If you are looking for an apartment in the Tokyo area, recently launched luxury guesthouses equipped with a spacious kitchen, widescreen television and even a pool table may be an appealing option, unlike conventional guesthouses that are shabby.
Living in these guesthouses can cost as much as conventional studio apartments, but they are comfortable and offer the chance to make friends with other residents in a shared common space or via a social networking site available only to residents, a property manager said.
During a summer party at one of these newly refurbished "social apartments" near Ebisu Station in Tokyo, a common living room in the basement was filled with the conversation and laughter of about a dozen residents who were enthusiastically communicating both in Japanese and in English.