Job Discussion Forums

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

Has anyone stayed there before? Can you share your thoughts on the epxerience?

http://www.tatami-guesthouse.com/

AgentMulderUK · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:07 am Post subject:

I have.

It's noisy and dirty for the most part.

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

guess i need to keep looking. Could you recommend an area within Tokyo prefecture? I would like to be able to access central tokyo (the circle) within 30 45mins by train.

AgentMulderUK · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:11 pm Post subject:

All much of a muchness to be honest.

Depends on your funds , your purpose, your personal likes/dislikes...

Hard to give you a specific answer, sorry.

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

No problem. I'm coming to job hunt. I would like to spend no more than 50,000 yen.

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

LOL that place is literally around the corner from my house. Crazy.

AgentMulderUK · Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:53 am Post subject:

It's only about 1km from me.hehe

Here is a list of guesthouses, might be useful

http://www.tokyotomo.com/list_guesthouse.htm

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

Thanks! I only have three weeks left to find something! has anyone heard of http://home.att.ne.jp/sun/U-I_house/ U and I house? reviews?

pseudonym · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 5

When I stayed there in 2007 (June-August), I had a pleasant experience. I didn't find the house to be noisy at all or dirty. However, as it is a guesthouse, there's people coming and going constantly. So, I guess every person's experience is different.

The manager (at the time) was Toshi, and I think he studied in the US. His English was pretty good. There were four or five people who were living in the house on a somewhat permanent basis and they mostly kept to themselves.

The grocery store is a two minute walk up the street. The (Hibarigaoka) station is about a ten-fifteen minute walk up the street from Sakae-cho. There's a decent number of things to do in the neighbourhood... a pachinko parlour of course, karaoke, a couple of izakaya's, and a department store.

I guess the downside would be that it is a good fifteen minute ride on the express train. I always tried to catch a really early train to avoid the train-stuffing that occurs during the busy hours. Though, that is quite normal for the Tokyo area. When I had to use the Saikyo line, the train-stuffing was even worse.

Anyway. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Tokyo, but the Seibu Ikebukuro line that Hibarigaoka is on connects, of course, directly to Ikebukuro. The cost was about 260Y one way when I was there. The Seibu line is a private line so it has a higher fare. But, once you get to Ikebukuro station you can hop on the Yamanote (the green line that does the loop), Saikyo, and Shonan-Shinjuku to get around Tokyo, or the Tojo? (I can't remember the name exactly) line to into Saitama prefecture. There is also the Yurakucho and the Marunouchi subway lines at Ikebukuro station. And I think you can get off the Seibu Ikebukuro line at Nerima and connect to the Oedo subway which will take you into Shinjuku.

Anyway, like I said, every situation is different, especially when it comes to Guesthouses. I stayed in a Sakura House apartment (Kamimachi, Setagaya-ku) the month previous to that and I hated it. That apartment was dirty, over-priced, and had annoying neighbours who would argue with each other at all hours of the night (in French). It was also slightly inconvenient in getting into the Yamanote loop.

Anyway, good luck with your house/apartment/guest-house hunting! ^^

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

Hey thanks for all the info and insight! The hardest part is deciding what area to be in for the right price.

AgentMulderUK · Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:07 pm Post subject: