.
(No matter where you exit, the wait at the traffic lights is long. There are just so many cars.)

With the Higashi-hondoori, Kita-hondoori, and Kannana-dori roads, the traffic volume is immense.

If you're heading to Saitama Stadium, I think using this place as a base would be convenient.

To think an APA would open right next to my kitchen, My Basket.

I didn't specifically aim for the opening day, but Tuesday is my night out.
Since it was 5,000 yen for the first night only on the official website, I booked it without hesitation.
(A few days later, it had gone up to 8,000 yen.)

Does the fact that an APA Hotel is moving in mean I can believe there is a future for Kita Ward, Tokyo?

Well then, let's try the 1-second check-in. Since it's a new APA, I should be able to just scan my membership QR code and check in, right? In one second. Since it's already paid for.
But then the staff said, "Have you completed the operation within the app?"
Wait, that one action is necessary? Fine, I'll do it. I can't do it.
And once again, I'm in a situation where an older woman can't operate her smartphone and is being taught by a young staff member... This is starting to feel like a recurring theme.
In the end, I was able to do the 1-second check-in with the QR code immediately. It worked, so I guess it's fine.

There are two elevators, but I felt like I was kept waiting for them...?

When I got out of the elevator, there were carts and staff in the hallway. Even though it's the first day, the rooms aren't made up yet?
Shortage of back-office staff is a typical APA thing. I'm sure they'll be finished by 3:00 PM.
(I am in a position where I can check in at 2:00 PM, after all.)

The room is on the 3rd floor. A low floor. The hallway is an atrium. It is cold.

I could see the noren curtain for the men's bath at the 2nd-floor public bath.

I can see private houses from the window.

Away from the main road, it is a relatively quiet residential area. I don't know if it's actually quiet, though.
I wonder if the neighbors ever expected an APA Hotel to be built in their neighborhood.
I feel like it used to be a factory or a warehouse.

The slippers are placed higher up, making them easier to reach. And the black shoehorn is long.

New APA hotels always have something new about them.

What was placed on top of the refrigerator, next to the pajamas, was the bed runner.

Come to think of it, there was nothing black on the bed.

Before my bath, I'll go buy a canned chuhai at My Basket.
When I went to the first floor in the elevator, the entire staff said, 'Have a nice trip!'

It's a busy time for check-ins, so they were probably lined up, but it makes me feel a bit awkward.

If I go shopping and come right back, will they all bow and welcome me back in unison again?

Maybe I'll take a walk around the Arakawa area. I tend to get too little exercise on days I stay out. I'll try crossing the prefectural border on foot.
Why would I go out of my way to go to the riverside on a windy midwinter day?

If I headed toward JR Akabane Station, the town might have been lively and fun. But if there are too many shops, I end up buying things I don't need.
Even if the accommodation cost isn't high, it adds up every week. Staying in an uninteresting town and walking along a river with nothing there suits me right now.

If at least the sky were clear, maybe the scenery would have been a bit better.

What you can adjust with the knob isn't the bedside lamp, but the ceiling light and entrance light.

I feel like soaking in a brand-new APA bathtub, but if there's a large public bath, then it has to be the large public bath, the brand-new one. I want to warm up in a big bath.

The large public bath was actually a small public bath. There were 6 washing stations. It was empty because I went early, though.
The changing room is also small. There are two sinks. Depending on the situation, I might end up going back to my room with wet hair. (Though the room hair dryer is easier for me to use.)
There is one indoor bath and one outdoor bath. There are two Shigaraki-ware pot baths outside. This is a high point.
There was also a booth with a hand shower on the left side for left-handed people.

There were many water droplets around the ceiling vent near the outdoor bath.
That would feel cold if it dripped onto my skin.

The open-air corridor is cold in winter, so going back to the room in a yukata will make me catch a chill.

I'll take the canned chuhai I bought at My Basket out of the room refrigerator, and from here on, it's yukata lounging time. VOD is all-you-can-watch.

It didn't end with a punchline, but rather felt like it just ended when I got bored without a punchline, which somehow made me tired watching it. I wonder if Nishikigoi is going to keep doing it like this. (I won't deny the possibility that I am just genuinely tired myself.)

When I switched to the TV, it was Nishikigoi again.

Following "Banana Sand," I watched a bit of "Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai." Apparently, ferries these days are comfortable. But not many depart from Tokyo.

When I watched a Viking skit, the communal sleeping ferries were still stuck in the Showa era.

Viking, Nishimura is amazing, that madness.
If he's just acting as Kotoge tells him to, that's even more amazing.

Watching them one after another is tiring after all. I wonder if I'm actually physically tired.
There are no TV shows I want to watch, and nothing I want to listen to. Well then, time to sleep.
I probably won't be able to fall asleep right away, but I'll go to bed for now.