Please click here to more details about “Heart Terrace Kanazawa Hakkei”　       

At the ground floor is a storage space for things like surfboards and bicycles.

Fine wood deck is at the rooftop. The owner plans to place benches and tables in the near future. Major leisure activities of spring and summer such as barbeque and watching fireworks can be enjoyed in the house.

 

Start a new day with pleasant sunlight pouring into the living room. Big window at the back of the living room provides ample of sunlight to the breakfast table. Let yourself into the pouring sunlight and start a new day nice and fresh. You can always expand the room by opening the sliding door. At dinner time, relax and enjoy chit-chatting with share mates.

You can see in the picture that the living room is spacious. Have the table of 6 all by yourself when nobody is home.

Share your favorite magazines or DVDs with house members by placing them freely in the shelves.

These frames are supposed to place picture drawn by residents.

Not only painting but pictures taken by share mates are great for display.

This one is another lounge space of the house. This one is more stylishly designed.

TV with Blu-ray player. Enjoy your favorite movie during free time.

This interphone with monitor will make you feel safe whenever you are alone in the house.

Cook any dishes you like with fully equipped kitchen） Yakitori, Ramen, Bals… Although there are enough variety of restaurants near Kanazawa-Hakkei station, it’s pretty nice to try cooking on weekends. Spacious and fully equipped kitchen is great for cooking with your share mates and being taught of recommended recipes.

There is a huge dual door refrigerator and IH heater.

Basic items are ready to use, so you don’t feel inconvenient when cooking home-made dishes.

There are multi-functional microwave oven and toaster. You can cook sweets without any problem.

 

Gas cooking stove is equipped. When purchasing new cooking equipment, make sure it supports the gas system.

Simple but stylish. Private room with enough space Only JPY 30000 for 16.15㎡ room! Even more, a desk, chair, and closet is equipped in advance. The share house is both women and men friendly but no need to worry about laundries. There is washing pole in every room so that you can dry out your clothes without being seen by the opposite sex.

Take a minute to check out your everyday fashion with this big mirror on the wall set in every room.

You can easily create your personal space with curtain partition set in dormitories.

 

Kanazawa-Hakkei, a town of serene atmosphere. It is located at the western part of Yokohama. Loosen up a little by taking a walk along the seashore or enjoy water sports like surfing on weekends. Police stations and hospitals are within 3 minutes walk to support your safety and health. Calm and peaceful scenery of the town will make you feel relaxed after a long day of work.

“Want to ease my mind when off work, away from hustle and bustle of a big city”, “Accessibility to big cities is not negotiable”, and “Cannot choose between newly built house with bigger rooms and lower rent”. You can expect these three requests granted all at once at the Heart Terrace Kanazawa-Hakkei. Do you feel interested in starting a new heartful life here?

/Author: Kubota

「For more details of “Firsthouse Yokohama Aoba”」　       

Fresh town in Yokohama “Aobadai” The number of population in Yokohama is ranked in the first place in cities in Japan.The name of Yokohama makes you imagine the westernized city near sea. But this image is a part of Yokohama with tourist attractions such as Minato Mirai, Red Brick Warehouse, and China Town. Yokohama city is huge, and the atmosphere in the area of Yokohama which is the next Kawasaki city and Setagaya-ward in Tokyo will be different. Denenntoshi Line is popular as bed town due to the good access to Tokyo area. As the name of this city is “Aobadai” , there are lots of green and full of the fresh atmosphere you can feel as you walk in this town.
On the way to the property, you will get there by 10 min walking straight but if you feel it’s hard, I recommend using a bus. Thanks to the large traffic volume, you don’t need to wait for a bus coming. The season of shooting is winter. Unfortunately, I can’t show you the town with full of green but the leaves of ginkgo falling is also beautiful. You can feel four seasons here.

There is a big supermarket “LIFE” near the property. This is closer than a convenience store which is 2 min walk from the property.

Finally, this is the appearance of Firsthouse Yokohama Aoba. The landmark is the big signboard on the wall of appearance that people on the road unconsciously look at it.

 

Let’s get into here.

Since there are 50 rooms in this property, the entrance is wide enough.

There are rooms along this long vertical hallway in each floor. Let’s check the centerpiece of this property, the living room on the second floor!

 

3 common spaces in the lounge. The common spaces have been renovated last year. The outstanding change is the “floor”. The floor which influences the impression of the space was changed to distinctive floor tile of “ Herringbone”. “Herringbone” is the type of zigzag design of trees. It comes from the bone of fish “herring”. It has become the high space of the fashion sense that is different from the image of the house. In the lounge, there 3 common spaces, “dining”, “living room”, and “billiard space”

You can use authentic billiard table at anytime. See, they repapered the wall.

