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Gojo Guest House

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  • 3-396-2 Gojobashihigashi Higashiyama-Ku
     Kyoto
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michaelhudson
michaelhudson
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
4
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Editor Pick

Gojo Guest House

  • December 16, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by michaelhudson from Jarrow, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom
Gojo Guest House

Just a thirty-minute walk from Kyoto Station, right on the edge of Gion, Gojo Guest House has a pretty unbeatable location for its price (just 2,500 yen per person for a dorm bed) and facilities.

You enter the guesthouse from the cafe downstairs, where you're given one 300 yen drink voucher for each night you stay (enough for a free apple juice or two-thirds of a 350ml glass of Guinness). There's free WiFi in the cafe, constant jazz music, a simple selection of food and two laptops connected to the internet, free of charge for guests. Checking-in is quick and easy. The staff young and friendly and full of good advice for places to see in the city.

Take your shoes off before you head upstairs to the dorms, spread along one side of a wooden-floored hallway and separated from each other by walls thin enough to let the sound of conversations through. The male dorm is nearest the street (though the traffic noise is bearable),, 12-tatami mats in size with six futons spread out and plenty of extra bedding. There's an air conditioning unit in the corner so temperature isn't a problem.

Which is, however, more than can be said for the hallway outside. It gets very cold on winter mornings on the way to the toilet (at the end of the hallway, past the free lockers, communal sitting room, kitchen and washing machines). The kitchen has all the usual amenities: microwave, fridge, cutlery and a big sink for washing up in. The washing machine and tumble drier both cost 200 yen per use.

The showers are downstairs, at the back of the cafe, and are open from 7am to 11 and 3pm to midnight. There are three cubicles, mixed sex, and really cold until you get the hot water running. Thankfully, the water pressure is good, and the temperature goes all the way up to near-scalding.

Gojo has a mixture of foreigners and Japanese, young and old. It's a cheap place to relax for a few days, a convenient spot to base yourself if you want to explore the city. You can hire bikes for 500 yen a day (8am to 10pm), there's a 24-hour 100 yen grocery shop right on the doorstep, and the main part of Gion is just a 10 minute walk away (right out of the hostel, first right into the narrow street and follow it up past Kenninji Temple).

From journal Three Months In Japan

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