Travelingmanjoe Retro: Sakura House

April 2009:

Were this a hotel room in one of the more colorful counties I'd traveled to, I would have understood. However this was Japan and this was the room I was planning on launching my life in Japan from.

The room was not only dirty and old, but it also reeked of cigarette smoke. If that was not enough, the floor of the room sloped off in a odd direction towards the door; it was truly a room fit only for a drug fiend.

Though Shinjuku was a long way away, I marched straight back to Sakura House's office and demanded that they make things right. Though they were obstinate at first, my will overpowered theirs and I was given a full refund.

The following day a kind Sakura House employee and I wandered all over Tokyo in search of a better place. After marching through countless streets, seeing room after after room that I did want, it finally all came together. I found a nice room in Tabata and was given a steep discount on the room. 

It had not been an easy first step, but then again nothing had or was going to be easy fulfilling this audacious scheme.

Tokyo, Japan