A table is surrounded by sofas. A big group can be watching movies and relaxing.

And the dining space is like terrace seats in a stylish café.

An island kitchen viewed from the dining space.

You can go to real outdoor terrace seats from the dining space and the billiard room.

A bending machine and food stockers in the living room.

Some residents are very good at Chalk Art.

You will feel at home very soon because events are held regularly here.

Your private time goes slowly The building used to be a company dormitory and the residential space is big enough. It is very common among the residents in a share house to spend most of their time in the own room, not in the common area. Another good point of share house is that you don’t need to prepare furniture by yourself. Every room in First house Yokohama-aoba has a bed, desk, chair, closet and refrigerator.

The lights are off now. All rooms face south. How sunny it is.

It is a very simple room in a good way. How would you bring your color?

Inside of the closet. If you are a fashion freak, you may feel it is cramped. Please bring another chest if you need. A balcony is shared by 2 rooms. You don’t need to worry about clothes’ smell after indoor drying. There also are dryers in common area for rainy day. A view from balcony and window. Streets in Yokohama has an aspect of a leafy and calm residential area.

Keep separated to share As a woman, you may be wondering how people use water surroundings? Firsthouse Yokohama-aoba has a women-only floor. Of course, there are women-only bathrooms and shower booths. Especially for women, you can use the beauty room on the 3rd floor. Differ from a common lounge on the 2nd floor, it has a taste of Bali, looks like a massage saloon where you will be healed.

Make-up in front of an extra large mirror in the morning.  Beauty room has 3 shower booths for women only. Don’t worry, gentlemen. There are 4oor. In comparison with beauty room for women, the rest room for men is very simple. Some residents brought a hammock and muscle training implements to use this space effectively. Bathroom on each floor.

What did you think? It was Firsthouse Yokohama-aoba, a share house managed by interwhao.

A big building of 50 residents is worthy to have various common spaces which help people to communicate. Interwhao features their events produced by the company. In the season of Halloween or Christmas, etc., they plan parties so that residents get together. There are some share houses in Yokohama area and so on, the residents from other share houses sometimes visit neighbor’s party. Interwhao produces a community for international exchange. Their share house is big enough to have great number of people and the chance of meeting people, cultural difference, sense of values in this big share house cannot be compared with small share house. What do you think about living renewed First house Yokohama-aoba and enjoy your new share house life?

 This is Jujo station north exit. Restaurants and cafes are around the rotary. From elders to students, various types of people seems to use the station. Several colleges stands near the area which brings lots of students to the town. It takes 9 minutes walk from station to the house.

This is why I started this introduction not from Higashijujo but from Jujo station. Please take a look at this shopping avenue called “Jujo Ginza shopping avenue”.

Shopping arcade with roof makes shopping easier on rainy days. Various shops lines on both sides; fish markets, apparel shops, and most of all, delicatessen shops are everywhere! Since it is surprisingly cheap, you definitely can enjoy eating around. Going through this arcade and another called “Fujimi Ginza Shopping Avenue”, there stands ARDEN Higashijujo along the main street.

The main road is pretty heavy in traffic. Look out on your both sides and cross the road.

A minute walk after turning right, you will find a building with blue line on the wall. It was completed in August and is anemic structured.

Here we are at ARDEN Higashijujo and this is share ambassodor Mai. She will be our guide.

The door is self-locking and opens with key cards. Now, let’s take a look inside.

This is the entrance. The building faces the main street, but sound insulating door prevents the noise outside from disturbing you.

The building is 5 stories high, with living room at 3rd floor and private rooms on others.

Running up to the living room on the 3rd floor, our priority interest!

Here we are, at the 3rd. We are cutting out of breath… Ready to see the inside?

What should we call this, perhaps a cafe living room? The room is filled with wood, from flooring to the furniture,  making warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Is it because they chose the unassertive aged taste furnitures, the room is both new but vintage. The comfortness are brought to the place with these styled furnitures and it harmonizes perfectly in spite of the newness.

This floor is made from three parts, kitchen, dining, and living room. Let’s take a careful look at the furniture of the living and dining rooms. 

Sofa placed surrounding the low table and TV. One is firm leather-like sofa and another is low repulsion sofa. It looks like the ones at the Tsutaya electric store, both comfortable enough to meet your expectations.

Want to enjoy TV with high definition images and good audio equipments? Lucky for movie lovers, the house equips theatre system. Great sounds will take you into the story on screen.

