Mitsui Garden Ueno is booked for 2 of the 3 nights I requested, so I guess I'm stuck with Coco Grand or Toyoko Inn. I checked TA for the Toyoko Inn Asakusa and no one mentioned the soapies, so if we stay there hopefully that won't be a problem. rkkwan-Thanks for the reference. None of my guidebooks mentioned soapland, so Wikepedia was quite enlightening.

> Mitsui Garden Ueno is booked for 2 of the 3 nights I requested

Highly unlikely. Mitsui Garden Ueno won't even open up their reservations for November until July.

I tried booking my Nov. dates on booking .com and they had many Nov. dates available, but not my Sat. and Sun. The Mitsui Garden in Ginza was available. Maybe they give the booking sites certain dates that they know will not sell out and keep the weekends for their own website.

Let me guess: your Saturday is November 23.

Labour Thanksgiving day (originally a harvest festival, if my source is accurate.)

No. I'm looking at Nov. 2 and 3. Nov. 3 is Culture Day, and since it is a Sunday, Monday, Nov. 4 is a day off for most people. I was planning to visit Nikko on that Monday. Do you think the Tobu train and Nikko sites will be very crowded because it is a holiday, or is it off season enough that most Japanese would not visit Nikko in Nov?

Lots of Japanese tourists visit Nikko in November not only for the holidays but especially for the fall color season(koyo viewing).

Nikko's koyo season is a long one because of the varied altitudes in the immediate area. Lots of tourist flock to Nikko in October to experience the early fall colors of nearby Chuzenjiko(Lake Chuzenji) and the surrounding areas and also in early to mid November for the lower elevations in and around Nikko itself.

Weekends are most crowded during the fall season and the weekend of Nov 2 and 3rd this year should fall in the peak of koyo season.

Aloha!