Anyone have experience with guest houses in Tokyo?

I know that renting a guest house (Gaijin-house) for a month is around 40,000-60,000 yen, which is much cheaper than paying per day for accommodation in Tokyo.

I hear that there are good guest-houses and very bad, and quite a few have a waiting list which I have no idea how far it extends for.

What should I do for my situation? A book I read recommended to check out the place for yourself before you buy, but what if when I get down there I can't find a place to stay?

If you really want to have a look at the room by yourself, you could stay in a cheap hotel or a guesthouse for only a short time and do your search during that time. Or you just take chances and try to find a permanent guesthouse from the beginning and if you don't like it, move after a month or so.

If you search for guesthouse tokyo on Google you get plenty of offers. You should check them on the internet and choose the ones that match your preference of price and location. Then just call/email them to find out about the availability. And you might check on the net/in this forum what others think about a certain guesthouse company. But within the same company, the guesthouses are sometimes very different and it depends on the actual location. It's difficult to get information about them.

kenasto said:

Or you just take chances and try to find a permanent guesthouse from the beginning and if you don't like it, move after a month or so.

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I'll only be in Tokyo for one month, so that's why i'm very cautious about getting a good place.

I thought about staying somewhere by the day until I find a guesthouse, but if I don't end up getting one for a while i'll be wasting money.