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| A pathway very near T-towers |
This trip was my first time booking a Guesthouse, mainly because they are a bit pricey for the single traveler, but wonderful to 2 or more! My usual travel experience is to find the cheapest stay possible, without really sleeping in a ditch or a dank hole in the wall. A warning to westerners, most likely you will find the accommodations to be cramped for your taste. Just remember it's a place to keep your stuff and lay your head. For me, I found it cozy. I am not afraid of small spaces, though honestly I have never stayed at a capsule hotel so maybe that'd change my tune. This time around our rooms were small but not tiny, due to us staying in 2 person rooms.
Anyways, this time around I was traveling for 2. Me and J agreed to share a room to save money. J didn't understand the concept of the exchange rate so everything got screwy with paypal between 3 country's exchange rates. Also I couldn't convince J to go with the usual procedure which was to pay when you got there, in yen, rather than trying to pay it online. What a mess. I suggest that you make reservations but pay at your accommodations when you get there, in yen. This is quite normal, rest assured. I haven't had issues with the guesthouse or my hostels with keeping my reservations. So don't get scared that they won't hold it just because you didn't throw down the cash or credit card. They often have a process of you paying in full when you get there in Yen. Probably easier for them overall.
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| Magical downstairs Toilet |
So what is a guest house you may ask? It's for longer term foreigners. The normal procedure to get an apartment is a nightmare, with gift money for the manager, key money, and all the deposits. Not to mention it's supposedly pretty hard to get a place as a foreigner. So if you can't quite get a regular apartment ( though I've heard of foreigner channels to do this), then you could try a guesthouse. T-tower Guesthouse, where we stayed, was offering short term stays. I found them on another site where you can rent people's apts for short vacation stays. The guesthouse was most like a hostel, except no dorm rooms. The rooms were about the same size almost and could hold 1 -3 people depending on the room. Also you will notice people leave their items in the shower room and no one messes with it. Same thing with blow dryers or make up in the sink room. Also the people who stay there take care of guesthouse vs. hostels where the staff take care of the hostel.
T-towers consisted of 5 floors. Office, dining room, kitchen, and parlor were on basement floor ( you walked down from street level to get to entrance at the basement). Manager's room was on 1st floor. 2nd and 3rd floor was tenants. 4th floor was the roof, where a tv room, outside deck, washer/dryer, and outside drying lines were located. I liked that you could air dry to save money and no one touched your stuff. All floors had a little toilet room. Living floors had sink room attached to a separate toilet room and a shower room that wasn't attached to anything else. There was actual cable in the basement tv. Our room consisted of a bunk bed, desk with chair, and closet. The heater also belted out extreme heat. I eventually found out on my own how to put on a timer and use the temperature controls. Wish I wrote them down for you, but I didn't. The manager couldn't really explain that and just told us how to turn it on and off. It'll cook you if you have it on constantly. Some nuances about a guesthouse is that you really didn't see other people as much as a hostel. Also we had to pay 10000 yen deposit ( about 100 dollars) that was returned to us at the end of our stay since our room was still in good shape afterwards. You also had to wash your bedding and clean your room, before you left.
So some observations between the guesthouse and hostel?
G: Paying a deposit of 10000 yen vs. H: maybe key deposit of 500 or 1000 yen.
G: More toilets vs. H: possibly less toilets or a lot of toilets in public style bathroom
G: You can split room price vs. H: some places will charge a double room by each person, doubling your price!
G: Appt. needed to see the manager when you arrive and leave vs. H: some staff always about
G: Long term foreigners/natives have more respect for your items and peace vs. H: Sometimes very noisy and some foreigners steal or destroy stuff.
