Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

Many people go to Harajuku to see cosplay people every weekends.
If you want take a picture with them, you can just ask them(in English should be ok).
They would be happy to be asked;)

Also, if you are interested in the arts, I recommend you to go to a cool gallery near by.
It's called Design Festa Gallery and looks like this↓↓

I went there a few days ago and it was very interesting.
There are two different buildings and I prefer the East one.
You can also have a space for your works☆

After taking a look around the galleries, you might be hungry.
Then, just go and have some Japanese pancakes on the first floor of the West of them.
You can find a nice restaurant and appease your appetite.

Hmmm, it sounds a perfect plan for your Sunday in Tokyo:P

It was the 28th Samba Carnival today at Asakusa.
What's more Samba than Brazil?
I thought so but we have a big Samba team from Colombia here!
They looked very excited when they left for that event this morning♪

They are super friendly and have big smiles:)

Have you seen their dancing?

As they were the first team of the carnival, they just came back and started party.

I hope they would come back in the next year again☆

I was learning tea ceremony for three years in high school and I really love it.
Unfortunately, not all Japanese can do it but you can have an experience if you'd like to.

I like the smell of Japanese tatami mat rooms:)

At Hotel Okura, it has a room for the tea ceremony and you can have an experience there.
You don't have to be a guest there (at least 36.000 yen/night!).
We can make a reservation for you and you just need to pay 1,050 yen/person there.
(only weekdays)

It was his turn:)
He is ths staff of Sakura Hotel Hatagaya

Mr Kanahama is very good at fixing something.
Fortunately, we have many things that need to be fixed.
One of our guest had a broken suitcase and it took very little time to fix up.
We want him to work with us here;)

I had been thinking what I should write on this memorial day and actually,
I haven't decided yet:P

Ummmm...
Let me introduce my main duty at sakura hostel everyday.

In the morning to 11am: checking e-mails, taking care of breakfast time,
saying goodbye to our guests who check out here (and taking photos of them).

11am to 13pm: clear off the tables, answer the questions from our guests,
and talking with our guests (it's my favorite time♪).

13pm to finishing time: lunch time:), welcoming new guests, and posting the weblog.

What kind of things are you interested in the most?
Sometimes, I go crazy because of the rush time but I can enjoy myself at the same time;)
If you find I'm crazy, please give me something sweeeeets!!

Anyway, thank you for checking this weblog and I'll keep on this until I quit★
I'm looking forward to hearing from YOU.

One of our guests asked me an interesting question.

"I just want to try how a shinkansen ride is. What is the nearest destination from Tokyo by shinkansen?"

Shinkansen is translated as "bullet train" because it runs fast like a bullet.
I don't know how fast a bullet is, but a shinkansen bullet train sometimes runs at 300 km/r.

The nearest shinkansen destination from Tokyo is probably Shin-yokohama, but it is too close for them to run at 300 km/r... Maybe you should go somewhere like Nagoya and come back to Tokyo if you want to experience their speed.

Last year, I rode shinkansen for the first time in a few years, but I felt asleep just a few minutes after the train left Tokyo. And then the next moment, I was in Kyoto. I will try not to sleep next time.

It's my turn to take a summer vacation!

I'm going to Mexico in the end of this month for the first time in 4 years. Soooo excited!
I have a friend in Mexico City, where I will arrive and spend probably the first few days. I haven't decided yet where I should go after that. Guadalajara, where I spent a lot of time 4 years ago, is an option because I can see more friends there.

And, maybe, to the beach. Can anybody recommend a good beach? I want to go to a quiet, kind of hidden and local beach.

Mr Tokudome, who works at Sakura House as a web staff, came and spent time with us last week:)


Hi everybody. My name is Yasuo who is a web staff at Sakura House.
I am very glad that I could enjoy a fantastic moment at Sakura Hostel Asakusa last Wednesday.
Because I mostly work on websites in office, therefore this was really a valuable opportunity for me to communicate with different customers and to serve them.
I am sad that I had to return to office after just 1 day because things started to pile up on my desk…
But if such opportunities come in the future, I'll be very happy to serve our guests again.
Finally, I would like to apologize to all customers for my inexperienced reception. I'll try my best and work hard ;)

Look at this pretty morning glory↓↓

Tsuyoshi planted seeds around our fence a month and half ago and
we were taking care of them.
Every morning and afternoon, we watered and said hi to them:)

Now, it's our pleasure to count how many flowers blossom in the morning.
This morning, I found the another one with light purple:)

We started writing this weblog two years ago before our hostel was opened.
I (Tomo) started, but kind of gave up later and passed the job to Yuri,
who now daily writes on this page. Now it's Yuri's blog rather than Sakura Hostel blog.

Yuri's daily work　↓↓↓　

This post is the 495th post on this weblog. We will see the 500 th post very soon!　

Gambatte! Yuri-chan♪♪

Chris, Alex and Kevin were staying (living?) with us for a loooong term.
They checked in separately and staying at the different rooms
but they became friends and often hanged out together.

