In Japan, this type of rubbish is called 粗大ごみ (sodai-gomi) and requires application to your city council with a pick-up arrangement and corresponding charge depending on the type and size of the item.  Here are the basics:

The Process

3 basic steps are required to complete this process and I’ll break it down to make it as foolproof as possible:

1. Call.  You need to call garbage collection service to detail your goods and when they will be picked up.  Depending on the city within which you live, this schedule may operate as often as once per week or a little as once per month.  There’s not a lot you can do about this except just call and home for the best, unless you already know their schedule.  The number to call is: 03-5296-7000.  Whether there is an English service there or not, I don’t know, but best to give it a ring and try and see.  Ask them if they understand English (‘Eigo wakarimasu ka’) and hopefully they’ll pass you on to someone who does.   If you live in Tokyo, and your Japanese reading ability is up to scratch, you can now book collections online.  Here is the link to start the process… pick your city ward if it’s supported and follow the links/buttons until you reach the application form you need.
2. Pay.  Depending on your rubbish size and type, it will cost a certain amount of money.  You don’t pay the pick-up guys directly, you buy coupons from your local convenience store.  Be careful though, ensure that when you do so that the coupons you’re buying are for the city ward you live in.  Sometimes certain convenience stores may be on the border of wards and you can end up buying the wrong ones.  Coupons come in 2 flavours: A (300 yen) and B (400 yen).  With these you’ll be able to mix and match to reach the price point you need.  For example, a couch that costs 1500 yen to dispose of will require you to buy Ax1 + Bx3.  Usually they will tell you what combination to buy and I don’t know if there’s any significance in that, but I’m sure it doesn’t make any difference.
3. Prepare.  On arranged day of pick-up, put the items out for 8am and attach your coupons to the items with your name and address written on the spaces provided.  This ensured everything matches up when the boys come around to pick them up.

And you’re done.  It’s that simple.  Check with your city council’s website for more details, especially if you don’t live in Tokyo since it’s only with Tokyo that I have experience with.  If you have any experience for your place of residence such that it differs from what I’ve said, please feel free to leave a comment below.  For some links to council websites, please take a look at another article I wrote that has some references to them.

The route

The route I took was Mitake-san (御岳山) → Ōdake-san (大岳山) → Nokogiri-yama (鋸山) → Okutama (奥多摩).  This region is as far West in the Tokyo prefecture as you can go before leaving Tokyo.

The nature of the trail was described as easy-medium in the Lonely Planet Guide, and for my inexperience and fitness level I found it to be closer to the medium.  Much of the trail was easy walking/hiking without too much challenge, though much of it could be a little steep at times.  There are areas closer to the peak of Ōdake-san, on both sides, that it gets quite rocky feeling more like a climb than a hike… but there’s nothing too dangerous about it though.  Since it was raining the day(s) beforehand, it could be a little risky without the appropriate footwear.

From the top of Ōdake-san you can then follow along the ridge of the mountains towards Nokogiri-yama which is itself a very pleasant hike with beautiful surroundings within the cedar wood forest.  Nokogiri is not as high as Mitake but the trail is as you’d expect it to be: full of uphill and downhill sections but not as much of a rock climbing feel as that for Mitake.  There isn’t much fanfare at the top of Nokogiri and with the surrounding vegetation there isn’t much in the way of a clear view of the valley.

Making your way from Nokogiri to Okutama (station) is mostly a downhill trek, though some areas are quite rocky and demand the use of chains that have been bolted into the rock to help you through the more tricky areas.  Other than these sections, that follow closely after the Nokogiri peak, the trail is quite a pleasant challenge to unseasoned hikers.

The trail ends in Okutama with a shrine and a serious of steps down to the main Okutama valley below.  Once you hit the main road, the main town can be reached by taking a left.

How to get there

It’s easy to get there, especially on the weekend and public holidays.  JR operates a holiday train (ホリデー快速) service that will take you straight from Shinjuku (新宿) as far out as Okutama without the need to change trains.  In JR Shinjuku station this line typically leaves from Platform 7 and will take roughly 90mins to reach Mitake (御岳) station.

