HN Explorer

Offer HN: Room in Japan

77 points by bemmu ↗ HN
I recently married and moved to Japan. We live in a small city called Tokushima in about 70 square meter apartment. Currently we have a free room that we haven't yet decided what to do with. If you've been wanting to experience Japan, this could be your chance. You would fly to Osaka airport, meet me (I don't mind visiting Osaka every now and then), maybe see Osaka first and then take a bus to Tokushima. You could stay in the room for two or three days and then continue your trip on your own. You can take a boat to Tokyo, for example.

If this sounds like fun, see my email in my profile. I thought this might be an interesting way for me to meet other developers, too.

33 comments

[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 79.7 ms ] thread
jason_tko
Cool. I'm tentatively planning to to Hiroshima this weekend. I'm ok for a place to stay, if you'd like to catch up for a coffee around the area, that'd be great.
bemmu
What's your contact info?
jacquesm
How I wished I was free to take you up on your offer :)

And what a fantastic thing to do.

jamesteow
Wow, I'd love to take you up on this offer. I'm actually planning to fly from Tokyo after visiting Vietnam in December. I'd only stay for a few days.
bemmu
Sure, but jaems.info doesn't seem to have your email address?
coryl
How generous of you, now that's what a community is all about!
zaidf
Wow. Seems like HN has come the full circle with this whole "offer" thing!
jacquesm
If this goes on we may have to change the banner default from orange to red to indicate our new socialist leanings :)

It's really great, one week and I've seen people offering work, books, advice, copy, design, lodging and all kinds of other stuff for free or for a smile.

Makes you wonder where this will go, it definitely seems to knit the community tighter.

SiVal
He's freely donating his own room. That's not socialism. Socialism would be if a group of you got together and forced this guy to "donate" his room to one of your friends while forcing the guy to keep paying the rent, then crediting yourselves with generosity and accusing the guy you're ripping off of "greed".
derrida
Actually socialism is democratic control of the means of production, and is an economy without government control. What you are thinking about is what happened in the USSR and just because the USSR propaganda agency and the US propaganda both called what happened in the USSR socialism, doesn't make it true that it is socialism. You must remember, in the 1930's being Socialist was a trendy as being Green is today, so all sorts of folks wanted to co-opt that name into their own cause.
d3b14n
This has nothing to do with socialism. Socialism is totalitarism and we are talking here about sharing.
Klonoar
Huh. How long is this offer good for, do you think?
Hovertruck
Wow, I was just about to email you to make sure you saw this.
bemmu
Not sure, what date were you thinking about?
Klonoar
It honestly depends on whenever the hell my passport comes in. Mind if I just email you throughout the coming month as I know more?
teye
Awesome! I'm heading to Japan over Thanksgiving. We talked about visiting Shikoku again, so if I'm in the area I'll drop you a line.

Hope you meet lots of interesting people!

bemmu
Okay, do email me if you happen to be around.
zackattack
congratulations on the marriage dude
geuis
I spent a week in Tokyo last year from Christmas to New Year's. What an amazing experience. I had originally planned to travel on to Kyoto about halfway through my week, but Tokyo had too much to offer to leave early. I really would love to spend a few days in a more normal (non-hotel, non-Shibuya) setting and travel around.
barrydahlberg
Personally I did not enjoy the concrete jungle that was Tokyo. If you are into the more natural and historical side of things I definately suggest going back for Kyoto.
tallanvor
I was in Tokyo around that same time - it was an interesting experience to say the least! The strangest thing was their tradition of having KFC for xmas.
kjell
I'm sure you know about couchsurfing.org. You might try hosting a few people. I've had some of the best experiences of my life in situations similar to what you're offering, some with friends or relatives but a lot with couchsurfers. It's a great deal.
paulnelligan
agreed, I've been hosting for 1.5 years now in Ireland and have had mostly very positive experiences.
bemmu
Thanks, I'm aware of couchsurfing (and airbnb), but I'd rather host other hackers this time.
PaulJoslin
Wow, I'm almost tempted, I've always wanted to go to Japan and was sad I missed it out when I travelled around the world - I'll have to check the cost of flights out.
mfalcon
It's really great the thing you and many other folks in HN are doing for this community. It makes me really happy to see where HN is going, I really hope to offer something similar in the near future.
w1ntermute
Will this offer still be valid next summer? With any luck, I'll be doing research for the summer at a university in Tokyo, and I'd love to visit Shikoku for a few days.
sibilsalim
Just curious. How do i trust you? :) More importantly, Why many of the commenters trust bemmu?
derrida
This is very nice. Good on you!