My Horrible Experience Living in a Japanese Guesthouse [Pg7aUDWkNes]

Hello, welcome back to a new video. So as

you know, I was living in a Japanese guest

house for a few months earlier this year,

and I wanted to make a video just talking

more about that experience in further

detail and talking about the pros and cons

of living in a Japanese guest house should

you be interested in also trying one out.

Okay, so first of all, what is a guest

house? In case you didn't know, it's

basically a really big building usually

with about 60 to 100 people, maybe even

more if it's a bigger building, and you

get your own private room, but you have to

share the toilet, the kitchen, and the

shower rooms. It's usually a very

affordable and cheap place to live if you

want your own room, and it's a great place

to meet people and make friends. Usually

there's about a 50/50 split of Japanese

people living there and foreigners living

there, and there's quite a nice community

feeling to most of the guest houses that

I've lived in. And I first ever went to a

guest house all the way back in 2010 when

I first went to Japan, and it was probably

one of the best experiences in my entire

life. I met so many people, I made so many

friends, I and made some girlfriends, and

it was a really great time. And back then

I remember thinking, I want to live here

for my entire life, it's such a great

time. And the second time I went to Japan,

I also stayed in a guest house again, and

again I had a really great time. But by

the third time I went to Japan, the third

time living in a guest house, the guest

house lifestyle just became worse and

worse and worse as I got older. And I

think this year was probably one of the

worst guest house experiences I've ever

had in my whole life, and I don't think

I'm ever going to stay in a guest house

ever again if I do go back to Japan. I

think next time I go back to Japan, I'm

just gonna spend the extra money and get a

nice hotel, or just like a normal hotel

would be a nicer place to stay, I think.

So I found this guesthouse that I stayed

in on a website called guesthousebank.com,

and I stayed at this place called JF Plaza

2, and I hated it so much. When I left the

room, I trashed the room, and then I

blocked the manager because I was so

pissed off. And I chose to live at this

guesthouse for a few reasons. Number one,

the location was really good. It was in

this area that I really wanted to stay in,

in Osaka. For personal reasons. And the

price was pretty good, it was like £400 a

month, and you get this big private room,

and you've got a kitchen downstairs that's

shared, and you can do cooking. And I

thought, for £400, to be able to get this

big room, it's so much cheaper than

booking an Apple Hotel, which is a tiny

room, and it's like over £1,000 for a

month and no kitchen. And I also thought I

could make some friends at the guest

house. Unfortunately, I didn't make any

friends. I made some enemies. The rent was

very cheap, but I ended up hating living

there so much, ended up wasting money

booking trips and staying at hotels just

so I could get a break from living at this

horrible place, and I ended up wasting

more money than I would have. First of

all, the building was really ugly and old.

It was obvious the building was built in

something like 1980 or 1990s. The fittings

were all ugly, yellow, creamy, faded look.

The interior of the entire building, like

the elevator, it really smelled old. It

smelled like an old person's house. Now,

if I'm going to be living in such an old

building, I would expect the rent to be

much cheaper. £400 a month, I would be

expecting at least a modern building built

after 2010. The building was just really

ugly and horrible. It had this feeling of

oldness to it and I didn't like it at all.

The build quality of the bedroom was

really bad. The walls were really thin,

really paper thin. It was easy to tell

that they used very cheap material and the

build quality and construction was not

good. So the walls were extremely thin.

It's probably just like a thin piece of

plywood. I could probably put my fist

through the wall if I punched it hard

enough, and I'm not a very strong guy.

The worst thing about living in this

guesthouse was probably the American guy

that lived in the room next to mine. He

made my entire trip in Japan just a

nightmare because he would stay up very

late. He would go to bed at like 2 AM, 3

AM, and he'd be on the phone phoning

people all the time. He never shut up.

Every single minute of the day he was

talking. So he worked from his room

teaching English online. So he'd be

teaching English from 7 AM in the morning

until the evening. So if I stayed in my

room all day, all I would hear was,

hello, I'm John, nice to meet you, this is

our first English lesson, all fucking day.

