Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

Do you like it? Eiro needs your opinions.
I like it;)
His hair style looks like my favorite actor, him↓↓

Do you like Hayao Miyazaki? He is the movie director who made many popular animation films such as "My neighbor Totoro", "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind" and "Luputa: Castle in the Sky."

His brandnew film "Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff)" is now in the theater.
The title tune of the movie is so impressive that it sticks in your head. These days, me and Naoto often sing it to ourselves while working.

Listen to it↓↓↓　You can never get the song out of your head.

Jusus, one of the long stayers from Spain, has an experience to be on a Japanese TV program. Last time he stayed with us, he was on a TV show.

This year, he came on a perfect timing, and again, was interviewed by TV crew who came from NHK, the Japanese most important TV station. He might become a TV star in Japan ☆

As you might know that all of the staff here love travelling like you
and we are always ready to go somewhere if we get holidays.
Some of us (including me) fall into depression if we don't go anywhere morre than half a year:P

Look at their refreshed faces:)
They have just came back from their vacation.
Tsuyoshi went to Nagano and had a great time with the beautiful outdoors.
Tomoe stayed around Izu area and enjoyed beaches there.

Both of them got good tan!!
Actually, Tsuyoshi is suffering from that pain because of sunburn.

When is my turn??

At 5:45 Kampaaaaaai!! (Cheers!) By Tsuyoshi= the Booze king☆

Are you guys having fun??
Where have you been to, Alex?

Drink more beer;)

Those two girls just bought Yukata for that night.
It suits you two!

★Today's Best Yukata ladies&gentlemen★

They wore it by themselves. Well done!

It's time to go ans see fireworks now. Let's go♪

Follow me, please.

Sorry, I coudn't take any "Good" pictures with our camera...
but fireworks were really good!

Rumi (the left one of the best yukata girls) took much better ones,
so I'll upload some later.

We did enjoy ourselves last night.
Thank you for joining us and if you want to get some pictures of you,
please feel free to ask me.
Or it will be available from flickr later.
I'll add more;)

Thanks to my mom, I could wear Yukata by myself like this!!

I sent a picture and she said it looked good:)
Tomo was also learnd on the internet and wore it from her home this morning.

Though it looks cool and comfortable, my stomach is tighten up:(

Anyway, we are ready to enjoy Hanabi party tonight and I just hope that
we won't get evening shower...☆

A few days ago, Ebi-chan and I went to have an ice-cream after work.
There are many ice-cream shops around sakura hostel (how nice!)
and the one we went was relatively new, I guess.

The name is “Shiro Ichi” and they only have one flavor, Milk.
Easy to order!
It's not too rich taste and good dessert especialy right now☆

Yuri is taking a day off today. Do you know what she is doing secretly today?

She is practicing to wear yukata by herself.

Yukata is a kind of kimono (Japanese traditional dresses), and is worn a lot in summer. Especially when we go to summer festivals, it is common to be dressed in yukata.

But the problem is that it is not very easy to wear one by yourself, and that you need a lot of time and practice like this. Usually, mothers and grandmothers teach their daughters how to wear one just like Yuri's mom is doing today.

There will be a fireworks festival in Asakusa on this Saturday. Yuri, Tomoe and I will be dressed in yukata and are practicing hard now. We will take lots of photos and put some here.

How much do you pay to fly from your country to Japan?

I'm thinking of going somewhere abroad this summer and checking the flight fares online.
Yuri is doing the same thing for her vacation.
What we agree is about the sky-high fuel surcharges that
we would have to pay besides the flight fares.
You have to pay extra US$300 for the fuel surcharge
when you pay US$400 to fly from Japan to North America, for example.
It would be almost double.

Are you still flying abroad? I think I am. Are you?

We were valued as a top rated hostel from hostelworld.com!!
It's all thanks to our guests like you;)
Look at our happy faces↓↓

I think it's our second time to get this and
we'll try to do our best so that we can keep getting this lovely sticker↑↑

Ebi-chan came back from Thailand last week.
He traveled to Bali in Indonesia and Thailand for 10 days in total,
and came back with his face suntanned and refreshed.

This is one of the souvenirs that he brought us. It's a tapestry with cute elephants.

It is a common understanding that Japanese employees cannot take a long vacation.
But! Sakura Hostel wants to be an exception because we all like traveling.
10 days is not long at all for Europeans, I guess, though.

Koji went to Hokkaido by motorbike in June.
Tsuyoshi is currently driving all around Japan with his new GPS.
Tomoe is also on her vacation and is somewhere in Japan.
It will be my turn next :)

These are also something sweets from Thailand↑↑

A few days ago, Jack brought his family to the hostel.
Unfortunately, it was my day off and I couldn't see them...
Jack sometimes talked about his daughter, so I wanted to see her.

Not only his daughter but his wife is so beautiful:)
Next time you come here, please check before whether I'm working or not☆
I guess I can be a good friend of her:P

Hi, my name is Kazu, I usually work at Sakura House office in Shinjuku.
Today I spent a day at the hostel as a part of our personal exchange program.
I have been working with hostel staff as an advertisement staff since the opening
in 2006, but it was such a new experience for me to stand at the counter and to
actually talk with our customers.
I myself is a backpacker, and this personal exchange program
made me want to hit the road again...

What's more Japanese summer than fireworks?
From July to September, we have so many fireworks festivals
in many parts of the country almost everyday.