Small goods are keys to make the room look like a cafe. Artificial plants are placed everywhere, giving the natural scent to the room. Owner’s good taste of coordinating colors and small goods blushes up the design.  

Two tables are set in the dining room. One is a big square shaped and one is smaller round table. They seem to match well even though the difference.

8 people can sit around the big table. How about a toast, coffee, and scramble eggs in the morning? Pastas and meat dishes will be perfect for the table.

Antique styled chairs are slightly different from one another. Not many share houses pay attention to details. 

Let’s take a look at the kitchen.

Island kitchen and fine range food you see first entering the room, will give big impression to the ones visiting the property. 

There is enough space for people to gather and cook at the same time, very convenient during events and parties. There are private food storage boxes just aside from the kitchen. You can store your personal spices and dried foods.

Two mini kitchens are at the back. For simple procedure, you can use here to avoid the crowdness at the main kitchen.

What’s your opinion about sharing space of ARDEN Higashijujo? Now, let’s move on to the private rooms.

We’ll check out the room at the left side, room 206.

All rooms are either 10㎡ or 11㎡ big. I felt no big difference between two. 

For some rooms, there’s enough sunlight pouring in during the daytime. Of course, windows and doors are soundproofed.

One of the good thing about the share house is that basic furnitures are already been set. Rooms in ARDEN Higashijujo are completed with refrigerator. closet, bed, table, and chair. 

Bathrooms are on every floor.

At the very back of the bathroom, there is a balcony. Opening the door, you will see the main street. At this time of the season, sun comes straight up at the front of the room, providing shining sunlight.

Sky was crystal clear on the day of shooting. Look carefully and you will find a tiny Tokyo Sky Tree far ahead.

Getting back to the facility instruction. This is the very top of the building, with roof top balcony. Water facility is all gathered on this floor, including laundry machines.

Great location to dry your laundry on a sunny day like this.

How did you like it? The share house we introduced to you today is ARDEN Higashijujo run by Share Style Inc. The ARDEN series releases new property every year. Especially this year, three property was brought to the market; ARDEN Higashi Shinjuku, ARDEN Fujigaoka built in “Fujigaoka”, the town in Yokohama city Kanagawa prefecture, and ARDEN Higashijujo we introduced today.  

How less stressful can we make our lives depends on the house itself and the distance from your house to the place where you spend most of your daytime. Newly built ARDEN Higashijujo may be a perfect fit for some of you from those perspective, due to the accessibility to major cities such as Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Shibuya.

You need to feel relaxed in the house where you spend time almost every day. ARDEN may be a good choice for you with comfortable cafe living room with the concept of New ✖︎ Vintage.

/Author: Inamine 

Share ambassodor / Mai

Moved to Tokyo when entering college. She has won Grand prix in MissCampusCollection 2017 tokyo and was a semi finalist of TGA17 and have been working as a model. Now, she joins us as a share ambassador to introduce the living at share houses. Twitter account : @0525_9

 Aoba-ku is known as one of the nicest residence district in Kanagawa prefecture. As you can see in the picture above, the trees rowed in front of the station and the streets are neatly trimmed. When the season changes, the leaves will turn into yellow. You will feel the season passing by. 

8 minutes walk from the Fujigaoka station, there stands a building with totally different atmosphere from other houses. It is build on the slope from the lower part of the road. The pictures are the house’s entrance. On the day of shooting, it was raining and the environment of bamboo bushes made the building look shady but it actually fits perfect for the design.

In the night time, when the whole town darkens, ARDEN Fujigaoka outstands from others dramatically. It may sound childish, but it looks “cooler” at night.

Along with the beauty, it’s so picturesque. This is Share ambassador Mai, the image girl of ARDEN series. Let’s join her entering the house!

By opening the first door of the entrance, you will find mailing boxes. Mailman can drop off your package in one of the vacant mail boxes when you’re absent.
Moving on to the second auto lock door.

Surprising entrance looking like the one in luxury apartments. At first glance of this view, you will fall in love with ARDEN Fujigaoka.

The unique ceiling extending diagonally has skylight which at the daytime will provide enough sunlight in the room. With full-length mirror, you can check your appearance before going out. 

Considering that it’s contiguity with entrance, there seems to be few residents using the space. But looking at the bright side, this may become your private space of your own.

I’m getting more and more excited! You have to take off your shoes when entering the house, so put on the slippers and let’s get into it! 

Shoes cases lined up for 40 households.

There are two boxes for each rooms, one small and one big. For example you can put one boots on the upper shelf and four low cut shoes on the lower.

