Toco Tokyo Heritage Hostel (Review)

I stayed 4 nights at Toco Tokyo Heritage Hostel, located in Taito City in Tokyo, Japan. I booked it specifically because it’s in a refurbished Edo era building, and I wanted to experience what it was like staying in a traditional 1920s style Japanese house.

This is a review of my stay at Toco Tokyo Heritage Hostel in February 2023, plus information about my room, the hotel itself, and other things related to my stay.

Note: I paid for the room myself and have not received compensation from the hotel for writing this review. It’s my own thoughts and experiences and I’ve not been influenced in any way!

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Post Contents

Toco Tokyo Heritage Hostel (Tokyo, Japan)

Garden to the side of the Edo era building!

Quick Info

AKA Tokyo Guest House toco.
Address: 2 Chome-13-21 Shitaya, Taito City, Tokyo 110-0004, Japan
Plus code: PQCM+RH Taito City, Tokyo, Japan
Phone number: +81364581686
Check In: 4:00 pm
Check Out: 11:00 am
Breakfast: No
Wifi: Yes!
Closest stations: Iriya (subway), Uguisudani Station (JR)

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Getting to Trust Hotel Toco Tokyo Heritage Hostel

The hostel is close to a few stations. The closest train station on the JR line is Uguisudani Station (about 10 minutes walking) and the closest metro station is Iriya (5 minutes walking).

If you’re coming from Narita Airport, you can take the Keisei Line or Skyliner Line to Ueno Station, transfer to the Hibiya Line and go to Iriya Station. From there it’s 5 minutes to the hostel.

The streets are easy to navigate and they have good sidewalks; this is a more residential neighborhood so there’s more locals and cars than tourists, so you won’t be crushed in a crosswalk like you might in other neighborhoods.

Toco is also a good base for exploring Asakusa and Ueno, as they’re about 15-20 minutes walking from the hostel. As for going elsewhere in Tokyo: from Toco to Tokyo Station it’s about 15 minutes travel time, and to Shibuya Station its about 35 minutes.

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Check-in & Hotel Staff

Toco Hostel is the white building in the middle there

So there’s actually two buildings to the hostel. The one in the front looks like the above photo, with a little Toco sign. In the evenings it turns into a snack bar!

Checking in was easy, just had to get in and find a staff member, then fill out a form and hand over my passport for photocopying (as usual). The staff then took me back to the hostel part, which is at the back of the property in a separate building.

I talked to some staff members during my stay when we ran into each other in the kitchen. They’re young and looking to practice English (and talk about traveling) so it was a good experience!

My Room

I stayed in a female dorm with 8 beds, each with curtains, a power plug and lamp. The room also had lockers inside, and a small table next to a window. The space between beds was kind of small, so most people ended up storing their suitcases by the window.

Lockers were big enough for maybe up to a 60l backpack if it’s not too bulky.

We shared bathrooms with everyone else in the hostel. My floor had its own toilet, and there were two more downstairs plus two shower stalls.

If you don’t want to stay in a dorm, they do have private rooms available, too. They come with a terrace, which must be beautiful in the summer!

Bed

Even with the lamp on it was always kind of dark in the bunk.

Pretty comfortable bed, but I was FREEZING! It was February and maybe 45F at the highest point during the day, which is colder than I’m used to. There was a heater in the room but the wooden floors just suck away all the heat. Staff gave me an extra blanket and I also snagged an electric blanket from the hallway where they were put out for guests. Between those I was actually comfortable at night.

Because the hostel building is behind a wall of other buildings, we didn’t get much street noise at night which was very nice.

Bathroom

(I didn’t get any photos! Too busy running back to the heated room.)

Basic toilet room and shower stall, with shampoo/soap/conditioner in big bottles. The bathroom on my floor was freezing (like most of the house) but I guess that’s what you get in a 100+ year old house in the winter. 😀

View

We had a nice view out the dorm window, actually!

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Hostel Room Tour Video

If you prefer video, I did a room tour recording:

Shared Spaces

Hostels are great because they have a lot of shared spaces. This one was small so mostly the shared space was in the kitchen, where there was a big table and a smaller side counter that you could use for doing work on the computer.

Guests can use the kitchen to cook; there’s two induction burners, a microwave and a hot water kettle, plus a big fridge to keep things in. I ended up getting some things from the nearby 7-11 and having them for dinner: easy and cheap!

The bar in the front building is also a shared space, and guests can use it all day (not just at night when the bar part opens)!

Final Thoughts

Toco Hostel is in a beautiful old house, albeit one that’s pretty freezing in the winter. Still, I liked the location and the amenities, and the staff was nice. I recommend staying at Toco if you’re interested in seeing what it’s like to sleep in an Edo era house, and especially if you prefer to be outside of the main tourist part of Tokyo.