Guide to Tokyo Accomodations

Here's a quick synopsis of all the accommodations I've found in Tokyo over my obsession for the last 2 years (quite literally). Please note that the exchange rates change frequently, so please check using Google.

Personally, I suggest you carefully weigh what is important to you when it comes to going abroad. I know it seems really dumb, but people do get horrified by certain conditions and end up wasting money by requesting a transfer to another place or canceling their reservation altogether. I've sat in Yadoya's Maruman and watched this occur with two young French women.

Ask yourself things like:

Am I going to be staying there for awhile or just a few days?
Do I have to have AC? Internet Access? A locker for valuables? Access to a washing machine?
Do I need a private room? Do I need a private bathroom or can I tolerate a communal one?
Do I need storage capacity for a long term stay?* Do I need a TV?
Do I have to have a bed or can I do a Japanese-style futon?
Do I want the place nearby something specific? **

*This is the one I'm really hung up on - I plan on staying at Yadoya for cheapness, but I may end up doing Freshhouse or Oakhouse if I am able to secure a scholarship or two.

**Another hang-up. I fell in love with Nakano, due to the proximity of everything. Otherwise, I'll consider Tama Branch of TenTen Guest House because it's close to my school. Close = walkable distance = save on transportation costs.


Places that have daily rates:

Yadoya
http://www.cheap-accommodation-tokyo.com/

Review: I personally have stayed at Yadoya's Maruman branch. It's good for both short and long stays. While stuff was everywhere due to another young woman living there, it was fairly clean and very inexpensive. The mattresses were thin (cheap Japanese-style futon mattresses) and on wooden slats, but they gave me a comforter, which I put on the mattress and then placed a bed sheet on it. There was a free washer and a small place to dry your clothes outside. Small, but complete, kitchen and a refrigerator. I didn't really have any problems with the other tenants, who literally shared the room with me. Sometimes they did come back late and turned the light on because they were drunk, but no one really yelled or anything. The neighborhood is very well placed. Less than a 5 minute walk to Nakano station, which is less than 5 minutes from Shinjuku. Two convenience stores literally right outside the building in opposite directions, a post office (the foreigner's best friend due to international ATMs) within 50 feet of the exit, Nakano's shopping district and several department stores within 10 minutes of walking. 100 yen shop, etc. AC was included, And this place only cost me 39,000 yen (roughly $450 at the time, now around $500). I plan on staying here again when I study abroad, mainly due to the proximity of my university and the cheapness of the place.

Khaosan
http://www.khaosan-tokyo.com/en/index.html

Haven't stayed here, but it seems cheap and effective for backpacking, but not necessarily long stays. They start at 2000 yen a night ($25) and have several different branches to choose from.

Oak Hotel
http://www.oakhotel.co.jp/english/

Oak Hotel is a sub-company of Oakhouse and is placed in Asakusa, so it's fairly close to the city center. Rooms start at 5800 yen ($75) a night and include: free internet, private shower, access to a kitchen, a laundry facility and a security locker.

Sakura Hostel
http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/?gclid=CJbR77Dzj60CFQXd4Aodu30OoA

Not nearly as cheap as some of the other hostels (Khaosan, Yadoya), Sakura Hostel is a sub-company of Sakura House. It claims to be the largest hostel group in Tokyo, but I literally hadn't heard of them until now because the information wasn't as readily available as their guest house info. They do offer a "special rate" for people who reserve up ahead as much as 3 months, making it around 1900 yen a night ($24) and they offer a discount depending on the duration of stay. Like most hostels in the Tokyo area, this one is located in Asakusa.

Sakura Hotel
http://www.sakura-hotel.co.jp/rate.php

Like Sakura Hostel, I hadn't heard of this hotel until now. However, it's a sub-company of Sakura House. Room rates start at around 6090 yen ($80) for a single small room. It's located near the Imperial Palace at the Tokyo Metro stop of Jinbocho.

K's Hostels
http://kshouse.jp/tokyo-e/index.html House Tokyo
http://kshouse.jp/tokyo-oasis-e/index.html Tokyo Oasis
http://kshouse.jp/fuji-e/index.html Fuji-san

First off, they have a Fuji-san guest house, for those interested in seeing that. Secondly, they are fairly priced and located in Asakusa. 2800 yen ($36) for a dormitory and 3000 yen (40) for a women's dormitory at House Tokyo and starting at 2900 yen ($38) a night for the more private Tokyo Oasis.


Places better for longer stays:

Oakhouse
http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/

Haven't stay here either, but it seems best for long term stays (unless you do Oak Hotel, see below). Unlike the Maruman Branch of Yadoya, Oakhouse gives you a private room, unless otherwise specified. You can even rent apartments. However, you pay dearly for the private room - around 75000 yen ($975) a month, usually more. The further out you get from Inner Tokyo, the larger your room gets, so the prices don't really vary much. They do have a huge coverage area across the Tokyo area, unlike Khaosan, which is focused in Asakusa.