Actually, the entrance we entered is located on the third floor. Since ARDEN Fujigaoka is built on a slope, third floor is the share space and entrance, second and first floor will be the basin and main living room. (There are few rooms up on the third floor, too.)

Let’s take a step into the main lounge, one of the three common spaces.

Calm and tranquil design with lots of wood used for the furnitures. Adding the fake greenery makes all the ARDEN series look like the fashionable cafe.

Speaking of ARDEN series, English lesson “English Activity” held on a monthly basis is famous. It is not anything serious, think it as a communicating occasion brought to you by owners of the house with entertainment of drinking and playing games.  

Further into the main lounge, there’s a relaxation room with small separated seating area and a hammock.

The stand alone hammock is durable with three people sitting on it at the same time. You can let your body sink in.

The low table at the small separated seating area will turn into kotatsu. It is a necessary item for winter seasons coming up. You may not be able to escape from the comfortableness at the lounge space. 

Moving on to the second common space, the dining kitchen!

Chic design for adult suits the ARDEN style. What kind of conversation will be heard at the dining table for maximum of 12 people? Conversation starts naturally by enjoying food together.

Every dining chair for ARDEN series are slightly different in its’ designs. Even so, the balance is well preserved, thanks to the sense of the owners. 

The designs of the furnitures are quite brilliant. Cabinet to put mug cups and glasses is made from wood in order to match the room’s scenery.

Looking from the different angle, you will find a kitchen besides the dining space. This partition will avoid the exposure of the kitchen from the dining room when cooking.

The question is, wouldn’t the kitchen be crowded with 40 residents sharing one space? Well, it may be surprising to find out that it can be managed since everyone has slightly different lifestyles. Plus, two mini kitchens are available behind the main one which ables three people to cook at the same time.

Safety is the priority especially with lots of people living together. For example, they adopt IH instead of gas to avoid fire.

Let’s take a look at the last of three common spaces, the library.

Compact space with comfort. Pendant lights and spot lights provide enough brightness for reading.

Enjoying communicating with your share mates in the lounge or dining kitchen is pleasant but you may also want privacy once in a while. It is the time when you may find your place at the library. Select the room you spend your time by purpose and you will sure manage to ease your nerves.

There was a counter at the corner. Using PC under WiFi environment with cup of coffee by your side, that’s a kind of scene you may encounter at the cafe in town.

What’s your opinion for the three common spaces?
Now, let us introduce you the basin, shower rooms, restrooms, and laundry rooms you use on daily basis.

This room on the third floor is completed with shower, restroom, laundry, and basin. There are basins at each floor.

Toilet with bidet and heated seat functions are fully equipped.  No need to endure the cold and small seat like you had in your 1 room apartment.

Shower boothes are 8 in total. Cloth dryer will cost you a coin, but laundry machine is free to use.

There are 3 bathrooms with tubs besides 8 shower rooms. It is good to have bathtub filled with hot water in this time of the year. 

You all women must be concerned about the usage of the bathrooms, but don’t worry, the bathrooms are separated by gender.

This is the living room located on the second floor right down from the third floor. Finally, let’s take a look at the private rooms.

The building is once a company housing. This means that it was a dormitory which explains this nostalgic atmosphere. 

One room is 12㎡ big, enough for a person to live. The room consists of desk, chair, bed, and refrigerator.

The big feature is that this room has plenty of storages. It is pretty common design in the older days, but this will be enough space to put all your stuffs. There are wall storages and 1.7㎡ wide closet.

How did you like it? The share house that we introduced to you today was a new residence ARDEN Fujigaoka run by Share Style Inc. 

Choose which common space to spend your day according to your condition. If you feel like talking to people, go to a living room or dining kitchen. When you decide to work, read, or focus on your private time, choose library. By selecting the room based on the purpose or usage, it will sure make it possible to cherish both your own and others’ time at the house.

Imagine how much it takes for you to live in a apartment with this scale of living room. Don’t give up just yet. It is possible for your “living in the big house” dream come true by selecting these kind of housing. The choice is yours.

/Author: Inamine 

Share ambassodor / Mai

Moved to Tokyo when entering college. She has won Grand prix in MissCampusCollection 2017 tokyo and was a semi finalist of TGA17 and have been working as a model. Now, she joins us as a share ambassador to introduce the living at share houses. Twitter account : @0525_9

Please click here for more information of the Kizunaya share house –Global HUB-.　   

