Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

In the first 1st lounge of Sakura Hostel Asakusa, there is a TV screen, DVD player and a PlayStation2. Huh, really? Does the world already have PlayStation3 or more? Oh, don't worry. Our PlayStation2 still works perfectly with every single move being pretty sharp!

Find other soccer fans, game lovers, or just someone who looks bored and has nothing to do in the lounge. Then, a game starts.

Today, Yohei from Japan and Ghauge from Tunisia met here at the hostel and started Winning Eleven. Let's see who will win.

Just for your information, we have more Play Station games for you. Of course, it's free of charge to use these games!

Sakura Hostel Asakusa

Address: 2-24-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo

tel +81-3-3847-8111

fax +81-3-3847-8112

e-mail: info@sakura-hostel.co.jp

URL: http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuraHotelTokyo

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/asakusa_hostel

Hello together,

today I want to write about the "Little Chef" Cooking Party, which was hold on December, 23rd in our Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro.

Woah, it was so great! ^^

Normally I'm not the girl, who is really into cooking (I like videogames more, you know ^^), but this was really so much fun for me, the next Little Chef Party I'm looking forward to and want to join again! ^^

And yes, I cooked something! ^^ It's called "Milchreis" and is very popular in Germany. ^^

But first let me tell you, how a "Little Chef" Cooking Party works.

People from many different nations get together and cooking (traditional) original dishes from their home countries (and in return for teaching and sharing this original recipes, all participants get drinks and the food for free ^^).

There were so many people there (really from everywhere - Sweden, Vietnam, Korea, America, India, Malaysia and Germany...sorry if I forget one of you nice people ^^).

The atmosphere was chilly with lot of fun in the air and it was really easy, to make new friends and have nice talks about cooking, culture, home countries etc.).

Everyone started preparing and cooking some dishes and these different smells seems like in perfect harmony.

But of course, now I want to show you some nice dishes - and of course I tried all of them!

And I'm so sorry, that I can't remember all the names and countries of the menus, but later I was so busy with eating.^^

I always thought, that I would be never be brave enough to try it, but in a group with lots of fun and nice people, you really get brave! ^^ It tastes good - until I recognized, how SPICY this little pieces of the foot on my tongue are! ^^

First my head turns red and then I have to cry! :D

That was totally funny (because in Germany I was always the one who could eat more spicy food than all my friends and family).

That was great, I'll never forget! ^^

Thanks to the cook! ^^

And that's my Milchreis. ^^

It's rice cooked with milk and sugar.

Then you put cinnamon on it and taste this sweet warm meal which let you feel great (especially in winter time! ^^).

The brown Milchreis is with lot of cocoa, so it tastes a little bit like hot chocolate.

You can eat it with fruits (we take strawberries, yummy).

In Germany you eat this hot as a main dish (really!!!) or can eat it cold as a dessert. ^^

And we eat and eat and eat and eat until everything was empty and eaten, hihi. ^^

This day was such a great experience! I love it! ^^

Thank you! ^^

I've never tried so much different food in one day. I was so full after that! ^^

And I'm really grateful for the big chance to try original dishes, I have never tried before (or had never the chance to, because it's simply not available in my home country or nobody knows it). ^^

So for me it was a great experience!

You really should take the chance to join, if you are here in Japan at the time of the next "Little Chef" Party!

After cooking, eating, trying and enjoying everything, we all together went to the Christmas Party in Ikebukuro Cafe and continued with having fun! ^^ Thanks to everyone there, for me it was the perfect start in celebrating Christmas! ^^

Sakura Hostel Asakusa

Address: 2-24-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel +81-3-3847-8111
fax +81-3-3847-8112

e-mail: info@sakura-hostel.co.jp
URL: http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuraHotelTokyo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/asakusa_hostel

Sakura Hostel Asakusa by no means works for Apple.

But....You know what !?

Almost all staffs here are iPhone user.
Always some of us charge iPhone here.

Wait a minute......Can we distinguish instantly whose iPhone it is ??

YES !!
Each iPhone reflects our taste.
Now, I want to show you our iPhones.

So cute !!

It's Tomo's !!

Cool !!

It's Naoto's !!

Lovely Mickey !!

It's Johrel's !!

Interesting !!

