Rent An Apartment In Tokyo Japan As Gaijin
To rent an apartment in Japan doesn’t have to be such a big deal. Depending on which part of the country you are targeting the rental price levels will also vary quite much.
Are you searching for a luxury high living standard in an apartment in Tokyo or would you settle for a budget alternative by renting an apartment in Japan more far away from a buzzling city center? The choice is yours. There are many types of apartments.
Do you want a long stay or a short stay? Maybe settle for good and live here in Japan?
There are certain things you need to be aware of as a foreigner when you want to rent an apartment in Tokyo. First of all – do they even allow foreigners? That is not sure!
Yeah – you read correct. In for example Sweden in Northern Europe where I come from all people in society have the same rights. No matter if someone is a Swedish citizen and somebody else is a newly arrived war refugee or an immigrant from a 3rd world country.
Everybody have the same right to rent an apartment to live in, no matter where you are from. It is illegal to discriminate anyone from renting an apartment based on citizenship.
Here in Japan it’s not the same thing. When you arrive to Japan you need to keep one thing in mind. Japan was here before you arrived and it will exist after you leave as well.
This means that you as a foreigner should not expect to be counted as same much worth as a Japanese citizen. Don’t ever imagine that you will be of same value as a Japanese.
And that is not something you hear behind your back. It’s shown straight in your face on many public signs. Japan is for Japanese. Then there are exceptions – to your rescue.
Of course not in a provocative way. No, more like a fact. Foreigners are simply not as welcome as Japanese are in Japan…when it comes to rent an apartment in Japan.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible, because it’s not. It’s fully possible to rent an apartment in Japan while being a foreigner. You just need to understand what apartment to look for!
Take my above Tokyo photo as an example. I took that picture with my digital camera of an available tiny small Tokyo apartment. To the untrained eye it looks like any apartment specification, but there is something special about this. Take a close look! See the OK?
Japanese Rental Apartment Signs – “Foreigner OK”
It says that it’s OK with foreigner! That it’s OK if you are an alien. Foreigners are OK. In Japan it is common with listings of which foreigners are OK and which are not welcome.
Meaning that if you don’t find such OK statement then you as a foreigner can of course NOT rent the apartment. Welcome to Japan! Where not all people are seen as equal.
So, if you are a foreigner and want to rent apartment in Tokyo – then look for similar “Non-Japanese Foreigner OK!” signs like this in the Japanese apartment descriptions.
Citizenship Based Discrimination On Apartment Market
Here in Japan not all foreigners are seen as the same. I’ve noticed a discrimination of a few Asian nationalities while Caucasian white from Europe & USA are more welcome.
I myself as a white Scandinavian have been treated totally different than people from the Philippines. Japanese have been kind to me, but less nice to South-East Asian citizens.
At least when it comes to signing contracts and other important things such as getting a Japaense driving license, then these issues are clear as daylight. That’s the way it is.
For short time visitors in Japan it’s not as much of a problem. Tourists are welcome, but long term visitors who intend to live in Japan is a different story. Foreigners from both of these two groups may want to rent apartments in Japan, so thereby the jungle of rules.
About apartments with pets. If you got a pet or would like to have a pet in Japan, please check if your Japanese apartment contract allows you to have pets in your apartment?
In most apartments allover Japan it’s forbidden to have pets such as a pet dog or a cat, unless you rent a specific pet allowed apartment! An apartment with pet allowance.
Maybe to you it sounds silly, but it’s an everyday life thing here in Japan. In Sweden nobody would forbid people from having pets in apartments – but Japan is different.
At least you can have a robot dog or a robot cat as a pet. Huge robot market in Japan. Even at the domestic Haneda airport in Tokyo there is a pet robot shop in the terminal.
Have you considered apartment hotels in Tokyo? They are an affordable alternative where you often get room service included in the price. One of my personal favorites.
An apartment hotel is a smart choice for you as a visiting foreigner. I tried this one above and it was great! Central location in Tokyo city and close to everything. Still cheap price!
You get service included and the price is less for a week in central Tokyo than what it cost to rent a room in Sweden for one night. It’s cheap and affordable to live in Japan.
As a summary I can honestly say that compared to Sweden you don’t need to queue in a half eternity to find a beautiful apartment in Japan. Plenty of apartments to choose from.
It sure is possible to rent or buy an apartment in Japan if you know where to begin and what to look for. There are more apartments in Japan than people who want to rent them.
I can’t say the same about Sweden where there is a constant lack of central apartments.