Sakura House
http://www.sakura-house.com/en/

I have read mixed reviews on Sakura House. Some of their buildings are quite old and they seem to use low resolution pictures in the suspicious looking rooms. However, they are the competition of Oakhouse and therefore priced similarly, so I suggest checking them out at your own discretion. Sakura House also offers apartments.

Freshroom
http://www.freshroom.jp/en/houses

I've only discovered them in the last couple of months, but they look legit. They are similarly priced to Oakhouse and Sakura House. The pictures they have online are VERY clean - but this cannot be taken without a grain of salt because of the existence of programs like Photoshop.

Borderless House
http://guesthouse-tokyo.jp/

While most of their facilities are further away from the city center, they generally cost less by around 10000 yen or so ($125).

TenTen Guest House
http://www.tokyo-guesthouse.com/

This place looks very cheap. Not really much else I can say unless I go there - They offer some images of their guest houses, but they don't really specify whether the room is private or not. At 33000 yen ($425) a month near Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, I'd definitely check it out. In fact, as I'm going through their website, I've found yet another wonderful possibility (Tama Branch) for my study abroad, as it's close to my university.

Shinjuku Guest House
http://www.guest-house-tokyo.com/index-en.html

Another new one. It's located in Kagurazaka, Shinjuku, Tokyo and starts at 33000 yen ($425) a month. It doesn't seem like there are any private rooms, but the location is prime real estate.

Bamboo House
http://www.bamboo-house.com/

Bau House
http://www.bauhousetokyo.com/index.html

Guest House Hanata
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/i/hanata/rates.html

Interwhao
http://www.interwhao.com/english/g_gakugei.html

Koyomiya House
http://koyomiya.jp/englishindex.html

U & I House
http://home.att.ne.jp/sun/U-I_house/

Yoshida House
http://yoshidahouse.net/en/index_en.html


If you have anything to contribute to this, please leave a comment. It can either be another guest house/hostel or a review. I will personally edit this and quote your review (as long as it sounds fair). Simple saying, "I went there and it was great/terrible" isn't sufficient. Please give pros and cons their weight.

Monotheistic Religions

I'm in the middle of exams, so obviously I'm looking for any reason to avoid studying. Take this article, for example:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20111219gd.html

It's so sad that it's mostly true. What's wrong with being a woman who can drive? What's wrong with beautiful female voices? Heck, what's wrong with the idea that sex is between lovers, not necessarily husband and wife? Why are orthodox religions obsessed with this? The reason they married people off was so that paternity wasn't as much in question and therefore paternal child care wasn't a problem. Plus people couldn't support themselves in that time. People married young because they died young and depended on each other for survival. Now? If I'm lucky, I'll live to be 100. I haven't even hit 20 yet. Why marry the man I love if we both know and understand that we love each other and aren't ready to tie the knot?

And why does every religion point the finger at women being corrupting? In my experience, men will think about women no matter what. It's genetics. The men who think about getting dirty with women more often will be more likely to get it on more often and therefore produce offspring with that gene. That being the case...it doesn't matter if you throw a birqa on a woman. Hiding the elephant isn't going to make it go away.

And to leave it with a quote for the day: "Not a sermon, just a thought."

Overpriced College Shit

So, as much of my generation understands, college prices are rising while average incomes are not. But I'm not ranting today about the bullshit of spending $20K + a year for living away at an INSTATE college. I'm here to rant about the bullshit of the college "meal plan".

Every university does it a little differently, but it's all the same. First off, the crap food you get is overpriced. Now don't get me wrong, some of the choices are quite delicious. But plastic-tasting macaroni, greasy pizza and a slice of pie shouldn't come out to about $8. In high school, it would've cost $5 and students were complaining then. But the majority of meals are much more expensive than that. I usually spend about $10 for rice, some meat and veges and a soda. The meat isn't even quality - I constantly pick around at bits of fatty, tough or grisly meat and I've even gotten a chip of bone a couple of times.

Next, they force you to buy a "meal plan". My average meal plan costs me around $1950 (a couple dollars short). It's fucking ridiculous. $1900 worth of food for 3 months? You're shitting me. That's roughly $160 a WEEK on just food. But no, not only does that NOT roll over to the next semester, it also gets $500 skimmed off the top for a "facilities fee". The university does NOT pay for having food available on campus. The on-campus student does. So you pay $1950 for the following breakdown 1049 meal points, 275 special points, and 16 meals at the new all-you-can-eat place. The special points are the good ones - you can go to the university-run convenience stores on campus and buy things at ridiculous prices ($1.50 for 450mL of juice, $4 for a half gallon of juice, $5.50 for a tray of 30 oreos, just to name a couple). They have emergency school supplies, medical supplies, etc as well. The meal points and special points are essentially dollars named points. The meals are usually $18 a pop, but are included in your plan at a discounted rate.

