Gaijin House Experience - Sakura Kamimachi Heights

Location

Kamimachi

Dates of stay

Feb 2003 - June 2003

Company

Sakura

Cost

110,000 yen / month 20,000 / deposit

Type

Private room (bachelor - 1K)

Number of people in the house

1

Experience

After first arriving in Japan in 2003 I stayed in Sakura house kamimachi heights for 4 months. It was vastly over priced for any kind of a long term stay but for a short term stay it is a good value. Apartments in japan require a guarantor, gift money and deposit. Also, they are very rarely furnished. If you are a short term visitor these things are a pretty big inconvinience. This apartment would be approximately 50,000 yen a month under the normal Japanese system of renting apartments. The apartment was wooden construction, small and very old. The walls were paper thin but I did not hear much from my neighbours at all. Still I felt I had to be very quiet and was always careful about even the smallest noises. This is an essential skill to keep the peace in a gaijin house or in japan in general. Japanese do not have house parties and tend to be very quiet at home. If you have a wooden apartment people can hear your every move ... so be careful. If you can find a place with concrete construction ... it really is worth the extra money. Setagaya is a very nice part of Tokyo and the neighbourhood was great. The apartment was near a nice cemetary that had sakura and various nice trees. There were several temples near by. Although I eventually moved to much nicer apartments in Tokyo ... I always missed that neighbourhood. Many gaijin houses are in good neighbourhoods and I appreciate the companies such as sakura house that provide this service. Although gaijin houses get a bad repuation ... they provide a valuable service ... they helped me get a foothold in japan and I grew from there. The apart

Tags

Gaijin House     Japan     Tokyo