Apartments 33 - Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan

I was dropped off in front of the Shinagawa Prince Hotel after a long 2 hour bus ride from Narita Airport.  The last thing I wanted to do was to roll my heavy suitcase and carry my violin, backpack along the streets in the city.  I looked at my map and it said "5-min" from where I was to the temporary apartment I was to live in.  The 5 min turned out to be 15 min because of traffic lights and wasted time trying to locate the elusive building.  Finally, after signing several thousands of papers (seems typical here in Japan to get anything) and paying for my entire stay upfront, I was given my room key.

This was a very nice serviced 1-bedroom apartment.  I was surprised at how spacious it was and the careful attention to interior design.  Some of the highlights include super fast heating induction stove that boils water in 30secs!!! compared to Houston which took 10-15min, dimmer switches throughout, multi-function heated toilet, awesome washer/dryer combo, and the weekly maid service (she even did my dishes and threw out the trash).  There is a gym on the first floor but its not worth describing. Eh.

The downside is that if you are paying out of pocket for this apartment, the average person would probably bankrupt quickly.  This apartment costs 630,000YEN a month plus a 5% cleaning charge at the end the stay.  But if you are on business, this is definitely the way to go.

Having lived here for a month before I finally moved into my permanent apartment, I have no complaints.