But wait, there's more! So if you include all of the cash points, you have roughly $110 a week to spend. That's still really high and training students to start terrible habits. Between the two of them, my dad and brother usually spend around $75 a week on what I get $110 for. And as I mentioned above, if I don't use all of my remaining $250 in the next week and a half, I loose it. This is with me treating my roommates to a fancy restaurant using those points and dishing out money to pay for the special all-you-can-eat place about 6 times. Part of it is I don't eat much, part of it is I go home on the weekends for work.

So that's based on the "average" plan. So I looked into the "additional" options offered after your first year on campus. The CHEAPEST meal plan offered is at a whopping $1749.50. That's not even the best part - for that $200 discount, you get ONLY 304 points. My roommate was saying they add up differently and are not equivalent to dollars at all, but with her eating every other meal from home (mother sending her food all the time) and her going home every weekend, she'll barely have enough points at the end of the semester. So my option is go hungry and carefully keep track of where I eat OR spend $200 more on something I don't need? I'm torn.

College is a bitch.

Definition of Reality

So this is a curious topic. Reality means, by definition on the Merriam-Webster webpage, totality of real things or the quality/state of being real. This in turn, makes me look up the strict definition of real. Real, again using the Merriam-Webster dictionary website, means not being artificial, fraudulent or illusory. Again, this makes me look up the definition of illusion. An Illusion, according to Merriam-Webster, is the state of being intellectually deceived or the perception of something objectively existing in such a way that causes misinterpretation.

Based on this, reality seems relatively straightforward. But these definitions don't necessarily give the concept of one's own reality. In fact, what you perceive to be true, whether or not it is the truth, drastically effects how you perceive your reality. So truth is all subjective.

Take this situation as an example: your diamond ring goes missing. At the same time, your friend obtains a ring that looks exactly like the one you lost, leading you to believe that they stole it from you. The evidence does point to your friend being the perpetrator, but your friend tells you that she bought the ring the day before yours went missing. However, when asked to produce a receipt, she cannot because she threw it away. While this was an error on her part (almost everyone I know throws away their receipts, even though I was always taught to keep them), she did actually buy the ring. But everything points to your friend stealing your ring. Therefore, you shape this into your reality and you can no longer trust your friends. It doesn't matter what your friend says, because you've already unconsciously passed judgement and no longer trust her.

Take another situation: your lover goes away on a business trip. He returns with lipstick on his collar or perfume on his clothes. If you want dramas or movies, obviously he was having an affair. But he tells you he had gone to a bar or a strip club with some colleagues and that a woman had come onto him, which he politely declined. There is nothing you can do to prove otherwise, because you weren't there. You ask him to produce a receipt and he says that there was a joint tab and one of his other colleagues paid it off. This wears at your conscience and eventually you lose trust in your partner.

Now in both of these situations I used the pronoun "you" as means of immersing you, the reader, into the situation. While I gave you, the reader, all the major facts, the you in the situation only knows one side. Please keep this in mind when thinking about these situations.

And now for the final bit: your reality and memories can change via suggestion. For instance, I can suggest that your lover also hadn't answered his phone that day. You would then further attribute that as evidence to his affair, even though it was because he had been in a meeting all day and was unable to answer it. I could also suggest that your friend had been near your jewelry box on the day your ring disappeared, even though she was helping your clean your house. Again, further evidence.

I find that those with a very vivid imagination (those who tend to write, read, or draw especially) tend to do this a little less than the average person, and I think this is in part because they walk the fine line between the worlds/lives they create and the world we live in. But I also find in the case with many people that in part, they have a tendency to exaggerate facts or recounting of details. Just about everyone has done this, to some degree.

Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. It makes for an interesting story, for sure. But the tricky part is when you do this with memories. You have the ability to change your memories over time. The key example is societies who recite history and stories orally. Over time, they are warped into something considerably different than what actually happened. "He was rather tall" turns into "he has as big as a house". Or, in the case above, "My lover hadn't really talked to me that day" turns into "he never talks to me" which turns into "he's grown so cold toward me". Now you might not think this is all that valid, but think about it the next time you exaggerate.

Last bit of food for thought is how a positive memory can turn negative. If you bring up a positive memory when you are feeling down, it gets a slightly negative connotation. If you do it enough, eventually the memory will become negative. So, for instance, you're upset and you look at a picture of the person who you're upset with. It, for me, usually brings mixed feelings to the surface and usually results in me throwing the picture down in disgust. The better thing to do is listen to music when you're upset - that way you don't ruin all your good memories.

