Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

"My name is Noriko from Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro.
I'm working here only for 2 days, but it's really good experience for me.
Enjoy your stay at Sakura Hostel Asakusa and if you have a time,
please visit our new opened cafe in Ikebukuro!"

Though I've known her before, we didn't have a chance to talk with,
so I'm also happy to welcome her:)

Thank you for your help and why don't you go for a drink someday?

This!!

Christmas is coming soon!
Good job,Naoto;)

Some people decorete their home so gorgeously,
as if they are competing with each other especially in residential districts.

If you take trains at night, you might find them.

What are you doing, Naoto?

It looks fun;)

I think we can find out soon what you did♪

This coming Saturday, we have Tori no Ichi Fair and it is the final one for this year.
What's Tori no Ichi Fair?
Click here→http://www.torinoichi.jp/english/index.htm

This morning, I learned about it from the TV and it said like this.
The first time you buy Kumade(below↓), you should choose the smalｌest one.

And every year, you should buy a bigger one than the last year.
Then, you can earn much money than the last year★

Have you ever get troubled with the difference of plugs in other countries?
Whenever I travel abroad, I check what type of plug they use
and buy an adapter at the airport.

Finally, we started to sell them here at Sakura Hostel;)
One is 500 yen and the other is 1000 yen.

Now, you can use your hair iron, you can charge your camera&mobile♪

From last week, our stairs to the second floor and basement floor became a small gallery.

These works are from Design Festa Gallery.
Normally, we take elevetor but if your room is on the 2nd floor or basement,
you can enjoy them everytime you take stairs.
Of course, if your room is upper floor, still you gotta take stairs at least one time.

All sakura hotels&hostels have similar spaces.
If you have interests, you can just go and have a look;)
Our small gallery might be bigger★

And Christmas season has started.
This year, I decorated it with Jack.
He told me that it's his first time to do so and he looked very happy♪

We'll have a christmas party on the 23rd of Dec, so you should come and join us!

My name is Kei.I have been working here since last Friday. Basically,I work in Sakura House.
The reasons why I came here are learning the work at the Asakusa Hostel and become more cose with hostel staff.

By the way,almost once a week.we hold soccer practice with Sakura house tenants at Ochiai chuou Koen which located at Shimoochiai(along the Seibu Shinjuku Line).If you want to know more details and join us,please contact SAKURA HOUSE(03-5330-5250).

Of cource,if you want to stay the guest house,apartment or dormitory more than one month,don't hasitate to contact us!

These are what I had during my trip to Hiroshima★
Just SOME of them, though:P

What are you interested in the most?
I'll let you know the place if you want♪

★Special thanks to Tomoko, Tomoko's family and Reiko;)★

On the second day, I visited Miyajima, one of the most scenic spots in Japan.
You might have heard of it if you are interested in Japan;)

To get to Miyajima island, I took this ferry.
At first, I was afraid of getting sea sick but it took only about 10 mins.

After a short time, I found this famous Torii, shrine gate, built in the sea.

There is also well-known Itsukushima shrine in the island.
It was really solemn and I was touched.

If you go there on weekends, you may see the wedding ceremony.

After looking around that shrine, we climbed Mt. Misen.
First of all, we took this aerial tramway and then, walked to the top.

Because I don't like walking that much, I hesitated to go to the top
but people who passed on the way cheer us up and we could do it!
(It took about 40 mins)

The next time, I want to stay one night there!

I took days off and went to Hiroshima to visit my friend there.
Let me know you about my great days;)

On the first day, I visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum as typical tourists.
I believe you know Hiroshima as an atom-bombed city.


This is the famous Bomb Dome.
It's not a center of explosion but is a symbol of A-bomb.

This is Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and you can see a bomb dome
when you stand in front of it.

Also, there is a musium where you can learn about A-bomb.
Though some of them were looked very scary, we need to know.

My friends are from Hiroshima and when they were in elementary school,
they were told about a peace through A-bomb survivors
but these days, it's getting hard to do so.

If you have a chance to go to Hiroshima, please take a look at these places.

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I visited the Lake Kawaguchi (Kawaguchiko) last weekend with one of my best friends from Sakura House☆

Can you see the beautiful mountain behind us? (I know there is too much backlight and it is hard to see it...)
It is Mt. Fuji, and my only purpose of visiting the lake was to see the mountain.

When our guests ask us for a good place to see Mt. Fuji, we usually recommend Kawaguchiko. One reason is the easy acess from Tokyo. There is a highway bus from Shinjuku going direcly to the lake, which only takes 1h 50min. Why don't you go there for a day trip?

There are many nice restaurants of houtou around the lake.

Houtou is one of the most popular local dishes of the area. It is miso-based soup with udon noodles and lots of vegetables. I tried this restaurant and loved it! We walked 20 min. to the restaurant because we didn't have a car, tired... but it was worth doing that!

This is the result of the most visits from in October.
Can you guess which countries they are?

We were wondering why we had many thai people in Oct. so we asked one of them.
He told me that students had holidays between term and term in October.
That's why we saw many young Thai people.

If you come but can't find your flag, just let us know.
It's gonna be on the wall in a few days;)

In winter, Tomoe and I often drink hot chocolate.
It makes warm ourselves and is yummy!

For our breakfast, we add it as a new menu;)
I believe you would like it, so please try when you have a breakfast.
You can just add hotwater.
Also, you can order anytime(150 yen).