It's Hiro's !!

My hero, Anpanman !!

It's Agu's !!

Skeleton !!

It's Tomoyuki's !!

Cleaning staff Egashira-san is iPhone user too !!

Which one do you vote for ?

Sakura Hostel Asakusa

Address: 2-24-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel +81-3-3847-8111
fax +81-3-3847-8112

e-mail: info@sakura-hostel.co.jp
URL: http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuraHotelTokyo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/asakusa_hostel

Tomo travelled to Singapore with two more colleagues from Sakura Hotel & Hostel.

The main purpose of the trip was to attend AFA 2011 (Amine Festival Asia 2011), which is the world's second largest Anime fair outside Japan.

The fair was held at Suntec Convention Halls in Singapore on November 11th to 13th.
It was reported that there were 85,000 visitors to this event from not only Singapore but also all over the world, especially other surrounding East Asian countries.

Our two companies, Sakura House and Sakura Hotel, had a booth to promote our hotels and monthly apartments to those who are interested in visiting in Japan.

Perhaps due as a reflection of physical and cultural closeness, we met quite a lot of people who have already been to Japan, have a concrete plan to travel to or study in Japan or are simply keen to do so in the future.

We talked to many people and answered their varied questions about our facilities, booking methods, good places to travel, etc.
I hope we can see good results of this business trip some time in the near future and can meet many of these people in Tokyo.

Also, we held two small parties in Singapore and ate some delicious dishes with people who have stayed at our hotels in the past.

This was a great night and one of the highlights of our trip, and saw two guys at a fantastic riverside restaurant. The guy on the right with a black shirt is Shaun from UK and the one with long hair in the upper middle is Martin from Argentina.

They met at Sakura Hostel Asakusa two years ago and have been keeping in touch since then. For some reasons, they decided to travel together to Asia and met in Singapore. Facebook told them that I (Tomo) was also in Singapore and made this party possible.

On another night, we held one more party at an izakaya-style bar with other people who have also stayed at some of our properties in the past. The party was quite international indeed. There were three Singaporeans, three French, two Japanese, one Filipino, one Chinese at the table.

Meeting our former guests abroad was such an unforgettable experience for me and made our business trip even more meaningful.

Have you been to Singapore? It's such a multicultural country where you can experience different cultures (food, languages, and all the other atmosphere) from China, Malay, India, Arab and other places.
The city is pretty modern at all corners in every part of the town with tall office buildings and luxurious hotels.

I hope I can visit this country sometime soon, let's say, next time on holiday, not on business so that I can take a look at more dynamism in different areas of the country.

Sakura Hostel Asakusa

Address: 2-24-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel +81-3-3847-8111
fax +81-3-3847-8112

e-mail: info@sakura-hostel.co.jp
URL: http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuraHotelTokyo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/asakusa_hostel

Last week, I received a phone call from Argentina.
It was from one of our best friends from the country.

This friendly Argentinian guy is called Mauricio.
He stayed with us at Sakura Hostel in 2010 for a several weeks.
During his stay in Tokyo, he made friends with other guests and the staff members of the hostel.

To our greatest joy, he really loved our hostel and his new friends from here.

On the phone last week, he told us a greatly surprising news.
He changed his job and started to work at a hostel in Argentina recently.
It is partly because he found our job interesting and was inspired by what he had seen in here.

Don't you find this a charming story!?

Thinking of myself 7 years ago, I stayed at many hostels in Americas and Europe while I was traveling, which inspired me a lot in finding my future job.
When I saw people working at hostels in foreign countries, I was attracted to the job, which generates opportunities to meet new things and broaden networks.

This is pretty much like what happened to Mauricio, isn't it?
Ok, so, his new working place is this hostel in Buenos Aires --> Kapaké
Please drop by there if you have a chance to visit Buenos Aires!

Did you know that there are mountains inside Tokyo?
The image of Tokyo is always a big city with buildings, neon, shops and stuff like that.
But it's only about a small part of Tokyo.

In western Tokyo, there are quiet greenery and mountainous areas.
Among those places, the most popular mountain for hiking is Mt Takao (Takao san)
It was even given 3 stars by Michelin guide book.

I went hiking there with my friends from the hostel for the first time.
First, we took a lift from the bottom to the middle.

