Gogo House Hostel Tokyo – How To Get There & What To Do Around

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 09 Couverture

Gogo House hostel is located at Shimo-Akatuska and I have to say that I didn’t know the area at all before to book some nights at this hostel. But as I like to explore less-known places, I decided to walk around during my first day at the hostel to see if there was any places of interest near the hostel. And I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

Let me tell you more about it but before, let me show you how to go the Gogo House hostel.

How to get to Gogo House Hostel?

First of all, I highly recommend you the website hyperdia.com to plan all your train trips in Japan. The website has a great english version and it will give you the best option in terms of price and travel time to get from a station to another. In my case, I arrived to Japan via Narita airport and I went directly from the airport to Gogo House hostel. Here is the trip I recommend you to take:

Shimo-Akatsuka Narita Train Trip

As you can see, the whole journey will take around 1h 20 minutes and it will cost  2840 Yens which is around 25$. You will have to make 2 transfers at Nippori and Ikebukuro. Make sure you keep the name of the train lines noted somewhere to avoid getting lost inside the train stations. Ikebukuro is indeed huge but as as long as you follow the signs, it should be fine. And don’t be shy to ask your way to Japanese people. As long as they speak in English, they will be happy to help you.

When you reach Shimo-Akatsuka train station, you are almost done. You just need to walk literally 2 minutes and you are at Gogo House hostel.

Shimo-Akatsuka Gogo House

As you will see, you will find plenty of shops and restaurants all around so you should not struggle at all to buy food or anything else.

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Now that you know how to go the hostel, let’s start to explore the surroundings.

What to do near Gogo House Hostel – Shogetsuin Temple

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I started my visit with a beautiful buddhist temple called Shogetsuin. The temple is located at 15-20 minutes walking from the hostel and here is its exact position. The good thing with being a bit far from Tokyo city center is that you will find very few tourists around. I personally met no foreigners at all while I was exploring Shimo-Akatsuka.

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Take your time to explore every corner of Shogetsuin temple and feel its peaceful atmosphere.

Jourenji temple and Tokyo Daibutsu (Great Buddha)

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I continued my trip with the visit of the shinto temple Jourenji which is 5 minutes away from Shogetsuin temple. After the entrance of the temple, you will see many cute statues of Japanese Shinto gods (also called Kami):

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There is also a nice pagoda near the entrance with a statue of Amaterasu inside (a major Japanese deity).

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 08 Pagoda

But the most interesting feature of the temple is the Daibutsu, which means Great Buddha in Japanese. During your visit of the temple, you will start to see it slowly behind the trees.

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And when you will finally be in front of Tokyo Daibutsu, you are going to be impressed by it size for sure (13 metres).

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 10 Daibutsu Great Buddha

If you continue to visit Jourenji, you will also find a beautiful temple on your left:

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and a nice river with Japanese carps called Koï or Nishikigoi. You can buy food at the temple and feed them if you want.

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Visiting Jourenji temple was really an amazing experience and I highly recommend you to go for it! 🙂

Batting Center

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 17 batting center

Just next to Jourenji temple, you will find a batting center where you will be able to test your Baseball skills. It was the first time for me and I have to say that it was really fun. To play this game, it’s pretty straight forward. First, every track has its speed so pick up yours according to your experience.

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For your information, I choose the 90 Speed and it was already difficult. 😀 After that, you need to pay 200 Yens for 25 balls. Just put the coins in this machine to start the game.

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 19 batting center

You are now ready to go! Pick up a baseball bat and it is game on. As I said, you will receive 25 balls so try to hit the maximum number of balls until the end. It does look kind of easy but it’s definitely not! :Send me how many ball you hit in the comments. 😉 I scored 5/25 at the first attempt and 12/25 at the second.

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 20 batting center

Hikarigaoka Park

Shimo-Akatsuka Tokyo Japan 21 Hikarigaoka Park

There is also a very big park in Shimo-Akatsuka called Hikarigaoka Park. Here is its exact location. Hikarigaoka Park is the perfect place to have lunch outside with your friends or play different kind of sports including baseball, football, basketball, tennis and so on.

I hope you enjoyed this article about what to do around Gogo House hostel. If you have any question, please don’t hesitate to post it in the comments below. And if you want to follow my journey in Asia, don’t forget to subscribe to my Social Media pages: Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter.

All the best,

MF

PS: If you want to learn how to travel to Japan on the cheap, feel free to read this guide: Travel to Japan on a Budget.

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