In the beginning of January, Japan entered state of emergency once again. 70% of staff would been working remotely, and restaurants close at 8pm. With my husband already working from home with back-to-back video conference calls all day, it was hard for us to share the home office, so I started going to Starbucks in the mornings.
I was just glad to be able to sit at a chair and table for myself and replacing instant coffee with amazing freshly made coffee. But each morning it is a time battle to drop my son off early and get a decent seat at Starbucks. If I’m there any time later than 8:30am, the only seats that are left are the ones with no back support, or right by the cashier which tends to be very noisy. On top of that they play the music pretty loudly, and there are (to my surprise) a lot of loud conversations and phones ringing. Going to Starbucks became stressful, because whether or not I find a good seat and if there were any loud customers there really shaped how much work I could get done.
When my friend from Shanghai who is a Marketing manager for Servcorp introduced me to her colleague in Japan, I was super excited. Servcorp is a company that provides serviced offices and co-working spaces, and my husband and I have been talking about this option for a while, so I’m really excited to be the first to try it out.
- Servcorp official Japan website: www.servcorp.co.jp
- Servcorp operates in 23 countries and 54 cities with 150 locations.
- The provide Serviced offices, virtual offices, coworking space, and meeting rooms
The office I went to is right across from Tokyo Midtown at Roppongi station exit 8. It’s a very convenient location with a lot of tech companies and real estate companies nearby. Since it’s by Tokyo Midtown, if you are driving or biking you can park there and walk across the street. On top of that, there are many convenience stores as well as restaurants nearby.
Amenities
For this specific office, you can rent out serviced offices, dedicated desks, and meeting rooms. The serviced offices would be dedicated to you and your company. If you are an individual contributor, you can also use the coworking area which has many desks, hot desks with phones and desks with computers as well. There are also private phone booths and a private computer booth.
If you need to hold a meeting one-on-one, you can also use the guest coupons to grant temporary one-day access for your guest. Another option is the public space at the 3rd floor lobby outside the security gates.
The pantry area is equipped with free unlimited supply of water, tea, milk and coffee. There are also some chilled beverages and snack which are chargeable, however you are welcomed to bring your own food. A microwave is also available if you decide to bring your own bento lunch.
Some other things that are provided here are for example various stationary: tape, scissors, hole puncher, paper cutter, stapler, ruler, and printer. You can also borrow wireless keyboards, mouse, VGA/HDMI/USB/lightning adapters and cables.
Staff
The staff are all bilingual so you wouldn’t have any issues if you don’t speak Japanese. The security guard downstairs also speaks good English. When you receive your QR code for your initial access, the steps are also in English so there’s no worry their either.
Safety and Health
Throughout the building and the office itself, there’s hand sanitizers available. You also see signs to wear mask and also social distance yourself with others, especially in the pantry area. The staff are also very diligent in disinfecting surfaces of the desks and it’s just a very clean environment in genera.
Feel of the office
It’s definitely a very quiet and pleasant environment. Even when people use the co-working space, they’re holding their conversations quietly. There are also signs to ask people to use headphones when on a conference call. There’s very light jazz music in the background, but so light that it won’t disrupt work. If I can describe this office in one world, it would be “professional”. People are very respectful of each other, and the environment is set up to help you focus on work. I also love that the outer wall is lined with floor to ceiling windows so there’s a lot of natural light coming in. Working in a small enclosed space, especially in tiny Japanese homes, can often make you feel tired quickly, so it’s very important that the working space I’m in has large windows.
The Roppongi office I’m at is one of the more expensive locations and costs ¥50,000/mo. But if you break it down to a 20-day working month, it’s about ¥2,500/day. Servcorp Japan is running campaigns right now so you may be able to get a good deal. Their Instagram account @servcorpjapan has all the latest deals for the month. You can get as much as 25% off or the first month for free depending on the location.
Hope you enjoyed this in-depth review of Servcorp Japan. Have a wonderful productive day!
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