Hotel location by Shimbashi station is perfect if you want to see sites in and around Tokyo. Easy access to all major attractions in Tokyo via Yamanote and Chuo lines (both Japan Rail -- no charge if you have a JR Pass). Tokyo station is only two stops northeast of Shimbashi via the Yamanote line. From there you can take JR trains to nearby attractions like Nikko (highly recommended) and Kamakura (both less than two hours away).

NOTE: You can walk between Shimbashi and Dai-ichi via a quiet, clean, well-lit tunnel. When you first arrive at Shimbashi, the Dai-ichi tunnel is difficult to find amidst the many tunnels and exits. But finding the entrance to go from the hotel to the station is easy (the tunnel entrance is just outside the hotel side door closest to the station). When you first arrive, it's probably best to simply walk outside the west side of Shimbashi station, look north to see the hotel (it's a tall, thin, orange rectangular building, with a large Dai-ichi sign) and walk the two short blocks.

There are plenty of dining options within a few blocks. We had breakfast in a wonderful bakery/coffee shop (with a non-smoking section) that offers a huge variety of serve-yourself pastries and other delectable goodies. It's just two blocks south of the hotel on the outer, west side of the Shimbashi station (you can access the bakery from the station or from the outside sidewalk). A couple doors down from the bakery is a large, amazing grocery store (we're told it's called the "Tokyo Store" but never saw a romanji sign) fully-stocked with superb, freshly made Japanese goodies and other standard grocery items. The store fills the space from one side of Shimbashi to the other and has four entrances...but it's still kind of tricky to spot.

Despite hotel's location next to busy railroad tracks, train noise is barely a low rumble. The hotel is solidly built with very thick, noise-insulated windows. Our room was wonderfully quiet. We never heard other guests.

We booked through Hotels.com and were charged $250 a night for a room with three beds (all about queen size) for three persons. We checked other web sites and the prices were the same.

We feel it was worth the money. The hotel staff are friendly and helpful. The room was spacious, clean, and loaded with amenities too numerous to list. They included a flashlight, bathrobes, and hair brushes. Internet access is via a high-speed LAN (cable provided) and is free. A newspaper is delivered every morning.

There is a pool and health club but the charge is a ridiculous 2,100 yen per person per day.

One minor drawback is cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke permeates the entire building, largely emanating from conference rooms on the first few floors. We were on a non-smoking floor, but there was a constant, albeit slight, cigarette odor in our room.

Cigarette smoke is one of the few bugaboos about Japan. Otherwise, travelers will find it has plenty to offer.

Loved this hotel. Perfect location close to subway, shops, and lots of restaurants as well as convenience stores. Staff was friendly and internet was always available. Rooms were large and nice bathrooms. Would definately stay again.

As others have said, huge rooms for Japan, and huge bathrooms too.
Great beds (huge!), and good selection of pillows.
Very helpful staff who generally speak good English.

Yes, you can hear the trains from the rooms, but not enough to be bothersome.
(But then again I back on to a tube line at home, so I'm used to it anyway!)

Only niggle is the price of the food.
I had the set menu in the Yakitori restaurant in the basement on my first night as I was too tired to go and find anywhere else, and it was decent but I'm not sure it was worth the £35! (Especially when there are lots of restaurants round the corner under the train line where you can get a good meal with unlimited tea for about £5.)
Also, the breakfast was rather overpriced at about £15 for the "fruit breakfast". Next time I'll go across the road to the Dai Ichi Annex for the breakfast buffet. It's not the most exciting buffet in the world, but at least it's unlimited! (I've stayed there before.)
(Or grab a juice or a yoghurt drink and a pastry of some kind at the convenience store across the road under the train tracks for about £1...)

But I CAN recommend Lounge 21 on the top floor, especially a window table at dusk. Most people there seemed to be having romantic dinners for two, but I got a decent crispy pizza, a Coke and cake for about £15.

Overall, the hotel itself is worth it for the rooms and bathrooms - just find somewhere else to eat most of the time!

We (family of 5, including teenager and two children) stayed at Dai-Ichi Hotel for 5 nights in late December 2007. Bottomline is that this is a nice hotel to use as a base for exploring Tokyo, with its very convenient location next to the Tokyo Metro Shimbashi station and a stone's throw away from the Ginza area, but the hotel is not without its faults.

Folllowing is a summary of our experience):

1) Arrival: We arrived late at night from Narita, but unfortunately, the Airport Limousine bus that directly stops in front of the Dai-Ichi leaves at ~7 pm, which meant that we had to take another bus to another hotel (the Park Hotel Shiodome) and then take a taxi (two in our case) to the Dai-Ichi.

2) First Impressions: The lobby is an attempt at a French style décor, with the usual paintings and ornaments, but it seemed a bit out of place. The front desk also seemed a bit worn-out and in need of being refurbished. The front desk staff was helpful, but our attempt at explaining to them that we requested connecting rooms were not useful, as they insisted they had no connecting rooms. They did not mention to us that our rooms, which were on the premier floor, and therefore that continental breakfast was included. That came as a pleasant surprise to us and especially the kids..

2) Rooms: Apart from the connecting room mini-debacle, the rooms themselves are quite nice. They are definitely on the smaller side (good size for Japan), but are extremely clean. The bathrooms are also on the small side. This is to be expected in Tokyo and Japan in general. We found the beds to be very comfortable, and each bed was provided with two types of pillows (the regular fluffy type and the “spongy” tempurpedic type. The bed itself was firm and really nice as we like firm to extra-firm type beds.

3) Location: As I mentioned, we liked the location a lot, as it was very convenient for exploring Tokyo. If you’re into the nightlife and clubs in Roppongi or Shibuya, this is probably not your best choice for location, even though access to those areas is quite easy. The Imperial Gardens are within 10-15 mins walking distance, and Ginza is a few minutes away. Also, there are lots of shops both at street level outside the hotel as well as in the station (including a nice bakery that’s close to the Asakusa line exit). The subway station can also be accessed directly under the hotel.

4) Staff: The staff was very helpful, and we found them to be very accommodating, especially the concierge and bell captain staff. The front desk was fine, with the exception of the connecting room issue, which we’re not sure if it was a result of language problems or something else. Also, we were a bit puzzled why the front desk did not tell us of the free breakfast included in our rate.

5) Food: While the continental breakfast buffet was very minimal (compared to other breakfast buffets), it was sufficient. The location of the breakfast, in a lounge on the 20th floor was quite small, and could be easily overwhelmed by 3-4 families have breakfast at the same time, but it was cozy and, in a way, almost made us feel “at home”. We had the dinner buffet in the restaurant “L’Etoile”, which was nice, but again compared to buffets at other major Asia hotels (e.g., at the Shangri-La in Singapore and Hong Kong, where we later stayed) it was tiny.

6) Facilities: Dai-Ichi is not a hotel with tons of facilities (gym, swimming pool, shopping etc). It does have a number of restaurants (Japanese, Chinese), but they are quite pricey.

Summary: Overall, we liked our stay at Dai-Ichi. It was money-well spent, especially when looking at the rates for other hotels in Tokyo and what is included. However, we probably would stay somewhere else next time we visit. This is more to experience a different part of Tokyo than a statement against Dai-Ichi.