If you’re taking this trip without the convenience of the holiday express line, take the following route:

1. 新宿 → 立川 (中央線) / Shinjuku → Tachikawa (Chuō line)
2. 立川 → 青梅 (青梅線) / Tachikawa → Ōme (Ōme line)
3. 青梅 → 御岳 (青梅線) / Ōme → Mitake (Ōme line)

Sometimes the train you take on step 2 runs into 3 depending on the schedule, otherwise you’ll have to change train in Ōme.

Once you arrive at Mitake, you exit the station and take a very short walk down the road to the left and take the bus the bus bound for Takimoto (滝本).  After a short (~10min) ride you’ll arrive at the cable car station.  You have the option to take an hour walk to the upper station, or take the cable car.  Upon arrival at the upper station, follow the path called ‘Main Street’ and walk through the village until you reach the steps leading to the shrine at the top of Mitake-san.  You can visit the shrine at the top and/or take the trail that branches off to the left halfway up to begin the hike proper.

From there, you make your way over Ōdake-san, Nokogiri-yama and then down to Okutama.  Though many signs along the way are bilingual, it’s worth noting the Japanese for them in case you’re stuck.  You may also pick up an English map in the visitors centre in the village.

Facts

Route: Mitake-san (御岳山) → Ōdake-san (大岳山) → Nokogiri-yama (鋸山) → Okutama (奥多摩)

Mitake-san: 929m

Ōdake-san: 1267m

Nokogiri-yama: 1109m

Time for the whole hike: 4~6 hours.

Total distance: ~12km

The 'Daibutsu'

It’s long-since been regarded as a great 1-day trip out of Tokyo.  This is nothing new for anyone who has lived in Tokyo for a while and it’s typically one of the first places ex-pat residents will visit, and a noticeable omission from any guide book.  So why is this the case?  Is it worth heading out?

Kamakura city lies about 50km south of Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県).  It is on the coast and surrounded on all sides by mountains.  There’s some important history surrounding Kamakura, including most significantly that it was the political capital of Japan from the 12th century during the Kamakura period.  You can check out much more about the history and more at Wiki.

What is there to see and do?

Temples.  Lots of them.  If you like visiting Buddhist temples or Shinto Shrines you’re going to love Kamakura.  One in particular dates back over 1200 years and there are 23 historic sites proposed for inclusion in Unesco’s World Heritage Sites list.

Of particular noteworthy mention is the iconic ‘Great Buddha’ – an outdoor, bronze statue of Amida Buddha – otherwise known as the ‘Daibutsu’ (大仏).

If hunting down temples/shrines is not your idea of fun, and you enjoy a more active past-times, then there’s also several hiking trails through the surrounding countryside as well as many other places that can be reached by bicycle.  Bicycles can be hired from several places in the area (typically at the train stations).

3 hiking trails you can follow are:

• a trail from Jōchiji Temple (浄智寺) in Kitakamakura (北鎌倉) leads to the Great Buddha over the western hills. 60~90 minutes
• a trail from Kenchōji Temple (建長寺) in Kitakamakura leads to both Kakuonji and Zuisenji over the northern hills. 60~120 minutes (depending on whether you goto Kakuonji or Zuisenji)
• a trail connects Myohonji Temple (妙本寺), Yagumo Shrine, and Harakiri Yagura, over the eastern hills.

Getting there and around

Kamakura is very well connected.  You can take either the JR Yokosuka line (横須賀線) Shinagawa/Tokyo, or the Saikyō line (埼京線) from Ebisu/Osaki.  The journey lasts no longer than 50 minutes and costs about 780 yen at the time of writing.  That’s quite fast and at a great price.

From Kamakura station, there is the very local monorail called the Enoden line (江ノ島電鉄 – Enoshima-Dentetsu) connecting to Fujisawa (藤沢) in the west.  Along the way are several points of interest including the Diabutsu (at Hase station), and also Enoshima island (at Enoshima station).

An alternative to taking JR to Kamakura is to use the Odakyu railway.  This leaves from Shinjuku station in Tokyo and brings you to Fujisawa, allowing you to connect then to the Enoden railway.  An option here is the ‘Enoshima Kamakura Free Pass’ at 1430 yen, that will afford you unlimited use of the Enoden line once you arrive.  Depending on how much you intend to travel around the area by train in a single day, this may or may not save you money.

