Job Discussion Forums

mdp19742004 · Joined: 28 Apr 2009 Posts: 27

Hi there...

Planning on being in Japan in early 2010, probably Tokoya or Osaka, to work for one of the chains. I'd like to get some feedback on living in a guesthouse from those who've experienced it. I'm sure each situation is different, but if anyone has any general comments/suggestions I'd appreciate it. I would rather live on my own in a single, but the school only offers guesthouse living- unless you decide to go about it on your own for housing (Leopalace, etc.). I'm wondering if the 30,000 in yen per month savings to start in a guest house would be worth it.

Thanks!

woz · Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 9

Guest houses are good and bad, depends on the people you are sharing with, size of house and owner of the house.

Adv: No extra charges for gas, tv, internet, electric and so on.

Disadv : Can be noisy, thin walls, different personalities, some restrictions about friends staying over.

dove · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Posts: 271 Location: USA/Japan

When I was between apartments last year, I spent a month in a guest house. I was grateful to have a place to stay and the manager was a really nice guy, but I hated the kitchen situation. Very few people cleaned up after themselves. I always dreaded going down to the kitchen in the early morning to make coffee. Grease and dirty fry pans were everywhere. Not pleasant.

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

The guesthouses are really a mixed bag. The bathrooms can be messy too. Some people like it, like living in a bar, which can be good and bad depending on what you like/hate about bars.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I had the same experience as Dove, way back when I lived in a couple of guest houses. While some (probably in the minority) are cleaned properly, in others it's more or less up to the guests and you can imagine how few people want to spend their time cleaning up after others who can't be bothered to wash their dishes. There were some people who would cook oily food day after day and just leave the frypans every time- drove me crazy.

I wouldn't have said the places I lived were like bars, more like youth hostels- which is basically what they were.

cornishmuppet · Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 642 Location: Nagano, Japan

It never ceases to amaze me how many complete bums there are in the world. What you do in your own private home is up to you but when sharing with other people, especially those who might be strangers, you should show a modicum of respect and clean up after yourself. It used to drive me crazy at university, living in a house where four of the six people did nothing at all, and it was left to myself and one of the girls to put in marathon three hour washing up sessions on a Saturday afternoon.

I was reminded of it too, when I went to visit my English friend at university a year or so ago. She was doing a Masters course after three years in Japan but had blagged her way into dorms because she wanted to party with the kids. She showed me her shared kitchen, which wasn't fit for pigs. She pointed out a half eaten cream cake and said with a wry smile, 'That'll probably stay there until it starts to rot.' Unbelievable.

That people can get all the way to jobs in Japan without learning how to clean up after themselves is amazing.

aynnej · Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:21 pm Post subject:

I lived in a guesthouse for five months when I first came to Japan, and I agree that the kitchen situation can be pretty atrocious. I found myself eating out quite frequently just because I couldn't stand dealing with the mess in the kitchen. Also, it was a real hassle to carry everything I needed from my room on the 2nd floor to the kitchen on the ground floor (we had refrigerators in our individual rooms, where we kept our food).

The other negative for me was the lack of heat or air conditioning in the common areas. For some reason, the staff kept the windows open all winter long. We could heat our individual rooms with a heater requiring 100 yen coins. But, the cold air would rush in every time you opened your door to say, use the bathroom, or go down to the kitchen. Plus, the floors were concrete covered with linoleum, which never seemed to warm up no matter how long you ran your heater. It was like living in a garage.

One other thing -- my guesthouse supposedly had free internet. But, whatever service they subscribed to was by no means adequate enough to support the number of residents in the guesthouse. The internet went down daily, sometimes for five or six hours at a time.

All that being said, I'm glad I started out in a guest house. There were plenty of other English teachers (also fresh off the boat), so we were able to figure things out together. Also, it gave me time to learn the city (I live in Tokyo) and find the best place to rent an apartment on my own. If I had it to do all over again, I'd still start out in a guest house. It's relatively cheap (I paid 53,000 for a single room; dorm-style rooms are cheaper), and it gives you a chance to get your bearings.

Good luck!

LITTLE PEACHES · Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:30 pm Post subject:

I did not live in a guest house, so this is second hand information, but any information is helpful I think

A friend of mine here did, she said she didn't mind it. The biggest downside to her was the thin thin walls, she could hear her neighbor even when he was playing video games and just getting excited, or reading to himself sometimes. Also after the shower having to hull everything back and forth was a hassel. The kitchen area she didn't like to mess with because everyone always wanted to cook at the same time, and if everyone wasn't cooking it was very dirty.

She has finally moved into her own apartment and is much more relaxed and less stress.

She did enjoy them though, and the people she had in her guest house. She met some really nice people and heard some really great stories. She never felt alone when she was home. She also felt very safe.

Good luck!