There are also a few cafes which are laptop friendly. (That's notable in Tokyo, as most are not -- a combination of high traffic, poor power/wifi situations, and the staff not being pleased with someone holding a table for extended periods.)
The one which I know off the top of my head is Nakameguro Lounge, about one minute from Nakameguro Station. The effective price per hour is 600 to 1,000 yen. Also their lunch menu is really fantastic for only about 1,200 yen.
Also, as it is about two minutes from my apartment, if you're ever passing through Tokyo drop me a line and your coffee/lunch is on me.
Just left after 3 months there, and struggled to find places to work from that aren't Starbucks, few and far between. I frequented a couple Jingumae spots like the Roastery and Suzu Cafe, Mellow Brown in Jiyugauka, Fuglen in Yoyogi, and a lot of cool or charming spots that had no outlets or wifi but were OK to work from, like Brooklyn Parlor in Shinjuku or some spots around Kichijoji I liked (and of course, Blue Bottle too). Nakameguro had nice little cafes but I never worked from there.
Overall Tokyo is not a digital nomad, coffee-shop working friendly city (or at least not like other major international cities), which was both surprising and disappointing, for me.
EDIT - I'll add the co working spaces I dropped by were all simply terrible. I only went to a few, Open Source Cafe, and Jelly Jelly, and then gave up. I wish I had Tokyocheapo's list at the time. One of them was playing pop music over a speaker system to everyone who was working... I mean, seriously?
Have you tried public libraries? I worked sometimes in one where I was staying. It was pretty silent, with a table to put the computer, and there was a wifi there - which I didn't want to try, I went there to be in a place without Internet, but I know the wifi was available. Also completelt free. The only downside is that they didn't let visitors plug their laptops, so your will need to have a good autonomy.
Wow, it sounds like you had bad luck finding places.
I find Tokyo 10x better than SF or LA for places to hang. In SF or LA they are either all full, or you have to by stuff every 2 hours which makes me fat, plus I can't leave anything out so after a coffee or two I need to use the restroom and I lose my space because you can't leave a notebook unattended in the USA. The only exception is maybe the Workspace Cafe in SF.
In Tokyo there's co-working spaces everywhere, they are cheap (especially when you take into account free drinks). Have worked from plenty of starbucks as well, except on weekends when they're full. The one behind roppongi hills that's open till 4am has been great. The one at the corner of Meiji-dori and Omotesando on the 6th floor is huge and been great too. Just don't go on a weekend / holiday.
I'd be curious to know which cities you think are good. I traveled to a bunch of cities in Europe last year and my luck was like yours in Tokyo. I looked up places, checked them out, all were horrible. But I was only in each city for a week or less so maybe I just failed to find anything like you did in Tokyo.
> plus I can't leave anything out so after a coffee or two I need to use the restroom and I lose my space because you can't leave a notebook unattended in the USA.
I have a beat up moleskine with some random doodles that I carry around for exactly this reason. Need to use the restroom at a coffee shop? Leave my disposable moleskine and a pencil on the table to claim the spot. If someone jacks the table, easy to ask them what they did with your notebook.
I'm not disputing Tokyo is full of Starbucks. Judge me if you want but I just won't work from Starbucks. (For the record, the Starbucks at Daikanyama in the T-Complex is actually very cool and is worth a mention; didn't like the Starbucks you mentioned much, which I also worked from a little, by necessity... also if you're in Roppongi go work from the art museum cafe, or for a great spot open late, there's a stylish lounge/cafe in Shibuya a block by Zanmai Sushi open until 7am, really can't think of the name)
You would have to list names of specific places, apart from the ones I listed, because I just don't believe it's a matter of me not looking enough. You would also have to list names of co working spaces too that are good, because as I mentioned, the ones I went to were quite bad.
For SF, I have a map of ~20 hacker friendly coffee shops I frequent there. There were maybe 4-5 coffee shops in all of Tokyo of a comparable standard. (Fukuoka, even Sapporo, had better spots than Tokyo for laptop workers.)
Shanghai is an example of a city that is actually 10x better for working from cafes (if you use a VPN).
Vietnam is in general an amazing place to work from cafes. Free WiFi is standard, most cafes serve a decent breakfast for less than $2, and many of them are quite elegant and beautifully appointed. The biggest downside is that everybody smokes here so if you're sensitive to cigarette smoke you might have a hard time finding a seat that isn't close to a smoker.
Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City) is the best place if you want to meet other tech people, but I find it a little too hectic to stay here too long. I prefer the smaller towns like Nha Trang or Hoi An if I really want to knuckle down and get things done.
Well I think you will have to actually list some places if you want to argue it is hacker friendly :)... just saw this thread, in Tokyo myself. I don't think it's particularly hacker friendly, cafe wise, lack of wifi, etc.
I would be thrilled if you would list a good cafe or two, as I am always on the hunt.
Thanks for the tip on Nakameguro lounge. I live rather close to there. Any other suggestions?
I spent most of my time at FAB Cafe in Shibuya. They have WiFi, 3D printing, and laser cutters, but I'm looking for somewhere new.
This weekend I discovered Alaska, a cafe in Nakameguro. The coffee was great, although my latte was price-y at 700yen. But food seemed to be around the 1,000 yen mark and it wasn't busy enough for me to feel guilty about hogging a table.
Any cafe which wants to make free WiFi available can trivially make free WiFi available. I believe that most which choose to not do this are making the considered product/marketing decision that they do not want long stays from laptop users. They want to turn those tables quickly because $4 to $6 coffees only make Tokyo commercial rents if you sell a lot of them.