Further information and recommendations.

To come : )

What is organic food?

For a good primer on what organic food really is, just check out Wiki.  Basically it’s food that has been grown/produced and certified to a very specific set of standards – typicially (though not always) restricting the use of inorganic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides and where animals are concerned, prohibiting the use of growth hormone and antibiotics.

The merits of this can be discussed over and over, but consider the idea that at the turn of the 20th century there was no such thing as ‘organic food’.  Everything we eat, unless we consciously select our foods carefully, is infused with the toxins and waste that comes from the liberal use of these chemicals.  This has significant implications for your health as your body works to metabolize these and it’s worth factoring this into your diet.

Is organic really better for you?  Well while there are no studies that categorically prove this fact, but simple reasoning and intuitive logic tells us that organic foods lacking these toxins are better for us in the long run given that we don’t consume them.

If you haven’t already, it’s worth checking out the podcast and blog, ‘Stuff you should know’ – more specifically, they have a recent production pertaining to organic foods.  It’s a great intro and full of useful facts and information.

Does Japan have organic food standards?

Yes: Japan Agricultural Standard (JAS).

Foods that are labeled with their logo have met the required production standards.  A lot of information can be found here on these.

For your reference, “organic” in the Japanese language is either denoted by 有機 (yuuki) or オーガニック (ōganikku)

Where are all the healthy food options in Japan?

I’ve made it a mission of mine recently to sample and document as many of these as I can, and create a Google map of what I have found.  Through my research I have been provided with a link to a site (currently in Japanese only) that has heaps of places documented that are healthy options – though not all are necessarily organic (see below).

In the last week I have tried 2 places from the site and they were fantastic!  One was organic/macrobiotic, and the other was a vegetarian Indian.  The former was amazingly delicious and well prepared, with a great atmosphere and discounts for 10+ parties.  The latter was a lovely art-filled restaurant with great curries and nan.  Both had great service and friendly staff… but then, it is Japan afterall.  The two I have tried so far are (both have English site links):

• Gaya, Minami-Aoyama branch (我や, 南青山店): http://www.gaya.co.jp
• Nataraj, Ginza branch (銀座店): http://www.nataraj.co.jp/

Restaurants aside, shopping for organic produce in Japan is not the easiest and you generally have to by-pass your local supermarket chains, though not always.  Metropolis ran an article this week about an organic food importer which is worth checking out to get an idea of how far along (behind?) Japan is right now.  But things are changing.  Keep an eye-out as you browse the supermarket for food labeled organic as they are becoming increasingly more common.

Links

The site with all the links to restaurants that fit the organic/vegetarian bill is:

• オーガニック、ベジタリアンレストランガイド (Organic, Vegetarian Guide): http://www.yogainfo.jp/restaurant_guide/

For more information on the organic certifications relating to Japan, you can do a google search for it, or check out some of these links:

• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF)
• NASAA

I hope this helps open up some new ideas for your healthy eating habits!

So what’s the alternative?  Well, given that you’re an upstanding member of the community, you pay residential taxes so hopefully there will be privileges somewhere.  And there are! While they might make it as difficult for cyclists as they possibly can, they do provide great facilities for their constituents – one of these is a gym for most (all?) Wards in Tokyo, and I’m sure wherever you live in the country.

The costs

Membership is typically free for these gyms with the sole requirement that you are either a resident of, or working in, the particular Ward.  Nearly all the facilities you think you’d ever need are normally catered for.

Taking Minato-ku for example, they even have an English portion of their website detailing the facilities both for the sports centre (スポーツセンター) and also all other sporting facilities besides in the Ward.  It costs ¥400 per person to enter the sports centre and there is no horrendous monthly subscription fee.  Granted, with those private gym facilities that charge a monthly fee there are often perks that accompany the service, but for those who don’t need the perks, this is a great option.

Details

Below are some links for Wards in Tokyo – a simple Google search will yield some information quickly.  If you live in a particular ward and would like help to find some information on it, please leave a comment and I’ll help you search for it and add what I find to this article.