And then when he wasn't teaching English,

he would be on the phone either to his mum

or his friend or his girlfriend. And I

ended up finding out and learning so much

about this guy's personal life that I

didn't even care about, but Because I was

forced to listen to his phone

conversations, I ended up finding out so

much about him. Like, he's from

Mississippi in America and he went to a

Baptist church. He kept talking about his

stupid Baptist church. And I learned other

things about his life, like he's been

living in Japan for 2 years. He studied in

Kobe and then graduated from some kind of

school in Kobe and then moved to Arasaka

to teach English. And he had a girlfriend

of 3 months who was Australian but was

actually Japanese, and they never did it,

but they've been together for 3 months.

And then he had to break up with her

because she was actually acting weird,

probably because you didn't smash her

after 90 days dating her. How can you

possibly date someone for nearly 3 months

and you've never done it? Obviously she's

gonna start thinking, maybe you're not

interested in me, and then she's gonna

become emotionally detached after a while

because you didn't make a move. If I had a

Japanese girlfriend, I would have banged

her before I even asked her to be my

girlfriend. This guy is such a loser.

He's like, oh, I need to wait, I need

time, I need time to understand my

feelings and emotions before I make a move

physically. I bet you anything she was

definitely cheating on him. If she's not

getting any action after 3 months, she's

gonna start looking elsewhere. And the

reason why she was acting cold and not

really seeming like she was willing to

commit to the relationship is because she

found someone else. And then I heard him

talking on the phone to his mum, I think,

and he said, no, no, no, I don't think she

was cheating on me. She said she wasn't

cheating. Obviously she's not gonna tell

you she's cheating. That's what cheaters

do. They lie about it. That's why it's

called cheating. So yeah, I was forced to

listen to all of his phone calls because I

could hear every single word because the

walls were so thin. And sometimes he would

have these phone calls extremely late at

night, like 2 AM, 3 AM. One time I got so

annoyed because I was trying to sleep and

it was past 2 AM, I had to knock on the

wall. And it was kind of embarrassing

because usually I don't do anything to

confront people. I just kind of be

patient. I try and be understanding. But

that time I just couldn't be patient

anymore and I had to knock on the wall.

And Thankfully, he stopped talking on the

phone after I knocked on the wall, but

then the very next day he was back at it

again on the phone. I did think about

complaining to the manager about it, but I

felt like if I did that, it would be very

awkward because he would know that it was

me that complained about him. So I ended

up just giving up trying to knock on his

wall, and I just tried to get used to it.

I ended up having to wait for him to go to

sleep before I could go to sleep because

when he was awake, he would make so much

noise, either talking or grunting or just

laughing. He would randomly just laugh. I

guess he's on his phone and he saw

something funny and he would just do this

loud laugh and his footsteps are really

loud. I guess he was a pretty big guy, so

he'd be thumping around. So I would have

to wait until 2 or 3 in the morning until

he went to sleep before I could go to

sleep. The annoying thing is I actually

met him once and I talked to him face to

face when I first moved in and we had a

short conversation, just said, hello,

nice to meet you. And we joked about how

thin the walls are. So I thought he would

be understanding about keeping the sound

down and not talking too loudly. It's just

kind of weird because he understands that

the walls are thin and he's kind of loud,

but he didn't make any attempt to be

considerate to the people around him. He

was also kind of gross. For example, he

would go to the toilet and he would stand

up to urinate, and then when I went into

the toilet, there was water around the

toilet, and I don't think it was water.

And when he went to the toilet, he didn't

close the door. He would just walk in

there with the door wide open so I could

hear the pissing very loudly. And one time

I went into the toilet and there's a

massive shit just lying in the toilet.

And then in the shower room, which we had

to share, all of his stuff was there,

like his razor with all disgusting little

bits of hair stuck to it. Sometimes in the

sink, when I would go into the sink area

to brush my teeth, there'd be little hairs

just lying in the sink. All this stuff

like his shampoo and men's products would

just be lying around. There was this

disgusting bar of soap in the shower room

with little bits of hairs stuck to it. It

was just so disgusting having to live

there and share that area with him. I did

think about asking the manager if I could

change rooms, but there's a rule saying if

you want to change rooms, you have to pay

¥10,000, and I thought it was a bit unfair

that I have to pay money because this guy

is being really rude and inconsiderate.

