Have had a few friends ask for airbnb recs from Japan, so here we go. In general, I found that the “shared space” and “private room” airbnb categories were more interesting than the “entire home” category — I liked having a host to talk to, and didn’t mind sharing a room with cool people. YMMV.
This isn’t an exhaustive list — I’m excluding places that were boring, weird, or felt too much like a hotel 🙂
Oh, and if you’re new to AirBnB, here’s $20 in credit.
Osaka
I stayed in this shared space, which is run by an awesome human being named Shuichi — once a week he cooks takoyaki for guests, and I believe he runs some private rooms if a shared space isn’t your thing. Ask him for restaurant recs in osaka.
Kyoto
Koji rents this room on the northwest corner of Kyoto — comes with a bike you can use to explore the area (totally worth doing), and there’s a secret forest path that leads to the backside of Ryōan-ji — my favorite temple in Kyoto. Kinkaku-ji is also nearby, and while it’s a little more touristy it’s absolutely worth seeing. Daitoku-ji is also relatively close, and it’s a lot of fun to walk/ride through those neighborhoods.
Cafe Independants is my favorite coffee spot in Kyoto, and they have music sometimes (saw an awesome gypsy-punk band there). That whole area around the river is worth a walk, there’s a lot to check out.
I also stayed in this shared space near Nijo castle & met a lot of awesome travelers — I think they have private rooms as well.
Onomichi/Hiroshima
I tried to go to Hiroshima but ended up in Onomochi (still in Hiroshima prefecture) — such is the danger of distractedly booking AirBnBs from the Shinkansen. Stayed in this awesome shared space (built from scratch by the owner).
Tokyo
Stayed in Oka’s room in Kichijoji for several days — lots of awesome restaurants around, easy to get anywhere else in Tokyo on the Chuo main line.
Ito
Although the listing for Masa’s room is entirely in Japanese, he speaks excellent english. Also not mentioned in the listing — this is a dive school, Ito is a great dive spot, and Masa will take you scuba diving. Score.