You need to respect the Japanese society no matter how discriminating it may look like in your eyes. If Japan wants to do it that way then it is their right to do so. It is their country.
I myself am a foreigner and I respect the Japanese society no matter how they choose to treat me or other foreigners. Adapt to the system and make the best out of it. It’s reality.
After all – you’re a guest in Japan and the more Japanese you become the easier it gets. First step can be to learn the Japanese language and Japanese culture. Get assimilated.
At least learn how to write Hiragana & Katakana to begin with. Then follow up with Kanji. When you got your basics covered then move on to Japanese grammar and sentences.
Filed under: Japanese Culture
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Very direct and to the point, post! Thank you!!!
Thank you Sabrina! I will write more about Japanese apartment hunting later on in a separate post and show how to do to be able to find apartments here in Japan…as well as how to find available jobs in Japan to earn money while living in Japan. Many people reading my blog keep asking me these things, so I decided to begin writing this introductory post on Japanese apartment market. Thanks for your comment!
/Marko
Hi, would you mind sharing the name/address of the aparment hotel you mentioned?
Much appreciated!^^
The main problem with Tokyo is that it is so large, wide and huge in size. Remember, it’s “only” about 35 million people there. Crowded is not a strong enough word to describe it. The highest priority for you if you want to rent an apartment hotel in Tokyo city is to find one as close as possible to your target destination. It doesn’t make sense to for example rent from the same apartment hotel company as I did if you plan to be in a different part of Tokyo. You may have to spend two extra hours just in the subway – if you end up in “wrong” side of town compared to where you would like to be. I suggest that you decide where in Tokyo you want to be (depending on what you are going to visit) and then search for apartment hotels in that district. The nice thing with Japan is that there are more apartment hotels available than you have time in your lifetime to visit. There’s no lack of them. When the information is in English – then you can bet that the price is higher too. If you know how to speak Japanese and search in Japanese, you’ll find more price worthy gems out there. Basically you are most probably ending up renting an expensive “gringo price” apartment in Tokyo by only following the websites written in English. Search in Japanese and you find a total different (much lower) price level apartments out there. And don’t expect any of the service personnel to be able to speak English either. Only Japanese. Though you find much cheaper apartments or hotels to rent. If you don’t know enough much Japanese language to do so, then search for business hotels. They are cheaper in price than ordinary hotels. Yes, it sounds strange to some foreigners that a business hotel can be cheaper – but in Japan it normally is. You don’t get entertainment in the hotel built in – but who cares about such when you are located in central Tokyo?! The city has more entertainment than you can possibly imagine. What matters is to have the hotel or apartment as close as possible to where you want to hang out in Tokyo (or any other city in Japan). Tokyo doesn’t have only one city center. It has several. Available apartments range from cheap to super expensive. There is something for everyone. What matters is…location! : ) If there is something you shouldn’t waste while being in Japan then it’s time. Don’t waste it on commuting by subway or monorail. Book a hotel or apartment as close as possible to your destination. It’s worth every yen in your wallet. And compare price levels. There are cheap ones. If possible, search in Japanese. It pays off to learn Japanese. Let others pay for their over priced apartments while you get a similar standard for a small fraction of the price.
/Marko
I get what you want to say with “after all you are a guest part”, but what if someone wants to live in Japan? Is that still a guest?!