• Chiyoda-ku (千代田区)
• Chuo-ku (中央区) [look for the link 'Sports Facilities' and click for a PDF]
• Kōtō-ku (江東区)
• Meguro-ku (目黒区) [under Chpt. 5, look for 'Sports Facilities' and click for a PDF]
• Minato-ku (港区)
• Ohta-ku (大田区) [Japanese only]
• Shibuya-ku (渋谷区)
• Shinjuku-ku (新宿区)

If your ‘Ku’ isn’t listed, which is likely, just find the Kanji for your particular Ward or area in Japan, and run a Google search.  It will likely be the first link and on the results page.  Enter the site and look for ‘English’ or ‘Multilingual’ links and you’re practically on the home straight.  If you find information to add, please let me know in the comments section and I’ll add it to this post in the section above for all to benefit.

But… someone has gone to the trouble of super-imposing all the subway lines and their stations onto a Google Map, in a very neat way.  The map includes all the Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway lines, not counting the newly completed line (Fukutoshin line), at the time of writing.

Here it is.

Click each circle that represents each to view the route of the line. Clicking the “Satellite” button makes for a very interesting view of Tokyo.  Here’s a quick breakdown of what each letter represents (in bold), in case you don’t recognise them:

• Ginza (銀座)
• Marunouchi (丸の内)
• Hibiya (日比谷)
• Tōzai (東西)
• Chiyoda (千代田)
• Yurakuchō (有楽町)
• hanZōmon (半蔵門)
• Namboku (南北)
• Asakusa (浅草)
• mIta (三田)
• Shinjuku (新宿)
• ōEdo (大江戸)

Enjoy!

Officially as of October 2007, the population of Tokyo is approximately 10% of country, which is roughly 12.790 million people.  The Tokyo prefecture is the 3rd smallest by land area (2.187km²) making it the most densely populated prefecture.  So how does everyone get around and reach all these places?  It’s like any major city really, the rail network serves the core central areas and connects the major hubs with the help of the bus network.  The further from the centre of the city you go, the heavier the reliance on buses and private transport.

Taking the rail network alone, there are 2 types in Tokyo.  There is JR East (JR東日本/JR Higashi-Nihon), and then there’s everything else.  The everything else includes all the private rail and subway companies, with the main players being Keiō (京王), Toei (都営), and Tōkyu (東急).

Then there are the buses.  Within Tokyo, the main players are again the bus operations of the private companies listed above.  JR Bus also operates, but predominantly, it provides longer haul services.

In general, you can think of the transport throughout Japan as: the JR Group connects the country, while the private companies network the inner-cities.  In general…

IC charge cards

So with all these separate operations, isn’t it a pain to have to buy different tickets and connection/transfer tickets when moving around… isn’t there just a one-size-fits-all?  Thankfully there is now!  As of approximately March 2008, using the IC charge systems you simply charge up your prepaid cards and swipe them as you enter and exit the network(s).  The system calculates the fares necessary and all the hard work is taken care of for you.  But you wont be too surprised to find that there is more than one system – 2 in fact.  Typical!

1. Suica: owned and operated by JR East, it is valid throughout Greater Tokyo and beyond.  It works for all trains, subways and buses in Tokyo, Sendai, Niigata and much further afield on JR trains in the likes of Osaka and Sapporo.
2. PASMO: (パスモ) is provided by Tokyo railway and subway companies.  This is also valid for use on trains (including JR), subways and buses, but limited to only the Greater Tokyo area.

Here are some important points to note:

• Where to get one: you can pick up these cards at either demarcated ticket machines, or counters at the respective operators i.e. JR provides Suica; other rail companies provide PASMO
• How much: they are provided with a refundable 500-yen deposit and an accompanying initial charge value (Suica is 1500-yen; PASMO 500~9500-yen)
• How to recharge: this is done using Suica/PASMO demarcated ticket machines found at all JR and private rail stations.  I believe you can also charge on buses.
• Commuter pass inclusion: as well as a standard charge card, you can also have your commuter pass included on the card.
• Shopping: many convenience stores, restaurants and even taxis now allow you to make purchases using the cards instead of cash.  There will typically be a sign and card reader clearly visible.

