Vacation apartment in Tokyo
 

We are a family of 4 and visiting Tokyo in late June for 8 days. Hotels are very expensive and we would have to get 2 separate rooms so we are thinking of renting an apartment so we can stay together. Any experience with agencies or individuals, that you can share would be appreciated. My husband goes to Japan on business quite often so we are not intimidated by the subway or stuff like that and our kids are teenagers so they can walk and carry their own luggage. Thanks in advance.

Came across this site- might be worth looking into.

http://www.vrbo.com/71100

sorry this is the site- the other link is for a certain page.

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals...ia/japan/tokyo

Another site worth checking out might be:
http://www.moveandstay.com/tokyo/default.asp

we really liked Mansions @Roppongi. Great location, right by subway, asnd lots of good dining all around.
Its now called Oakwood, I believe.

I check vrbo already and the one listed is unavailable for my time frame. The Oakwood has a 30 day minimum so I am still looking for suggestions. Thanks for those who already replied.

Hi...I don't know if this would help...but while we were in Tokyo a friend of ours helped us book an apartment for our week long trip to Kyoto...and it was really convenient and unbelievably cheap (we were there during the falls...couldn't find any hotel bookings as it was high season and the ones available were beyond our budget).

However the problem is that you MUST know a Japanese person to get access to most of the apartments that are listed because of two reasons i) Most apartments are listed in Japanese...our language skills were limited and couldn't have searched and booked a place completely on our own ii) Our landlord insisted that a Japanese person recommends us as they are sometimes not too trusting of a gaijin (foreigner).

If your husband has any office acquaintances/friends who could help with this...it would become very easy for you to find a reasonable apartment in Tokyo.

I heard Oakwood DOES rent for stay less than 30days outside of US. You may want to give a try. Their properties (most around expat central areas like Azabu or Roppongi) seem to have good reviews. Or try Somerset Roppongi or Citadines serviced flat in Shinjuku (I believe both managed by Ascot International).

My company's PA in Tokyo office found weekly rentals via agents (or website) called Jalan, though it was for cottages in the countryside.

We are a family of 4 who stayed in Tokyo in 2006. We stayed at the Mansions at Azabu Towers apartments for 2 nights.

Here is the excerpt from my trip report, describing the apartment:

"I can recommend the Mansions at Azabu Towers apartments. I booked through www.moveandstay.com. It is located in the Rappongi area, near Akasaku. We have a 3 bedroom, which has 1 king bed and 2 single beds. It is perfect for us and will give us room to spread out and recover from jet lag. The apartment is not fancy and the carpet has some stains on it. It fairly nicely furnished and has everything you could possibly want (CD player, DVD, washer and dryer, microwave, iron, air conditioning). The beds are firm, but not terribly so. DH and I agree that the shower is excellent. The washer and dryer are by GE, in English, and work very quickly. The microwave is in Japanese and we have a bit of trouble figuring it out, even with some written directions in English."

I don't know if that location would be good for you, but we found that taxi drivers didn't know of the apartments. It was near the American Club, though, so we would tell the driver "American Club" and then point out the apartment building as we got close. The apartment was about 2 blocks away from the American Club.

We stayed at the Oakwood Roppongi Hills for 5 nights. They were willing to take a booking for less than 30 days when we contacted the hotel directly via email. It was a very nice alternative for a family.

We stayed at the Mansions at Azabu Towers for 6 days. We had a 2 bedroom apartment, it was very comfortable and much less than two hotel rooms would have been. It was an easy walk to the subway. We enjoyed making our own American breakfast each morning before we went out for the day and ate more adventurously. The staff speak English and were very helpful.

We found a place on Craigslist. Close to Tokyo Tower & Roppongi but not in the middle of the madness. However, it was only a one bed studio/apartment, so maybe too small for a family. I think it was Y70,000 for the week, and the owners were European so they spoke English & French. Suited us very well.