The lobby of The Strings always gets my attention – the glass elevator ride never gets old. The tables are used for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

One night here is all it is. The Strings gives me a late check-out, so I can change hotels later in the afternoon without bothering with luggage in the meantime. This stay is way too short, but unfortunately the next two nights are at the Mercure Haneda Airport, on a pre-paid booking from last year’s cancelled trip that the hotel was nice enough to let me move to this one. There’s nothing wrong with the Mercure – it’s a lovely, newly built hotel near Haneda that was perfect for my last trip. It’s nowhere near Narita though and given my time again I’d have written off the non-refundable hotel cost and stayed three nights at The Strings.

The Keikyu gets me there from Shinagawa station — the Rapid Limited Express at 15:40 from Platform 1 at Shinagawa, one stop to Keikyū Kamata, then change for the Haneda airport line. There’s an easier way depending on whether the train is express or not and its destination, but the change over is relatively easy and the hotel is a short 5-minute walk from Otorii station.