Sharehouses in Japan

[schadenfreude]

I'm going to show up in Tokyo in late October this year and stay for a few months, and I'm wondering if you dudes have any experience with sharehouses in the city. I haven't done much research into housing yet, but the two names that keep popping up are Sakura House and Oak House. I have heard good and bad things about both of them. Both accept international credit cards and allow paying month-to-month, which I like. Sakura House is foreigners-only, whereas Oak House allows Japanese residents. Oak House shows demographics data for each of its houses on its web site, which is pretty cool, and most of the houses I checked were around 50% Japanese. This is good in that I want to practice Japanese with native speakers but bad in that, if I may stereotype, they may be more robotic than human. The next-most common nationalities in the houses are usually Korean and Chinese, so I imagine that mix would make for a really hoppin' household.

I'd also appreciate any tips on location. I'm not big on shopping but will be hitting up arcades, so being close to Akihabara or at least having an easy commute to it would be good for the playing. Being in a neighborhood with a lot of young people would be nice. I'd prefer to be away from Roppongi and other places with bro culture. I'd like to be near food and grocery stores, but I assume that's true for most of the city. Sorry for the vagueness! But any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Gaijin Punch]

What is your budget? I highly recommend Airbnb. I've found some decent places quite cheap. There was one in between Yoyogi Uehara and Komaba Toudaimae I stayed at for some 4000 yen a night or so. It was a humble room w/ a quite shit bed, but it worked for me. Just make sure you book in advance. So much better than a gaijin house, and WAY more locations to choose from.

[schadenfreude]

Around 100,000 yen a month. For a 4000 yen a night place, I should be able to get a monthly rate around my budget. I will check Airbnb, but I'll have to try out a share house at some point too. Staying in one is like a gaijin rite of passage. Most of them are month-to-month, so if I hate it, I'll only lose a month of my life — and I'll complete the rite of passage too.

[Gaijin Punch]

but I'll have to try out a share house at some point too. Staying in one is like a gaijin rite of passage.

I never did.

I just checked airbnb. Plenty for under $50 USD per night... and many under $40. If you really want that experience, got for it, but everyone I've heard of is horribly located and not great. Save your time and money for those other gaijin rites of passage, such as getting "randomly" searched by cops and turned down at the door at the blow job bars.

[schadenfreude]

I never did.

How did you go about meeting people? At least a sharehouse will give you some people by default, though they may not be great people. I will be telecommuting while in Japan, so I won't be getting anything from the work angle.

[Gaijin Punch]

I went clubbing. I first shared a place with a friend from University so I got to meet a couple of his friends first, but honestly, we just went to the same clubs and met people. There are other meetups and whatnot as well. Can be tricky but it's not too bad. Also some places on Airbnb work like guest houses. There was one I stayed at for a few nights which was a 7-bedroom place tucked away between Toudaimae and Uehara.

[schadenfreude]

Got it — thanks for the tips!

[schadenfreude]

Well lawl, I went with Sakura House because they had an opening in a place just a few minutes' walk from Akihabara, and here I am now typing this message. I couldn't find anything on Airbnb in the area that was affordable and not a closet with a bed in it, hence my resignation to use Sakura. Surprisingly the place isn't completely terrible: the building is very old and unimpressive to look at, but the common areas, kitchen, and bathroom stay clean, partly thanks to a weekly cleaning service, partly thanks to considerate housemates. Only one of the aforementioned housemates is into gaming, whereas the others are here due to the proximity of the various universities. The fellow gamer is too cheap (maybe also too pussy?) to hit up the arcades, so I'm alone on that front. Overall, I'm satisfied, but we'll see how it goes.

[Gaijin Punch]

The worst thing in this day and age is to find another "gamer" and find out they only play WOW or Call of Duty. :|

[schadenfreude]

My personal favorite is dating girls who list "gaming" as a hobby and then try to play up our common interest: at best they play the latest JRPGs, at worst they just play simple Facebook and mobile games. It's also why I laugh at all the studies that say an equal number — if not more (!) — women play video games than men. Possibly so, but what kind of "games"?

