Coming to Osaka, Question about housing
 

I am coming to Osaka in September and want to have a place to land. I just need a cheap room that is clean and somewhat central. Perhaps a hostel or guest house of some kind? One I am there then I will look for an apartment, but I need a room for when I arrive.

Can anyone recommend how I might find a room like this, or do you know of any places I could look into?

Don't know about hostel, never been, never will.

Business hotel are cheap alternatives, decent room size for the most part, and its not crazily expensive

What is your budget? And how many will be traveling with you?

I stayed in Hotel Kinki a couple of weeks ago, it cost me about £150 for a week which I think is pretty cheap. It's in Umeda. It was very clean, the staff are lovely. The rooms are fairly small but for a short stay I'd recommend it 100%.

EDIT: Website (English) Hotel Kinki - Osaka business hotel with superb location, cheap rates and friendly staff

Nice place, I tried booking them a couple of time myself before, full almost EVERY friggin time... once I end up staying at Granvia in Kyoto, once at the FAMILY INN FIFTY'S EDOBORI. But I usually stay at the Namba Dotonobori Hotel

Yeahhh it seems like a really popular place, we had to book months and months in advance.That is a downside I forgot about, worth checking out though still :)

i tried booking a year ahead, but because i needed it for like an entire week, they just didn't have any rooms...

Sometimes hotels don't have availability past 8-9 months. I've tried for March and my hotel still doesn't have those dates available for reservations.

Wow really? I think the reason we got a room was probably because we booked in June, typically Japan rainy season and not many tourists maybe... can't have been because of the earthquake as we booked way before then, otherwise I don't know.

And yeah maybe as above - they don't book that far in advance? Who knows. We emailed them directly, didn't do it through the website.

No idea, but i find it typical, it seems to be very dificult to find any hotel when i book for more than 4 nights stay. I tried booking hotel Nikko in Odaiba, nothing.. end up having to call them...

What do you mean by "central"?

Just to make sure, in what capacity are you coming? A student? A new employee?

Isn't your school or employer offering help?

Hi thanks for your help. No I'm not coming to teach English, but to be there for a few months and do some exploring. I don't know what central is. I would like to be in an area with cafe's, cool people, good energy, activity, etc.

Someone mentioned these areas as possibilities:
Horie
Nagai
Ishibashi
Minoh

That's what I was afraid of. Unless you have a student or working visa and a bank account, you are not going to be able to rent an apartment, in the traditional sense. You can try the places suggested or try gaijin houses or weekly mansions. I am not an expert in this territory.

Ishibashi is the only one of those choices I would remotely call "central". Minoh is not even in Osaka. Horie and Nagai are not in the most up-to-date areas.

Cafe's are everywhere in Japan. It is hard to go two blocks without finding one. Namba/Shinsainashi areas (north of Ishibashi) are the most vibrant in terms of people, things to do like eat, drink, shop, people watch, etc. Umeda, a couple miles due north, is a little newer, cleaner, but has a lot of people and things to do.

I am just curious what you plan to do for a few months. I mean, if you have the means, more power to you. However, I think I might get bored if I didn't have something specific to do and wasn't on the move after a couple weeks.

Do you speak Japanese?

I'd recommend Umeda, it's awesome. <3 Also the others MMM listed are places we visted, they are all equally nice really.

Hi MMM and thanks again for your help. I am planning to come there to do some writing and relaxing. Not writing about Japan, just some personal projects. Japan has always interested me, and I heard Osaka has open minded friendly people compared to Tokyo, so I decided based on that.

Hi MissMisa, Thanks for the suggetion of Umeda, I'll check it out online. Is it somewhat central?

Pardon my directness, but have you looked at a map of Osaka?

I second what MMM suggested, study the Osaka map first and decide.

Umeda is really Osaka north if you ask me, Namba will be more south central. I would agree that Osakan are friendlier than general Tokyo, its almost further west (and south) you go, the friendlier it gets.. my experience with Hakata was even better than that of Osaka

Anyways, you don't need to be in central Osaka, it can be anywhere at osaka, for your purpose anyways....., transportation is rather convenient....

Check it out here

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