Guides: plain answers, with their sources
Short answers first, then the facts behind them, each with its source and the day we read it.
Before you stay
- Guide · Before you stayHow to tell a legal minpaku in JapanStaying in a Japanese home, and knowing it's legal: the three permissions, the number and the sign, the 180-night rule, and what to ask before you book.
- Guide · AtamiAtami without a car: trains, buses, pickupHow to reach Atami from Tokyo, Hakone and Odawara by train, get around its steep streets by bus, and get up the hill to your stay without a car.
Area guides
- Area guide · ShizuokaAtami guide: seasons, getting there, taxAtami in plain facts: how long it takes from Tokyo, the fireworks dates, the plum and maple seasons, the town's accommodation tax and where to stay.
- Area guide · NiigataSado Island guide: ferries, gold mines, taxSado in plain facts: the shinkansen and jetfoil from Tokyo, the gold mines on UNESCO's list, the rice terraces of the crested ibis, and the island's tax.
For hosts
Six guides being written, Japanese first. Each will open with what it saves you.
- 1The two-monthly report, without the eveningOutline · being written
- 2The guest register online, kept safeOutline · being written
- 3Running the cleaning on LINEOutline · being written
- 4Your own booking site: what it takesOutline · being written
- 5Prices that follow seasons and eventsOutline · being written
- 6Selling a minshuku's rooms in EnglishOutline · being written
How we write guides: every figure that can change names its source and the day we read it. A figure marked 'to verify' is still to check against its primary source. Nobody pays to appear in a guide.