All You Need To Know About Moving In Japan

How I found an apartment in 4 days during peak moving season

Source: Jisu Han via Unsplash

On March 13th, I learned I had to move out of my apartment by the end of the month.

I had been living in the same short-term rental for over a year, extending the contract every two months—not an ideal living situation. If you wanted to have guaranteed contract extension, you had to pay a one-time fee. I never did and was able to extend my contract every time until March rolled around. In Japan, March is peak moving season because the academic and fiscal year starts on April 1st.

To make matters more complicated, I was going on a work trip between March 22nd and 30th. I had to find a new place to live, as fast as possible.

I started looking the next day. And had an apartment secured only four days later. This is a comprehensive guide on moving in Japan (Tokyo) based on what I learned through my own experience and talking with friends who also moved recently.

Disclaimer: I speak Japanese at JLPT N2 level. This is a huge advantage when looking to rent because it signals you will have no trouble interacting with management companies, utilities providers, complying to rules and regulations etc. I’m not sure how the process differs for those who don’t speak Japanese.

If you’d like Japanese-speaking help with understanding apartment hunting and the application process as a foreigner, by all means reach out to me!

Preparation

Renting in Japan 101

There are different options for accommodation, depending on whether you’re staying in Japan for the short or the long term.

• Share house: You get your own room but share kitchen and bathroom with other residents. This is often recommended for short-term stay or the first few months as searching for an apartment is much easier if you’re already in the country. Oakhouse gets recommended a lot. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about staying in share houses so I can’t recommend it.

• Short-term rental apartment: If you only stay for a few months and can pay the full cost upfront, this might be the option for you. I stayed at a Union Monthly apartment and can recommend it for the short term.

• Regular rental: Two-year contracts are the most common. You need a Japanese bank account and phone number so I would only recommended this if you plan to stay long-term.

If you choose to go with an apartment, there are different types as well as Japan-specific features to consider.

• Apartment (アパート): Wooden property that is two stories tall or less. Since insulation, earthquake resistance, and security are lacking, this is for low budgets.

• Mansion (マンション): Apartment complex that is over three stories tall and constructed from reinforced concrete (RC). The most common rental property.

• Rental home (貸家 kashiya): Small single-family house for rent.

• Room layout: Usually described in terms of number + LDK, where the number stands for the number of bedrooms, L for living room, D for dining room, and K for kitchen. For example, a 2LDK will have two bedrooms, one living room, one dining room, and a kitchen. The most basic layout for single residents is 1K.

• Corner and south-facing units are slightly more expensive.

• On the other hand, first-floor units are slightly cheaper.

• Unfurnished: Doesn’t have a washing machine or fridge but might have a kitchen stove.

• Semi-furnished: Comes with a washing machine and fridge.

• The listed apartment size should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Sometimes it includes storage space and/or the balcony. Photos are taken at wide angle to make small spaces look bigger so in-person viewing is recommended whenever possible.

The Initial Cost

It’s important to clarify your budget before you start looking for apartments. The initial cost of moving in Japan can be quite expensive, as it includes a variety of different fees.

The below list is a full rundown of fees that made up the initial cost for my apartment. Believe it or not, my initial cost was comparatively low so there might be more depending on the property.

• 1-2 months of rent

• deposit – one month rent

• key money, one-time payment to the landlord or landlady that you do not get back – one month rent

• management fee

• guarantor fee, to be renewed every year – 60% of monthly rent

• renter’s insurance – upfront payment for the full contract term

• fire insurance

• contract fee

• agency fee

The general rule of thumb is that the initial cost will be about 4-5 times the monthly rent expense. Some places have lower initial cost by skipping key money and other fees. Your agent should have suitable suggestions for you if you tell them your budget for rent and initial cost.

Where and How to Search

All Japanese rental agencies have access to the same database of listings that they query to give suggestions to their customers. This means that it doesn’t really matter which website or agency you use. Still, these are the best English-language websites I used during my initial search.

Many agencies offer to communicate via Japanese instant messaging app LINE in addition to email. This is perfectly normal¹ and you will often get faster replies if you agree to connect via LINE—if you haven’t yet, I recommend getting the app!

• Wagaya Japan – great English-language support throughout the whole search and application process, however, their support was somewhat lacking after contract signing as I ran into some issues with utilities activation

• Living Japan – extremely competent during the search and application process

• GaijinPot Apartments – this is just listings without a dedicated rental agency, but it can be assumed that all are foreigner-friendly

• LandHousing Japan – English and Thai agency recommended to me by a colleague with friendly and helpful staff that suggested properties that I didn’t see on any other website²

As you look at listings and submit contact forms, take care not to contact the same agency twice. When reaching out to you, they will ask about your preferences and suggest additional properties so you don’t need to request multiple properties from the start.

