Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

What's summer for you?
Summer = beach !?
I recommend some nice beaches in Japan today :)

If you have enough time and money, Okinawa is definitely the best to visit!

Okinawa is southen islands about 1,600 km away from Tokyo.
Especially, the small islands are great to relax, and the coral reef are amazing!!

The flight from Tokyo to Okinawa (main island) takes 2.5 hours, and costs about 33,000 yen (one way). Okinawa has many cheap hostels, budget hotels, and of cource gorgeous hotels as well ;)

OKINAWA >> http://www.okinawa-information.com/content/okinawa-beach-guide

If you have time, but not enough money to fly, I recommend Izu area which is the closest paradise from Tokyo!
Izu is a peninsula, and there're many beautiful beaches in the south part of it.
You can enjoy variety of marine sports such as diving, surfing, fishing, sea kayaking and so on.

If you take express trains, takes 2.5 hours from Tokyo, and costs about 7,000 yen (one way).
If you take local trains, takes 3.5 hours, and costs only 4,000 yen.

Izu is also known for hot spa.
Swim in the lovely beach, have sea food BBQ, and take hot spa! It would make you so much refreshed :)

IZU >> http://www.izu-kankou.or.jp/en/index.html

If you want to go for 1 day trip to lay down, or feel the sea breeze, Shonan beach would be nice.

It's just 1 hour ride on the train from Tokyo, and costs about 1,000 yen to get there. Near Kamakura, and nice to explore the city too.
Many cool beach houses are recently built in summer only, and they're having parties during the holiday =)
Yuigahama beach houses >> http://yuigahama.shonan-clip.jp/shops (sorry, only in Japanese)

Everyone, don't work too hard!
It's time for beaches ;D

''What is your blood type?''

Westerners might think that this question sounds a little bit creepy.
However, for Japanese people, blood types carry significance and are similar to horoscopes.
Each person with a certain blood type are commonly known to have specific
characteristics and traits.
There are four blood types: A, B, O and AB.
If you don't know your blood type, Japanese people will be shocked.

According to the blood type assessment,
A-type people are regarded as calm, polite, responsible, sensitive,

Type A Enoki

Type A Ebi

but also they are perfectionists, anxious, nervous and over cautions.

Type A Ryoko

B-type people are strong, creative, outgoing, optimistic, flexible,
more laid-back who do things at their own pace, but eccentric and selfish.

Type B Jack

O-type people are curious, generous, romantic and tolerant.

Type O Tomoe

Type O Johrel

Type O Naoto & Ben chan

They love to be the center of attention and appear very self confident.
They don''t always finish what they start.

AB-type people have both types of A and B, so they are shy and outgoing,

Tsuyoshi B side
They easily switch from one opposite to another.

Tsuyoshi A side
They are trustworthy and responsible, but can't handle it when too much is asked of them.

Most Japanese are type A while most Westerners are type O.

The reason why Japanese like linking blood types to personality is that
Japanese are group-oriented.
Japanese do not like to be isolated to do things differently from others.
They are fond to stick together: eating, working, or traveling in a group.
Being with people of the same ''blood'' gives them a kind of carefreeness and joy.

Are you getting interested knowing your blood type???

It was 35℃ in Tokyo today again... ahhhh
It's not the temperature to work!!

Yes! I'm going to beach for the escape from this heated Tokyo XD

Beach & Beer & BBQ & Beer&Beer !! lol
What a fantastic vacation♪ YAY!

This morning, I found the first 2 flowers in our hostel garden!

How pretty they are :)

Tsuyoshi planted some morning glory in May, and they finally come into flowers!
http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/blog/2010/06/sakura_hostel_garden.html

June 1st

June 21st

Now they are this tall, and make us feel cool with the green wall.

We will have blue, red and pink flowers of morning glory, and yellow one of bitter gourd here.
I'm looking forward to this wall becomes full of colorful flowers :)

In Japan, we grow some morning glory in a pot each and every kids at elementary school.
They take it home on the last day, and grow them at home during the summer holiday. It's one of the summer homework.

It seems like begging thier summer holiday at most schools in Japan.
Let's enjoy heated Tokyo summer!!

