Ever since I convinced my company to allow me the opportunity to work remotely I have always wanted to spend a month in Tokyo. After some research, I soon realized working remotely for a short time in Toyko comes with a lot of logistical nightmares that make it difficult. This prevented me from doing a remote month in the country for a very long time until I revisited the idea over the summer with a new determination to visit the country.
The biggest factors that make Tokyo so difficult to work remotely in are Time Zone, Space, and Cost.
Time Zone
My company like others require I be online during business hours, that means 8 am to 5 pm pacific standard time. This means that in Tokyo I would have to work from 11pm to 8am, which is honestly not as bad as it could be. I am a night owl at heart so the schedule does not bother me too much but does present challenges when it comes to sharing living space or renting a shared office.
The Space & Cost
This was definitely one of the bigger barriers for me when trying to work in Toyko for a month. Being the most populated city in the world and the 2nd most expensive city means you don’t get a lot of space for the amount you pay. Working remotely usually means working from your room and in Tokyo it’s just not a viable solution. Below are a few examples of your cheaper options on Airbnb, for a 30-day stay you are looking at $1500 – $2500 for anything that has room for a desk.
Office Share in Tokyo
After seeing how little you got in terms of space my only option was to look into shared office spaces. Working and sleeping in the same area can drive you mad if the area is the size of a closet. What I found out is that very few shared office spaces allow 24 hour access and the ones that do require a more expensive membership. These spaces on average ran between $250 and $400. This combined with an already expensive Airbnb made it way out of budget for remote work.
Finding a better remote work situation
I kept coming back to the idea of trying to make this work every few months then I finally came across a blog article that talked about “Shared House”. This is the term they use in Japan for a shared living situation, typically you have a private room and common areas such as living rooms, kitchen and bathrooms. This was a great start but working from 11pm to 8am meant that It may not be a good idea to share a 5 bedroom house while doing conference calls and typing away so late at night.
Social Residence, finally a good option!
After checking out a ton of “Shared Houses” I finally came across something that looked promising called “Social Residence”. Social Residence differ from the houses in a big way, they usually house 30-100 people and are more structured like a college dormitory. These are used for college students and noncollege students and a company called Oak House has about 15 of them in the Tokyo area. Each residence is different some buildings have common rooms like movie rooms, gyms and msuic rooms while others have just a kitchen and lounge. Some of them have large private rooms with a couch and desk while others have just a bed and fridge.
This seemed like the best option for me and my work setup, I found a residence called SOCIAL RESIDENCE HIGASHI KOGANEI, this particular resident had a study room with large desks and computer chair along with a huge kitchen commons area with ample room to work. This seemed like the best option and would only cost $1200 for my first month and about $800 each month after If I wanted to stay.
Social Residence experience
The residence I chose had the smallest rooms out of any of the other ones I looked at which was a huge downside but had a dedicated area with desks and chairs.
This was the first time working remotely that I would be living so close to so many people. The overall vibe was very much like being the new kid in school, I met a lot of people and ended up joining a group of guys and girls who hungout pretty often. The overall experience was amazing and I made some really great friends and overall had an easy time working there. The residences all tend to be about a 30-40 minute train ride from the major tourist attractions of Tokyo but I found that even in the suburbs there are tons of things to do and see.
Social Residences are a great option for anyone visiting Tokyo for more than 3 weeks especially if they need to work.
My husband and I work remotely as English teachers and travel. We usually spend a month in each city but after reading this post I don’t think we could do more than a week in Tokyo. While Social Residences seem great! It’d be hard to teach English online from them. It sounds like it was perfect for you!
Sounds like a great place, it’s good you could find something not too expensive, and a place where you could meet a lot of people and make friends.
I’m a digital nomad too and I am visiting Tokyo this summer! Thanks for this, it gives me a great insight.
Tokyo is indeed expensive that’s why many people learned to become creative on how to save everyday. The sharing-economy in Tokyo is feasible!