Wen-Ju C.
Yelp
My friend stayed at the Asakusa hostel before and found this place that's in Ryogoku through hostelworld website. She booked 2 nights for us in Mixed room.
During check-in, the girl with the short hair who took care of us was not so friendly. She rarely smiled and spoke like a robot. It almost seemed as if they sort of dislike Asians, because they treat them differently. My friend and I felt it, but anyways, what can we do?
They require passports as identifications instead of ID cards. I found that odd. When you walk into the door, you have to take off your shoes, put them in the smelly shoes' room by the kitchen and dining room. The main door supposedlystays unlocked until 11:30pm, after that you have to use a code to get in.
We were assigned room 306. It was an 8-bunk bed room with mixed genders. We were assigned lockers if we wanted to use them (500 yen for the lock, refundable). I brought my own lock but it didn't fit, so my friend and I rented a lock from the front desk.
The beds were EXTREMELY squeaky, especially the one I got. Every part of the bed squeaked to the point even the girl above me laughed about it. It was tough to stay quiet while sitting or laying on the bed, almost seemed like in order for the bed to stop squeaking, I had to stop breathing.
Each bed had a shelf, which was convenient. Also, a lamp light, an outlet, and a curtain is provided for privacy. You have to set up the sheets and blankets yourself. I found that odd because usually the staff does that from my previous hostel experiences.
The "mattress" (cushions) were very thin in my opinion. My back and shoulders were cramping after the 1st night so I put the blanket as part of the cushion to lay on for the 2nd night. The room was stuffy and we couldn't open the windows because of mosquitos. The girl above me from Germany complained about not having enough fresh air.
Also, there was a female restroom next to our room and it REEKED. It stank so much that my friend and I preferred going to the 2nd floor bathroom with the showers instead. Each shower stall had cheap looking shampoo and body wash, as well as basket for your stuff. Hairdryer is provided in the bathroom.
At the reception and lounge area by the entrance/exit, you can watch tv, hang out with people, use the laptops, read, look that the tourist information for popular landmarks, etc. There are flyers on the walls that indicate how to take the transportation and how get to certain places. Some also show workshops and community events people can attend.
The kitchen and dining area was pretty nice. There are pens at the fridges you can use to write your name and check out date on what you want to leave in the fridge. We never used the kitchen, just the fridge. One night my friend and I hung out at the dining room area and 2 guys started asking us questions about where to go.
There's a lot of travelers of all ages that come to this hostel, mostly young people. There are some older people that go and it's great to see they use hostels as well. I was surprised by the diversity too. Some were European, Indian, American, Australian, Asian, etc. That was cool.
The Ryogoku train station is just a few minutes walk. There's a decent amount of stores, restaurants, and people nearby. It was a safe area and a lot of people park their bicycles on the sides. There's also a sumo wrestling stadium and museum somewhere in the neighborhood.
Overall, the hostel was alright but not great. The beds were way too squeaky. The locker was tough to use because the hinges (whatever it's called) was hard to close to put the lock on. If anyone knocks a lock with a rock, they can probably easily break the lock hinge thing. The 3rd floor female restroom was way too stinky and made people gag. Some of the staff members weren't too friendly. But the area was safe, the lounge setup was neat, and there's good amount of diversity.
