Mejirodai International Village — Local services in Tokyo

There are many reviews that I don't believe give a good and fair image of what Mejirodai International Village really is like. I wish to contribute one that is useful to anyone who considers staying there.

I stayed at MIV together with my daughter and wife in 2024. Starting with the room, we stayed in an H-type which was small (28 m2 I think) but had what we needed in terms of bathroom, cooking area etc. The room was clean, and in very good condition. There were almost no sounds from outside that reached into the room. A disadvantage was that the equipment for everyday life was limited and we had to buy quite a bit in terms of e.g. fork and knife, plates etc just to get rid of it again when we left.

I want to highlight that the service was really good, and that the staff is both kind and professional. They and went far to help out in the matters where we asked for it. In terms of service it felt like living at a hotel.

The restaurant at MIV was nice by the looks and had a shop in conjunction that sold several nice e.g. edible products (somewhat pricy). The food was not great however, and the price was high - I would recommend turning to some of the other thousands of restaurants in Tokyo when dinner time is aproaching. If you feel lazy, there is a 24/7 familymart (convienence store) at MIV which saved our everyday life on multiple occasions. Most days there are also foodtrucks that sells food at MIV at around lunch. It may be that the restaurant will improve, I heard something about a rebuild.

There are quite a few regulations to follow and the safety measures are extensive, you have to use your key several times if you walk around the building which can seem a bit on the heavy side-at, least if you come from western countries. Still, we felt very safe during our stay and the regulations were no problem to us. There is a bit of complicated procedures related to checking in and out, with several forms to fill in, and paying was a bit complicated. There are several different rooms that can be rented for free, e.g. tea ceremony room, cinema, exercise room etc.

Finally, there is not a lot to do in the proximity. Some good restaurants and some temples/minor attractions. Having a stroll next to the river is nice. There is a nearby metrostation so you are fairly well-connected with more interesting areas in Tokyo.

All in all, we felt that MIV was a really good place to stay, especially given the price which compared to were we come from was incredibly low. I definitely do not mind staying there again if I ever get back to Tokyo for...

MIV is basically a minimum security prison masquerading as a university dorm. Everything is overpriced to all hell, especially because they tack on an extra 30000 yen at the end for maintenance and utilities. And for such a small room, too! Everything is cramped and claustrophobic, with the smallest rooms (at 86000) taking up 10 square meters. The bathrooms have no ventilation, and the showers barely fit me. MIV is a hostile place, too, with many strict rules and tons of snitching going on. The staff is intentionally belligerent, and they constantly scare residents with threats that they only sometimes follow up on. The only possible benefit is living with other people from your school, and even then you can’t see them much because they’re not allowed to come up to your dorm. Every single door requires a key, and MIV feels, both administratively and physically, like one of Kafka’s nightmares. There are cockroaches (no joke intended) and I went through a nightmare bed bug infestation, where once I told management I was pretty much being eaten alive, they told me that it’s my problem, didn’t offer any help besides a slip of paper with tips on how to prevent bug infestations, and even though I paid the cleaning fee they refused to send up a cleaner and told me to ask for permission via email to get an exterminator, a cleaner, or even someone to check where the bugs were. It’s close to Hongo Campus, sure, but if you go to Komaba Campus it’s a much better idea to find a less overpriced, better deal in Setagaya. Never, ever go...

I should have taken the comments "prison" seriously, when I was considering moving into MIV. You can not exit the building without tapping your key (apparently in a power outage most doors do not open anymore). You need to tap your key and walk past a camera to go to the toilet. To enter you need to tap you key a total of 4 times to get to your high security prison room. You can not even drink a beer with friends, because you are not allowed to have anyone on your floor or in your room and in the common area it is forbidden - what a joke among adult researchers. They add 12'000 and 15'000 YEN per month as utility and maintenance on the final bill, which is ridiculous for a 10 m2 room. All in all; Mejirodai is built in every detail to just look good and make money. Nothing is done to make people feel comfortable and at home. There is not a single place to hang anything in the C building rooms, there is no wardrobe, the common space is as huge as it is useless, the room is therefore unnecessarily small, if you leave something in the common space they put a sticker to remove the next day, not even the chairs in the kitchen fit under the table with you sitting on it - but hey, they looked good at some point on pictures on the PC.

Nevertheless, the ordinary staff tries to make a good job and is nice to the residents. But they have very limited options to do a good job, as the whole organisation of Mejirodai is deeply miss planned - I wish the architect and the people in charge would spend a week in one of...