 Shin Maruko (Tama) |
 Ohsaki |
 Ikebukuro |
|
Shin Maruko (Tama) |
Ohsaki |
Ikebukuro |
Tokyo has a number of "Weekly Mansions" which offer an economical alternative to the $200/night hotels of Shinjuku. The Tokyo Weekly Mansion in Shin Maruko is close to the Toyoko and Nambu train lines and only 20 minutes away from Shibuya or Yokohama. For about $50/night for weekly stays, you get a small but clean apartment not unlike what some Japanese live in.
I've also stayed at the Glorystone Weekly Mansion at Tama Center. These were 2 room apartments with separate bath and toilet, a medium sized frig, and even a washing machine in the apartment! The weekly mansion was only a 4 minute walk from Tama Center Station, which has Keio express trains to Shinjuku which only take 30 minutes. One drawback was that there were no phones in the rooms. NEWSFLASH: Glorystone has gone out of business. Hopefully someone else will run the weekly mansions.
I usually stay at Tokyo Weekly Mansion in Ohsaki on the Yamamote line. This is the same size as a standard business hotel, in other words, cramped! The kitchen is also barely functional, having only an induction hot plate. However there is a modern shopping mall nearby and the location is just about ideal, being about 20 minutes from both Shinjuku and Tokyo stations.
I once stayed at the Tokyo Weekly Mansion in Gotanda. This was the most cramped one I've stayed at yet, and the area around Gotanda Station could do with some redevelopment. Although more expensive, the doubles here were the same size as the singles, and smaller than the rooms at Ohsaki!
Most recently (2007), I stayed at Tokyo Weekly Mansion in Ikebukuro. This was a short walk from the west exit of Ikebukuro Station. The building was a bit cleaner than Ohsaki and the room a little larger and less expensive. However, storage space was less conveniently arranged and I missed the supermarket and shopping mall of Ohsaki.