[Gaijin Punch]

Possibly so, but what kind of "games"?

Mind games and worse!

[layzee]

My personal favorite is dating girls who list "gaming" as a hobby and then try to play up our common interest: at best they play the latest JRPGs, at worst they just play simple Facebook and mobile games. It's also why I laugh at all the studies that say an equal number — if not more (!) — women play video games than men. Possibly so, but what kind of "games"?

Yep, females mainly play (if they are to play anything at all) Facebook and mobile games or as I prefer to call them, shit time-wasting non-games, so I would find it hard to believe if females comprise anywhere near 50% of the demographic of any genre of proper games. Having said that, I do recall hearing or reading that in the case of Namco Bandai's "Tales of..." series, that statistic could potentially be true, at least as far as Japan is concerned (probably doesn't apply outside of Japan). For the other big names (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest), I'd guess it would lean significantly towards males.

Okay, I just did 10 seconds research, and it appears the Tales of... gamer demographics is 70% male and 30% female while interestingly, the Tales of Festivals have up to 90% female attendees.

So unless we come across studies showing the opposite... women don't play games.

[schadenfreude]

Some UK poll from a couple of years ago found that 52% of the gaming audience was female. The rest of the article goes on to complain about underrepresentation in the industry and how to define "real" games and et cetera. I think an apt analogy for the kinds of games men are playing versus the ones women play would be like if, in film, men preferred watching all the big budget releases plus the brainier stuff, whereas women exclusively watched pedantic chick-flicks and straight-to-Blu-ray low-budget trash releases and children's movies — or isn't that kind of how it pans out in reality? You'll see the same phenomenon in books too. The majority of the women who cross over do it to keep up with their male significant other, and the remainder are those actually interested in the "hardcore" stuff: such people, regardless of gender/race/blah, have my respect.

Okay, I just did 10 seconds research, and it appears the Tales of... gamer demographics is 70% male and 30% female while interestingly, the Tales of Festivals have up to 90% female attendees.

It sounds like they're more into the characters and art and atmosphere more than actually playing the games, which I'm sure is the main reason why many girls play JRPGs. It helps that grinding puts the games on auto-pilot too. I still enjoy playing a JRPG every now and then, and what helps is avoiding grinding — unless it's completely necessary like in those 80s classics, but then I'd probably sooner give up on the game rather than submit myself to that.

Anyway, sorry for all the off-topic-ness.

[Iwazaru]

>50% of gamers
>facebook and smartphone casual games


Recently i had a dream about a girl who played DoDonPachi DaiOuJou. How rare is that huh.

Most girls who were more or less into games whom i knew IRL, were into either MMORPGS or Skyrim or Mass Effect etc. Or were into survival horrors like Silent Hill and Rule of Rose or other deep weird stuff ranging from Megami Tensei to killer7 or Pathologic.

p.s.
Ain't that ironic how match-3 is the king, but it's not Puzzle Bobble or Money Puzzle Exhchanger anymore. Because Puyo Puyo Tetris doesnt have smartphone port, i guess.

[Gaijin Punch]

Recently i had a dream about a girl who played DoDonPachi DaiOuJou. How rare is that huh.

Are you familiar w/ magatta banana?

[layzee]

I think an apt analogy for the kinds of games men are playing versus the ones women play would be like if, in film, men preferred watching all the big budget releases plus the brainier stuff, whereas women exclusively watched pedantic chick-flicks and straight-to-Blu-ray low-budget trash releases and children's movies — or isn't that kind of how it pans out in reality?

I think you might be onto something.
Big budget Triple-A "Transformers" Movies = obviously Call of Duty.
"Brainier" stuff = maybe Team ICO games, or the arty-farty Indie games.
"Straight-to-Blu-ray low-budget trash releases" = obviously the Nintendo Wii bargain bin 3rd party crap.
Children's movies = see above.

The important question: what's the movie analogy of shmups or versus fighting games?

Okay, I just did 10 seconds research, and it appears the Tales of... gamer demographics is 70% male and 30% female while interestingly, the Tales of Festivals have up to 90% female attendees.

