I’m currently staying in a hostel in Sapporo. This morning, as I was getting ready for the day, I saw a cockroach. This freaked me out a bit, and I told the person there who was apologetic, and then proceeded to go do something in the room for about ten minutes before returning. The reviews of this hostel on all websites have never mentioned cockroaches, and almost all talk about the cleanliness of the accomodation.
What worries me is whether or not this is a sign that there’s an infestation here. In my experience, I live in a place with few cockroaches so am very worried about seeing even one. However, on my research on Google, it says Japan has many cockroaches, so I thought maybe one isn’t such a big deal. But then it says they are rare in Hokkaido, which makes me nervous again that this hostel may not be clean/safe.
I don’t really know what to do now, I am very nervous to go to sleep today, and I would change accomodation but everywhere is booked for the snow festival so even the cheapest accomodation would be far out of my budget. I need advice from people who know more about Japan than me, how common is it to see a cockroach in Sapporo? How likely is it that there’s an infestation here?
Thank you for advice or help
7 comments
I have never seen a cockroach in a hotel in Japan with over 200 nights (never stayed in a hostel).
Even when living there for over a year I have never seen one, although the people that lived there before saw some regularly in the kitchen and the bath room.
When you see one cockroach, there are dozens you do not see.
They won’t crawl over you as you sleep and there’s nothing unsafe about them. Try not to worry about it these few days that you’re here, you were probably just unlucky. If it makes your feel better check your shoes and clothes before putting them on.
One cockroach is not per see a sign of an infestation. We never had any at our (relatively new) apartment in Tokyo until one flew in when I opened the balcony window for two seconds. Killed it with a newspaper and never saw one again. Maybe something similar happened here.
I had one crawl out of a futon on an AirBnB I stayed in. It was the only one I saw though, that includes over the entire trip. They are fairly common from what I hear, but seeing one doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be overrun!
Cockroaches are very rare in Sapporo. And especially so in the winter.
I mean, you’re at a hostel, what do you expect?
I have seen an infestation, and that is not it.
Cockroaches are quite common in Japan and usually not a sign of bad hygiene. If you kill it: do not squash it! They often carry their eggs around and killing one will create 10000 new ones.