IC card provision outside Tokyo

As mentioned before, Suica has quite a bit more reach beyond PASMO. In other major cities throughout Japan, Japan Rail (JR) has implemented similar systems with different names.  To get the latest information (in English) on this, please look at this site.  There you will find the coverage of each card on all the disparate railways.  Suica is by far the most versatile, while all IC card flavours work on Tokyo’s JR rail except one (at the time of writing).

Super convenience – Mobile Suica

If it isn’t immediately obvious, these charge cards are incredibly convenient.  That said though, they’ve taken it a step further: Mobile Suica (モバイルSuica).  This service runs off the back of the NTT Docomo developed system, osaifu-keitai (おサイフケータイ) – literally translated as “wallet mobile”.

It’s exactly as it sounds.  You charge up the little IC chip (FeliCa) that has been placed in your mobile phone.  You then use it just as you would the Suica/PASMO cards described above – one less thing to carry in your wallet / lose / forget.

Pros:

1. There is an interface that you can use on your phone or the internet to view all transaction history on the card – this isn’t available on the standard Suica/PASMO cards
2. One less card to carry around and remember.
3. You nearly always have your mobile phone with you and if you lose/forget your wallet/cash, you will have a handy backup at hand.

Cons:

1. The interfaces that I have seen for it are only provided in Japanese.
2. You must have a credit card that you register in order to provide top-ups as you need it.  You are also charged a 1000 yen fee (per year I believe) for this privilege.
3. It is not available on all mobiles.  Look out for the FeliCa logo on the phone handset:

Suica + N’EX

As I was researching some of the finer details for this post, I came across this interesting offer.  Basically, at Narita airport terminals 1&2 you can buy a combined Suica card (with 2000 yen top-up included) + Narita Express transit ticket to Tokyo for 3500-yen.  Bargain!  This saves you nearly 1500 yen.

There are so many services out there that it can all get a bit confusing, but I hope this article helps to clear some of the mystery or confusion for you if you’re just getting used to it in Japan.  Please feel free to comment on, add to, or correct anything you’ve read in this article.

Golloyds

Lloyds TSB have for many years now been providing a service called the GoLloyds Overseas Remittance Service.  They basically allow you to register a bank account that you have overseas, most likely the current account you used in your previous domicile.  Once they can confirm the details and connectivity to the specified account, they will provide you with details on how to get money to it.

It’s really very easy, and for only a little bit of ground work at the beginning you can have a superbly easy service at your fingertips.  Not only that, if you took heed of the banking for foreigners article you’ll even have online banking in English through which you can setup a bank transfer contact and be able to make a transfer to GoLloyds within minutes.

How to sign up

This can be done online… well… not completely, but they make it as easy for you as can realistically be done.  Follow the guide on the site itself and you will be set up in no-time.  Then simply perform a bank-transfer/furikomi (振込) to the details that are provided for you after sign-up is confirmed and after a day or so, the money should appear in your target account.

How it works and the costs involved

This system simply works by them creating a bank account, or a virtual account, for you on the GoLloyds side into which you transfer the cash.  Their systems will then notice the money you have sent there and by your registration know where the money needs to be then forwarded to.  GoLloyds receive their payment by deducting their standard fee from your transferred amount and performing the remittance.  Here are typical costs involved:

• Bank transfer charge from your account to GoLloyds
• GoLloyds service fee: 2000 yen
• A fee will likely be charged on the far end of the transfer by your target bank.  This fee will be detailed to you by GoLloyds at the time of account setup
• Exchange rate: not a fee as such, but you need to take into the account the current exchange rates as provided by GoLloyds for that day

Just a note on the exchange rates: they apply for that day up to 3:00pm only, and are generally fair rates.  They are usually a few percentage points away from the “real” rate of the day, but never excessively so.

When you would not use this service

There is no point in registering for this service if you don’t have a need to regularly send money to the same place.  Granted, with GoLloyds, you can set up another beneficiary for your account but it’s not practical to do this everytime, though there is no limit with GoLloyds and to do this is free.