> They want to turn those tables quickly because $4 to $6 coffees only make Tokyo commercial rents if you sell a lot of them.
Then how does Starbucks make money then ? Most of the clients in Starbucks in Japan come for a drink with their computer or iPad and stay an hour or even more without consuming anything else - and they have their own internet access via tethering anyway. Yet Starbucks makes huge profits.
A variety of reasons, but I suspect a big one is vested interests from paid wifi services. For years it's been the norm to see a cafe full of people all using their own wifi dongles.
I dunno, I went indie-gamedev a few months ago and I've done nearly all my work in St. Marcs, Ueshimas, Tullys, Forests and so forth. Most have power outlets in at least some seats, and on weekdays they never really get crowded enough to care about space (at least not where I am a few minutes outside of Shibuya). The downside is wifi, but the fact that I work better without it is half the reason I'm at a cafe!
With that said for non-chain places with wifi, Streamer Cafe was a short walk from Nakameguro and was a nice place to spend an afternoon. Timeout cafe (Ebisu above liquid room) was reasonable as well, modulo a sales guy using it for an office.
Would be great to sponge a lunch off you someday ;)
Drop In should probably be Drop-In. After reading the title, I though there was a fall in the number of coworking spaces in Tokyo, which is the exact opposite of the article.
The Terminal is around ~$13 a day if you pay ~$20 for a year membership. Includes free soft drinks. Yea, just $20. Or you can get a monthly pass for ~$160
II Office is around ~$10 a day also including free soft drinks
Jelly Jelly is really tiny and the one time I went it was 100% full so I haven't actually used it.
Open Source Cafe is also pretty tiny. It's 2 small rooms, both hold maybe 7 people though I've seen them cram in 15+ for a meeting.
I've been to a few on the list
co-ba I signed up for a year ago. Plus, if you become a member they give you a security card and it's open 24 hours.
Minus, it's pretty minimal, especially the 2nd floor. Feels like I sitting in an elementary school class.
kokemasaz feels like someone decorated their garage. Nice DIY vibe. The guy making Voxatron (http://voxatron.com) who goes by Zeb online says he sometimes hangs out there.
I guess I should mention he runs the picopico cafe (http://picopicocafe.com) in Kichijoji. It's only open 3pm to 10pm Saturday and Sunday and even then only if they haven't rented the place out (check their calendar) but, possibly because he's an indie game dev a lot of other mostly non Japanese indie game devs hang out there.
What kind of shocks me is how much more expensive co-working spaces are in SF and LA. They claim you'll get networking but they're usually > $500 a month for just an unassigned seat at an open table.
Do you know if it's pretty competitive to get the monthly membership at The Terminal? Only the first 10 people who sign up can get it right? ("毎月先着10名様となります。")
I haven't checked. Given it's 1295 yen a day after the 2000yen yearly membership I'd rather pay by the day. The month price is better after 12 days a month but I'd prefer to move around so I come at most probably 9 days a month and visit other places on other days.
This list is missing Open Source Cafe, where I'm sitting right now! I'll be here for another few weeks if anybody is interested in dropping by.
http://www.osscafe.net/en/
It's in Shimokitazawa, really cool neighbourhood not far from Shibuya.
Places I haven't tried! All your base are belong to us!
Coworking spaces are pretty hit or miss. There's also Academy Hills (http://www.academyhills.com) on the 49th floor of Mori Tower in Roppongi that runs you 10,000yen/mo.
Other options:
Jiyugaoka — Robek's Juice — no WIFI, but spacious and has lots of power.
Near Jiyugaoka — Radio Plant Cafe — free wifi, but quite small.
I'll be back in Tokyo May 1-3ish -- psyched to check out Nakame lounge; that's new to me.
Fuglen and Maruyama are my two go-to places though neither are great for "working"
Streamer/Lattest I would say are not really appropriate for 'working' either. Sure, I've sat in them for an hour or two on occasion, but it doesn't feel exactly appropriate.
I'm in and out of TKO a lot. (Live in Shanghai) Will happily trades beers and coffees for tips on good cafes. ^^
Interesting that people mention Shanghai as having a good cafe scene; I like a few of the places here okay but I'd never choose them over a bunch of the better options in tko or the US...
This is great! I go to Japan about once a year and for 2016 I'm thinking about spending a month or two working remote from Tokyo. I recently got back from doing the same at a coworking space in Thailand.
Interesting to see how Tokyo work culture impacts the co-working scene: A lot of them only open at 10 but stay open late in the evening. This is because, due to its size and property prices, many people commute up to 2 hours one way.
I don't follow. I know many salarypeople who have 1.5h+ commutes, because as you say central Tokyo is expensive. But if you're self-employed or doing a startup, why would you travel that far to a co-working space instead of just working from home?
Cool, been looking for one. thanks!
I've also considered working from internet cafes, but if a coworking space is cheaper, it would make sense to go to one.
It's good to see all the Japan-based HNers goofing off at work today. HN usually starts dying this time of day (1445 JST) as the West Coast heads to bed...
What I need to find though is a proper co-working space / shared office. While I love hanging out in coffee shops I need a place where I can reserve a desk ;-)
There's a lot of variety in Tokyo so I should be able to find something.
The one which I know off the top of my head is Nakameguro Lounge, about one minute from Nakameguro Station. The effective price per hour is 600 to 1,000 yen. Also their lunch menu is really fantastic for only about 1,200 yen.
Also, as it is about two minutes from my apartment, if you're ever passing through Tokyo drop me a line and your coffee/lunch is on me.