Advisers

If you have ever gone to college, you have probably had to meet with an adviser at least once, either for your major or for a transfer or some other reason. What was your experience with them?

I have, in my experience, only had one adviser who actually read my e-mails. My study abroad adviser never answers all of my questions and he rarely knows anything. In fact, I went for an appointment because the deadline was moved up to Jan 16th as opposed to March 15th and he didn't even believe me. He went and checked and then apologized. To me, this is NOT a good sign of the person I have to work with for the next 6th months to make my study abroad real. I have had advisers totally misunderstand my e-mails and not answer any of my questions. I have had advisers e-mail me last minute accepting my appointment time (as in, within a half hour before). They've even answered my e-mail in depth and then at my appointment have no idea about anything they had e-mailed me about (leading my to suspect someone else wrote the e-mail).

I suppose one must simply fight through the idiocracy, eh?

More on Travel

I recently came across another packing tutorial for studying abroad in another country. He makes all the same points I did in a more condensed fashion, although I must say I disagree with the no iPod rule. In Japan, you're supposed to be quiet on trains, so when you're on a train for an hour with nothing to do, it can be pretty boring.

I will say that I also had the same feelings the first time I packed for myself. "Am I bringing too much?" Again, I'll reiterate my rule of thumb. If you cannot lift all of your bags simulataneously off the ground and walk easily, you have way too much. For men, a hiking backpack/sturdy suitcase and a laptop bag. For women, a handbag/laptop bag and a hiking backpack.

http://usac.unr.edu/information/packing-tips.aspx

This is a pre-departure list, also from USAC. You should be able to figure out if it applies to you (either your study abroad or your trip).

http://usac.unr.edu/information/know-before-you-go.aspx?display=115

Thoughts on Japan

A lot of people who know me personally know that I really do love Japan (and am slightly obsessed with getting my butt back over there). However, there are some issues that I'd like to address.

警察 (keisatsu)

The police system in Japan has issues. That goes for any authority, world wide. But Japan's issue revolves around a couple general themes. Raising questions and the cultural value of saving face are the two main problems and they kind of go hand-in-hand.

Article A
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20111101zg.html

Article A details the death of a man named Abubakar Awudu Suraj. He had lived in Japan for 20 years, had married and I would assume that he had a job. However, he was told that he was to be deported one morning. He struggled a bit, but it's obvious from the excessive and illegal force used that they probably didn't care whether he struggled or not from the beginning.

The reason this article was published was mainly because people, who had read the case, wondered why no one else was asking questions. The article mentions that a similar incident happened in the UK, but the government stepped in and apologize to the family for his death. In Japan, his wife wasn't even told he was to be deported. She was called in to identify his body later.

Anyone can see that this is a rather serious issue. It would bring race issues up in America. But no one even flinched in Japan because of the unquestioning attitude. "The police know what they're doing." "Just doing their job." I feel like those are the kind of thoughts that cause this case to float in one ear and out the other. But I'm glad that this view IS changing. Western influence along with the sadly decreasing youth of Japan find that this kind of thing is wrong.

Another thing I would like to mention is the low crime rates of Japan. While I do think it's true they have less crime in general, I feel like people get obsessed with this "fact". The most contributing factor toward the low crime rate of Japan is because a lot of crimes aren't reported or are reported as "accidents". Difficult murder cases get closed and deemed as suicides (a significant problem in Japan for the same reason I'm about to go into) or accidents. This is so the police force can "save face". It would look bad if they said it was a murder and couldn't solve it, right? This is something even the Japanese people have come to recognize. While no police force in "incompetent", shows like Bounty Hunters (a drama around 4 women) sort of further degrade the image of the police. Rapes are hardly reported in Japan. Marital rape doesn't "exist" over there because it's not considered rape.

But anyway, I'd like to make my strongest point. Foreigners in Japan are targeted. Not because they're hard working citizens who contribute to Japanese society but because they look funny. I feel it's a lot more scandalous if it's a foreigner who committed a murder (or gets convicted while innocent) or if a foreigner stole something as opposed to a Japanese person. This is my only fear while abroad in Japan. You must have your gaijin card or passport on you at all times; not having it is grounds for arrest. They CAN and WILL detain you for up to 27 days, without a lawyer and with extensive interrogation, even if you're just near a crime. The only way to get a lawyer is for a friend to pay for one from the outside. And if you plan on going alone, like me, that could be a serious problem. There is also an extremely high conviction rate, which is probably due to a judge only system. Corruption and laziness in finding the truth can easily result in false convictions. It can also be the "save-face" problem again where the prosecutors only bring the ones they know 100% to be true and leave the rest alone (leading to other problems).

I'll get off this topic for now, I just wanted to get that off my chest.