Korean Job Discussion Forums

[LK]

Does anyone know of (relatively) cheap accommodation in Tokyo or ways to try and book something on the internet (websites, etc.)?

Thanks.

[peppergirl]

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/PS/

Japan Tourist Organisation website


http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

cheap (well, for Japan) hotel chain, nice & clean business hotel (around 6000 yen/night for single room I think)

[marcy]

hey there, check out some of the hotels here...

http://www.itcj.or.jp/indexwel.html

also the jnto at the airport in tokyo always has someone there to make reservations for you and give you directions to your hotel, you choose the budget

[Donghae]

I've used a couple of good websites before but can't remember the addresses. They were in Japanese though, so you'd need either to be able to negotiate that or know someone who could. Let me know if that'd be any use and I could try to dig them out from somwhere. Wherever I've travelled in Japan, there's been an awful lot of places on Japanese websites that English language ones I looked at never showed.

If travelling as a couple, a cheaper bet might be a love hotel. However, in Japan at most places, once you're in the room, you have to stay there until you leave in the morning - there's no coming and going as you please. They are a lot more comfortable and spacious than the cheaper "business hotels" which are often clean but very cramped and basic, although are never without a selection of porn channels.

[Coffeecup]

if you have trouble reading what is said on a japanese website regarding hotels, just clip and paste it here (or provide url) and I'll tell you what it says... yah I speak it.... I myself should be making a trip over there sometime this Spring and need to get my hotel info down as well so it'll be worth the effort.

If you do need the help you might wanna PM me simultaneously since I won't check this thread all the time. But yah in the coming months I will make a vacation over there.

oh also they do have some "online" translation websites for various languages but I have not used them yet, you could give them a try. But from what I understand is the translations come out looking mixed up and deciphering it is like a guessing game, but it sure beats nothing at all I would think.

[LK]

Thanks guys for your help. I'll probably be using the websites in English quoted here.

[the saint]

LK, Donghae is referring, I believe, to love hotels and it is because the door locks behind you until you pay up to unlock it. Found this out the very very hard way the first time I used one. If you have no Japanese and have no experience of a love hotel, I would not advise you to use one unless you are a confident sort of person.

I speak Japanese and have used two love hotels in my time. I have had trouble trying to figure out the system both times and needed to use Japanese to get some sort of help. THey are a real hoot though once you get in them...

[Donghae]

Thanks, saint, for explaining in my absence, that's exactly what I meant.

In Japanese love hotels they take the secrecy/privacy thing pretty far. In the vast majority of cases you see no-one at all at the hotel (apart from the person you're supposed to be with obviously ). You often go in and press the picture of the room you want, put the money in a machine and then a series of lights flash to direct you the room, the door of which locks behind you. Sometimes the pay machine is in the room and shouts angrily at you if you've been in there more than a couple of minutes without coughing up the yen. Often you have to call in the morning to tell them you're ready to leave, so someone presses a button and the door unlocks.

Anyway, I agree with saint; if you're not a very confident or adventurous person, perhaps best give them a miss. But if you are, they're well worth it just for the experience.

[LK]

[Donghae]

Fire? Good question, I wondered that a few times myself. Maybe there's a satisfactory answer, I don't know, it's never been near enough the front of my mind at the time to ask anyone!

But I've never ever heard of anyone injured or killed in a love hotel fire because they couldn't get out the room, so I guess it's not an enormous risk.

[marcy]

Even if you get a small Ryokan room you'll want to ask if they have a curfew, a lot of them do...

[Walter Mitty]

My favorite cheap stay in Tokyo: Taito Ryokan.

3,000 Yen per night, nice neigborhood, convenient subway access and English-speaking proprietor.

What more could you want? (Well, maybe a private room and private bath, but it's hard to argue with a price like that in Tokyo.)