Japan AirBNB review & tips : Kanazawa

Staying in Japan can be very tricky specially if this is the first time you ever step in this land of magic and wonderful things. There are only a few people who can speak english (i'd say it's only 30-40% of them) and if you do not know how to speak and how to read japanese, it will be hard specially if you want to travel to smaller town like Kanazawa or Gifu. I have a really bad time communicating with people in Japan, specially when it comes to asking for direction (eventhough i can speak japanese a little) and mostly it's because i have a really bad connection and forgot to rent a pocket wifi, so i was completely clueless and lost, thanks for that.

So! based on my experience, here's a few things that MUST be done before you want to stay and book an airbnb hotel/room in Japan :

• Rent a pocket wifi / at least have a connection in your phone to search maps ( wifi in japan mostly are locked, only in bigger town you'll have a free wifi tho)
• Make sure you ask your airbnb host : HOW TO GET THE KEY, how to find the place ( having an address or GPS sites will not help, really, i found it hard to find house's number in japan, because there's no such thing as street name sign, if there's one, it's only in kanji, hahah +  japan's house's number is so small. like really really small. The best is you ask your host the map how to get there (best if there's picture of it) + the picture of the front house
• If you want to check out late and not wanting to spend a lot of money in taxi, make sure you know your bus time! (my experience is i get there so late and there's no bus to be found and ended up spending so much in taxi)
• If you want to spend less in transportation : search and book a room that close to train station (it will cost much less rather than the one that near a bus stop, and plus, you get around town-to-town easily)
•  READ CUSTOMER REVIEW (this is crucial!) because not all that is written by the host is true x'D sometimes you need to double check in the comment section
• if you want to search for address in maps : japan's mapping system in google sadly is.. poor if you write 'em in alphabet, i've tried this and not all places you can find. Sometimes it will only match if you write 'em in kanji
• find a trusted host : this is not necessary, actually, since not a lot of them are verified and written trusted, but it will be much easier if you can contact your host easily when you need help or urgent matters :D

~ If you do all of that, then i guarantee that you'll have a good time finding your stay~

Anyway, here's my review for my stay in Kanazawa's airBNB hosted by 小百合 ^^

 The place is really comfortable, warm and clean! I really love how the host keep it really traditional and great with such a cheap price (i was staying for 1 night and it only cost 470.000 IDR = 39 USD ) The place is also close to restaurants and tourist attraction ( it is really near to Higashi-Chaya district, the center of geisha's houses ) plus, it's near to Kobashimachi bus stop ~

The house have almost everything to fulfill your need to experience traditional japanese house, it has futon, it has kotatsu, it has its garden, and even, it also has cafe inside it. Even when i'm in the house really late at night, i can still smell the oh-so-tasty cinnamon cake nearby the front door TwT i didn't get the chance to try their cakes and drinks but it sure smell great (^3^)/

Japanese Traditional House

the room (the bear is actually my brother x'D i just couldn't bear his pose in this photo but i still need it, so i cover it with bear instead wkwkwkwkwkkwk)

My room itself is really neat. It has free wifi, and it has a great view from second floor, you can see the nearby neighborhood a bit tho ^^ and plus, eventhough it's floor is in tatami (the rice straw mat ) and the door is  shoji & fusuma (which is really thin and made out from paper and bamboo) the room in winter is really warm because of the heater~ and plus, sleeping with futon is so comfortable ! it's so sad that i get to spend so little time in this house eversince i arrived at 10pm and have to go at 5 am >_<

In the living room, you can enjoy having your drinks in kotatsu, reading japanese book and brochure which is provided in the front.There is also kitchen and small sink nearby the bathroom, you can use it to wash your dishes and make some hot tea~ 

Brochure & Magazines to borrow

The spacious living room

 With a 5 minutes walk, you can find a lot of restaurant near the main road and it opens until midnight too ! (i tried Coco's restaurant which have a really yummy hamburger~ i will do the review next time!)

Front door at winter ~

 Last of all, I HAVE A DISCOUNT which is you can use for your airBNB stay, click below and enjoy your stay, ciao!

airbnb discount code