New generation typed share house is a renovated apartment. In most cases, share houses are renovation of stand-alone house or company house, but this one is different. This share house is renovation of several rooms of apartment and utilizes the 1 floor space as its living room, which used to be a gathering space for all apartment residents. There are several rooms for people to share as it can provide living space for up to 52 residents in total. The nearest station Makuhari Hongou in Chiba prefecture is close to central part of Tokyo so you may commute without a big problem. If you take the Soubu line, it takes about 40 minutes to Akibahara station, and 35 minutes to Tokyo station. Good news for workers commuting near Chiba station, it only takes 13 minutes to get there.
The entrance looks just like an ordinary apartment. Share house residents will be going through here. You may realize how big the share house is by looking at the number of mailboxes set for each rooms. There are secured mailbox for bigger packages that makes it possible for you to receive products you shopped online whenever you like.
Furthermore, rental bicycle for each 52 residents are provided for free. No need to worry when going shopping for daily products or going near the station. Check out another unique service. At the parking lot, you will find vehicles of Times car share system. It only takes few procedures to use them. It will be very convenient for short trips with your share mates. After entering the entrance, you will find hallway often seen in apartments. There will be two rooms and 1 dormitory for two people to share in one household, so it can take up to 4 people.  Enough explanation for the appearance, let’s move on to the sharing space. Then we’ll take a look at the individual rooms.
Starting with dining kitchen where you can get to know each other. Pendant light hanging from the wall, picture in the frame, and herringbone flooring makes the room look classic and elegant. This is dining room. Gathering space for every one to enjoy eating. Eating together has power to naturally start conversation with each other. Especially when it comes to the Kizunaya share house group, there will be “cooking party” held occasionally which brings residents together and creating connections.
Kizunaya group’s familiar theme “Seeing the world by cooking” is of course adopted here at the “cooking party”. Residents will be making various dishes according to the theme at this very place of 80 square meters big dining room.  Enough space for the kitchen. I can imagine preparing the meal with share mates.
Recently, party was held to celebrate the opening. Events like “traveling around the world through beer” or “World-wide style takoyaki party” may be fresh in our minds. These were held at other share house of Kizunaya group. Without understanding others’ language, everyone has some sort of interest in foods. Start a conversation by introducing your home country’s traditional dishes or local specialties and you may get along just fine. Comfortable living rooms you can choose as you like.  Global HUB has separated living room a little away from the bigger one. Imagine people watching movie on the big screen, playing games, reading books, or netsurfing on their phones. The living room still can be connected with aisle to the kitchen so you can use the space for gathering events. By stepping back and seeing the bigger picture, you may realize how vast the room is.  The isle leading to the kitchen is utilized as mini living room. The layout is quite different from ordinary rental apartments with kitchen, living room, and dining room all squeezed together. It even looks like a fine office. Standing in front of the sofa are wall-to-wall bookshelves. The lineup was not substantial yet when shooting, but I assume that there will be worldwide storybooks and travel magazines on the shelves. 5 different theme and design for each 13 rooms of 3LDK. You can pick one from different county inspired designs. The layout is accordance to the original apartment. The room is divided into two dependent rooms and one dormitory typed room for 2 people to share. It is more of a gathering of small share houses than one big share house. Every room has living room, kitchen, and bathroom so you can complete your life without going to the main living room or main kitchen, if you’re not in a mood.  Resort-like room makes you feel like you’re staying at the villa in Bali. Impression turns one-eighty for this cool room imaging Italy. American vintage style room with red brick designed paper walls and chic black flooring. Here is a feminine room with the atmosphere of apartment in Paris.
Every dormitory is similar to each other. They consist of wide storage space and window with balcony; the size seems big for dormitory. As you can see, these are what two private rooms look like. This simple room has enough storage for loaded stuff.
Let’s go take a look at the kitchen. Though it seems quiet tight compared to the main living room, it’s not inconvenient like the type of kitchen usually set in the 1R apartment. Finally, this is the bathroom with washbasin, laundry machine, and bathtub.

How did you like it? We reported the “Kizunaya share house –Global HUB-” run by Kizunabito Inc. The feature is that you can retain your privacy according to the wide sharing space, thanks to the size of the house. You are able to spend your free time wherever and whenever you want.

There are two positive aspects of the Kizunaya share house; first is that there’s plenty of opportunity to communicate with foreigners without going abroad, and second is that you can widen your relationship with other Kizunaya group share house residents. I heard that foreigners from various countries have already joined as a member of the share house. Kizunaya share house has its’ share house in Tokyo, Chiba, Osaka, and Amami (in Kagoshima). Usually communication concludes in the share house you live in, but Kizunaya considers all area residents as one group. Therefore, gathering events of all areas are held once in a while and they say that this helps residents become like a relatives.

