Top Story: 31.July 2007
Guest House Lifestyle
In Japan guest houses are not only for back packers. Many Japanese use them for temporary and longer stay. Many guest houses in Tokyo are crowded with Japanese, especially people in occupation of design or creative job.
A low cost "guest house lifestyle" is becoming popular due to expensive rent in cities such as Tokyo or Osaka. Even some single businessmen decide to live there. Some of them stay several years. People living in the guest house form intersting community. This community is naturally built on Japanese foundation, and everyone are friendly to each other.
The Cheapest Guest House in Tokyo
Ten Ten Guest House in Tokyo. The shared kitchen and kotatsu.
It's usually pretty clean, especially in 3rd floor.
Two floor guest house just near Shinjuku, Ten Ten Guesthouse claims to be the cheapest Guest House in Tokyo. One night costs only 1600 yen per night and if you stay one month, it can be as low as 1300 yen per night. This really is cheap. So we decided to test it and see how the life there is.
The guesthouse has two floors, 3rd and 4th floor. The 4th floor is for men only and the 3rd floor is shared between men and women. Fourth floor had problem of moldy tatami which caused allergy and cough for many residents, and the ventilation wasn't good. Third floor instead was much cleaner, probably because of the women living there. No sign of mold. Women seem to have a higher standard of living than men. And 3rd floor doesn't quite smell as much as the fourth floor, maybe because women actually wash their clothes, sometimes.
In Ten Ten Guest House residents live in two floor steel beds, which provide a small space for personal items and a RJ45 network plug and outlet for portable computing. The lucky ones who can get the bottom bed, can close the curtains and have some personal life. A shared kitchen is good for cooking and small tatami matress and single kotatsu is shared for eating the usual cup raamen.
Guest House Survival Gear
1. Flashlight
2. Hangers
3. Cup raamen
4. Nail clippers
5. Noise Cancelling Earphones
6. Bicycle
7. Laptop computer for checking email
8. Slippers
9. Comfortable clothes
10. Swiss Army knife that has many different tools *for opening cans of beans etc.
11. Deodorizer
12. Chopsticks
13. Plenty of coins for laundry
On third floor, a young woman designer was sleeping on top of me. She was a smoker and smoked in stairway. But the stench of cigarette doesn't cover the atmosphere of this guest house. You just gotta get used to it. No breakfast is provided in this guest house, but shower with bath tub is shared with the residents. It's small but good enough for a decent wash. The hot water sometimes take time to come though. There is no curfew and people can stay in the guest house through the day if they want. In downstairs there is a shot bar "Gunkanjima" which is nice place to meet local people. Most customers are regulars, desigers, artists, screen writers, novelists, photographers. Businessmen don't go there.
The location of Ten Ten Guest House is very convenient. Located near Meiji Street, 15 minutes walk will take you to the JR Takadanobaba Station. The location is actually Nishi Waseda. The famous Waseda university isn't far from here. It takes only five minutes to Shinjuku from here. Next to here is Shin-Okubo and Mejiro. You can even take a walk to Shinjuku if you don't mind a thirty minutes trip. A coin laundry and pottery classs is located just around the corner.
The service was flexible and friendly in Ten Ten Guest House, and the manager was kind. I was especially delighted because the guest house felt genuinely Japanese, and most of the residents were Japanese, so there was no need to fear for getting ripped off.
Visit the site of Ten Ten Guest House for reservation: http://www.tokyo-guesthouse.com
[3 stars out of 5. Pretty good, considering the location and cost, but could be more clean. Mold was intolerable.]
Kyoto's Traditional House
The Uno Guest House in Kyoto. The reception's walls are plastered with small notes
that contain the complicated rules. Map of Kyoto is on the left side.
During Aoi Matsuri, we looked for a most reasonable guest house -style accommodation. A friend of mine recommended me The Uno House. It is well known in the internet too.
The Uno House is a local hub for backpackers in Kyoto. The house is mostly crowded with foreigners. Offering private rooms and shared tatami space, the house has a very reasonable cost, beginning from 1,950 yen per night. The house is traditional Japanese house with good natural ventilation. The Uno House isn't exactly in the center of Kyoto. But it's possible to walk from here to the station. Nearby is a local bar/cafe called Hobitto.
There is no curfew but the main door gets locked after midnight, so if you want to get inside after that you need to locate the hidden back door. Once I arrived after twelve and had great difficulty finding the door, and navigate to my room. The house is actually very large. I decided to call to the front desk, and the
The shared tatami room in Uno Guest House.
lady guided me through the complicated paths, in almost complete darkness. Bring flashlight and floor map if you need to stay out later than twelve..
There is a shared shower room and traditional Japanese toilet, and kitchen. The dining room is usually crowded with people drinking and eating, as it's not allowed to bring foods or drinks to the rooms.
Although there is no curfew, it is not possible to stay in The Uno House between the cleaning time: 11.00-4.00PM. Just like in Ten Ten Guest House, it is not allowed to bring friends here. The lobby's walls are plastered with notes containing complex set of rules. If you disobey them, you have to pay. The rules seemed obscure, such as "don't wander into other's rooms if you have no business" or such. Also they will charge if you leave your luggage after check-out.
The lady in the Uno House was friendly and gave me tickets to "Aoi Matsuri" festival. During the festival The Uno House was crowded. I'm not sure how active it is during the normal business days. Unlike Ten Ten Guest House, mostly foreigners come here. I met only one Japanese who came to see Aoi Matsuri and decided to stay in the Uno House.
I don't know how good the private rooms are as I stayed in shared tatami room. Futons were fresh and the room was clean. Not bad experience, especially when you consider the cost.
Contact UNO HOUSE through their homepage at: http://unohouse.fte.jp
[4 stars out of 5.Clean and comfortable traditional guest house. Obscure rules and amateurish business style cut one star.]
