Waseda Dorms

Edit June 1, 2010 – added some new info about Hoshien buildings. New info in bold.

So I’ve gotten a few e-mails and a comment about the dorms for exchange students at Waseda. So rather than writing my lengthy and boring explanations several times, I’ll just post it here for one and all to see. I obviously know the most about my building, but I can say what I know about the other dorms.

First, for those who haven’t seen it yet, Waseda’s exchange student dorm information is here:

http://www.nasic-waseda.net/

Secondly, we were not allowed to choose our dorms. I know some people who wrote in the comment section of the questionnaire which dorm they wanted to be placed in. Some people got what they wanted, others didn’t. I didn’t specify which dorm I wanted, only that I absolutely needed a single room.

Waseda University Student House aka Soudai Ryou
I haven’t actually seen this dorm, so I can’t say much about it. We’re not allowed in other dorm buildings (exception in Hoshien) so I don’t know anything about the inside of this place. There are single and double rooms. Toilet, shower, and kitchen are all shared, including the fridge. A friend of mine from there said that people steal each other’s food all the time whether or not you have your name written on it. Another friend of mine was placed in a double and hated it, so he moved into a guesthouse later in the year. You also have to take off your shoes upon coming into the building, so the front area is really crowded with shoes (including shoes left behind by students who are long gone). Pretty close to campus. I think it’s the second closest to campus, but all the dorms are close to campus anyway.

Waseda University Nishi Waseda International Students House aka Nishi Waseda
This is the dorm I would have liked to be placed in. It’s a little further than where I am now, but the best part about this dorm is that everyone has their own private toilet and shower. There are both singles and doubles though. Kitchen is shared. In comparison to the other dorms, the rent at this dorm is relatively cheap considering what you get.

A friend of mine with a blog lives there if you want to ask her some questions here.

EDIT: Added Sept. 26 – Dorm info from Naru
let me update you about soudai ryou, waseda student house dorm.
This place actually only have singles now from what I’ve seen from the website. There’s a north side and south side, and south side has a balcony and a bigger room (5 stories tall I think?) north side has smaller rooms and its only 2-3 stories tall.

The room has its own bathroom with sink and a toilet (not all… but most do) and their own mini fridge. The kitchen has cooking utensils but they are kinda dirty so i suggest buying your own. It has bigger fridges in the kitchen and nobody is stealing food currently haha. Also the front is no longer cluttered with shoes as people all take their shoes up to their room or the shoe closet.

However, this is the oldest dorm… so the building kinda sucks. I also see dead roaches around the front but I’ve never seen one in my room (and according to people who lived here abit longer, they usually stay around downstairs/kitchen… area. I’ve never seen a live one here yet.
Jessie’s note: Waseda Hoshien building 1 is also one of the oldest dorms, but it gets modernized as the other Hoshien buildings do

But I don’t really have too much problems with the room, it’s alright.

Waseda Hoshien aka Hoshien
**All rooms at Hoshien are singles with air conditioners/heaters that each room can control.

Building 1
This is where I live. There are four floors, but exchange students only occupy the fourth floor. The second floor is for grad students, and the third floor is for international students from universities other than Waseda. I believe one guy is from Keio.

There are 15 rooms on my floor. 3 rooms are for grad students or researchers who have family visiting or something like that. They’ve been empty for most of the year. The other 12 rooms are for exchange students. I was lucky enough to get the biggest room (and the highest rent). I have my own sink, two wardrobes and a mini fridge. The view from window is horrible though. I have pictures of it somewhere in the past entries.

As for the other 11 rooms, they’re pretty much the same except for one. The girl across the hall from me’s room is the same size as the rest of the rooms, but she gets her own sink inside her room. As for everyone else, there’s a sink outside the room between 2 doors and 2 people share that sink.

The toilet, shower and kitchen are all shared. The showers on the 4th floor are for people from the 2nd floor as well. I think rooms on the 3rd floor may have their own bathrooms, I’m not sure. But I’ve never had to wait for the shower more than once. It probably helps that the majority of my building are guys. Everyone has a fridge in their room, plus a small cubby and cupboard in the kitchen keep things. There are 5 washing machines and 1 dryer on the fifth floor. There are TVs in the kitchen and the 2nd floor lounge, plus a piano on the 2nd floor lounge.

The kitchen in building 1 is large with more/better appliances. Apparently Hoshien can give special permission to some students from the other Hoshien buildings to use the kitchen for a couple hours. We have a larger oven and less cooking rules. I’m not sure how it works though.

FYI…if you hate stairs with a passion, there is no elevator in this building.

Building 3
Building 3 has 12 floors (and an elevator of course). Everyone in building 3 has their own toilet, but showers are shared. Kitchen is also shared, but everyone has their own fridge. Also, unlike the rest of the dorms, people in building 3 pay their own utilities usage. Everyone else has a flat utility fee to pay per month. I think there are laundry facilities on almost every floor. I can see a couple from my window.

About the utilities usage thing:
Basically everyone on one floor splits the cost of the utilities. The down side to this is that if you don’t use electricity and stuff as much as everyone else, you’re probably paying more than you should. The other down side is that people from other floors might come to your floor to cook, take a shower, etc. which will cost you and not them. A friend of mine told me what her bill was like once though, and her utilities weren’t as high as the flat fee I pay.

Building 3 is also where the RA room (also a computer/printer room), the health room, and a somewhat big lounge for parties are located.

Building 5
Building 5 is where the Hoshien and dorm office is located. The mail room is here too. The photos on the Nasic website are also of the second floor of building 5. The outside photo of Hoshien is building 5, but the white building to the right of the orange building is building 3. Building 1 is further to the right of building 3. Toilet, shower and kitchen are all shared, but everyone has a sink in their room. Laundry is up on the 5th floor like at building 1.

***

Hoshien is the closest dorm to campus. It’s actually right in between main campus, Toyama campus (where the gym is), and Toyama park (where many drinking parties are held). To get to my furthest class takes less than 10 minutes, and I’m a pretty slow walker.

There is no curfew (unlike some other dorms from regular Japanese students), but there are restrictions on visitors. Outsiders are not allowed inside the building, but if you live at Hoshien, you can visit another Hoshien building. There are common areas for non-Hoshien people, but you have to be out of there by 11:00pm. We’re not allowed to have people in our rooms past 11:00pm and Hoshien people are supposed to be out of common areas by 1:00am. No one really listens to those rules though. It’s only a problem if the security guard sees you, in which case he gives you a warning. You supposedly get kicked out after the first offence, but I know people who have gotten a few warnings and are fine. Use your discretion, obviously.

Also, I have friends who weren’t placed in any of these dorms. They were placed in dorms for regular Waseda students. In most cases, that means they weren’t even in Tokyo, but they live(d) with Japanese students. One of my friends couldn’t stand it and moved into a guesthouse, while a couple of my other friends love it despite the distance.

Some people buy their own pots and pans (I kinda wish I did), but keep them in your room. One friend found out people were using her pan, and another friend’s pan just went missing altogether. There have also been more reports lately of people’s stuff going missing, or finding that their food was taken. My friend had over 3 lbs of rice stolen out of her cupboard. Half of my bag of rice was stolen. Another person had a Nintendo DS stolen. I’m sure there’s more, but if there’s anything you don’t want stolen, don’t keep it in your cupboard. Keep it in your room.

Still with me? If you’ve gotten this far and actually read everything, congrats! I’m sorry I can’t give you those however many minutes of your life back.

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