“Kizunaya share house –Global HUB-”, the attractive share house which enables people to interact with foreigners naturally in daily life and help you study as if you’re in abroad. Why don’t you take a chance to acquire international relation as part of your daily life?

/Author:inamine

For more information, click here.     

Tsurukawa station and the town’s scenery Both local and local-express train of Odakyu line stops at Tsurukawa station. By exchanging train at Shinyurigaoka station to rapid-express train bound for Shinjuku, you can get there in 31 minutes.
Around the station are various shops such as grocery stores, restaurants, electronic retail stores, hair salons and so on. You will find everything necessary for living. There is Tsurumi River right in front of the share house. You may find ducks and carps swimming, providing nature spirit you cannot find in the city life.

Newly built unique designer’s house After 9 minutes walk from the Tsurukawa station, there stands Chez toi Tsurukawa in the calm and peaceful residential area. Galvalume steel sheet, which is a metallic material, surrounds the house that gives stylish impression of the house.

The building is U-shaped and has stone floor patio at the center.

Chez toi Tsurukawa provides planter space for each inhabitant so that they can enjoy planting of their own.

Yes, this is a pizza oven. Don’t say that you’re not a frequent pizza cooker! You may be surprised by the fact that there are plenty of recipes that can be made with pizza oven. You can reach out easily for outdoor experiences.

You may enjoy foil-roasted vegetables harvested in your garden with butter. This is a great tool for home chefs! For more cooking examples, please refer below website.

Looking up at the oven is owner’s Shiba inu named Kinako. The house owner brings her sometimes to the house. She’s very quiet and does not hound at all. Green curtain at the back is a vine of bitter gourd.

Harmonizing with nature. Living floor with open ceiling. First opening the door, you will see the LDK sharing space. As you can see, the wall is covered with windows that enable serving enough lights naturally. Pay attention to the floor and you may notice that it is covered with stones same as the ones in the patio. Share space is basically spent with shoes on. This has effect on integrating outside and inside. It is quiet different way of thinking from Japan’s separating outside and inside by taking shoes off at the doorway.

View of the living room seen diagonally from the entrance. 

You can open the glass door this wide!

Both I-shaped and island type kitchen are available! The main island type kitchen with counter is found near the entrance. You can freely move around the kitchen that enables multiple of people to use at the same time. In addition, you may not see in the picture, but there is I-shaped kitchen set along the wall on the further space behind the dining table. Use wisely and you can avoid congestion during cooking time.

Beside the counter is a storage space where you can put all the spices.

I-shaped system kitchen is simple and useable!

Daily life should be simple and functional. The room of yours should be customized as you like for comfortable daily life. Each room has a slight difference in their sizes (including closets) and shapes. Choose one of your favorites before it’s too late!

There are 4 rooms for individuals on the 1st floor and 6 more on the 2nd.

At one of the sides on the 2nd floor are washbasin, bathroom, and laundry machine.

As a whole, I had an impression that the ceiling is high. The highest spot is at the room 204, with 3 meter tall ceiling.

Surrounding the window is a wash-line pole. Sunray will dry your laundries.

On the 2nd floor, at one of the living space is a washbasin and bathroom.

2 Laundry machines are free to use.

On the 1st floor, there’s one each of shower room and bathroom.

What is a life like here at the “International Share house” Chez toi Tsurukawa? This concept itself is a popular one that many other share houses adopt. The question is what is the difference of this house compared to others? We asked the operator about the details of adopting the concept and policies to be applied here. (Comments of the operator is below)

~Details of adopting the concept~ I have been planning on running a share house business with a theme of International relations for a long time. Since there’s a lot of similar share house at the market, I was searching for an answer for the suitable and brimful characteristic style for my very own share house. That’s when I met managers who are exercising business in South East Asia and had opportunity to ask about them of needs when they visit Japan. Most foreigners who just arrived to Japan cannot afford 50,000-60,000 JPY for rent so they only can choose to stay at the crowded sharing apartments (hostels). Moreover, although they can find jobs that doesn’t require Japanese ability, it also means that they are loosing the chance to learn. I came to think that it would be great if there were share houses where people like them can learn both Japanese and our culture by interacting with Japanese residents. It is reversal thinking from the most of the share houses that adopt “International relation” for their concept. Therefore, we basically request all the foreigners to speak Japanese in the house.

~Actions to be exercised in the house~ We plan to adjust the ratio of the foreign residence to 40-50%.  For those from other countries, we consider providing Japanese class 1 hour a week. We have tie-up with retailer providing Japanese lessons towards foreigners, so residents here have opportunity to take classes from the professionals. Lesson is conducted by using web-camera set to living room’s television. The contents are planed to be fun and not too serious like script or work style. We would like to introduce cultural aspects of our daily life that is not taught in ordinary Japanese education system. Then you can expect Japanese people to be surprised how well you know about our culture!

