I'm leaving for Tokyo next month, and will be sharing an apartment with two friends there. I was recommended to check with sakura-house.com which in turn recommended an apartment in Motohasunuma, Itabashi-ku, since it was the largest one they could offer (33sqm). I understand it's not the most central area of Tokyo, and that's okay (I guess?). What's important for us is to have a clean, dry and safe place to live and store our stuff at (lots of instruments!) for a month. However, I'm still curious of course what the ward is like? Is it a decent place to spend some time in after a long day in Akihabara? Any cool landmarks (I've heard of a giant Buddha statue), parks or other sights worth visiting? Is public tranportation good enough to make for easy access to the more popular districts? I've had a hard time finding information on this ward, so any kind of reviews or information is greatly appreciated!
Here is a map of the 23 Wards of Tokyo. Itabashi is the one at the top, just right of the middle (in green). It's not really close to anything amazing. 33 square meters though, is pretty impressive for a short-term apartment in Tokyo. I remember my life changed when I moved up to 33 square meters. I'm a bit of a metropolitan whore, so wouldn't know about Itabashi. My area of Tokyo, other than my house & work, has always been the Shinjuku->Shimokitazawa->Ebisu circle, which is amazingly small. You'd be amazed at how much of the city you don't see on a very normal basis. Anyways, remember that most Japanese people will commute an hour to work, and live in a smaller place until their married, so you're not doing too bad for your month. if I'm not mistaken you're not far from Ikebukuro (or maybe Takadanobaba) which would be your hub (again, I'm just going by area) so you should be able to get around somewhat easily. As for being safe... shit, everywhere is safe. Of course, Japanese people tell you it's dangerous, but you have to have VERY bad luck to get mugged or attacked. I told my wife I was going to Dogenzaka to go drinking the other day, and she's like "be careful". I just gave her a look like, "what the fuck would I be careful about?" Just make note that you're living in Itabashi and not Iidabashi... yes, confusing.
I lived in Itabashi (Hasune) at a host family for about one month. I used to commute every day by the Toei Mita line, and then switch to the JR Yamanote line in Sugamo. Depending on where you are this might take 1 hour/30 minutes which is not too bad IMHO. It can be really crowded at rush hour, but it's relatively quiet afterwards. There's the Itabashi daibutsu, while not as big as the one in Kamakura, it can be very nice if there's almost no one around. There's a small park next to it as well. Too bad you won't be able to see the Hanabi Taikai in the summer, because it really blows the one in Asakusa out of the water (at least you can see something ;p). Itabashi has a website as well, so you might find something useful there. (although comparely useless to the Japanese equivalent) http://www.city.itabashi.tokyo.jp/index-e.htm Still, you might be better off going to other parts of the city for sightseeing. (Ikebukuro, Ueno, Shinjuku,... There are a few wonderful parks in Komagome I can recommend too)
Okay, that's pretty much what I expected, and I think we'll settle for this apartment. After all, it's just for luggage storage, sleeping and breakfast basically - rest of the day is reserved for tourism, shopping and gaming. Thanks for the impressions guys!
How much it costing you? I normally get a 26-30 square metre apartment in Shibuya or Akihabara for around Y120,000 to Y140,000 a month, I normally find anything out further means you lose a lot of time just travelling around. I love both as there are enough arcades, bars and shops to make it fun all day. Akihabara is a short walk to Ueno and a longer walk to Asakusa to give the day more sparkle too.
That's about how much we're paying actually. The place is looking really nice and clean though. Has a balcony too!
Just pray your next door neighbor isn't an 8-lane freeway. I lived next door to one for about a year. Lot of good that balcony did.
