Long-Term Accommodation

Long-term Accommodation

Gaijin houses

If you're staying for a longer period, say a month and longer, you might be able to drastically reduce your living costs by staying in a "gaijin house". These establishments cater specifically towards foreigners and offer at least minimally furnished and usually shared apartments at reasonable prices, and without the hefty deposits and commissions of apartments (often up to 6-8 months rent) paid before moving in. It will almost certainly be cheaper than staying in a hotel for a month, and for those coming to Japan for the first time they are also great for networking and getting to know a few locals. The downside is that facilities are often shared and the transient population can mean poor maintenance and dodgy neighbors.

Gaijin houses are concentrated in Tokyo, but any larger city will have a few. They can be anything from ugly cramped apartment complexes with new tenants every week, to nice family run businesses in private houses, so try to get a look at the place before you decide to move in. Two of the biggest letting agencies for gaijin houses in Tokyo are Sakura House and Oak House, while Gaijin House Japan has listings and classified ads covering the entire country.

Apartments

Traditionally, renting an apartment in Japan is a ridiculously complex and expensive process, involving getting a Japanese resident to act as your guarantor (literally — trash up the place and run away, and they'll get stuck with the bill!) and paying half a year's rent or more in advance. This is thus essentially impossible for anyone who isn't familiar with the culture and there to live and work for a few years at least.

In recent years, though, weekly mansions (short-term apartments) have become popular for residents (typically businessmen on long-term assignment or young singles) and are accessible even to visitors. Most are 1 or 2 person rooms, though larger ones for 3 or 4 are sometimes available. Apartments fees are around ¥5000 for a single, around ¥6000-7000 for a two person room per day. Most of these apartment rental agencies will offer all apartments with shower, toilet and bath. They usually have air-conditioning, microwave and cooking ameneties. A great company that also accepts and replies to English E-Mail is Weekly Mansion Tokyo. Please allow some days for a reply, as only a few employees are fluent in English. WMT has more than 50 apartment buildings in Tokyo and Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka. Sometimes a deposit is required for some of the apartments. You can usually forfeit this deposit if you have stayed with them a few times without any trouble. Without exception the apartments are kept clean and often have much more space and flexibility than a hotel and are priced in the Youth hostel range.