I'm so happy to be here on our 4th anniversary today!!
Time flies so fast. It's been 4 years since we opened. Can you believe it!?

Everything was new, and we created our hostel one by one at first. The reception looked like so empty or just too clean when we started here, didn't it?
Of course, we had a great team already though!

More than half of the member in the above photo left this hostel, and live in their new place :D
Do you remember all? I hope everyone is having a happy life!

And now, we have welcomed lots of guests from all over the world, and it became such a lovely hostel☆

Thanks so much to you all for sharing the special time with us at Sakura Hostel Asakusa.
And you who are coming to Tokyo sometime in the future, we're very much looking forward to seeing you =D

We're still growing up! Keep your eyes on Sakura Hostel Asakusa ;)

Love you all xxxxx

Do you know there is a famous pudding shop in Asakusa which appeared in guidebooks, magazines and TV show many times.

"Asakusa Silk Pudding (浅草シルクプリン)" is just so yummy!
They have 9 flavors of pudding such as milk, black sesame, caramel, green tea, strawberry, coffee, cheese, chocolate and royal milk tea. What a tempting selection!

They stick to a material and the recipe, and the pudding is as smooth as silk, true to its name.

Why not try them!?

...　（￣▽￣）

Here it is!!

I had green tea flavor. If you're interested in Japan, you must know how Japanese people love Maccha, and this is the one you should try!

Jack liked his black sesame pudding very much. The sweet sauce at the bottom is the most delicious part!

The one Ryoko chose is "Premium Milk Pudding" which has the most rich taste and the most expensive one! (500 yen) Yeah, it was actually really good!

Oh boss, don't get me wrong! We are not goofing off at work. We had to eat them to recommend our guests this lovely Asakusa sweets =P

It's the 1st of July today! = summer now XD yay!

And time to announce 'The Most Visits from Last Month'!
It's was..... USA in June!!

About June.. The world cup spectacularly started on the 6th, and we saw lots of guests from all over the world just get crazy about this worldwide festival together!

Isn't it amazing!?
I just love it!

You didn't find your country in the list?
OK! Here is the all nationalities for June visitors at our hostel!

11: Mexico
12: Netherlands
13: Switzerland
14: Denmark
15: Singapore
16: Finland
17: Italy
18: Hong Kong
19: Philippine
20: China
21: Colombia
22: Ireland
23: Taiwan
24: Brazil
25: Malaysia
26: New Zealand
27: Israel
28: Portugal
29: Poland
30: Ukraine
31: Belgium
32: Greece
33: Russia
34: Argentina
35: New Caledonia
36: Austria
37: Cyprus
38: Norway
39: Turkey
40: Swaziland
41: Viet Nam
42: Czech
43: Hungary
44: Uzbekistan
45: Romania
46: Lesotho
47: Laos
48: India

That's all in June!!　What an international hostel we are =D
I'm so glad to meet many nice people every day, and share a special time together!

Still not in this list?
Then it's time for you to make the record. Come see us☆

Do you like beer? I love it especially in Summer!

We have many Beer Gardens open during summer season.
I just found an information of 'Neo Stall Village Super Night' on June 11th which looks so nice.

They usually appear at lunch time on weekdays there.

The colorful small cars are so cute☆ You'll see many people are waiting in a queue at each stalls as it is in a business town in a middle of Tokyo.

There will be live music, and 20 stalls selling food such as kebab, curry, tacos, noodles and of course BEER on Friday night!

One draft beer is 400 yen, but if you purchase a reuse cup for 800 yen there, you'll get 100 yen off for each beer =D
Let's hope it will be a nice warm (not too hot) evening on Friday!

Date: June 11th, 2010 (Fri)
Time: 6PM - 10PM
@ Tokyo International Forum [Access]

Tsuyoshi got national uniforms, and all staff wear them for FIFA world cup next week!!!

England!

Argentina!

Brazil!

Cameroon!

Portugal !

Spain!

Germany!

France!

We are waiting for your arrival with passionate heart.

As looking at our recent weblog, I just realized that there are pretty much photos of male staff, but not girls which is quite depressing... lol
I'm very very very much looking forward to seeing a pretty girl as our new coworker!
Let's hope her appearance soon☆

Are you excited about World Cup?

