Living in Japan: Rents

Odd story about my commute in Japan - I had my picture taken, hmmm once a week at least. I would just be on the train and especially young kids or high school girls would covertly take my picture with their phones. I lived very near an all girls college and I had to walk through hundreds of the girls on the way to the station = even more pictures, some even would ask me like "pozu" or "shashin shashin". I was in macdonalds with some other gaijin and we had our picture snapped there as well on one occasion. Shocking really, if it was the other way round I would be in prison by the next day!

Still vaguelly flattering, especially when I got a chorus of Kakoiiiiiiiiii from girls, just for saying ohayo or something.

 

I already had a girlfreind within two weeks of coming to Japan, I had no need to go out malboro man style!

People thought I was either a english teacher or a talent or host (I am proud of the last one) I wore suits a lot so I looked like I worked in a Gaijin host bar, when I mentioned I was from oxford, england they then assumed I was some kind of aristocrat. Also I am a snappy dresser.

Oh and I was fondled by many a man for no good reason...

Ps love the avatar, reminds me of some weird rare gaming dojinshi invloving princess peach I saw a while back.

 

I'm a Vivienne westwood type of guy, that certainly pays off in Japan. You hear whispers of Bibienne (vivienne) wherever you go. My Vivienne westwood rings may be the price of a several dev kits but it pays off in the girl department.

 

I just got a new place, so here's my story....

Reiken is "key money" which is a gift to the owner. It was common during the bubble economy but it's not used now. My area, Kitakyushu, has a law banning this type of payment. I can't imagine anyone these days is paying it unless you're moving into very high end locations like Mori Tower in Roppongi.

Shinkan is what we would describe as a fee (there's no such thing as a non-refunable deposit). It's used for cleaning the apartment, replacing the tatami mats, the wall paper, etc. When you move in and you pay Shinkan you should expect these things to already be done for you. The spoken standard is 3-4 months, but when I was looking at places the agents told me that I could negotiate that down. It all depends on how much the owner wants a tenant.

You will also have to pay a feee to the real estate agent that is equal to one month's rent.

You will also have to pay fire insurance based on the term of the lease. Two years was about $180.

You will also have to pay to have a new lock put on the door, about $120 if I can remember correctly.

Some real estate agencies are charing a $300 fee to be your guarantor. Usually two guarantors are required in Japan. If you don't have a Japanese person who is willing to sign on the lease with you, then expect to pay that.

Those are most of the fees that you can expect to pay when signing the lease.

But wait, there's more....

You will have other costs to make the place ready to live. In Japan people remove the lights, fridge, stove, etc. I'm not sure about Europe but when you move into a new apartment in the US these items come with the unit. The first time I bought a fridge and a stove in my life is when I came to Japan, so plan on $500 to $1,000 extra if your place doesn't have these items.

Most people say 4-6 months rent is needed, and when it's all said and done that's probably pretty accurate. Just buying the lights/kitchen items, new locks, insurance, real estate fee, and guarantor fee you're up to about 3-4 months rent alone.

 

This is the only part I wouldn't agree with. As a filthy white bastard, I lived in 3 apartments with only one guarantor. One of them was a pretty dodgy setup, as the guarantor was only a few years older than me. Another was a friend's mom, and the other my company. For my last place, the company rented, and I was the guarantor.

This is very true, and has been apparently overlooked in this thread. The higher-end the place, the less removable crap there is. Make no mistake though... you can rent a place for several thousand USD a month and still have to buy light fixtures for the love of God.

Keymoney, however, is very much still alive. It's listed anyways. Here's yahoo's listing of Shibuya-ku:
click me. Most places are listed as 2/2, or maybe 3/2. You can probably get this to 4-deposit, 0-key, but I'm sure some places won't. Depends on how many vacancies they've had. I personally have had good luck with it. If you sort by price, and show all the pricey mansions first, you can see places that run 1.7 million yen a month. They have no key money, but they want a 6.8 million yen desposit. YIKES.

 

I live in a danchi 3DL room apartment near yokohama, and have to pay about 75'000En (~US$700) per month, which is a very good rate for that area.

 

Here in Chofu (only 30 minutes from KitaKyushu by car) we still have key money but maybe that's because Chofu is a pretty high class area :nod: No scum around here but then again we do have higher tax than KitaKyushu :crying: and 4 different binbags to separate rubbish that cost more than the two types that KitaKyushu have. Oh and our busses cost more as well Hang on, Chofu (Shmonoseki) is a bloody rip off ! Oh well, at least we have nightly police patrol to show for our money even if they never need to do anything anyway :shrug:

As for this guarantor thing, it all depends upon where you want to live. For example the place where I live needed someone who earned at least 3.5 million yen a year to be the guarantor while my old apartment had no such rating.

The buying new light bulbs and even the fittings in some cases is a disgrace I think! In the UK we normally take the fridge with us and maybe the cooker depending on what type it is as well as the washing machines and so on but never light bulbs and would never dream of taking the fittings. Japanese realastates companies are real cheap money grabbing bastards :evil:

Yakumo