Walked one hour in the mountain to the top.

The highlight was this all-you-can-eat & drink-restaurant in the middle of the mountain.
3,000 yen for 2 hour all-you-can-eat & drink (tabe hodai & nomi hodai)!
It felt wonderful to eat and drink after hiking!

At night, we can enjoy a beautiful view of the city. If you are lucky and have good eyes, you can see the center of Tokyo as well.

Mt Takao is accessible by Keio line or JR Chuo line. It only takes about 2 hours from our hostel.
It would be a good idea to go hiking there when you feel like escaping the crowds and hassles of the city.

JAPAN EXPO is held in Paris from June 30th to July 3rd.

As I already told you,
we, Sakura Hotel Group, participate in JAPAN EXPO as an exhibitor.

For the purpose of revitalizing the Japan tourism,
the manager Tomo flew to Paris.

Can you believe it !?
In JAPAN EXPO,
she and 3 other staffs had to hand out 40,000 flyers in total.　?(((●Д○?)

They had been handing out the flyers for 8 hours on each day.

It's a tough work.
Her fingerprints almost wore off !!

Finally,
the president of SAKURA HOTEL started to help handing out the flyers.

During this business trip, she reached her 30th birthday.
A lot of friends in Paris celebrated her birthday.
That's because she is an attractive person, I think.

She will come back to Japan on July 8th.

We all are proud of you.

OTSUKARE SAMA　（おつかれさま）, Tomo.　｡☆∂(*･ω･*)O◇☆¨

Do you know " JAPAN EXPO " ?

This is the largest festival of Japanese culture and entertainment in Europe.
It's held in Paris for 4 days from June 30th to July 3rd.

To tell the truth,
we, Sakura Hotel Group, will participate in JAPAN EXPO as an exhibitor.

We aim at not only the promotion but also the appeal of energetic Japan and Tokyo.
We want to revitalize the Japan tourism !!

Who is going to handle a big job like that !?

That is .........

She will be in Sakura House & Hotel booth, putting on Yukata ( kimono for summer ).

If you make a Sakura Hotel/Hostel reservation in JAPAN EXPO,
you can get a special discount !!

Are you in Paris !?

Please go to JAPAN EXPO, and visit Tomo.　((ヾ(o゜∀゜o)ノ☆゜

Do you know that
Sakura Hostel Asakusa has the special offer now ?

After the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11,
a large number of nations and national organisations have been offering great support to Japan.

In order to show how grateful we are for all the support,
we have the special offer named " Thank You Campaign ".

This offer is valid until the stay on June 30th.

We were going to put the price back in July.
However,
we decided to give you another discount offer as a token of our gratitude.

That is " Summer Discount " !!

You can stay in a dormitory bed at 2,000 yen !!

Do you want to stay in a private room ??
The room rate is as follows.

Twin Room 7,000 yen !!
4 Bed Room 8,800 yen !!
6 Bed Room 13,200 yen !!
8 Bed Room 17,600 yen !!

It's available for the stay from July 1st to August 31st.

Save your budget, and come to Japan !!　"Y(o^Д^o)Y"

We, Sakura Hostel Asakusa, serves the breakfast at 315 yen.
toast, soup, coffee, tea.....All You Can Eat.

Regarding the breakfast soup, it's homemade.
Actually,
we make the feature of this homemade soup.

We introduce " Today's Chef " on the card next to the soup.
It's a handwritten menu card to which the photo of today's chef is attached.

Well, what about Naoto and Agu ??

We are not good at cooking........(￣ェ￣;)

When you stay in Sakura Hostel Asakusa,
please enjoy the homemade soup Sakura chefs make.

What a surprise !!

We got an award again !!
This time, Hostelworld.com gave us the award.　(･ω･ﾉﾉ"☆(･ω･ﾉﾉ"☆(･ω･ﾉﾉ"☆

What we got is .....

The guests have voted our hostel in the top ten hostels in Japan for May 2011.

Since the earthquake,
we have suffered from the sharp decrease of the guests.

Winning the award one after another at this moment raises our hope.

We will make more effort for this reputation.

GANBARI MASU.　(･c_,･｡)o"ｴｲ(･c_,･｡)o"ｴｲ(>c_,<｡)/ｵｩ!!

