*Update. I originally wrote this a few months ago. I am happy to say I don’t live in a sharehouse anymore.
I hate sharehouses. It’s 4:30 and I can’t sleep. Starting around sometime around maybe 2am until after 3am I hear the manager banging shit around and making noise.
First I’ll tell you the good.
It’s in a good location – Otemon. It’s near Ohori park and in between that subway station and Akasaka.
Compared to another sharehouse I stayed in it’s in better condition. This is not a Japanese house it’s in a small cement apartment building, but the interior walls aren’t cement.
Everyone staying in this sharehouse at this time is either Taiwanese or Chinese. Most everyone I met staying here was o.k except for one annoying guy who always cooked onions and slammed his door.
Although I wonder why everyone here is Taiwanese or Chinese.
Oh yeah, there are 2 apartments in this building for the sharehouses. I live in one, with another Taiwanese girl and Taiwanese guy and then another person came later.
Now I am going to give this place some criticism.
Why?
I probably wouldn’t have had the “manager” – hehe (I hate managers by their very nature), not complained about water on the floor and later leaving the trash can lid open.
Criticism:
- Cigarette smoke
- Noise (floor noise)
- A NO SEX rule
- You have to pay for parties
- A little pricey considering
- There’s a business in it
- The manager
Now I am only staying here because I didn’t really have another option without a permanent visa.
I don’t really like to complain and this is, but I think they should change some things.
1st smoking
They do go out and smoke on the porch so they say, but sometimes I think they smoke in their room – the manager and the owner, but they leave the doors open and the smoke comes in the apartment.
And I hate cigarette smoke. It’s not all the time, but still cigarette smoke is annoying.
Noise
It’s not noisy all the time, but the floor makes noise and the walls are cheap thin wooden walls and the sound travels through them. The room I stayed in 2F room 103 which was the smallest is right next to the entrance and kitchen and the room where the landlord operates their business.
103 sucks because of the noise, no air con, no screens, and it’s not worth 50,000.
A “no sex” rule
This is the stupidest rule yet. And I knew it ahead of time. Like WTF?! Why do you have this rule in place? The manager said to “go to a hotel.”
Dude, I am paying you money to stay here and this is my home now and my room and it’s not your business what I do in my room.
Maybe if I was being noisy having sex in the room it would matter and I could understand if someone didn’t like it.
Maybe it’s a cultural thing like he said, but I lived in China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan and this is the first time I heard about a “no sex” rule in any hostel, hotel or anything like that.
You have to pay to party
They have parties sometimes on the 5F sharehouse apartment for new guests and whatever. But he told me I didn’t have to pay since I was a new guest but next time I would.
That was weird and I said that.
I kind of see it like a “managerial” tactic to manipulate and that is why I hate managers. Like other people will pay to attend your party but if you don’t pay to attend someone else’s party then you feel kind of quilty or the other people might think you are not cool or something.
Like I understand if you have a party to bring something maybe like I brought a little wine and sake when I had my party.
But just seems like the dude is trying to make money off of you too.
The manager
First off I don’t like managers or being managed.
I am an independent person and if you meddle with my affairs try to tell me what to do or control me then chances are that I won’t like you.
He seemed kind of alright and positive at first. But I was just waiting for some shit to come up. Like I said the money for the party thing, the no sex rule (is that his rule or the landlord’s).
He speaks Japanese, Chinese and English so that’s cool.
Come towards the end of my month here he was like do you want to stay and like someone else wants the room too – which I doubt since there is another free room.
He told me when I moved in that he would make the price for the room cheaper then when I brought that up he had nothing to say about it except that the price of the room was going to go up when they get an air conditioner.
So I guess that was a little lie.
The dudes young like 28 so yeah.
He’s a little hyper about stuff too like l forget my clothes in the shower room sometimes cause there is no door to the shower room really and just a high shelf to put your stuff on.
And then I got some water on the floor (not that much) and he came and asked me to clean it up. That is what actually annoyed me and prompted me to write this.
There is a rule that everyone takes turns cleaning the common areas too which is understandable. And when it was my turn I know I did a way more thorough job than those before me because I cleaned a lot of mold of the walls in the bathroom, cleaned the toilet, vacuumed, and basically did a lot more cleaning than others did.
It also seems slightly weird to me that everyone else that lives here including the manager is Taiwanese or Chinese. That seems slightly selective.
It’s not that cheap
I pay 50,000 for that little room 103. Like I said the location is good, but the room is small and it’s a little noisy.
I know that I can get a room – a studio in the same area for like 35,000 no problem ( I pay 30,000 now for my own studio) but I need a visa.
There’s another business in it
On the 2nd floor there is a uber eats business that landlord is starting in one of the empty rooms right next to mine.
It’s not too big of a deal, but between like 10am and 2-3pm some days of the week this guy is like making and selling food in the kitchen. And he walks really hard too. You can really hear him trudge along the floor.
That’s my review.
I am still here at the moment, but I just don’t like this whole sharehouse thing. This is the second one I stayed in. It’s not for me. So if you have a visa I would just go and look for a place on your own. I can’t see what the advantage is of staying in a sharehouse.
It’s random and you don’t chose your roommates.