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On arrival in Japan, one of the first things you'll need to organize
is a place to stay. For the short-term visitor, depending on your
budget, there is the sliding scale consisting roughly of: hotels,
ryokan (Japanese-style inn), pensions (B&B), minshuku
(family-run guest house), business hotels, capsule hotels and
youth hostels. Long-term visitors or those
planning to stay and work have two choices: gaijin houses (guest houses)
or renting. Gaijin houses are plentiful and cheap and have weekly or monthly
rates while finding an apartment can be a frustrating and expensive
experience. Most people start off spending a few months in a gaijin
house and move into an apartment when they've put some money together.
Free magazines available in bars, pubs and restaurants usually
have listings of gaijin houses and their rates (see links below).
Short-Term Accommodation
Hotels
Almost all western hotels belong to the Japan Hotel Association
and have high standards of service and facilities. Both Japanese
and foreign-owned hotel chains operate in the major cities. Prices
for a twin room range from reasonable (8,000 yen) to very expensive
(300,000 yen). The most famous hotels in Tokyo include the Keio
Plaza Hotel and the Hotel Century Hyatt in Shinjuku, the
Hotel New Otani near Akasaka and the Imperial Hotel in
Hibiya. The Miyako Hotel in Kyoto is one of the most expensive in the country. Check-in
and check-out are around 11am or noon. A service charge of 10
percent is added.
Ryokan
These inns usually have Japanese-style architecture and serve
Japanese food. Rooms have tatami (reed mats) floors, and
futons for bedding. Of the 90,000 or so ryokan in Japan, some 2,000
have western-style rooms for foreigners. Rates per person, including
two meals, vary from 5,000 up to 60,000 and are usually based
on two or more people sharing a room. Check-in is around 4pm and
check-out around 10am. Often rooms don't have keys so valuables
should be left at the front desk. A service charge of 15 percent
is usually added.
On entering the ryokan, guests take off their shoes and wear the
slippers provided, except on tatami floors. On arrival, a maid
will serve tea and maybe a light snack in the room. You should give
a tip of one or two thousand yen, in a white envelope or wrapped in white paper. The maid will
also lay out the futons in the evening, usually while guests are
bathing or eating dinner. A yukata (light cotton kimono) or
dotera (padded coat), depending on the season, is provided for comfort.
O-furo (bathrooms) are Japanese-style and often communal (but
separated by sex!).
Pensions
The name is taken from the French and these Bed & Breakfast-style
lodgings are a recent feature in Japan. They can usually be found
near ski resorts or lakes and are often built in the style of
log houses or mountain lodges. Pensions provide a relaxed, family
atmosphere and rates are around 6,000 to 10,000 yen, including
two meals. While rooms are usually wester-style, bathrooms are
Japanese-style and the hot water is often fed from a natural
onsen (hot spring). Check-in and check-out are around 11am or noon.
No service charge.
A large Japanese-style room |
A capsule hotel |
Minshuku
A kind of family-run guest house, minshuku are private establishments
and don't have many of the services or amenities provided by ryokan
or hotels. Rates at the 25,000 or so minshuku average around 7,000
yen per person, including two meals. No service charge.
Business hotels
Basically budget hotels for travelling businessmen. Usually located
near major train stations, they provide cheap, no-frills accommodation.
Rooms are small and sparsely furnished and drinks and snacks are
usually available from vending machines. Rates are around 5,000
yen per person. Check-in is around 4pm and check-out around 10am.
No service charge.
Capsule hotels
An experience unique to Japan is a night in a capsule hotel. These
hotels don't have rooms as such - guests literally sleep in capsules,
like bees in a hive. Each capsule has a TV, air-conditioning,
a telephone and a curtain rather than a door. Being slightly claustrophobic,
I expected this to be an unpleasant experience but actually found
it pretty comfortable, not to mention memeorable. Hotels have
communal bathing and lounge facilities, with vending machines
providing all the necessaries. The lack of privacy is probably
the reason why women don't seem to use capsulke hotels but, as
far as I know, there is no restriction. Often, signs outside announce
that people with tatoos are unwelcome - a measure to keep out
yakuza. Rates are around 5,000 yen per night. No service charge.
Youth hostels
The 500 or so youth hostels in Japan are much as you would find
in other countries. They are the only accommodation available in
some remote areas. About 75 hostels are publicly run and open
to anyone. The rest require you to have a membership card from
your country's YHA or Japan Youth Hostels. You need to have a
regulation sleeping sheet and most places don't allow sleeping
bags. In some older hostels, you sleep on the tatami floor but
most have bunks. Many have family rooms or can accommodate families
except when very busy. Some youth hostels are run in o-tera
(Buddhist temples) and provide the right environment for the
ascetic traveller. Officious hostel staff can be found in any
country and Japan is no exception - strict curfews and the need
for advance bookings are not uncommon. Rates are between 1,500
and 2,500 yen per night for a shared room.
Long-Term Accommodation |
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Gaijin houses
There are several hundred of these houses in the major cities
and they are a popular choice for finding one's feet and checking
the lay of the land, so to speak. They're a good place to meet
other foreigners and find out the latest information - though,
of course, not as good as this site! They usually have weekly
and monthly rates (sometimes daily, too) based on private or shared
furnished rooms. Rates vary but in Tokyo the average is about
30,000 per month for a shared room or 60,000 for a private room.
Kitchen, lounge and bathroom facilities are shared. The main appeal
is that they require a small or no deposit rather than the huge
amount that is gouged when renting.
Rented accommodation
Anybody staying longer than a few months will probably think about
getting their own place. The main barriers are cost and discrimination
- although you will also need to have a guarantor. In the Tokyo
area, they have a system called reikin, a non-refundable deposit usually called 'key money' in English.
The standard rate is two month's rent, which added to the two
month's rent shikikin (refundable deposit), one month's rent real-estate agency fee
and a month's rent in advance comes to quite a hefty sum of money.
In other areas, the reikin system is not usually used but refundable
deposits are higher. And the term 'refundable' is open to interpretation,
too. Usually, a third or so is kept by the landlord for redecoration
or replacing tatami mats or whatever. Discrimination tends to
be pretty blatant. If a real-estate agent is calling around for
you, often the first thing they say will be "I've got this foreigner
who's interested in your place..." - many times, they won't get
any further than that. A couple of guys might want to share a
place to cut down on cost - an ax murderer has a better chance
of moving in, as long as he's Japanese. There are also restrictions
on pets, children, students etc. Rents vary greatly depending
on location, size, age of the building and the floor the apartment
is on. In Tokyo, you can find a tiny, old one-room place with
a gas stove and no bathroom for 30,000 yen a month or pay a million
yen a month for a big Western-style apartment in the center of
town.
A possible source of confusion is the Japanese words for the two
types of apartments - apaato and mansion. Apaato
means a wooden apartment building, often old and with
little or no sound or heat insulation. They tend to be on the
cheaper end of the scale although often they are quite nice and
comfortable. The word mansion is especially misleading. It conjours
up images of a palatial home with a servant's wing and dozens
of guest bedrooms. Actually, it just means an apartment in a steel
structure or concrete building. The buildings can be small with
10 or so apartments or 30 stories high with high-speed Internet
access and an indoor swimming pool. They usually have a western-style
design and tend to be more expensive and have more modern conveniences
than apaato.
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