Let's watch the games together at our hostel, and have a party!

We have the matches schedule now.
Check it out, and don't miss your favorite games!

This is almost annual event at Sakura Hostel.
Tsuyoshi just started to grow morning glory. The seeds are the third generation!

He looks so happy to see their growing, doesn't he? :D

Today, he found the first leaves came out. They are so pretty!

We can't wait to see them bearing flowers in Summer. Gambare♪

Hello.
Today is the final day of "Sanja Matsuri"
So many people in Happi in Asakusa.

Too much !!

And I tried to take a picture of Mikoshi(portable shrines) for this blog.
But I could not find it.
Where is it ?
Are Men taking a rest now?

But, no problem.
I'm very happy because there are a lot of food stalls.

Taste is terrific !

When I came back to hostel, Tomoe was angry.
"Why didn't you take any pictures of Mikoshi ?"

I'm sorry.
Please forgive me, this is a present, Takoyaki(octopus dumpling) for you.

Do you know this beautiful singer?

Her name is Goldee.
We found her song on Youtube the next moment I fell in love with it!!
Click the photo!↓↓

It just makes me wish to fly to the Caribbean beach!

Guess how I found her.
Yeah! She was recently in Tokyo to take her new music video and stayed at our hostel!! =D

Goldee, thanks for staying with us!
I'm very much looking forward to seeing you in the new video ;)

It's Mother's Day tomorrow, on May 9th in Japan.

What special things do you do on Mother's Day?
On the day, many people give carnations to their mother.

So do I, I bought a potted carnation to give my mom tomorrow.
Isn't it pretty?

Thanks a lot mom :D

You can easily tell which country we welcomed people come from the most in April if you were here!

Yes! France was No.1!!

Special thanks to Nicolas Brun♪
It's always great to see you!
I believe we can see you again very soon :D

Merci beaucoup!

Danilo-san from Italy came back to our hostel for the first time in almost a year!
He brought some photos of staff taken at his last time stay. Thank you soo much, Danilo-san!
He is always smiling, and very very kind.

Danilo 2010

Danilo 2009

You must have changed the spectacle case in the past year!

We look forward to update your photo in 2011 again :D　
Take care for now☆

His T-shirt says "I don't speak Japanese."
You liar! I heard you were speaking very good Japanese!! :D

Harris from Colombia brought us some gift.
A pretty drawing from Colombia and sweets from Spain :D
We love them so much!
Muchas gracias!!

Check Harris's blog!
You find some cool photos of Tokyo on his website!!
http://conociendotokyo.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/donperrocc/sets/72157623914979262

You know what, I participated in a half marathon last Sunday!
"PARACUP" is a charlity marathon that is held every year since 2005 to help deprived children
all around the world.
http://www.paracup.info/index.html

One of my friends from high school, Ayako asked me to the marathon a few months ago,
and I just said "YES!" :D Not much training = I was so lazy, but I just wanted to try!

Me (left) and Ayako

There were 1,500 people in this race.
↓ Waiting for the start!

Running by Tamagawa River.
It was such a nice day for marathon!

↓ Many volunteers cheering the runners!
The board says "We can make it together". Yes, we can!

It was my first try to run such a long distance.
I found it is really hard, but running with many people, and the cheers of the volunteers gave me power,
and finally it was so much fun :D

I had a muscle ache soooo bad after, but now almost recovered.
Maybe I start runinng tomorrow again♪ not today.
Anyone wanna be my company next time? ;)

It's been a week since Yuri left the hostel. We had a farewell party for her last week at a cozy Korean restaurant in Asakusa.
It's very rare to get together and have dinner like we did last week.

We sure had a great time getting together outside of work.

We gave her dish sets as a wedding gift.

Last night, she sent us an email with a photo.

Look, she's already making use of our gift!　（＾o＾）/
The meal looks so good! I didn't know Yuri can cook.

Anyway, we are happy for her and hope that they have a great life together.
Come visit us anytime, Yuri, the staff and our guests are waiting for you☆☆

Welcome to Sakura Hostel Asakusa and thank you for keep reading this weblog!!

