If you love anime and you’re looking for affordable housing in Tokyo, your search may be over.
It’s ironic that even though animation occupies a prominent place in Japanese society, there’s very little social aspect to watching anime in the country. You’re unlikely to find coworkers discussing episodes of Attack on Titan during their coffee break or groups of friends getting together at someone’s house to catch the TV premier of the latest series in the Macross franchise. No, in almost all cases, anime fans in Japan consume their media solo.
Two exceptions, though are the residents of Tokyo boarding houses Kisuishou Rokucho and Hermitage Chitose Funabashi, which are collectively referred to as the Ani x Share housing network.
Located in Adachi and Setagaya Wards, respectively, Kisuishou Rokucho and Hermitage Chitose Funabashi are both currently looking for new tenants. The boarding houses (or “share houses,” as they’re called in Japan) have private bedrooms, but bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms are shared. A fondness for anime is a prerequisite for moving in, which means that you can expect the common-area TV to almost always be showing something Japanese animation-related.
You’ll also find plenty of anime touches around the house.
▼ Shopping list whiteboard
From the outside, though, there’s nothing unusual about the building.
And since your bedroom is private, you can make it as otaku-like, or not, as you want.
You might imagine mealtime in a house full of anime fans to be nothing more than everyone locked away in their individual rooms while slurping instant ramen, but Ani x Share tenants also get together to cook and eat together in the kitchen/dining area, often while having anime viewing parties.
Many residents are also budding artists with interests in illustration, animation production, or cosplay who regularly exchange tips to help one another with their creative endeavors.
The co-ed Hermitage Chitose Funabashi is a six-minute walk from Chitose Funabashi Station on the Odawara Line, making it within 20 minutes of Tokyo urban centers Shinjuku and Shibuya, as well as student-oriented neighborhood of Shimo Kitazawa. Monthly rent ranges from 60,000 to 80,000 yen (approximately US$500 to $665), which includes utilities, depending on room size.
▼ There’s even a garden for barbeques in the summer.
Prices at men-only Kisuishou Rokucho are even lower, ranging from 40,000 to 60,000 yen per month, inclusive of utilities. Seven minutes from Rokucho Station on the Tsukuba Express line means that it’s just a 15-minute train ride to the otaku mecca of Akihabara.
If either of these sound like your dream house, you can find further details, plus application information, on the Hermitage Chitose Funabashi and Kisuishou Rokucho websites, located here and here.
You can’t move into Casey’s place, but you can follow him on Twitter, and if you ask nice, he’d be happy to come over and watch the Patlabor movie together.
Source: Kai-You
Top image: Twitter/@anixshare (1, 2) (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Apamen (1, 2)