Actually, they sometimes checked out to go the other places and eventually,
three of them were in the same room (501).

We (our staff) enjoyed fireworks and party, and watched TV (olympis games) together.
Unfortunately, Alex checked out the day before yesterday and so did Kevin yesterday...
Chris is also going to check out soon:(

Please come back again and have a party;)
We'll keep beds for you guys in 501♪

Do you know Streetview or already are addicted to just like us?

When I used it for the first time, I was so surprized at that sharpness.
Then, I serched for the apartment where I had stayed in San Diego and I found it!!

Tomoe also did the same thing and we were so excited:)
She was in Melbourne, Australia and she found the library where she lost her wallet:P

Where is the place you have a lot of memories?

It is Tsuyoshi's duty to make our shift work schedule every month.
As it looks a complicate puzzle, he always gets confused like this↓↓

We can request our days off till dead line day but if we ask after that,
he will get angry but accept after all:P
Have our schedule of the next month fixed??
When are my days off??

Did you watch the Olympics opening ceremony?
I heard that it was so beautiful and gorgeous though I fallen asleep...
Actually, there is only an hour time differences between Beijing and Japan,
so we don't have to worry about the lack of sleep.

Yesterday, we had Judo game of women's -48kg.
Our guests and staff watched it together but unfortunately,
Ryoko Tamura who won the gold medal the last time lost this time.
She had already got two gold medals so far and it is amazing that
this was her third time to join the Olympics.

Anyway, I think it's fun to watch this international games with people from all over the world.

Yuta has just started working with us as a part time job.
He is a university student and the youngest staff here.
...though Tomoe and I was the youngest so far:P

Hi!! I am Yuta. this is my first time to write blog, kind of compulsory....jsut kidding.
Alomst 30 days have passed since I started this job.　
Until now, I have spent great time with guest and some of our satff...
I am studying agriculture politics in university even though I wanted to study Geology.
My hobby is to fiind the best way to protect our future generation entire blue planet,
I quote this words from 11th hour, that is my favorite movie.

Anyway, I have studied abroad for 1 year at chico CA, USA
and I went to several overseas like Singapore, Taiwan ,Germany and so on...
I will go to Cambodia and Laos in October so
if you have some great information about those countries let me konw!! bye- bye

Have you ever tried Japanese McDonalds?
If so, do you think it's defferent from the one in your country?

I don't eat them so often but I had Mexican's and America's McDonalds before.
Exept the size, I thought Mexican's were hotter than Japanese one.

I think it's fun to know the difference and then, you can tell your friends.
I miss McFlurry in USA:)

From the 8th of August, the biggest sport festival, the Olympics will be started.
Which event are you interested in the most?
Tsuyoshi: football
Naoto:Judo and the other fighting sports
Ebi-chan: baseball
Yuri: tennis
Jack: baseball and football
Tomo & Tomoe:?
Koji: baseball

Also, you can't forget about the another Olympic, Paralympics.
It starts from the 6th of September.
Actually, I don't know much about those games well but
when I watched their play the last time, it was just amazing.

Are you going to Beijing to watch some of the games?
Or are you, by any chance, participating as a player?

We have two vending machines inside the hostel.
The left one is for alcohol and the right one is for non-alcohol drinks.

↓↓↓In the alcoholic one, the drinks on the top two columns are beer.
(From left to right) Premium MALTS, MALTS and low-malt beer (happo-shu).

The ones on the bottom are chu-hi (shochu-based bevarage).

They are all from SUNTORY.

Try some Japanese beer while in Japan. The legal age of drinking here is 20, by the way.

Such a controversial system of cigarette vending machines has been recently started throughout Japan.

You might have seen many cigarette vending machines on the steet in Japan. We still have them.

But, if the machine says something in Japanese to you next time you try to buy cigarettes from a machine, it is saying "show me your TASPO."

You need your own TASPO card to verify your age when you buy a box of cigarettes from a machine. The goal of the system is to prevent underage smoking, but many people doubt if it will make any difference.

Our oni-chan (Tsuyoshi) smokes but hasn't applied for a TASPO card yet. He has to go to a store to buy cigarrets now altough he used to buy them from the nearest vending machines on the street. I hope it will make him smoke less or quit it.

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

France has risen from 5th to 2nd and two countries of Northern Europe have fallen far down.
And the result is this↓↓

Korea is staying the same place, the 7th.

I'm sure that France will be the 1st of this month.

I don't eat sweats like Yuri does.

I like salty, crunchy and oily snacks. I KNOW IT IS NOT HEALTHY. I KNOW, Mom...
But I can't stop it.

This is my favorite. Cacahuates japoneses from Mexico!
My friend, Jose, sent me loads of bags of cacahuates japoneses from Mexico.
They are peanuts wrapped in cracker, not salty nor oily, but I still like them.

Cacahuates japoneses with Premium Malts. The best combined snack after work!

we've received t-shirts from the hostelworld.com.


The one Naoto is wearing is for the staff and the other one Eiro is putting is for the guests.
I prefer the one for the guests because that's cute★
Which design do you like?