It sounds like they're more into the characters and art and atmosphere more than actually playing the games, which I'm sure is the main reason why many girls play JRPGs. It helps that grinding puts the games on auto-pilot too. I still enjoy playing a JRPG every now and then, and what helps is avoiding grinding — unless it's completely necessary like in those 80s classics, but then I'd probably sooner give up on the game rather than submit myself to that.

Well it seems JRPGs have something to offer both genders so that's a plus I guess. Also, JRPGs and JRPG characters are a good excuse for fashionable clothing, and that's one big reason (cosplay) a girl might have to go to an event like a Tales of Festival.

Ain't that ironic how match-3 is the king

Also ironic (and fitting) how the king of Match-3 games, Candy Crush Saga (and its reskinned ilk), are developed by a company called "King". Whenever I browse the games section of Google Play Store (which is basically never), it's literally 99% shit. Say what you will about modern console games but at least they have some semblance of quality control. Now if only we can convince females to stop paying money for shit games.

[schadenfreude]

I forgot to update that I moved out of the Sakura House sharehouse in February and moved into my own studio apartment near Shinjuku. The company is called Fontana / Tokyo City Apartments, and I recommend them if you're looking to stay somewhere for 2 months or longer (their minimum). There's no key money or other nonsense fees, and after paying your security deposit, you're responsible for the monthly rent and utilities (though internet is included). Prices, locations, and building quality are all way better than what I've seen from Sakura House's apartments. Plus Sakura House has this bizarre rule in their guesthouses as well as apartments where you have to notify them if a guest will stay overnight and pay ¥2,000 per night, because they'll provide an extra futon for you. Futon rental fee I guess? Overall, I didn't hate my experience with Sakura House, but I'll never use them again unless it's for a really short term.

[schadenfreude]

Also: fuck Akihabara. Once the novelty of the arcades wears off, you're left with a few game shops that stay in business by charging outrageous prices to ignorant gaijin (Yahoo Auctions is much cheaper and more convenient) and endless businesses that pander to the anime/manga/maid/figurine crowd. Plus the repulsive vermin you see on the streets will make you wonder why you're visiting a place that attracts all the fuglies you were so adept at avoiding back home.

I wish we could transplant HEY and Try to somewhere more palatable, but I suppose part of the reason they're still in business — for now — is their location. God bless them I guess.

[Gaijin Punch]

Japanese inns/hotels and shit are really wonky about guests staying over. Basically at ryokans they rent by headcount, not room count, so it's money they're losing. The management company of the last place I lived in japan called me after a friend from the US stayed with me for a week. On the phone I was like, "No, he doesn't live here. A friend is visiting from overseas. There's nothing in the contract about having people stay over". I mean my fucking girlfriend had spent like 100 nights there by then and they said nothing.

[schadenfreude]

Yep, but ryokans charging by headcount makes sense if you're getting meals with your stay. If you're getting a room with no meals, however, charging per person makes no sense, but they still do it. Maybe it's a charge for preparing a futon for each guest?

So Japanese overnight guests are okay, but not gaijin ones?

[schadenfreude]

For reasons that are too long to explain, I had to vacate my apartment for a few days last week. I was planning on doing the simple cop-out by booking some reasonably-priced place on Airbnb out in the sticks of Tokyo, but I decided to rough it like a man and stay in only manga kissaten and capsule hotels. Boy, was I rewarded! Across 5 nights, I spent a total of maybe a man and a half and always got pretty good sleep to boot. Even at the kissaten — surprisingly the "flat sheet" room is big enough and comfortable enough for sleeping, provided you were smart enough to bring along an eye mask and ear plugs for your excursion. And all the capsule hotels had sentou plus manga, so I found myself soaking a lot and reading some good books. I spent my days wandering around, occasionally camping in McDonald's for internet access, and hanging out at bars in the evening. It was a good experience, and if I'm ever in Tokyo for a quick week or so with just a backpack, I'll probably rough it and do it again. Oh, and the best part — you'll usually be the only gaijin at your lodgings.