I understand really the motivation and also that it is their country, but hmmm…
Oh and thank you for this post, indeed interesting ^_^
Japan is a little bit special. As a foreigner living in Japan you will be treated kindly by Japanese friends and most of the people you get to know in Japan – but when it’s time to rent an apartment…then you will discover that no matter how much you try to adapt to the Japanese society – you will mostly be treated as a “guest” and not as an equal to ordinary Japanese citizens in Japan. It doesn’t have to be like this, but it is the common way daily life works in Japan. When it comes to contract signing and similar activities – your nationality and personal origin matters in Japan. Having access to help from native Japanese people is a big plus than doing things completely by yourself as a foreigner. To simply believe that you as a foreigner somehow would be treated as an equal to a native Japanese on the apartment market is nothing but a dream…unless you have contacts. Your option is to look for areas which accept foreigners (and make sure that your nationality fits with their list of accepted countries and is not listed in the rejected nationality list). Since you are from Germany in Europe then I believe that it wouldn’t be much of a problem for you compared to someone from let’s say an economically poor South-East Asian country. You two would have totally different apartment hunting experiences in Japan. Don’t be surprised if neighbors in a living area would protest against having a foreigner as neighbor in “their” area. It completely depends on what part of a Japanese city or town you choose to want to live in. There are foreigner friendly areas and those are probably the ones you have a chance to rent an apartment in. It’s not impossible for an European to rent an apartment in Japan, but you don’t have as many choices as a native Japanese does. The more Japanese you can speak and understand as well as the more money you can show that you have in your bank account, the easier it gets basically everywhere in Japan. In case you have a flashy career job then you get treated as a VIP. If you work for a Japanese company they may be able to help you to find an apartment to rent. Also larger size international companies have access to apartments for their employees. Though as a normal foreign citizen you can’t just go and rent any apartment you see – unless it allows foreigners (which is not the common term unless it states that foreigners are “OK” to apply). According to statistics from 2010 the percentage of foreigners living in Japan is around 1.5% which means that 98.5% of Japan is populated by native Japanese. Outside of the main tourist areas the possibility is high that you are most probably the only Western foreigner in that zone…just like I am in the district where I live in Japan. Japan is built and adapted for Japanese. Not for foreigners. At least not yet. Maybe in far away future it may be different…but I don’t think so. It’s very much opposite here in Japan compared to what is seen as normal in Northern Europe. Immigration is not common at all in Japan. I have heard many times from native Japanese people that I’m the first white person they have met in real and spoken with…in their lifetime. Of course such a society has not adapted to fit with foreigners when there hardy are any to adapt to. One sentence I often hear from Japanese people is that -”Hey! You are not dangerous?!”. Somehow Japanese people (especially the older citizens) have a misconception that foreigners are dangerous and some kind of bad people. When they get to speak with you in real and know you as a person, then such sentences often pop out. They realized that foreigners are just like themselves. I have lived here in Japan for two years now and last time I got such a sentence was less than a week ago. Another thing you may notice is that Japanese people are curious to want to speak with foreigners – if they find one. Especially here on Japanese countryside (but it still looks like European city side). Once they find a Western foreigner…like you…standing on the street maybe taking pictures with a digital camera, they will approach you and say the first thing that comes to mind – which to you can feel strange that a random sentence pops out from them. It may not even make sense what they say. But there they stand – staring at you with a big smile…hoping to hear something in a foreign language. You can bet that they’re going to tell about it all their friends. It just means they want to try their non-existent English with you. With a “real” foreigner (compared to the foreigners they have only seen on TV). That is life outside of the tourist zones. In real traditional Japan. Where the only foreigner is you. Your own personal experience of Japan will depend a lot on your language skills in Japanese. If you try to learn Japanese, even a little bit, people in Japan really appreciate that you try your best. That a foreigner tries to learn their language with Kanji and all. For the best results in Japanese socity – try to learn how to speak and write using Japanese symbols such as Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. That helps a lot. Otherwise you are just a gaijin. Learn how to speak Japanese and you’ll be the gaijin who gets respected for trying to adapt…and suddenly you’ll notice how doors open for you in the Japanese society. Gets easier to do things here in Japan that otherwise would have been unavailable to you. To learn Japanese is top priority. Then it shouldn’t be that difficult to get an apartment anymore, when you can explain yourself in Japanese, write in Japanese using Kanji and all. If you don’t – then it’s time to begin practicing…now.
/Marko
Hmm… I know this is going to sound dumb… but… There are six links down in those last two paragraphs. But I can’t right-click, open in new tab. That’s annoying.
No, it doesn’t sound dumb at all. The reason you can’t right click is because I’ve written a script to block ordinary people from stealing my personally written unique content and the photos of Japan that I’ve been taking. Unfortunately it also affects those visitors who would like to right click on the page to open up a link in a new tab. If you left click on a link it works just fine. I’m sorry that the lack of right mouse button clicks affects your way of browsing. I have had people stealing my content, so I had to do something about it.
/Marko
No, it doesn’t sound dumb at all. The reason you can’t right click is because I’ve written a script to block ordinary people from stealing my personally written unique content and the photos of Japan that I’ve been taking. Unfortunately it also affects those visitors who would like to right click on the page to open up a link in a new tab. If you left click on a link it works just fine. I’m sorry that the lack of right mouse button clicks affects your way of browsing. I have had people stealing my content, so I had to do something about it.
/Marko
How do I view the rest of your blogs? I am interested in the talks about working there. Arigatou gosaimasu Marako San!
You can visit my Japanese photo blog by going to:
http://JapanInPictures.com
There you can see and experience the real Japan beyond tourist zones.
/Marko
Forgot to ask, but do you mind if I link you in my sites?
You are very much welcome to link to me in your sites. No problem! I’m glad that you like what you see.
/Marko