So I decided not to change rooms because I

thought, what if I change rooms and I move

all my stuff and I pay the money, and then

the people in the new room area are just

as bad or are even more annoying but in a

different way, or maybe they talk all

night as well. The guesthouse manager was

really annoying as well. I never met him

because he never came to the guesthouse,

but I talked to him by email. And in

Japan, they're very strict about garbage

disposal, so you have to separate plastic

bottles and cans into one bag, and then

everything else goes into another bag—

paper, food, disposable stuff, burnable

stuff. And the garbage went out on

specific days, so I think it was something

like plastic bottles and cans go out on

Monday, but other rubbish goes out on

Tuesday and Thursday. And you had to put

the rubbish out on the morning that the

rubbish was taken away or after 10 PM on

the day before the rubbish was taken away.

So it's kind of irritating like that. You

also have to buy a special green plastic

bag that has your city name on it and you

get this plastic bag from the convenience

shop or supermarkets. Then you have to

separate your rubbish. So I had this

massive green bag full of plastic bottles

and cans, and I really wanted to get rid

of it because it looks kind of ugly in my

room. But I was going on this short trip.

I booked a hotel to stay in the city to go

on the short trip, but my trip was a few

days before the plastic bottles had to be

put out. And I thought it wouldn't really

be a big problem if I put my rubbish out a

few days earlier before it gets taken. It

wasn't rotting food or anything. It was

just plastic empty bottles that once had

water in them. So I I put my rubbish out

and I pack my stuff and I go off to the

hotel to have my trip. Then a few hours

later, I start getting emails from the

stupid guesthouse manager complaining

about how I put my rubbish out on the

wrong day and he told me to come back and

take my rubbish back to my room. I have no

idea how he found out so quickly that I

put my rubbish out on the wrong day, and I

don't know how he knew it was me because I

never met him. He shouldn't know what I

look like, and there's a little security

camera above the rubbish disposal area,

so I don't know if he's just sitting at

home all day watching the security cameras

to see who's putting rubbish out. But even

if he saw me put the rubbish out, how

would he know that that is me, Daniel

Lord? So I have this suspicion he was

watching my YouTube channel and he was

watching my live streams, or someone

clipped the part where I put my rubbish

out, they sent the clip to the guest house

manager, and then he knew it was me and

then complained to me about it. It was

just really annoying being told off and

then being commanded to come back and take

my rubbish back. I couldn't come back. I

went to my hotel and I was staying in a

hotel because I had a little trip, but I

had to cut my trip a day short so I could

rush back to the guest house and take my

rubbish back to my room and then put it

out the next day when it was supposed to

be taken out. It just felt like such a

waste of time, such a stupid thing to

complain about. It's just a bunch of

plastic bottles. It's not like anything

bad's gonna happen, like a swarm of rats

is gonna come and infest the guest house

because I left some empty bottles outside.

So to get revenge, I had 2 massive bags of

rubbish left over when I had to move out

of the guest house, and I knew if I put my

rubbish out now because it's not the

rubbish day yet, I would just get more

complaints saying, you didn't put the

rubbish out on the right day, please take

it back to your room. How can I take it

back to my room when I've left the room?

So I knew he's going to complain about it,

and I kind of wanted revenge. So I took

the 2 big bags of rubbish I had on my last

day, I just stuffed it in this closet by

the staircase, and there's no cameras

there, so he wouldn't wouldn't know it was

me until I left and some time had passed.

So I just stuffed my big bags of rubbish

into this little closet where they keep

the vacuum cleaners. He also said I had to

clean my room before leaving the guest

house, and I was supposed to dispose my

bedsheets and the bedding and the pillows

and the pillowcase. I'm not sure if he

meant I had to get rid of the entire

pillow and the entire duvet, or if it was

just the covers. In Japan, they have this

stupid rule where if you've got something

big to throw away, you have to contact the

city and arrange with the city for it to

be picked up and disposed, or else you

gotta pay a fine. I can't be bothered with

that. I'm flying back to the UK. I don't

want to mess around contacting the city

officials, arranging to get rid of a

bedsheet. So I just left it there. What

are you gonna do, bitch? I stayed at that

guest house for months and I never once

washed my bedsheets or bed pillow, so they

were nice and smelly. Hope you enjoyed it.

