Walking to the New Sanno
Whether you came from Downtown or Uptown, at Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Subway Line find exit #1 and you should now be standing within a few steps of a street corner, with the main thoroughfare six-lane street on your right, and a smaller, two-lane street directly ahead of you.
Cross the small, two-lane street, and continue walking, straight toward the Hiroo Garden Plaza along the big, six-lane thoroughfare for about three to four minutes, until you come to the next intersection. The cross-street will be another large, six-lane street, and there will be a big, four-way overhead walkway above the crossing, having stairways going up to it from each of the four corners of the intersection.
The name of this intersection is Tengenji-bashi (ten-gen-gee bashi). Turn to your left at this intersection and walk straight ahead for two to three minutes. You will find The New Sanno, a large, dark-brown brick building, on your left. Come right in!
If You Get Lost: We hope it won’t happen, but if so, just ask any Japanese person. Ask whichever of the following words are appropriate, speaking in an unaccented monotone, without stressing any syllable:
Hibiya-sen (Hih-bee-yuh-sen)
(Hibiya subway line, the only line that runs near The New Sanno)
Hiroo (Hear-oh)
(Hiroo subway station on the Hibiya subway line, the station nearest The New Sanno)
Tengenji (Ten-gen-jee)(Hard “g”)
(A famous large street intersection, just a two or three minute walk from New Sanno. Almost every Tokyo taxi driver will know it, while there still may be a few who don’t know “The New Sanno Hotel”)
New Sanno Hotel (new sahn-no ho-teh-roo)
(The New Sanno Hotel, as most Japanese would pronounce it. Hotel in Japanese, becomes “hoteru”, pronounced ho-teh-roo. A few Tokyo taxi drivers might not know it, but most do. If you have a driver who doesn’t know it, just tell him “Tengenji” (see above).
Where is the Hiroo Station? (Hear-oh no eh-ki wa doko desuka?)
Where is The New Sanno Hotel? (Sahn-no ho-teh-roo wa doko desuka?)