Job Discussion Forums

QuasiJL · Joined: 24 Mar 2010 Posts: 9

Hey everyone, I'm planning to come to Tokyo in late July to look for a teaching job. I'm trying to draw up a budget and was wondering what apartment costs were like.

I'm interested in a place with 1 to 3 roomates, a shared kitchen and common room. I'm happy with my personal room being the size of just my bed. I want to go to Tokyo but dont expect to live dead center, a few minutes walk from a subway station and maybe like 30 minutes away from most things.

If someone could provide me with some info on average prices and where to look (sites or use agents); I'd really appreciate it.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Apartments shared with 1-3 people are extremely rare here, it's usually either an apartment by yourself or guest house, where you will most likely have a lot more than 3 housemates.

Very occasionally I see ads in Metropolis magazine wanting a housemate for a 2 or 3 room apartment, but it's definitely not the norm here.

Rather than looking for something which is very unusual, you would probably be better off starting off with guest houses (aka gaijin houses), and then seeing if you can find a situation closer to your ideal once you've been here a while and know how things work.

Bread · Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 318

If you're happy with a personal room the size of your bed, then definitely a guest house. You can get fairly reasonable rates for places with tiny shoebox rooms but nice living rooms/kitchens/bathrooms. Just remember to get a room big enough to hold your stuff, too.

gwynnie86 · Joined: 27 Apr 2009 Posts: 159

http://eg.leopalace21.com/
It's all about the LeoPalace! As for shared with others, there ARE "gaijin houses" but other than that, I don't know!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Figure that apartments will cost anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 (or more) yen/month, plus 10,000-15,000 yen/month for utilities.

You are unlikely to rent a place on your own without an employer to sponsor you for it, with some exceptions like LeoPalace (where you have to pay for all the rent up front, whether you choose to stay a month or a year). http://www.tokyorent.com/

If you were to find a place, whether you have sponsorship or not, most of the time you'll have to pay key money of 2-5 times a month's rent up front, too.

Guesthouse would be your best option.

Some pointers:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2200.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Find-an-Apartment-in-Japan
http://www.google.co.jp/search?q=japan+apartment+rent&hl=en&prmd=b&source=univ&tbs=bks:1&tbo=u&ei=sZTqS8HzBYuK6gO78JTACg&sa=X&oi=book_group&ct=title&cad=bottom-3results&resnum=11&ved=0CFIQsAMwCg
http://www.all-about-teaching-english-in-japan.com/Tokyoapartment.html
The places pictures in the link above look 10 times bigger than they really are.

my_way · Joined: 16 Feb 2010 Posts: 72 Location: tokyo

sakura house worked well for me.....great service and web-site too.......but oh was i glad when i got out of there!!

http://www.sakura-house.com/

seklarwia · Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 9:05 pm Post subject:

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I didn't know you could do that with LeoPalace. In any case, QuasiJL is planning to come here without such a contract. Does LP give monthly leases for someone in that situation?

seklarwia · Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 9:55 pm Post subject:

Don't know of anyone that has tried that so I have no idea. They can ask. But honestly, if they don't have a job, they don't want to be entering into a proper lease when they might well have to move at short notice when they get hired. Be better off paying for a month stay initially. Leopalace does offer this. Hopefully by then, you'll have a contract in hand and you can either enter a standard lease on your current place or on a new place if you need to move closer to your work place.