Japan: Japanese Accommodation Through Airbnb

Traveling can be costly.  A big chunk of anyone’s travel budget will always go to accommodation.  Lucky are those who visit certain places where they have relatives or friends where they can stay at.  Another lucky bunch of people are those who can stay at backpackers’ hotels or hostels and are amendable with sleeping in a room together with other people.  But some of us usually book hotels for overnight stay while traveling.  It can be costly – even if it’s just a hostel or a 3 star-hotel.

We went to Japan without knowing anybody (a friend or relative) who we can stay at overnight.  We were there for 11 days and we were sure that booking hotels would be very costly.  We also have a little boy and we are very sure we don’t want to sleep with other people in the same room by backpacking.  Good thing there’s Airbnb J Yes, everyone, we booked our accommodation using Airbnb.  We booked one apartment at Osaka for four nights and another apartment at Tokyo for five nights.  If you were wondering how come we are missing one night…well, we slept in the overnight bus from Kyoto to Tokyo.

Osaka Airbnb

Our apartment in Osaka is located at Fukushima.  It is 5-minutes walk from JR Fukushima Station.  Like most Japan apartments, this is very small – but it has everything we need.  It has a twin size bed, a sleeping mattress, small kitchenette with induction cooker, bathroom with a bathtub, wash area, and small table for dining.  It also comes with complete amenities such as heater, TV, hair dryer, fully automatic washing machine (with detergent), electric kettle, microwave, cooking pots and utensils, refrigerator, and complete set of toiletries.  It also has its own pocket wifi which we used while roaming around Osaka.  It’s like having your own home. 🙂

Our host, Arisa, made sure everything we needed was there and she also checked on us from time to time in case we needed something.  This wonderful Osaka apartment cost us Php 6825.00 for four nights.

Click here in case you want to book Arisa’s Osaka apartment.

Tokyo Airbnb

Our Tokyo apartment is located at Nakano-sakaue.  It is 15-minutes walk from Nakano-sakaue station.  Nakano-sakaue is close to Shinjuku area.  Like our Osaka apartment, it is also small and it is also complete.  It doesn’t have a bed, but has mattress good for 3 people.  It has a separate bath with bathtub which has complete toiletries.  It has a toilet, a Japanese one complete with all the buttons (little Neo was so amazed!).  There’s a small kitchenette with induction cooker but with no pots and pans.  It has complete amenities too like hairdryer, electric kettle, refrigerator, microwave, and fully automatic washing machine with detergent.  It also comes with a wifi, though not portable.

Our host, Ou, gave us very detailed instructions on how to locate her apartment.  She also allowed us to check-in early as our overnight bus arrived at Tokyo around 7AM.  Normal check-in time for Airbnb’s in Japan is 3PM.  And Ou was very generous to give us Tokyo Metro passes – and these gave us a lot of savings. 🙂 Our beautiful Tokyo apartment cost us Php 11,541 for five nights.

Click here in case you want to book Ou’s Tokyo apartment.

Tips in looking for Airbnb accommodation in Japan.

•  Close to a train station.  Make sure to book an apartment close to a train station.  Japan is a walking country.  After walking so much from touring, you will want to rest your tired feet.  So book an apartment close to a train station so you don’t need to walk so far.
• Near a convenience store.  Book an apartment close to a convenience store so that when you need anything, there’s always a Family Mart, Lawson, or 7/11 you can go to.
• Complete amenities.  Since the apartment will be your home, it is important that you have what you need.  One of my “needs” in terms of amenities was a washing machine.  We will be traveling for 11 days and washing our clothes is a must.  Some might want to cook and thus a kitchenette is a must for them.  Check the amenities and make sure it is complete by your needs and standards.
• Book with a Promo.  Airbnb gives credits to their customers.  The hubby and I were able to use these credits and book both our Osaka and Tokyo apartments with Php1244.00 apiece!  That’s Php2488.00 savings!  Send me an email so I can share the promo code to you!

Booking an apartment through Airbnb was really very cost efficient for us.  It also gave us the feeling of being a local.  We walked to our apartment alongside Japanese people, washed our clothes there, cooked our food, cleaned the apartment, and segregate our trashes.  We were like real Japanese! 🙂

PS: This was originally published last August 2017 in my previous blog: Baby Neo’s Mama.