Living in Shinjuku for about a month

I was planning to come over in Japan for about a month and I was wondering what would be the best place to stay at that are not hostels or dormitories, but like not over 1000 CAD. Was thinking around 800-900 CAD max with taxes and extra costs included but 1000 CAD can be a good max too. Also if possible I'd like to stay around the Shinjuku area or another nice area in Tokyo �i^ƒÖ^�j

So if anyone has ideas please let me know�`

cheap
http://guesthousejapan.net/?pref=13&town=100&ward=104&locale=en

http://www.tokyocityapartments.net/

They have a lot of apartments in Shinjuku. No guarantor needed, gaijin-friendly, about the prices you're looking for, but i don't know if they'll allow you to stay for just one month....

skype them and find out. good luck!

Hi! I have more questions about my future travel experience now that my lodging is pretty much secured. What should I do about money once I'm in Japan? I'm pretty much sure that bringing over a bunch of 100k yen in paper would be a pretty bad idea... Now what would be your suggestions for that?

if you feel uncomfortable carrying that amount of money, get a visa card in your home country. deposit some of your money there and tell the bank you're going to be using it in japan so that they activate its use overseas.
then you'll be able to withdraw your money at any seven-eleven, family mart and even post office ATM.

Another option is to take traveler checks with you. they are easily exchangeable at any Sumitomo or UFJ bank.

just out of curiosity, where did you finally find a good apartment?

I spent over a month in Japan last year. I had a few traveller's cheques with me but also used my TD CanadaTrust card with no problems at all in the 7-11 ATMs.

I got more questions regarding your replies.

Do credit cards cost a lot of fees to withdraw money from overseas like that? On a side note, I heard Mastercard should be working now at seven-eleven.

Is it complicated to exchange traveller's check at Sumitomo and UFJ?

matcha, I took your advice and went with tokyocityapartments.net I wrote them a few times and they seemed really nice!

About the ATM, your card was a debit card right? Are any other debit cards from Canadian banks, such as Banque Nationale working there? Also does it mean that you need to have yen already in your account to withdraw the money?

By the way are February, March or April decent months to be in Japan?

Thanks for the answers, with them I get closer and closer to Japan.

"Also does it mean that you need to have yen already in your account to withdraw the money?"

Of course not! any foreign ATM give you the currency from THAT country!
whereas in the USA or Canada you ask for multiples of 20$, in Europe you ask for multiples of X Euros and in Japan you ask for multiples of 10 000 Yens. The ATM machine debit your own account in your bank back home with the equivalent in your home currency of the foreign money you got, depending on the exchange rate that day plus some service charge. .

Red frog answered your question about using your bank card. I only have a TD CanadaTrust account so I don't know specifically about Banque Nationale but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. You could always enquire at your bank since it would be a good idea to let them know you will be making overseas transactions so they don't lock your account for some reason.

As for months, I was there for the last part of February, all of March and the first part of April. I got to see the transition from winter to spring (and the cherry blossoms). If you can overlap the March and April that would be a great time to go.

Oh so we can just use the debit cards! I always thought it was somehow restricted to your home country, well now I know better thanks to you!

That was actually one of the things that I was wanting to see, so you pretty much gave me exactly when I'll be going!

I'll post again if I have further questions, thanks for being so nice!

Right, well I've come across a bit of a pinch, not that it's going to influence much yet, but I thought I'd get a JR pass for the MONTH, but it seems that they only last 3 weeks, and are the price of my apartment for the month too, which once more I can bear with..

Now I was wondering about what type of transportation deal I should really opt for, if I need to travel by metro and train a lot in around Tokyo areas and most likely go about one week in the Kyoto region. This seems to be the real last problem with this part of living around there for the month..

Thanks again for all that has been done to help me plan this out!

February is about the coldest month of the year, no leaves on the trees yet, although the plum blossom starts coming out. I would wait until at least mid-March, if not the beginning of April- things start getting a lot brighter and warmer and there are the cherry blossoms of course.

Ido013,

Please don't get the 21-day Japan Rail Pass (if that's what you mean) if you are staying in Tokyo most of the time. Japan Rail Pass makes sense only if you do (1) a lot of long distance travels (2) on Japan Rail (JR) trains.

When I say long-distance, for a 7-day JR Pass, a return trip between Tokyo - Osaka/Kyoto, and for a 14-day JR Pass, Tokyo - Osaka/Kyoto - HIroshima - back to Tokyo kind of long distance.

If you are staying in Tokyo for three weeks, going to Kyoto for a week, then get a SUICA prepaid card for use in Tokyo (on Metro subways, Toei subways, local JR trains, most of private railways, etc.). They are prepaid it's no "deal" in terms of discounts, but you can't spend that much on transportation *within* Tokyo anyway :) For the trip to Kyoto, take a night bus, and use local buses within Kyoto :)

Hey, my guest house is in Shinjuku!

Since we are looking for roommates right now, maybe you can come and check out the room?

When are you planning to come to Japan?

And how much in Japanese yen is 1000CAD?

I can ask your house manager for you if you want....

1000 CAD would give about 85,000 yen.
Thanks Kay, but I already have a place for a bit more, but it should be worth it, I got something that'll come to about 1200 CAD with everything without accounting the deposit since that's something you don't really pay. I'll probably waste the deposit anyways lol.

There are plenty of interesting guesthouses being rented at tokyocityapartments.net

Good luck with your search though, tell me if you find anything!

Man I'm so eager to go! XD

IDO013
Have a look at the very very top of the page. there is grey band with titles. Click on A-Z . there is lots of info there. under transportation then trains you will find all about various trains, how to go from here to.., all about the various trains passes, smart cards etc.
You will enjoy checking the 7-11 stores in Japan..they are all over the place.