We run shared-houses in central Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, seeking to provide more sustainable and slow lifestyle in the busy cities.

Hi! My name is Yumi, and I am the house manager at Ogikubo KIKI house, one of our sharehouses in Tokyo. I’d been pursuing sustainable lifestyle, and organizing sustainable events when I was working in Southeast Asia, I’d love to do it in Tokyo too! If you’re interested in ZERO WASTE, SLOW-LIVING, or anything related to sustainable lifestyles, would you like to help us? 

What I’m looking for:

Someone who has experiences in compost or zero waste lifestyle, and has blog, vlog, or social media account to share our journey, educate, and connect with more like-minded people to build a community.

Project Details:
-Compost

I’m making bokashi bran from coffee grounds for the first time. We have a garden but this is a residential area in a big city, we can’t attract bugs and the bad smell is a no-no. If you have experience with bokashi compost, I’d love to hear your opinion!

-Zero Waste Shopping/Cooking

Sadly Japan is known for over packaging, seems like everything is packed in plastic. But this isn’t true. If you look around, there’re many ways to avoid single use plastic. I want you to explore the traditional Japanese way of shopping/cooking sustainably, and also teach us what we can do better.

What we buy plastic free – rice, tofu, oat meal, body soap(solid), dish soap(refill) etc. We must be able to do more!

-DIY

Currently at the house, I make bokachi bran, kefir, apple cider vinegar, pickles, etc. Can we DIY more?

-Gardening

We grow tomatoes, cranberries, and Yuzu tree, and want to grow more! If you know how to garden, it’d be amazing!

-Education

Help me spread the word (especially in English)!! Let’s start with our friendly house mates. Please note that they are very nice and social but with no or little experience with sustainable living, and also busy with their lives. I’d like to encourage them in a positive way, showing how beautiful waste-less life can be. Then, with our sharehouse community, and the society.

If you’re good at writing/photography/video, that’d be great! Also, I organize a zero waste study group about twice a month in Japanese, I’d like your help to do this in English too.

Please let me know what you have experience with, or what you’d like to help out with even if that’s not on the list above! Looking forward to tackling on new challenges:)

What We Offer

–A private room in a sharehouse. This is a typical Japanese home, and your room will be a western style room on the second floor.
(Free rent! (normally 66,000yen/m) Only utility fee 10,000yen/m will be required)

*This is a house for animal lovers! I have two indoor cats, rescued and spayed, they can be running around the house.

Your house mates will be 5 Japanese including me, and two foreigners. We all have different backgrounds, illustrators, a musician, remote workers and travelers, and we enjoy it so much! We talk in English and Japanese, and enjoy exchanging languages.

-Common area includes:
1) A garden
2) A equipped kitchen
3) A living room
4) Wifi
5) TV
6) A laundry machine
7) A Balcony

*We don’t have a cleaner, so housekeeping is a shared duty with other house mates. Please keep the common area clean, respect your house mates and neighbors, and follow the house rules.

About the area:

This sharehouse is located in Ogikubo, close to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is one of the biggest town in Tokyo and a commercial and business hub, you will still have plenty of time to get lost in the city! Ogikubo is a popular place to live among the local uni students and young artists, it is also known as a home of subculture.

Transportations:
From our house to the nearest station (Iogi) is about 10 mins walk. To Ogikubo station, it’s about 17mins walk, or you can take bus or use my bicycle whenever available. From Iogi or Ogikubo station, it’s 10 mins by train to Shinjuku. Ginza or Shibuya is also under 30mins.

Neighborhoods:
If you like cycling, there’s so many places I can recommend! Big, beautiful Inokashira Park, department stores and restaurants in Kichijoji, small cute cafes in Nishi Ogikubo, or second-hand clothes shops in Koenji, etc.

 

Please contact us if you’d like to join us! Looking forward to talking with you;))