The NEW place in Noda...
The group of guys (4 in all) were extremely pleased with the new place Shawn has to offer in Noda. I must say we had no idea what we were in for as we were the first group of guys to stay. Also, being in Soke's home town it was important to be on our BEST behaviour. Though we travel from afar, we are all ambassadors of the Bujinkan.
For us, one of the most important decisions we need to make when we visited Japan was "how far is it from Hombu??" The good news is that it is only a 10 minute walk to Hombu dojo / Ayase train station.
The apartment is also about a 4 minute walk to a local pharmacy that has all sorts of food and drinks, as well as a friendly butcher shop across the street from the pharmacy. You are also only about a 5-10 minute walk from two reasonably priced family restaurants, one of which I believe to be open 24 hours.
The best feature of the apartment is the place itself. It is very private, set quite a few metres away from the street and beside a bamboo grove. There are two very comfortable hardwood floor rooms, one with a bunk bed and the other with futons. The kitchen, bathroom and shower room were immaculately renovated before our stay and Shawn made sure we always had enough materials (bags, cleaners, stove, etc) to ensure a comfortable stay. There's an entertainment unit with ample DVDs of training to watch and I believe Shawn has also installed Internet connexion.
The canadians from Ottawa recommend this place to anyone wanting to train and stay close to Hombu.