GuestHouse Shinagawa-shuku is the hostel I recommend when you travel in Tokyo.

Hey guys,

This is Wakutabi-boo-chan that is a nickname of my blog. I’d like you(not only foreign people but also Japanese people) to read this.

Today I’m going to share one of the great GuestHouse in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

It is called “GuestHouse Shinagawa-shuku”!

When you visit Tokyo, probably you do some explore and stay somewhere. The place I’ll show you today is a really good place to make friends, relax, enjoy foods and so on:)

I just booked a dormitory room a few days ago. The GuestHouse is the one which I’ve always wanted to go stay for a couple of years since I first found it on the internet.

Location

It is located about 10 minutes away from Shinagawa station, or 2 minutes away from Kita-Shinagawa Station.

The first time I went to the GuestHouse to stay at was right after work on November 19th, 2018.

There are 2 station which is close to the GuestHouse. Due to the train connections of my nearest station from my workplace, I walked from Shinagawa Station.

Though I’m living in Tokyo, I decided to stay at the GuestHouse that night. I just like GuestHouse and I feel bored that I go back to the same place every day…

I need something different! haha

That’s why I came here. I know it’s a little bit weird.

It was drizzling and already dark when I was heading over.

On my way…

The railway crossing was closed and I was waiting for a few minutes to open because there’re a lot of punctual trains passing in Tokyo.

When I kept walking and walking with my crazy Google map…

(My Google map sometimes gets crazy and makes me so confused. I sometimes get lost. )

It is a part of the historical road in Japan and it has been kept from the Edo period like about 400 years ago from today.

The road extends to Kyoto and its length is said 492km.

It seemed like people in the Edo period used to walk for 2 weeks to reach the end. But nowadays we can reach by a shinkansen(bullet train) for only 2 hours.

There’re 53 stops that people can stay and take a rest (Those stops are called “shukuba”. “shuku” means staying at night, “ba” means a place).

And on the road in Shinagawa in the picture is the one of those area and used to have some shukuba before.

Here,”GuesdtHouse Shinagawa-shuku” started in 2009 when almost NO place to stay on the road.

Let’s go inside!!!

Tour in the GuestHouse

The entrance has the sliding doors so don’t wait for the doors open automatically, push or pull the doors. Please slide:)

It’s kind of Japanese like!

Check-in

A receptionist is a Japanese staff but she can speak English. So if you don’t understand Japanese well, no problem:)

Check-in needs to be by 10pm. (start from 4pm)

If it might be over 10pm, you have to tell the GuestHouse in advance maybe when you book a room.

First, I paid 3,500 yen for a dormitory room for one night and extra 1,000 yen for deposit. The price 3,500 yen per night is normal for a guesthouse in Japan, not expensive and not so cheap.

But of course you can get the deposit (1,000yen) when you check out if nothing happened.

I paid in cash but it accepts credit cards as well.

After paying, then the staff gave me a key!

The key has a room number(big letters) and a different number(small letters) to open the door for the guests to go inside after 10pm.

No worries. The staff explains the system and it is not complicated:)

Next, I took off the shoes and put on slippers. Then the staff took me to my room.

Dormitory room

Ta-da! This is my room.

Let’s open the door!

The beds are made of wood so that they don’t shake and make a noise when a guest moves on a bed.

I don’t know if it’s lucky or not but there’s no other guests in my dorms on that day because it’s Monday!

So I choose a bed that I wanted to use. As you can see, there are 2 bunk beds for maximum 4 people.

But I assume usually it’s already decided which bed you use by the number written on your key.

Each bed has a small light and electric outlet to charge your mobile phone or laptop… not only yourself.

An air conditioner on the wall helps you especially in winter and summer.

Also there are some hangers and a mirror to check your pretty face anytime:) hahah

Ooops!

You need to take off the slippers here.

In the room, I found some useful information.

The GuestHouse even shows us how to go to bed. “Please be a sandwich” I

I stayed on the 2nd floor. The GuestHouse is simple and you can’t get lost.

The facility is amazing.

Free Wi-Fi, some rental items just in case you forget to bring or need.

Bathroom/Shower room

Okay, next let’s have a look a bathroom which is closest from my room.

Since I am a woman, I hesitate to open the bathroom for men. Sorry.

Left side is the toilet.

There is a bath mat to put on in front of the shower room.

As for other bathrooms,

I was surprised that it has bath tabs!!! So cool:)

And and FREE shampoo and body soaps too.

So you don’t have to bring if you don’t mind.

But don’t forget toothbrush and toothpaste.

Oh! You can use a hair dryer for free too!

Laundry

You can do the laundry here!!!(8am to 10pm)

You can both wash and dry your clothes.

About a laundry detergent, they offer for FREEEEEEEE!

Common room

It’s a bit small but I think it is a great space to communicate and say hi to next to you easily because of the size.

FREE snacks, sweets, coffee, tea…etc

Even FREE sake!!! haha

To be honest, I’ve never seen any FREE alcohol in backpackers and guesthouse like here.

Moreover, you can enjoy one of popular and famous Japanese ice cream if you are craving ice cream! It’s also for FREE!!!!!

It’s called “Choco Monaka JUMBO”.

Monaka is a type of wagashi (Japanese traditional dessert).

It is sold 180,000,000 every year and it has achieved the top sales among all ice cream products in Japan for 13 years in a row.

You should remember one Japanese onomatopoeia “paripari” to describe what Choco Monaka JUMBO is like. I mean its texture.

The company Morinaga & Co.Ltd. has been producing the ice cream. Now it wants more people not only Japanese to know the greatness of Choco Monaka JUMBO. The ice cream are regularly delivered to the GuestHouse here right after producing and estimating how many products should be sent to keep them fresh and paripari texture not to be wasteful.

You can’t miss the opportunity to try and enjoy the Japan’s top-selling ice cream!

Other interesting & FREE things I found

◆Alarm clocks

If you are definitely not a morning person, you might need one.

◆Ear plug

It is not a noisy place to stay. Ear plug is just for people who want to sleep well or …meditate or something like that.

If lucky, you can enjoy FREE Waffle breakfast!

It’s not an every day thing.

Put some jams (like strawberry, raspberry jam, honey, cream cheese… ) on a waffle.

I enjoyed having a yummy breakfast while I was talking with other guests and staffs.

I got energy to go to work. It’s about time to check out!

Checkout

Check-out needs to be done by 10am.(7am-10am)

You have to take off the sheets and pillow case and put them in the basket like this.

And then, give the key back to the front desk(reception).

You will get 1000 yen back!!! Yay!

Information site too!

TOIYABA!

GuestHouse Shinagawa-shuku has TOIYABA just outside as an information center.

You can ask any questions about your trips or Japan…etc!

It was an important place for people passing the road to carry a lot of baggage with their horse for long long hours by themselves. So they used to stop by TOIYABA, for example to hand over an tired person to a cheerful person or exchange an exhausted horse to an energetic horse!

Basic Information

◆GuestHouse Shinagawa-shuku◆
Address: 1-22-16 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001, Japan
Access:
18min by trains from Haneda Airport/ about 1 hour by trains from Narita Airport
TEL: +81-3-6712-9440