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If you're coming to Japan for a short trip, see our page on
hotels, hostels and Japanese style accommodation.
Long-term visitors to Japan or those planning to stay and work here have two main
choices: gaijin houses (guest houses) or renting an apartment or house.
Gaijin houses are plentiful and have multiplied in number many times over the last 20 years
or so. They are relatively cheap and have weekly or monthly
rates, while finding an apartment can be a frustrating and expensive
experience. Most people start off spending a few months in a gaijin
house and move into an apartment when they've put some money together.
Free magazines available in bars, pubs and restaurants usually
have listings of gaijin houses and their rates.
Long-Term Accommodation
Gaijin houses
There are several hundred of these houses in the major cities
and they are a popular choice for finding one's feet and checking
the lay of the land, so to speak. They're a good place to meet
other foreigners and find out the latest information - though,
of course, not as good as this site! They usually have weekly
and monthly rates (sometimes daily, too) based on private or shared
furnished rooms. Rates vary but in Tokyo the average is about
¥30,000 per month for a shared room or ¥60,000 for a private room.
Kitchen, lounge and bathroom facilities are shared. The main appeal
is that they require a small or no deposit rather than the huge
amount that is usually charged when renting.
Rented accommodation
Anybody staying longer than a few months will probably think about
getting their own place. The main barriers are cost and discrimination
- although you will also need to have a guarantor. In the Tokyo
area, they have a system called reikin, a non-refundable deposit usually called 'key money' in English.
The standard rate is two month's rent, which added to the usual two
month's rent shikikin (refundable deposit), one month's rent real-estate agency fee
and a month's rent in advance comes to quite a hefty sum of money.
In other areas, the reikin system is not usually used but refundable
deposits are higher. And the term 'refundable' is open to interpretation,
too. Usually, a third or so is kept by the landlord for redecoration
or replacing tatami mats or whatever. Discrimination tends to
be pretty blatant. If a real-estate agent is calling around for
you, often the first thing they say will be "I've got this foreigner
who's interested in your place..." - many times, they won't get
any further than that. A couple of guys might want to share a
place to cut down on cost - an ax murderer has a better chance
of moving in, as long as he's Japanese. There are also restrictions
on pets, children, students etc.
Rents vary greatly depending on location, distance from the nearest train
station, size, age of the building and the floor the apartment
is on. In Tokyo, you can find a tiny, old one-room place with
a gas stove and no bathroom for ¥30,000 a month or pay a million
yen a month or more for a big Western-style apartment in the center of
town.
One think you'll need to get used to is the simple system for describing
madori or room layout. A typical family apartment might be described as
3LDK. The 3 refers to three bedrooms, the L to the living room, the D to the
dining room/area and the K to the kitchen. Often the LDK is actually one large
space with an open plan kitchen separated by a counter. There may be an S thrown
in there too, which refers to a study. Most apartments will have at least one
room with tatami flooring, as this seems to be regarded as the way to
retain that essential "Japanese-ness." If an apartment is described as "one room"
or 1R, it has no separate kitchen and probably a "unit bath," with a toilet,
sink and bath/shower crammed into a small space.
Apaato vs Mansion
A possible source of confusion is the Japanese words for the two
types of apartments - apaato and mansion. Apaato
means a wooden apartment building, often old and with
little or no sound or heat insulation. They tend to be on the
cheaper end of the scale although often they are quite nice and
comfortable. The word mansion is especially misleading. It conjours
up images of a palatial home with a servant's wing and dozens
of guest bedrooms. Actually, it just means an apartment in a steel
structure or concrete building. The buildings can be small with
10 or so apartments or 30 stories high with high-speed Internet
access and an indoor swimming pool. They usually have a western-style
design and tend to be more expensive and have more modern conveniences
than apaato. Mansion can also be split into two types - chintai
for rental units and bunjo, which are built to be sold to individual owners.
Related Pages: Short-term accommodation
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