Share House Bus Tour (Part 1)

Here we are in Shibuya, the starting point for our bus tour. Home to one of the largest terminal stations in Japan, Shibuya is known for its fashion and youth culture—a perfect place to bring young people together for the start of our tour. What's that? Shibuya is close to our office you say? Why that's a silly reason for picking this place to start our tour...

We decided to arrive early to greet everyone, but to our surprise the bus was already there waiting for us.

Not only was the bus early, but three lovely assistants from Urban also managed to beat us to the punch.

We were on pins and needles waiting for participants to arrive, and as luck would have it, the clouds were looking dreadfully heavy that morning. The last thing we wanted to think about was rain.

Thankfully everyone arrived safe, sound, and more importantly, dry! And so we were off to our first destination, just a 30 minute drive from Shibuya.

Just a six minute walk from Omorimachi Station, our first stop was Couri018 Omori Higashi. The perfect place for those who love sports or just staying fit, you'll find a great park for running, a tennis club, basketball court, and even a pool, all within walking distance or a light bike ride away. This was actually the house's opening, so we were fortunate enough to be its first visitors.

Being the first to take a look at the house, everyone rushed into the house excitedly.

As we all gathered inside and settled down, we were greeted by Share Company staff members, the owners of the house. They provided us with pamphlets and told us about the house's finer points as well as explained the management system.

Everyone was trying their best to pay attention to the presentation by Share Company, but it was too easy to be distracted by the stylish accommodations.

With the presentation over, they were free to peruse to premises. Everyone quickly scattered to inspect every inch of the house.

With everyone off on their own adventures, I had a little time to take a look around myself. Here we have the lounge. The room has great lighting, and with all those comfortable looking seats and cushions, I could relax in here all day.

It's definitely been a while since I've seen such a spacious and stylish looking share house.

Take a look at this lamp for instance. When's the last time you've seen one of these outside of a television drama? They've certainly pulled out all the stops with this place.

Not too far from the living room area is the open kitchen. The counter top and stools make this the perfect mini-bar.

Since this is opening day, taking a peek at the rooms was no problem. They're all private rooms, with a simple yet comfortable layout.

The room selection has a bit of variety, as you can see from this room with it's high ceiling and loft.

I managed to catch some of the girls chatting it up in the living room, and you'd think they already moved in. Just think, if you decided to move in, this could be you having such a great time.

They hadn't noticed me yet, so I took another shot, and it looks like the conversation has gotten a bit more serious. Perhaps they're talking about moving in?

Here's a closer look at that kitchen counter I showed you earlier. Can you imagine sitting here, laughing it up with your friends while they cook... then stealing a bite from over the counter?

They caught me trying to steal another picture of them, but they were nice enough to strike fun poses. Incidentally, this shot gives you a good idea of how many people can fit in one of the private room lofts.

The last shot of the house I took was the balcony, but alas, the view wasn't quite as breathtaking as I thought, but still it's a nice spot to get some fresh air.

Although the house was officially open that day, we weren't allowed to stay and start living there, so we decided to load up onto the bus and head to the second house.

Our next destination is 「Connect House Ikegami」, just a seven minute walk from Ikegami Station. This house was founded on the concept of bringing together entrepreneurs. If you're looking to run your own business or open up your own store, this is the perfect place to be.

Here's the entrance, with individual mail boxes for every resident.

One interesting thing about this share house, is the use of several lounge areas. For every three rooms, there is a share lounge area complete with mini-kitchen.

The rooms all come with a bed and ample storage space, so even with just one suitcase you can move in right away without any problems.

Here's one of the finer points of the share house—the seminar room! Connect House Ikegami is often host to seminars held by professionals from a variety of industries.

The seminar room also includes a professional grade kitchen. You can be sure that any events that take place here will be well catered.

As a special treat for our visit today, the owner prepared a veritable bevy of ingredients for us to cook authentic Italian cuisine.

Our cooking teacher for the day was one of the share house residents, who plans to open his own restaurant. They definitely planned to put their professional kitchen to use.

These fresh vegetables were used for appetizers. Don't they look delicious?

There was cutting, cutting, and even more cutting! They were then boiled in preparation for delectable vegetable delights.

The last step was carefully placing them on the plate. While that sounds easy, you have to remember that presentation is just as important as the food itself.

And there it is! At this point my stomach was practically growling, but I did snap a shot before running off to find dipping sauce. Somebody's got to eat these appetizers, right?

Then it was time to make pizza!

Once the dough was ready, they flattened them out with rolling pins and their hands.

Then came the pizza sauce. Lots and lots of tasty pizza sauce.

After they picked an assortment of toppings, we crossed our fingers as they pizzas were placed in the oven, praying they wouldn't be burnt.

They came out perfect. It's easy to order from Dominos, but nothing beats a home made pizza.

I could have eaten it myself, but I thought it'd be better to let them cut it up and share it in the other room.

Well what do you know. The guys in charge of the vegetables couldn't wait either, and they're already eating the goods!

Meanwhile, the group in charge of pizza is faithfully continuing their work.

The guys in the first room are at it again. And this time they're eating the first batch of pizza! I can't blame them though. It'd be a shame to let the pizza sit there and get cold.

They're still making pizza. Are these guys dedicated or what? Thankfully for my stomach, I sided with the guys making vegetables.

Just when I thought the pizza was satisfying enough, they surprised us with tripe! I'm sure some of you reading this are thinking "what the heck is tripe?" Well, tripe is a dish using the edible portions of animal stomachs. In our case, beef. The tripe was boiled with a tomato sauce, and it goes without saying we were all quite satisfied.

Together with the bread it was simply too much. We'd forgotten we were full from pizza and kept on eating. If you should find this dish in a restaurant somewhere, you have to try it!

Our second destination was a success, with full stomachs as testament to the fun we had. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without the staff and residents of Connect House Ikegami.

Next is Chez toi Maluki followed by the mystery share house, but we're running out of space here so you'll have to wait until next time. There plenty in store for our bus tour passengers, and you won't want to miss a closer look at the remaining houses.

See you next time!