I read in previous reviews by other guests that the room he mood problem in the bathroom, I asked the host and I was told that it’s been dealt with already. Now, here’s the truth, the bathroom had not been cleaned properly for ages. What they had done is they just do minor wiping or cleaning. If you see through the handle, you will see icky dirt, the door from the inside was particularly filthy as it had not been scrubbed at all for a long time. Imagine closing the door, sitting on the toilet bowl and you see filth all over the door. It was horrendous. And black mold were everywhere in the bathroom. I wrote to the host and said I wanted to see the boss of the place but there was no reply. When I wrote again and asked why no reply, only then did i receive an apology letter which I ignored. Before staying in the room, I always got prompt replies. I was literally crying because of the toilet. The tatami floor was old, the mattress was well used up and the comforter even had minor blood stain on it. The wall near the floor had dust sticking to it. And you just know you’re sleeping on a place that’s just not clean though it appears to be on the outside.
After about two days of staying there, I saw an Asian guy in the premise who worked there and we showed him how bad the bathroom was. After that the bathroom was cleaned up on the same day for us.
I took this room thinking I could cook. The vibe and space felt so uncomfortable we ended up eating outside. I tried to cook once and there was hardly any space and the cooker wasn’t that good. We saw that the place is not cleaned by Japanese people but by Nepalese people. Hence the low standards of cleaning. Good respectful guys though. The suction ventilator fan was filled with thick dark dust. Also above the stove. The dish wash was almost empty and was not refilled until we asked. They give you yellow towels to use, guess what, yellow towels are also put on the floor outside the toilet as mats. So you know that the the towel you’re getting was probably used as toilet mats too. The floor towels remain wet for a long time after you step on them as well. The good side of the room is it has a heater. Other than that, though the room may appear clean, it’s just a make up done before a new guest enters. My bed smelled like feet for the first two nights. Saddening. The room cut out our Tokyo holiday happiness by half. Whereas our Osaka room was sparkling and spotlessly clean.
If you want to take this room just know that the bathroom is very tiny. No space to move around at all. Just rinse the whole bathroom with the hot water before you use it, to kill germs. The good part of the room is the simplicity of checking in, they don’t ask for your passport. And the way to enter the room is by touching the digital lock, waiting for the numbers to appear and you press the password given. The Nepal guy did his best to clean our bathroom after we complained.
As for laundry, it’s 300yen, very near to the room. Buy your own laundry soap for some machines. The dryer only half dries your clothes. You don’t have to take narrow stairs to get to this room as it’s on the ground floor. This room has no place for you to hang your wet towels, so, just try to balance the hanger with your towel and hang it above the round window.
The kebab near to this place is really good. Make sure you try it. Okubo train area is a foreign worker area with Nepalis and bangladeshi shops. Not the beautiful Japan area. But if you walk opposite of the place, you will discover a very nice clean neighbourhood. Do go for a walk, you will like it very much. But Okubo train area road will not give you a Japan feel but a foreign worker area feel like you’re in a 3rd world country. It’s ok if a room is tiny but the least there must be hygiene. It looks like they’re renovating the place though. Hope they improve. But as long as Nepalis are working there, the hygiene standard might not reach Japanese level. Don’t expect too much. Just sleep, bathe, go out. If possible, use public toilets in the mall. It will be more comfortable than using the toilet in this room. That’s what we did, sadly.