Hello everyone!
I wanted to go a bit more into details about others aspects of my experience at Akamonkai Japanese Language School!
Nippori
I really like where the school is situated. Nippori is a quiet neighborhood that has everything you need. There's a grocery store and a post office really close to the school. Also, you can go anywhere really easily thanks to the yamanote line! It goes to all the main part of Tokyo like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Ueno. You can go to Ueno Park just by walking :) Nippori also has a nice market place called Yanaka. It's really close to the station. There's also the Yanaka cemetery which is pretty nice to visit. Nippori is also really famous for its fabric town.
Akamonkai Nippori Dormitory
The dormitory is nice, but it's not fantastic. It is really small and the thing I hate the most was that we didn't have a common room to chat with friends or just between roommates. Each room is small so it's hard to gather everyone in a room. The kitchen is okay. Nothing fantastic. We don't have a lot of space for all our kitchen stuffs so it's a bit too small. The shower and the toilet are okay. Even though you might have cold shower sometimes... lol
The main space (not the room) are cleaned by cleaning ladies that come during the morning. They tend to be really noisy and it's really annoying if you're trying to sleep. They don't come during the week-end. They don't come everyday except for changing the trash can's bag.
During the summer, it get really hot. You have an air conditionner which is helpful but I didn't really like it so. And sometimes, they smell... They came to clean it once but after a while, I felt like it start smelling again so I would open my windows after using it lol.
Also, there are cockroaches during summer. Yes, unfortunately. Not a lot. But you might find one or two in your room. You'll be okay if you keep your room clean, but it might happened anyway. I found one in mine (that I managed to flush in the toilet) and my roommates had two (at two different times). But I think it's like that in every house in Japan so lol.
During the winter, it get pretty cold. I was always freezing in my room and it wasn't even that cold in December so be aware of that. The air conditioner can be use as a heater as well but I didn't want to spend more money on electricity so.
Another thing I dislike about the dorms is that we didn't have any comfortable seat in our room. The chair is atrocious and I ended up having terrible back pain because I didn't have any comfortable place to study. I would either sit there or on my bed which wasn't really better.
I've only said negative things, but I still liked the dorms. It wasn't too expensive and it's really close to the school and the station, so it's really convenient. You have all the basic you need. Also, if you have a problem, they will come right away to fix it so it's nice as well.
I hope this could help you and if you have any questions, don't hesitate!