/Author:Inamine

Details for ‘Share-residence Aobadai’ Here　/  Promotional Video for ‘Share-residence Aobadai’ here  

Comfortable living without trying too hard Share-residence Aobadai, housing a total of 92 households, looks more like your average Japanese apartment complex than a sharehouse. From the station to the actual house, there’s a single road that boasts various stores, from a Tokyuu store to an Ion supermarket, and even a large pharmacy right next door to the sharehouse. You’re pretty likely to buy your food supplies near the front of the station, and your day to day supplies from the pharmacy.
Here we have the front of Aobadai station. There are multiple universities nearby so there are plenty of young people in the area.   Well then! We’ve come to visit the sharehouse with the Share Ambassador Miss Rin! Rin is a top blogger in Taiwan.
Mr. Fujii of the management staff came to greet us at the front door. The front entrance is decorated with a really awesome logo. We walked through the auto-lock double doors inside.
Take a full-scale training lounge and make it your everyday There’s no doubt about it that the lounge where innumerable training bikes are installed for training and display surprises guests who’ve stepped in. Since the lounge is just outside the entrance, you’re likely to see somebody training on one of the bikes everyday, and who knows! Maybe something will stir up inside of you, inspiring you saying ‘I should try it too!’! It’s definitely a space worthy of being the main face of a sharehouse based on the concept of triathlons.
The dim lighting gives off fancy, refined feelings in the room. There’s a road bike sat in the middle of the other bikes, but there’s something different about it…

Challenge the World’s Cyclists with the newest item popular overseas! You have the opportunity to train with the ‘ZWIFT’, a road bike that’s currently really popular overseas. When you actually try out the bike, you’ll see that an avatar on the display screen that, from the training room, makes it feel like your cycling outside in the real world. Distance and speed are, of course, monitored on the screen as well, and internet connection allows you to race other ZWIST players online in real time. Technology like this could be really useful in snowy regions where outdoor racing is difficult.

We had them give ZWIFT a try for us.

The display above the handles showed your current speed, distance and even current incline levels very realistically.

The rear wheel has been remodeled to ZWIFT specifications, and the required force needed to push the pedals forward changes based on the inclination displayed on the screen.

Rest after a training session is also important, so give a massage chair a try when you’re finished to relax.

There’s nothing like this oxygen capsule! On top of helping with fatigue, it also aids in anti-aging and is recommended for post-workout recovery.

Cycling exercises to music! It’s common knowledge that the New York based cycling exercises have found their way to inner-cities and even studios in recent years, but in this day in age who could have imagined it being accessible at home… “I don’t feel like going all the way to the gym!” Is now no longer an excuse! (haha)

Pedalling on your own is fine, but working out with everyone adds another level of excitement!

The photo is of the opening event. The trainers came out and completed a jam-packed lesson lasting forty-five minutes. It’s really tough, but the feeling of achievement after you’re finished makes it all worth it.

People who can DJ may have an environment to practice at home.

After introducing USEN, there’s always some kind of background music.

Next up is the living room of Share-residence Aobadai where the residents all hang out.

A calming and warm wooden living room From the floors to the wall and even the furniture, the living room mainly utilizes wooden material, giving off a warm atmosphere. While some may feel that the living room is too small to fit 92 people, the reality is everybody has their own lifestyles and schedules, so it’s very uncommon for the living room to be filled to the brim.

The living room is set with a music room as well, and because there’s a bit of distance between the two rooms you can practice as much as you want.

A kitchen to be proud of can be found here. The silver kitchen is like one you’d see in a restaurant. 

The firepower is great! With such professional facilities at hand, you might end up wanting to try out new dishes that you’d never thought to before. Next, let’s take a look at this suspicious neon sign we found that connects the lounge and the rooms. ‘Karaoke snack-bar’ is displayed on the sign, but this is a sharehouse; definitely not a bar… right?

Snack “Limelight” We stand corrected! In the sharehouse sits a snack-bar of the same quality as a real one.

Who could be standing on the other side of the counter? It’d be funny if one of the residents was the ‘bar mama’. When you think of snack-bars, you think of karaoke! By inserting coins, you can enjoy some karaoke using Live DAM.

A good idea of what residents want This sharehouse was originally renovated from a company dorm. When you think of your average sharehouse, you think of a place where the rooms are private, but the bathrooms, kitchen and the so on are all shared, placing a wall in front of many people who may be nervous about moving in. However, Share-residence Aobadai boasts a bathroom, bathtub and kitchen in each private room, giving you a partial single-living experience.

