I started class last week (12 March) and I would be happy to answer some questions. I am here through PARC on the AJX contract. I am not sure if we are in a new hotel or not, but it is the New Takanawa Prince hotel. About a 5 minute walk to the Shinagawa Station.
Things are actually pretty good here. We did the Air Law class last week and while it was not exciting (it is air law) it was not that bad either. Or JCAB exam is monday so hopefully all will go well...
I dont know anything about the AJV schedules, but with AJX, you fly to three cities... NRT - CAN (departs about 8am, then returns back to NRT same day), NRT - HNL (departs sometime in the afternoon and arriven in HNL about 0930 the next day, then comes back 0900 the following day to NRT), and NRT-HKG (leave about 1830 arrive about 2330, off the whole next day in HKG then back to NRT about 0830 the next day).
It appears that you are always back in NRT about 1400 - 1500 on your last day.. Typically 4 to 5 overnight trips per month, averaging about 70 hours of time a month (they said AJV averages about 40 hours a month)
Commuting is either paid ticket or you can use ZED tickets. It seems that most guys are commuting to Australia, with a few to Europe, US and Thailand.
Not sure about crashpad's yet. I hear that there are some but I am planning on staying at the holiday inn, narita for the time being. It averages about 50$ a night, and is only about 10 minutes from the airport. If you have a crash pad in the city, its a long way to work every day. (and pretty expensive)
Only been here a week but so far I am enjoying it a lot. Any other questions, fire away...