G. Further away from train lines or bus lines vs. H: pretty close to transportation, usually clustered with other Hostels
G: More interesting neighborhoods and more authentic area vs. H: a bit more touristy area
G: Clean your own stuff vs. H: they take care of your room after you leave when it comes to cleaning
G: Bring your own stuff vs. H: may offer free shower soap
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| Lots of small bars in Ttower neighborhood |
So which did I like more? Probably the hostel for it's atmosphere and plushy futons. J liked the guesthouse for western style beds even though the mattress pads were thin. The hostel was much colder than the guesthouse but they provided heating blankets and very thick blankets. They even offered extra blankets as well and an extra futon since J said she could feel the floor. Beware though, there are hostels that have " Guest house" in their name, but are really a hostel.
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| Lots of plants in Ttower neighborhood too! |
Both places had electronic toilets that boasted heaters and bidets.Ttowers one kept getting shut off( probably trying to save power)? But it had a heater.
We stayed at T-tower Guesthouse and Toco Heritage Hostel. Toco is made from an almost 100 year old house and their reception area turns into a bar lounge in the evening. They were also very generous in helping us with anything we needed. The T-tower manager also tried to be helpful but was not as available ( he wasn't just loitering around). Toco also had a traditional Japanese atmosphere and a gorgeous garden with koi, cats, and actual pieces of Mt.Fuji. Toco was a dream come true for me since everything was so woodsy and traditional. J really liked the guesthouse for it's modernness, more private bathrooms( you could use the random one upstairs where no one went to really), and possibly the earthquake proofness. We only experienced our first tremors in T-tower and then many there after. For either place, you better make reservations fast! Both fill up rather quickly.
4 comments:
I loved reading about the two places. I have been thinking of staying in a guesthouse next time I'm in Japan because you can easily stay there for a month or so, and it's much cheaper than a hotel at that point! :P I, honestly, never knew the difference between a guest house and a hostel. I think this article has made me decide on a guesthouse definitely. It's just much more like actual living in Japan it sounds. Maybe? Haha. Do I make any sense?
Thanks for taking a look Alyses! It's nice to know it's helping someone! It is cheaper in the long run since they are like mini apartments that just happen to be rooms. The one we went to seemed really conscientious. We only ever knew our neighbors were around when they came down to eat or went out in passing. I knew from the website that the building was mostly full, but you'd never know it in person!
The only fault for me is not having a futon. I prefer futons over 'beds' ( both in Korean and Japan). They tend to be fluffer and better on my back. I also don't have an aversion to sleeping on the floor, which some westerners seem to have.
Yah the guest house is more like living like the average person and you get more of an atmosphere of that. Ttowers was right next to a university and grade school. There were lots of little local bars and I saw some indie bands that seem to go into a whole in the wall ( never did see where the entrance happen to be and couldn't convince J to explore this). Also cheap eats and grocery store( instead of convenience store, they were full fledged grocery!) The bigger groceries totally SLASH PRICES near the evening.. We got nearly 75% on some foods near night time in the fresh area and some frozen.
Oooh! I'm glad I came to read your response! :D That's all such great info! I prefer futons too. Even now I have a tiny Ikea mattress that I used as a futon before, but I've finally gotten a bed to put it in. :P I am just SO Japanese, LMAO! ;P That's the running joke in my family, somehow this Native American/Polish/Norwegian mix turned Japanese!
There's a Japanese lady who felt mexican :) She ended up learning Spanish and traveling with Mariachi Divas! It was amazing to hear a Japanese accent to Spanish!! :)
Well I mean literally it doesn't seem that Japanese or Koreans make a good bed or they think that fluffy beds are bad for your back, even though their futons are fluffier! Haha. My aunt's bed was hard, it wasn't even soft.. It was like the floor without a futon, raised up ( Japanese bed). Same thing in Korea, rock bed.. And then the guesthouse the matress pads were probably literally 1 to 1.5 inches thick. While the futons at Toco Hostel were the thickness of about 14 inches! So I do like comfort but in Japan the Futon is going to be more comfortable more of the time than the bed ( some places that cater more to foreigners tend to get the drift and get matress that are thicker, also Toco's bunk beds had futons as matress pads so they were thick).
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