Another reason you may not use this is if you’re traveling to the place you are sending the money and you believe that you can obtain better rates using the services provided by citibank and Shinsei with Foreign Currency Deposits service.  That way you can just send the money into one of those deposit accounts and then withdraw the cash directly as you need it when you’re there.

Personal note

The articles I write on this site are based on my own experience living in Japan.  There are ways to make your life more comfortable and efficient here and I believe this is one of them and since setting up your account is free, where’s the harm?  I hope you find it as useful as I have.

If you think this article is useful, GoLloyds run a ‘Introduce a friend’ promotion… feel free to say we’re friends during your application process – my name is Paul Goodchild.  Of course, if you’d rather not, that’s fine too and I hope you find the GoLloyds experience as beneficial as I have!

Disclaimer: GaijinGuide.com and its authors are not affiliated in any way with any banking institution mentioned on this site.  We absolutely do not accept any responsibility for your financial management and any costs, liability, implications, complications or otherwise from your reading of any material on this site.  The information here is provided as-is with no implied warranty or otherwise.  In saying that though, I hope you find it useful.

Check out the Links page at the top for useful portals, use the search function to find what you’re looking for, and click the orange RSS feed button above to keep yourself up-to-date.

Have fun!　お楽しみくださ～い

The very basics

When you meet with the estate agent/fudōsan (不動産) to find your dream apartment, you’ll need to have thought about the following points before you get there:

• where – typically specified by train-line and the stations on that line.  Typically accessible to your place of work
• budget – depending on your requirements, this will seriously dictate what is available to you
• distance from the station – a very common requirement is how far from your desired station are you prepared to live.  Would you walk 10 minutes, or are you prepared to live a 15 minute bus ride away.  Something to consider.
• apartment age – some apartments on the market are incredibly old and if safety in an earthquake is big factor for you, then you need to bring this up.  It’s also an indicator in the materials used in construction – see below in the ‘Apartment build types’

Room sizes and layout (madori/間取り)

In order to quickly categorize the size and layout of an apartment, they use the following shorthand:

• R – Room
• L – Living
• D – Dining
• K – Kitchen
• S – Small
• # – a number representing the number of potential bedrooms

It’s always been a little vague and down to interpretation – let’s take an example to illustrate: 2LDK.  Breaking this down, it tells us that this particular apartment has 2 bedrooms, and a “combined” Living-Dining-Kitchen room – so 3 main rooms altogether.  This doesn’t include bathrooms or shower rooms.  Depending on how the owner interprets the layout of his apartment, this could have been called a 2DK.  If it had only been named a 2K, then you can assume the room represented by the ‘K’ is really just room enough for a kitchen.

There will of course be a specified floor space area/menseki (面積), in either m², or the more traditional tsubo (坪).  1-tsubo is the equivalent of 3.31m², or 2x standardised tatami mats.

Apartment build types

There are 3 main types of “apartment” on the market, and they are:

• apaato (アパート) – a room within a wooden based building structure
• manshon (マンション) / – a room within a reinforced concrete (RC- 鉄筋コンクリート) building structure.
• ikkodate (一戸建て) – a separate house

Experience has shown that the only one really worth any consideration is the ‘manshon’ type.  While these also aren’t anything special, they beat the completely un-insulated wooden apartments that are terrible during the extremes of the Winter and Summer seasons in that they cannot retain heat or cool respectively.  Houses are appropriate if you need the space and sometimes will bag you a bargain.

Another important point to note is that most newer building are constructed using RC and are therefore said to be much more reliable and resilient to the damage inflicted by an earthquake.  This sounds logical, but frankly if the earthquake is substantial enough, it’s not going to really matter.  ‘Mansion’ types are also naturally more costly than ‘apaato’ types.

Costs

There is a set of standard costs incurred with moving into an apartment in Japan – below are the main ones:

• estate agent fee – typically 1 month, though there are some that charge 0.5 month
• skikikin (敷金) – the deposit, usually 1~3 months depending on the landlord
• reikin (礼金) – a ‘gift’ to the landlord for his/her generosity in allowing you to reside there.  Usually 1~3 months depending on the landlord.
• hoshōkin (保証金) – the guarantor fee, described further under the section about contract types

There is a long-standing tradition for the obligatory key-money (gratitude) payments, though by all accounts this practice is slowly but surely being phased out and reikin-free apartments are quite common.  It is perhaps the most significant issue foreigners in Japan take when making a lease.