Let's check the schedule from here↓↓
http://blog.realestate-tokyo.com/archives/51213992.html
Actually, it's only for Tokyo an Kanagawa.
If you are going to travel around, it's better to check the schedule before
on their tourist information websites.

Normally, festivals last for more than an hour and
I've seen some foreigners got bored before it's finished.
But each fireworks are very different, so I hope you would enjoy all of them:)

It's our second anniversary today!
We thank all of our guests and all of our great staffs of our sister hotels and companies.
I think I'm lucky to be here as one of the staff.

Look at these two pictures below↓↓

It's totally NEW and looks a little bit “distant”.

But now....

it's much familiar and I feel more comfortable:)

We all keep going to be a world's best hostel!!

Have you got i phone already?
Or are you going to buy it?

In Japan, it became available from the 11th of July and
there was a looooong line in front of the shop on that day.
I had seen our guest's i phone before and I touched it.
It was very interesting but I don't know whether I'll have it or not.

Can I try to touch your i phone if you have it?? :P

☆Richard and his friends☆

Have you guys arrived at your home safely?
Thank you for staying with us:)
I hope all of you had a great time here in Japan.

Sorry, I forgot to ask all of your name...
We are looking forward to seeing you again:)

On the 26th of July, we'll have a big big summer event,
Sumida River Fireworks Festival!
As long as you are in Tokyo, you can't miss it!

Fireworks are shooted off from two different places, and one place will have a contest.
You can enjoy about 20,000 fireworks!!

Let's wear Yukata and join to our Hanabi party!
It will start around 5:30 here at the Sakura hostel Asakusa.
Guests of our sister hotels (Jimbo-cho, Ikebukuro, Hatagaya)
and tenants of Sakura House are all welcomed:)

Our oni-chan (Tsuyoshi) is a booze king. How booze king is he?

This is my glass↓

This is his↓

Do you know what country this is at No. 10 from last month?
It's Finland!

If you are wondering why Finland is ranked here, the reason is....

these long stayers from Finland.
(From right to left) Janne, Miika, another Janne and Jonne have been staying with us for such a long time. Three of them are leaving tomorrow and going back home. So sad ;(

Come back anytime, guys. Your home is always here ♪

Today and tomorrow, we have Hozuki-ichi (Chinese Lantern Plant Fair)
at Sensoji temple.
There are a numners of stalls around the temple and sell Hozuki
as if they were competing against each others.

It has a cute wind bell↑↑

Also, we can find many stalls for foods there such as
cotton candy, yakitori, takoyaki and so on.

I heard that if you visit Sensoji temple during this fair,
it worth 46,000 times you pray☆
I did already;)

Hello !!
My name is Shinji. Today is the second day of my 3 day training here at Sakura Hostel Asakusa. (I work in Sakura House Office in Shinjuku.) I'm ejoying working with the fellow staff and meeting people staying here.
Just like to them, Asakusa is new to me. It is full of suprise.
If you are thinking of visiting Tokyo, come and experience this amazing town for yourself !!

Oops!!
It was Koji's birthday yesterday...(.><)
How did you spend your birthday?

I won't ask your age:P but we all hope your new year will be a great one♪

Who loves summer? I do!

Fireworks festivals, going to beach, barbecue, cold beer...
Only fun things come to my mind when I hear "summer. "

Yet, one thing is..., it's hot in Tokyo, hot like being baked on a pan (T-T)
The high temperature in Tokyo yesterday was more than 30 ℃.
And humid, humid like in a sauna...

Oops, I'm not trying to discourage you guys from coming to Tokyo in Summer.
It's still fun! Look at this big smile on Tsuyoshi's face.

Last night, Tomo and I went to Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro to see new cafe on the first floor.

It's just opened a few days ago.
I've heard that it's very stylish and has attractive menu,
so I was looking for checking there♪
The terrace was still under construction but the inside was
totaly new and nice atmosphere.
He is the manager of this cafe. Mr Takahashi:)

First of all. we ordered crepe and french toast with drink.
It's only 525yen and was soooo yummy;)

Because we were hungry, we had a quiche(their recommendation),
assorted sausages and bottle of beer.

As you can see on this picture below,
there are about 60 kinds of beer from all over the world.

My favorite one is Corona!!
You can just pick up from here♪

I really enjoyed drinking&eating there.
When the roof for the terrace is completed, I'll definitely go there again!
Why don't you go with us the next time??

I'm a staff of Sakura Hotel Hatagaya, Miwa Arai!
I came to Sakura Hostel Asakusa to work,
and to feel the atmosfere of the Hostel in one day.
Sakura Hostel is good place to enjoy Tokyo life,
and guests will find out that the staff is very kind for them.
I also enjoyed to work here.
Come here, and enjoy Japan life with us in the future!

Do you happen to know him??
If so, you are the great reader of our weblog;)

Jesus came back last week and it's his third time here.
When we see him, we realize that the summer has come this year!
He always spends a month here and makes many friends to travel around with.
His Japanese is getting better every year:)

I hope he'll have a great time again:)

Countries most visited from in June 2008 are....

No.1 USA
No.2 UK
No,3 AUS
We can guess the top 3 easily but I didn't expect that
Sweden would be in top 10 in June.

How will it be July...?
My expectation is USA again.
If you wanna your country be the top 1,
just come here with your family and friends;)