Geust Houses are the best!
 

Guest Houses are the #1 way to stay in Japan cheaply.

This guide was really good! Hats off!

I will add to this guide by posting a list of guest houses across Japan. Might be helpful for those that don't know where to look.

Cheers
Sparky

great rail guide thank you for your addition!

umm the lockers vary from size it can hold smaller suitcases in some.

you'll see them in some train stations, you just put 300 yen or so in and take the key with you.

How long can you keep your stuff in the locker? Is there a day limit on how many days you can store your stuff in the locker? So you can open the locker as many times as you want to retrieve your stuff or do you have to pay 300 yen every time you open it? If there's no limit and you can open the locker as many times as you want then that seems like a decent deal since I can just carry everything I need for the day in a small bag and leave the rest in the locker until I need to retrieve more stuff.

Nope, it's 300 yen each time you open the door. But I don't think there's any time limit on how long you keep stuff in there. You have the key, and when you decide to use it, you can. I suppose that a station attendant might worry if the key is out for too long a time, though I don't know how long that'd be.

It's best to use it like this: Travel to an area. Put most of your belongings in a locker, take the key and your camera, guide book, etc with you. Sightsee all day. Return to the locker in the evening, get your stuff, check into a hotel room for the night. Set off again the next day. If you are staying in a hotel another night, just leave the stuff in your room.

the locker is per day. so if you extend, it will automatically compute your balance.

Thanks for the help. I'm trying to find some info about working in a hostel in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan but I'm not getting any information. Are foreigners usually given part-time work at a hostel to get a free room for the night or however long you're planning on staying there? I know it is done in other places and some have done it in Tokyo but I want to know if it's common and if most people are accepted for part-time work in exchange for a free stay if they ask. Even $20 a night at various hostels for over a month will add up so that's why I want to know.

If they did, I am not sure that would be legal, and places like hostels in Japan, which house a lot of foreigners, are careful about not bringing too much attention to themselves...most especially in the big cities. In smaller areas, I am not sure.

Well, they're only providing a place to sleep and not money. I know someone who says he had to sign some kind of contract that he'd be staying working at the hostel in Tokyo for a month and he got free room and board because of this. The problem is that I want to move around Japan and not stay in one location for too long so I don't know how that will work out. Also, I don't know how common it is in Japan to do this. I'm looking around and can't find any info regarding this method in Japan but I've read that people have done this in hostels in other countries.

i don't think you can just find any information on this on the internet. (1) if you are on a tourist visa, you are not supposed to work . (2) depending on what work you might find, you still need some skills on the language.

part-time or regular work, minimum contract is i think 1 month ..

Makes sense about the 1 month contract since that's what the guy said he had to sign.