As with anything such as this, rent, key-money and deposit are usually negotiable to varying degrees and the simple fact is that if you really don’t want to pay gratitude costs, you don’t have to – you just specify properties that don’t demand this payment.  One way that the landlord will “forgo” the gratuity is to spread the cost of it out amongst the first 12 months of the lease.  That’s one option, but you are free to decide if this is appropriate for you or not.

My opinion is that market forces will win out in this case.  If nobody is prepared to make these gratitude payments, then the landlords will be forced to scrap it.  Clearly not enough people are standing up to this system, so it naturally perpetuates.

Contract types

There are 2 main types of contract available to you.  One is private/kojin-keiyaku (個人契約), the other is corporate/hōjin-keiyaku (法人契約).  This is where the guarantor issue and payments comes in to play.  If your employer is prepared to take on the lease on your behalf, you will gain in 2 ways.  Firstly, rent can be paid directly from your salary each month using pre-taxed yen making your costs lower.  Secondly, since it is your employer that is contracted, it is a safer bet for the landlord that they’ll will receive their monthly payments each month.  In this case also, a guarantor for the lease is required and typically it is you – that is, if the company fails to meet it’s obligations, you will signed as the person responsible in the end to meet the payments.  Naturally this is the preferred option all-round.

Private leases however are more complicated.  They’re riskier in the eyes of the landlord and are therefore more challenging to obtain.  If you want to cut your employer out of the picture altogether, you will need a Japanese national to act as guarantor for you.  However, Japanese people are generally very reluctant to put their signature on a contract like this and so you’re usually forced to make use of a “Guarantor Agency”.  You pay the agency typically a month’s rent and they will sign on the dotted line for you.

Private leasing in Japan generally does not make for a pleasant story…

Further points to note

When choosing what you want in your apartment, as you meet with the housing agent you will be presented with a whole range options and specifications.  Below are some of the most common so you can recognise them if they’re written only in Japanese:

• バス･トイレ別 – separate room for bath and toilet
• 2階以上 – the room is on the 2nd floor and above (due to safety concerns for some people, this is important)
• エアコン – air-conditioner unit(s) are provided
• 室内洗濯機置場 – there’s a dedicated place provided to set your washing machine
• ペット相談 – the landlord is open to the discussion of allowing your pets
• 駐車場あり – car parking space option is available
• 南向き – south facing and therefore captures more direct sunlight
• 2人入居可 – catering for couples
• 築年数 – years since construction

There are many more things to consider besides all of these, such as payment methods and initial fee and rental payments/schedules… too much to list in a single article.

If you need further translations of the terms here, please see the Links page for translation tools available online.

Moving out

A very important issue that comes up is moving out of an apartment before a lease is up.  The standard lease is 2 years, but there is usually nothing, unless it is binding in the contract, keeping you there – you can leave at any time and should not incur costs for this.  This becomes more significant when you reach the end of the 2 year lease period since, as another way to squeeze more money from you, you are required to pay a renewal fee that amounts to a month’s rent.  This is the cost you incur for the privilege of staying the apartment.  It is not uncommon for people to take this opportunity to move to a new place.

When you actually do decide to move out, consider your notice period and notify early.  It is a good idea to state that this notification period be 1 month at the time of creating the contract, as it is quite common to have a 2 month period specified by the landlord.

Usually on the last day of your stay, the landlord and/or agent will c0me to inspect the property.  Based on that inspection, you will be liable for any damages and cleaning fees.  It is typically deducted from the deposit you paid in the beginning, and the remainder is returned to you through bank transfer after approximately 1 month.

Personal note

There are agencies out there that service the foreign community in Japan though I have yet to find a definitively quality outfit in either English or Japanese.  I have noticed that some of the foreigner-focused agencies demand a price premium for the services offered so be aware of this when using them.

If your current agency is providing what you think is poor service, do not hesitate to find somewhere else that doesn’t.  Shop around.  In general all the agencies source the same pool of apartments and the only difference is the service you receive, not what is on offer to you.

Good luck.