HOSTEL CHILLAX — Hotel in Osaka

My several-week-long stay at Hostel Chillax was truly one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Chillax is a backpacker youth hostel located in the heart of Osaka’s city centre, and contains both mixed-gender and female-only bunk bed dormitories, several private rooms ranging from individuals or single-beds, doubles and families, as well as a private apartment available for rental very close to the Hostel’s premises.

Chillax has a unique interior and musical theme that can only be described as a unique, Kansai/Osaka-style take on vintage Jamaican reggae culture. There is a beautiful, tropical-themed outdoor terrace adjoined to the main living room that overlooks the Dotonbori river as well!

I stayed in the 3rd floor mixed-gender dormitory during my stay at Chillax, which was recently renovated so that the beds are a fusion between the popular Japanese capsule-style and the communal bunk-beds that are a staple of youth hostels around the world. This means that if you choose to stay in a dormitory at Chillax, you get both the benefits of increased privacy afforded by the capsule bed units as well as the relaxed, social vibe of a shared backpacker space.

This leads me onto the next and, in my opinion, the most wonderful aspect of Hostel Chillax; the people who work here, the fellow guests you meet and the lovely, positive and exciting vibes between them, which is further aided by the ambiance of Chillax’s décor, interior design, and endless stream of uplifting reggae music.

During my few weeks stay at Hostel Chillax as a guest, I got to know the owner Nori and his crew of reggae friends, who would come and chill with us in the communal living room and terrace every few days, and with them and the fellow maintenance staff, we had a great time drinking beer, chatting, playing games and sharing stories. We even went out for ice cream and udon noodles a couple of times!

As well as the lovely, friendly Nori Marley, with his inviting demeanour (and truly weird sense of humour), I also want to give a shout-out to the wonderful secretary and front-of-hour manager Risa-chan, who has another job as a tour guide and is not only extremely up-to-date on things to do in Osaka but is genuinely one of the sweetest, most optimistic and encouraging people you’ll ever meet in Japan. The bar hostess, Ena-chan, was so professional and lovely, always making us feel welcome and as if we were part of a family as well. I love them all so much.

I found Chillax to be very clean and organised, and the guests frequently collaborate to make the shared space neat, tidy and accessible for all. Although there are signs on each floor reminding guests to store their luggage with consideration for others, it really isn’t needed because people around me were frequently courteous and neat. The toilets, showers and communal sinks are a very modern, wood-based design that are all kept very clean each day by the staff and further looked-after by the guests.

Hostel Chillax is one of the only hostels in the world that also doubles up as a music venue; the living room area is also equipped with an elaborate sound system, monitors and turntable equipment and the Hostel hosts reggae/hip-hop themed music events a few times a month. For outside attendees, the entry charge ranges between 2000-3000 yen, but if you happen to be a guest at the hostel at the time, you are more than welcome to attend the show for free. The owner, Nori Marley, does encourage you to buy a drink to support the place, which is a very reasonable and fair request!

In all, Hostel Chillax feels more like a joining a family and being accepted as a part of a social circle than any other hostel I’ve stayed at in the past. Many youth/backpacker hostels have a modern, artistic theme that targets youthful, social types, and though I did meet some nice people in different places, I never felt integrated into the inner workings of the Hostel crew the way I did at Chillax. I genuinely had one of the best times of my life here, and I genuinely can’t wait to come...

I don’t usually leave bad reviews, but I feel it's important to share my experience.

The hostel was very dirty. The only toilet was broken and made a loud noise when used. The floor was sooo sticky, and there was only one toilet and two showers for all the girls, which made it really uncomfortable as there’s not enough space.

On top of that, there was construction happening on the floor until 12:30 AM, YES! 12:30 AM! How crazy is that. It sounded like a drill but I’m not pretty sure.

The windows didn’t block the sounds from the busy road outside, making it hard to sleep and the WiFi didn’t work for most of the time I stayed there.

The beds were very basic, and the lights were poorly placed. The curtains didn’t provide enough privacy, and you could hear everything, showers, people in the toilets, so it was far from quiet. The bed frame does not go until the top, so there’s a big gap, which allows all the light to come in.

The blinds let in too much morning light, the room doesn’t get dark.

I even found a spider in the toilet this morning.

There was a conversation happening with some other guests, and the girls I’ve spoken to, were unhappy about how dirty and uncomfortable the place was.

I can just tell what I’ve heard from them.

I didn’t see any locals staying there, which doesn’t surprised me given Japan’s high cleanliness standards. I was reading the bad reviews earlier and the owner actually confirmed that less than 0.1% of the guests are Japanese.

It’s not standard for them and it shouldn’t be to anyone.

There were signs everywhere warning people about the rules, like: “don’t touch it” “keep it away” “don’t open it” “only staff can touch it” which made it feel more like a prison. There was no real social area or kitchen just two couches by the reception where the staff were always around, making it not really private.

I’m glad I only stayed for one night. The owner was somewhat friendly and let me leave my luggage before check-in, but the overall vibe was off. The location is 5 min walking distance from a subway.

If you’re thinking about booking here, please I’d consider another place or wait until they fix these problems.

It’s hard to believe a hostel like this exists in Japan, where I’ve found much cleaner places in poorer countries.

After traveling for six months full time and visiting over 40 countries in my life, this was one of the worst places I've stayed.

I hope that’s helpful for people out there looking for a...

I was very disappointed. The room had no window but was fine for the price. The staff was rather slow, showed little initiative for tips such as restaurants or activities. The wifi was down the whole time on the 5th and 6th floor, which was very annoying as I had no internet in the room. When I asked to solve this problem, the staff simply said that they had already switched it on and off once and that they were "not technical experts", so the problem could not be solved.||I was used to a completely different standard from my previous destination in Vietnam. In general, there was not necessarily a social atmosphere, although I actually chose this hostel for this reason, as I was travelling solo.||The second night I was woken up at 2am by very loud voices (even though it's actually bedtime after 11pm). When they didn't get any quieter after a long time (I slept with earplugs!), I knocked gently on the door in question if they could speak more quietly. The door was opened by three 50-year-old men who, from the smell, were smoking weed in their room. Irritated, I asked them to please speak a little more quietly, but the volume of their conversation increased again after just 5 minutes. As I couldn't sleep, I went to 7 Eleven around the corner to get something to eat and again came across the 3 men who were staring at me and talking to me in Japanese. The men came back shortly after me and opened their door just after they heard me go to the toilet and I could hear them searching around in the corridor and the light was also switched on. A VERY unpleasant situation.||In the end, the only positive thing about the hostel was the location, which was good but couldn't make up for the other points. There are certainly better hostels in Osaka for this money and I don't recommend this hostel to anyone who wants to have a good time or even...