27 Jul 2020
I plan on getting a dedicated place (専用ドミトリ) somewhere close to Tokyo, most probably in Chiba as that’s also close to Narita (where the airport is) and I’ve been cycling around Chiba lately and really like it. I plan on getting rid of all my furnitures, electrical appliances and even some clothes. I’ll store my winter clothes and some other stuff at the dedicated place, or rent a storage room and put them there (there is nearby storage for ~15 000 yen a month).
Moving between places I considered multiple options:
- By public transportation (take the train with a suite-case)
- Buying a car - turns out to be rather complicated and expensive
- By bicycle
I’m going to start with the third option: moving around by bike. I just got a new road bike and I can cover up to 200 km a day, so that gives me a good level of flexibility and I can also take my bike on a train if needed. Having my bike with me will also help discovering the neighborhood where I’m staying.
Going by bike on the other hand further reduces the amount of things I’ll be able to carry. Japanese postal services are top-notch, so I could also just keep shipping my stuff to the next address, but I plan on only using this when I need to cover very long distances. But I’ll see how this all goes, I might switch to trains for the winter.
26 Jul 2020
As of now this is my understanding about how ADDress works. I could be missing something, and rules can change later, so take it with a grain of salt.
ADDress is a service which allows to live in any of their homes all around Japan for a fixed monthly fee. Currently they have 52 locations and the basic fee is 40 000 yen (+10% tax), which includes all the utilities, shower toiletries and bedsheets. There is no extra initial costs (e.g. key-money or deposit). The contract is for a year, but can be cancelled earlier with 2 months notice.
Rules of booking
There are some rules about booking your private room:
- Rooms can be booked 3 months in advance
- At any point in time one can have maximum 14 nights booked (保有予約日数14日まで)
- At any point in time one can have maximum 7 nights booked at a single place (同一拠点の連続予約7日まで 。後ろが空いていれば、消化した分を付け加えて伸ばすことは可能)
- In any month maximum 14 nights can be stayed at a single place (同一拠点の、一か月あたり滞在上限14日まで)
It is possible to book a week at a place, and after the first night book the 8th night at the same place, if it is still available, but one can only do this up to 2 weeks (see last rule). Although there might be a way to bypass this: if the last rule is enforced by calendar month, one might stay the last 2 weeks of a month and then the first 2 of the next month at a place. We’ll see if this works.
Dedicated place (専用ドミトリ)
This is an extra option one can choose to have a dedicated room or bed (in a shared room), that one can use as much as they like. This can also be used to officially register one’s address here, receive letters and to store stuff. Beds only have the frame, so one need to bring their mattress and bedding.
There is no information on the price of this option on the main site, and it was only revealed later in the signup process. The price greatly depends on the location and whether it’s for a private room or only a bunk-bed in a dormitory room (rooms separated by gender). Beds are 15 000 - 30 000 yen and rooms are 31 000 - 215 000 yen.
Japanese description:
本サービスは基本的に全国に点在する物件の予約ベッドを予約しながら好きな場所を巡りながら暮らすということをコンセプトとしておりますが、予約なくいつでも好きな時に利用できる専用ベッドも追加でご契約いただくことが可能となります。
専用ベッドはドミトリタイプと個室タイプがあり、一部ホテルのお部屋との連携プランもございます。ご利用希望の方は、基本料金40,000円 / 月（税別）に専用ベッドごとに定められた追加料金をお支払いただくことでご契約が可能です。もちろんADDressを利用する中でお気に入りの場所が見つかったらご契約中に追加や変更いただくことも可能です。ただし最低3ヶ月間はご利用いただく必要がございます。
Staying with family, partner, friends
This doesn’t apply to me, but there is an option for family members up to second degree to stay with you in the same room. They need to register in advance and go through identity verification and screening, but otherwise it seems that it doesn’t cost extra. One can also register a partner to stay with them, however the partner can only be changed once every 3 months.
Cleaning
ADDress makes it very clear that this is not a hotel, and you are expected to clean your room before leaving. Common areas are cleaned regularly by the house manager, but guests are expected to not leave a mess.
25 Jul 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic reached the world my company asked everybody to work from home on March 3. Few days later our badges got deactivated and going to do office required a good reason and pre-approval. Originally we all hoped that this will be a temporary situation and we will be back in the office in a few months, but as the situation was getting worse, those hopes quickly perished. Later in the spring we were told that no one will be required to go back to the office before the end of 2020. Some offices might reopen, but we’ll have the option to work from home until December 31.
Mid June I read an article about people moving to rural areas across Japan as new lifestyles emerge due to virus. Specifically the article talked about the service called ADDress, which allows users to reside in property across Japan for a fixed fee. I really liked the idea of moving around Japan, and thought that I’ll give it a shot in 2021. Why not earlier? Well, I was still waiting to see if my company would allow permanently working from home, and at this point I was also still trying to figure out things with my wife (we moved to Japan together in July 2019, had some issues, she moved back to Hungary in January 2020).
Then in late July things changed. My company extended the working from home possibility until July 2021. This also implied that productivity was not impacted significantly by working from home, which makes it likely that we will have some working from home options even after that date. Discussions with my wife also made it clear that she is unlikely to return to Japan anytime soon. These removed all reasons to wait. Meanwhile I had a great bike tour to Nikko, and realized how much I like the countryside: being close to nature and the friendly people. Overall by the end of July I decided to give up my Tokyo apartment and signup for ADDress.
Getting information on ADDress turned out to be rather tricky simply due to it’s name. In Japanese I had success searching for ADDress 住み放題 meaning ADDress all-you-can-live, but that only brought up Japanese results. I would be very happy to read a foreigner’s blog about using the service, but even if it exists, I failed to find it so far.