Since the earthquake,
the charity goods are on sale everywhere in Japan.
They sell the goods, and the proceeds are donated to the charity organization.

As a matter of fact, we also sell the charity goods.

What we sell is "WE ARE ONE" rubber bracelet !!

The price is ......Please donate as much as you like.
All proceeds will be donated to Japanese Red Cross Society.

Look !!
Sakura staffs are wearing this bracelet.

Be cool together !! ＊＞＞（●＾o＾●）＜＜*

On May 25th, we had a fire drill.

Well, May 25th is not a special day for the disaster prevention, though.

The fire station staffs arrived at the hostel !!

This time,
Tomo and Johrel took charge of the fire drill.
They are discussing the evacuation route etc with the fire station staffs.

Assuming that a fire broke out on the 4th floor,
the simulation of fire accident started !!

Tomo is announcing both in English and Japanese that a fire broke out.

At the same time,
Johrel rushes to the origin of a fire without using elevator.
Confirming a fire, he reports the situation to Tomo on the phone.

We went through the fire drill without any problem.

As long as you are in Sakura Hostel Asakusa,
we will protect you from a fire accident.　(*･∀･)ﾉﾞ ｡+･｡ﾟ:*:｡･+｡･ﾟ*ﾟ ★:ﾟ*☆

I saw such a beautiful sky over Tokyo today on my way to the hostel.
The city is quiet and peaceful. I can't help but think... what if only that hadn't happened.

But it happened. We cannot change this fact.
Now, it is time to take this opportunity to unite and recreate the nation.

I read on Twitter and Facebook a lot about what people witnessed on the day. Here, I try to translate some of them.

◎At Tokyo Disney Land
・http://twitter.com/unosuke/status/46376846505426944

Tokyo Disney Land gave people snacks from their shops. Some school girls asked them for more than they needed, which disappointed me for one moment. But the next moment, they went straight to give those snacks to kids in an evacuation space. It was a respectable action to make as it was difficult for parents to move around with small kids in that situation.

◎Realize Japanese spirit
・http://twitter.com/VietL/status/46376383592677376

This earthquake gave us an opportunity to realize what Japanese people are. Nobody commits a crime. People help each other. Dutiful. Polite. I usually think that Japanese people lack sympathy, but this time people are regaining the "bond". Really impressive and moving.

◎Given cardboard
・http://twitter.com/aquarius_rabbit/status/46213254376210432

A homeless man gave us a cardboard box to put down on the ground when we were waiting for trains at a cold platform. We usually give them the cold shoulder but they gave us the warm one.

◎Japanese people seen by foreigners
・http://twitter.com/kiritansu/status/46335057689980928

A foreigner's perspective. In a messy supermarket where there were dropped items all over the floor, Japanese customers quietly picked those things and stand in a line to pay for them. An old man gave his seat to a pregnant lady in a packed train shortly after the metro was reopened.

◎We are living in a great country
・http://twitter.com/tksksks/statuses/46403815397801984

This is an amazing country. People help each other. I've heard that some truck drivers are voluntarily carrying supplies to disaster-affected areas, and some yakuzas are helping traffic control in Tohoku region. In the past few years, many disappointing stories in the news discouraged us to be proud of being Japanese. But hey, Japan is a great country. I'm simply moved. Hang in there, Japan!

I can't believe what we are watching on TV.
The whole nation is covered in a quiet and sad emotion.

Fortunately, Tokyo was not greatly hit by the earthquakes, so the city is almost back to the normal condition.
Most trains are running in the metropolitan area of Tokyo. We have all we need for life, electricity, gas, water, food, telephone, the Internet, etc.

We deeply appreciate all your concern and sympathy for Japan. It makes us strong to receive so many warm messages from the world and to know that we are not alone.

There are still many foreign tourists, I guess, who are feeling lonely and worried because of the language barrier and lack of information.
What we can do is pretty limited, but as a staff team who have been working in this industry of inbound tourism, we sincerely feel sympathy for all those foreign travelers who are stuck in this country.

If you need help, please let us know. We at least have ways to find information about flights, transportation, etc.
We are all on Facebook, where everybody will see your posts and help you.

Again, thank you guys all for being with us and giving us lots of warm messages.