I mentioned all agencies draw from the same database but I did get different suggestions from different agencies. It’s worth shopping around. Wagaya Japan, Living Japan, and LandHousing Japan are rental agencies with English-speaking support that have been helpful to me during my search.

I’ve also had positive experiences with Sumaino Seika. Their own website seems to be in Japanese but they have listings on other English-language websites where you can contact them via the form.

A note on viewings: Whenever possible, you should view the apartment beforehand. However, an in-person viewing might not always be feasible during busy times such as March and April.

I gave up on viewing soon after starting my search. Any place I was interested in might get applied to while I was viewing it. I did agree to one online viewing because the owner required a viewing before application. Sometimes you can also view the apartment after applying.

The Application Process

In the end, I was able to apply to two places I liked.

This is how the rental application process in Japan works.

• Give all requested information and documents to the rental agency

  • Emergency contacts: You’re required to give emergency contact information for overseas and in Japan. Ideally, the overseas contact is a parent or other relative. The Japan contact should be able to speak Japanese. In some cases it has to be a Japanese national living and working in Japan. You can ask a colleague³ or friend. Most people will agree if you explain that it’s not the same as a guarantor. Some rental agencies agree to provide an emergency contact in Japan for you.

  • Guarantor: This is usually handled by guarantor companies now.

• The rental agency submits the application for you

• Screening of your application

  • If you stated in your application that you speak Japanese, the guarantor company will often call you to verify your details and language ability. For this, your Japanese should be at working N2 level or higher. I got calls for both of my applications and in both cases, they spoke naturally as they would to any native speaker. In one case, they asked a lot of detailed questions. In the other case, they only verified my identity and the property I’d applied for. Sometimes they don’t call at all.

  • Your application needs to be approved by the guarantor company and the owner. Most of the time the owner goes along with the guarantor company’s judgement.

• The rental agency informs you of the result

The time frame can vary from a few days to 1-2 weeks. As far as I’ve heard, the screening usually takes about one week, depending on your desired move-in date.

For me, thanks to the efforts of my agent, the screening went through extremely fast and I got the news that my application was accepted only two days later! This took a load off my shoulders. It meant I could finalise all the details before leaving for my work trip—I literally signed the contract on the day of departure.

The Moving Process

Congratulations on your new apartment! Here’s what happens after your application gets accepted.

• Contract signing and handing over of keys

  • I’m not sure if this is common but during the signing, an employee of my rental agency explained the contract, going through paragraph by paragraph, in plain Japanese. (My agent was there to interpret into English if needed.)

  • I’m assuming the handing over of keys and explanation about building facilities by the management company usually happens during the same appointment⁴.

• Activation of utilities

  • If your building uses gas, you have to be present at the apartment for the activation.

  • Electricity and water should be straightforward.

  • Some apartments come with free internet service. It’s worth asking if yours does too!

• Registration of your new address

  • This must be done within 14 days of the move!

  • If moving within the same city, go to your municipal office to update your residence card and My Number card.

  • If moving outside of your city, go to your old municipal office to get a “certificate of change of address” (転出届 tenshutsutodoke) that you hand in at your new municipal office to update your residence card. If you have a My Number card, you can have them process the change digitally, without the need for a physical paper certificate. You will still need to visit both municipal offices though.

Once you’ve completed these steps, it’s official! Enjoy your new home.

Happy End

I ended up going forward with the apartment that I had only viewed online before application. At the time of writing this, it’s been one week since I moved and I couldn’t be happier with it! It fulfils most of my initial search conditions.

• Close to work

• Slightly larger than the previous apartment

• Great neighbourhood with lots of shops, restaurants, and services such as post office and coin laundry within a 1-2 minute radius

• Clean building and, as far as I could tell so far, decent neighbours

Of course, it has some drawbacks too, all of which I knew about before committing.

• No view to speak of as the windows face a wall and a stairwell respectively

• No washing machine or fridge, which I had hoped to get with the apartment

• High noise levels during the day as there’s construction right outside the building – this will stop at some point once construction is finished, I’ll just have to endure until then

Still, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for me. And while this apartment search was stressful, it was also a great learning experience about rental properties and moving in Japan.

If you’re looking to move in Japan too, I hope this was useful. Let me know if you have additional questions or concerns, I’d be happy to provide more advice or resources. Good luck!

1. Including many other services. For example, I also make appointments with my hairdresser via LINE.

2. Some agencies do hold properties exclusively. I don’t claim to know how this works but LandHousing might be one of them? By all means correct me if you know more.

3. Not your HR department—apparently most companies prevent them from acting as emergency contacts for employees.

4. In my case, there were no physical keys so I met the management company representative on a different day to learn about the entrance autolock, the passkey for my apartment door, the code for the mailbox, where to leave trash on collection day etc.