Appartamento intero in Ohanajaya 2-5-21, Tokyo

The top two floors of a wooden house in old-town Tokyo — 85 m², three bedrooms, its own kitchen and bathroom, and a balcony. Five minutes on foot to Ohanajaya station, fifteen minutes by train to central Tokyo, forty minutes to Narita airport without changing trains.

BUILT FROM WOOD, NOT PLASTERBOARD
The posts and joinery are hinoki (Japanese cypress) and red pine; the floors are solid timber; the walls are shikkui, the traditional Japanese lime plaster that regulates humidity on its own. On a warm day you can smell the cypress. It is a quiet, bright, tactile place to spend a few months — closer to a small Japanese house than to a serviced flat, because that is what it is.

SET UP FOR WORKING
Measured Wi-Fi of 1,047 Mbps, a 27-inch monitor, a proper desk and a real office chair, in a dedicated workspace. We are remote workers ourselves and built the setup we always wanted to find when travelling.

A KITCHEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY COOK IN
Three-burner gas range with a grill, dishwasher, full cookware, wine glasses, Japanese seasonings to experiment with. In-unit washing machine and dryer. A deep Japanese soaking tub. Individual air conditioning in each room. A 43-inch TV with Netflix, and a shelf of board games.

LAYOUT, AND WHAT IS DOWNSTAIRS
The second and third floors are yours — three bedrooms, your own kitchen, bathroom and toilet, behind a door that locks. The ground floor is a separate licensed guest apartment that we rent to short-stay visitors; it has its own kitchen, bath and toilet and no connection to your floors. You share only the entrance hall and the shoe storage, which does mean you will cross paths with people arriving and leaving with suitcases. We would rather you knew that before you book than discover it in week one. Everyone here keeps the same quiet hours, and in eleven years of hosting it has not been a problem. Your floors are reached by an internal staircase, which is narrow — worth knowing if you arrive with heavy luggage.

PETS ARE WELCOME
Tell us about yours when you enquire.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Katsushika is shitamachi — the low-rise, older, lived-in side of Tokyo, where family shops and daily life still set the rhythm. A lot of people who have moved to Japan from abroad live around here, and guests have told us the nearby mosque and the halal options made a real difference to their stay. The Arakawa riverbank is a short walk. You are close enough to central Tokyo to commute, and far enough that you get a whole house rather than a single room.

EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED
Electricity, gas, water, Wi-Fi and the final cleaning are all covered. Nothing extra is charged when you leave.

HOW THIS WORKS
This is a home you rent, not a serviced apartment. There is no housekeeping and no linen change during your stay — the place is yours and you look after it as you would your own. We hand over a cleaned, fully prepared home with starter supplies, and we answer messages within the hour if something breaks. One to six months suits thi...