I didn't really want to clean my room

either. My floor was covered in dust and

hair and little bits of food. And it was a

bit messy in the room. I wasn't very

diligent with the cleaning. And I said,

can't I just pay you some money and then

you clean it for me? We've got a cleaner.

There was a cleaner that came in to clean

the shower area and the toilet area once a

week. And I thought, why doesn't that

cleaner woman just clean my room? It will

take 5 or 10 minutes with a vacuum

cleaner. But he said, no, we would prefer

it if you clean the room because we don't

know what kind of condition the room's in.

We don't know how much to charge you. So I

thought, well, okay, if you're going to be

like I'm just not gonna clean it and I'm

gonna leave and then I'm gonna block you

so you can't complain to me anymore. You

think you can tell me to clean my room?

What are you, my mum? I just felt kind of

annoyed because I spent a lot of money on

this room, £400 a month plus about £250

for the guarantee money or the deposit

money, which they don't give back to you.

Maybe if they promised to give me back my

deposit money, I would have tried to be a

better tenant. But they said that the

deposit money is non-refundable,

non-returnable. Then what's the point of

it? Just so you can squeeze more money out

of me. So if I'm having to pay so much

money, I don't want to have to clean my

room. You clean it. In conclusion, it was

probably the worst guest house I've ever

stayed in, probably one of the worst

places I've ever lived in in my entire

life. It was really noisy as well. For

example, when the wind was really strong,

the window door thing would keep shaking

and rattling because it was just single

plane and wasn't double glazing, wasn't

soundproof. And the traffic was right

outside the window, busy streets. Traffic

up and down until late into the night.

And these stupid people riding noisy

motorbikes would rev their engines as

they're riding along and just be really

annoying with their loud motorbikes. I

don't know why Japanese people— there's a

lot of Japanese people who love really

noisy, loud engine motorbikes, and I hate

it. I had to wedge these little bits of

cardboard and paper into the gaps of the

window to try and stop it from rattling in

the wind. And I didn't really make any

friends there. I went down to the living

room to have dinner 2 times and I talked

to this Malaysian girl. She was kind of

cute and she talked to me a little bit,

but we didn't even ask each other our

names and I didn't really see her again

after that. So that was kind of

unfortunate. And I saw some other people

sitting around in the living room during

dinner, but they all look really young,

like 20, 21, 22. I'm 35.

I'm feeling like I'm too old to be hanging

around 20-year-olds and chatting to

20-year-olds. Maybe back when I was

younger in my 20s, I would have gone down,

put more efforts into socializing, try to

make friends, try to hang out, but I'm too

old for this. I don't really want to spend

my time hanging around with a bunch of

people just sitting around socializing and

drinking alcohol and going out on trips.

I just want to have a nice comfortable

room to sit in and do my hobbies and relax

in peace and quiet. I want to be in bed by

10 PM at a reasonable time. I want to be

able to sleep and it's nice and quiet and

nice and dark and have a good night's

sleep. Getting old is kind of weird

because the things that were important to

you when you were young younger, you don't

really care about them anymore.

Socializing is one of them. When I was

younger, I thought all that matters in

life is socializing, making friends, and

having girlfriends. And now I just don't

really care anymore. I'd rather just be by

myself, play some video games, watch some

YouTube or Netflix, and just relax and be

comfortable. Maybe when I was younger, I

would have been able to tolerate the

uncomfortableness of the guest house in

order to make friends and meet women and

have girlfriends and have a good time.

But now I don't really feel like I can

prioritize that. I want to prioritize my

comfort. So if you're young, I would

recommend living in a guest house. It's

not great. It's not comfortable, clean,

or quiet, but you'll make some good

memories. You'll meet a lot of people.

You might get a girlfriend and you'll have

some good memories for when you get older

like I do. But if you're over 30, nearing

40, you really don't want to be living in

a guest house anymore. You want to have

your own place.