We, sakura sisters, are always welcoming people from all over the world♪

Dressed in matching uniforms today★

Tomoe(left), Tomo(middle) and Yuri(right) with big smiles:D

And all were wearing different colors.
Which one do you like?

I like Tomoe's turquoise blue:)

Sakura Family↓↓

All of us have the other two colors.

Tomoe watched a gorgeous sunset one day.

The view of sunset that Tomoe saw from one of our rooms.

It was so beautiful that she told me to go out and see it, too.
As I am one of the laziest persons in the world, it took me time to raise myself up from the chair.
It's already gone when I went outside to see it...., too late :'-(

As Tomo posted on the 9th, Tomoe was in Hawaii and just returned to work today:)
She is not so tanned as we've expected but looks very refreshed;)

We got some nice cookies and nuts from her♪

*Mahalo means thank you in Hawaii.

You won't see Tomoe for a week because she is in.....

in....

HAWAII?♪♪♪

She went to attend her friend's wedding and is enjoying her holidays in Hawaii. Nice!
Let's see how much she will be tanned when she's back.

Tomoe, don't forget to buy some Downy from there besides some sweets for Yuri.
See you in a week!

Moshi moshi, Jimmy speaking♪　　
　　　　　　　　　　　

Do you remember the names of our sakura (cherry) trees??

We named them "Satsuki" and "May" when they were planted two years ago.
I don't remember which is which, though.

They are in full bloom now but are still baby trees♪

You are NOT allow to smoke anywhere inside Sakura hostel.
It's gonna be a big problem if you smoke in your room and
activate a fire alarm system as this poster says...

Please come down for smoking at our terrace or in front of the entrance.
Thank you for your cooperation:)

One day I came here to work, I found some guns on the table.
Everytime guests leave something, it's gonna be our toys for a while.

Especially, Naoto...

If you are a football supporter, you should know we have a big match on 11th in Yokohama.
Japan VS Australia!!
More than half of our guests are now, from Australia and
they are members of Green and Gold Army(GG Army)

They are wearing this uniform all the time.↑↑
Tomoe said that there are many Australian around the town.

I'm not a big fan of a football but I hope Japan would win the game:P

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??

Anybody remembers him? He is one of our repeat Japanese customers.

Ko-san drop by the hostel yesterday to give Tomoe (Today is Tomoe's birthday☆) birthday presents. Look at this cute pink cake! Ko-san picked it for her because it is the color of "sakura."

Sorry, Yuri-chan. We ate it up while you were off :P We are keeping the wine unopened, though.

Our promotion movie has just completed!
That's very awesome☆
You can find me and Tomoe in this video;) or you may on this video, too?
I should have put on makeup more!

Please let us know how you feel★

One of our new Sakura members, Aki finised working for 1 and half month with us in Asakusa, and moved to our sister hotel, Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro yesterday.
He was attentive and friendly to everyone.
Oh, and I have to say that I loved the towels he folded up neatly :)

We'll miss you!

P.S. Aki, I hope we'll have a chance to work together again, and let's have some beer sometime soon☆

Sebastian and Hiromi. Kanpa?i

Our friend Sebastian who stayed in Sakura Hostel before brought yummy yummy German sausages from his going back home and served them for us. We enjoyed his dishes and such a nice beer♪ Oops! Hiromi and I were supposed to be at work then, weren't we? ；）

On Japanese traditional night, Tomoe played Noh.
The last time she played , I couldn't see it well because I needed to stay the front desk.
This time, I had my co-workers and I could watch her play very well.
Her performance drew the audience into her play and song...of course me,too.

If you would like to try to drink MACCHA, japanese powdered green tea, please ask me anytime.
I'm willing to entertain you☆

Hello, this is my first blog!
I'm Tomoe working here since Sakura Hostel Asakusa opened.
I really enjoy meeting lots of guests making us fun^^

We all staffs are happy to make your stay comfortable.
While you are staying here, you might hear that we say “ Okaeri ” (Japanese) to you when you come back from outside. It means like "Welcome back″and you can say "Tadaima″like "I'm home!″
How lovely if you feel at home with us!
I look forward to your "Tadaima″（＾-＾*）/

See you☆　(Matane!)