For each room, you walk down the outdoor walkway. Now, let’s check out the rooms! Each room is set up like this. The appearance isn’t much different from a one-room apartment. Every room has a balcony like this. Near the entrance is a mini-kitchen, and simple recipes can be easily made in your room. The toilet/bathtub mix is highly reviewed amongst the ladies in the sharehouse.

/Author:Inamine

 Up to 30 residents can live here. Entrance is broad enough so you won’t feel stressed out with many people going in and out.

Near the entrance, there’s a concierge’s room which no longer has been used. It is the remains from the company dormitory. Please don’t enter since it has not been used for some time.

The isle on the right leads to living room. The sign says “Reception is here”. Private viewing event was held on the day we visited.

This is the photo of the living space we shot before the event. It’s neat and very clean since it has just opened.

At the center, symbolic tree of tabicco is standing, growing straight to the ceiling. Pictures of memories here at tabicco is planned to be tied to the tree branch. The idea to resemble pictures as a leaf is very unique!

There hangs a hammock besides the tree.

The room looks bigger from this angle. You can go to the kitchen straight from the living room.

There are 3 cooking stoves and 2 IH plates. You probably won’t feel inconvenient event when the timing of cooking overlaps.

A red pot looks nice in the kitchen. Good thing about share house is that there’s full line up of dishes and cooking items needed for living.

From now on, we would like to follow the people gathered for private viewing.

Seeing it for the first time, they seem to be fully interested at the share house.

People are looking into this shower box. Compared to the ordinary share house, you may get the impression that the dressing space is bigger.

Don’t worry! There is bathtub for those who want to soak in.

Near the entrance is a bathroom exclusively for women.

This is it! The bathtub is wide enough to fit 2-3 people at the same time. Big bath is pleasant to take every day.

Enough viewing the 1st floor, let’s move on to the second floor of private rooms.

By climbing up the steps with sunlight pouring

you will get to the room with both bathroom and laundry, and the isle that leads to private rooms.

The bathroom has bidet function and a heated seat!

The layouts are similar on the third floor but space with bathroom is exclusively for women. Slightly special than the second floor!

It’s great to have a big mirror when putting on a make-up

The place has 2 washing machines on the third floor.

And this is the room of the tabicco.

This room is designed as a model room for women.

The wall paper differs in each room so you can pick one of your favorite as long as it’s vacant.

Every room has a closet this big. No worries for people with lots of belongings.

In addition to 3 floors of spaces, there’s rooftop free to use.

Above your head you can see beautiful blue sky of Osaka. They covered up the floor with wood tiles recently. You may enjoy BBQ with your share house family.

Just about the time we finished looking around the tabicco, setting for the event has been completed in the living room.

Beer bottles are lined up. The brands are from all over the world. I see, it’s to travel the world through beer.

Like a wine list, there were lists of the names and character of each beer. You may understand the feeling of drinking local beer when traveling.

The meal served was combination of Osaka and the countries around the world. The base is Takoyaki, the Osaka’s soul food, and there combined different country’s appetites. They were all so delicious and had sold out in a blink of an eye.

Confirming that everybody took a bottle of a beer, along with the toast of manager, opening party begins!

Since some were rare brands, the beer sold out fast, too.

People are strangers but most of them seemed to be friendly. Maybe travel lovers tend to have similar characters.

Taking a seat in the living room, chitchat goes on.

Some guests brought gifts (consumable goods like tissues and detergents) for the opening celebration. Things are very useful at the share house!

At the party, there was a live painting performance.

Painting the message to memorialize the opening of tabicco in a smooth manner with BGM.,

Finished! We took a picture together with the completed work. I didn’t notice there were this many people participating. Party went on with everyone smiling from the beginning to the end.

How did you like it? The share house “tabicco” we introduced today is run by Kizunabito Inc.

They use the best of their knowledge of running 4 share houses of their own brand to build the first share house in Osaka of 30 residents. The core concept of the Kizunaya brand is “Finding second family”. They throw events that enable to deepen the relationship between residents. At tabicco, they plan events with theme of travel as it is the concept of the share house. As for now, it is due to invite teacher every month to hold a cooking class with theme of dishes around the world. You may encounter recipes with less chance of learning and eating without this opportunity. This could make you interested in various countries via food.

For those with great experience in traveling or even beginners, tabicco will provide you a chance to meet people with same interest and further more “making family-like friends”. Travel around the world starts here at tabicco. How about traveling with your share house family?

/Author: Inamine