# Moving to Tokyo in a few months, need help finding where to rent



## Mangoplus

My job is moving me to Tokyo i a few months for a few years (5 probably) and I need to find a place to rent.
Our office is in Saitama, but I will be travelling extensively around Japan by train / plane so would like to be close (in terms of travel time, not km) not too far from Narita / Haneda / some Shinkansen train station. If that's even possible.
I need a one bedroom apartment, budget to be determined, but probably 1500-2000.
Any help as to which neighbourhood I should be looking at would be appreciated... Also places to find rentals...


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## larabell

Did you mean Saitama prefecture or Saitama city? Saitama is nowhere near either major airport but the JR Keihin-Tohoku line runs from several major cities in Saitama prefecture to both Ueno and Tokyo (both of which have express trains to Narita and Shinkansen connections). If your company is anywhere near Omiya (now part of Saitama city), you will have easy access to the Shinkansen from there. As far as budget... you should have no trouble that far away from Tokyo.

Be sure to have your company hook you up with a realtor. Almost all rentals in Japan are done through a realtor. Local ones won't be able to speak English very well and those that deal with foreign renters tend to be expensive. If your employer does nothing else, they should definitely be helping with the rental -- both finding a realtor and paying some or all of the up-front costs (which, depending on the place, could run up to five or six times the monthly rent).


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## Mangoplus

larabell said:


> Did you mean Saitama prefecture or Saitama city? Saitama is nowhere near either major airport but the JR Keihin-Tohoku line runs from several major cities in Saitama prefecture to both Ueno and Tokyo (both of which have express trains to Narita and Shinkansen connections). If your company is anywhere near Omiya (now part of Saitama city), you will have easy access to the Shinkansen from there. As far as budget... you should have no trouble that far away from Tokyo.
> 
> Be sure to have your company hook you up with a realtor. Almost all rentals in Japan are done through a realtor. Local ones won't be able to speak English very well and those that deal with foreign renters tend to be expensive. If your employer does nothing else, they should definitely be helping with the rental -- both finding a realtor and paying some or all of the up-front costs (which, depending on the place, could run up to five or six times the monthly rent).


Thanks, very valuable information there. Our office in on Tokyo's side of Saitama prefecture. I put this, Narita and Haneda airports in Google maps and they of course are as far away possible from each other around Tokyo as could be...
I guess I'll try to see which train / metro line I need to be close to and come back for advice regarding the prices of the neighbourhoods.

Your comment about realtors is terrifying: what do they do that justifies paying 6 months of rent upfront ? Is this (partly) a deposit ? What does it include ?

Thanks again for the help !


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## larabell

Mangoplus said:


> what do they do that justifies paying 6 months of rent upfront ? Is this (partly) a deposit ? What does it include ?


Generally there's one or two month's deposit (two months used to be common but that's slowly changing), one month's rent as "key money" (which is basically a "thank you" to the landlord for letting you rent their property) and one month's rent to the realtor as a fee. That's in addition to, at least, the first month's rent and sometimes the last month's rent. Key money is slowly becoming obsolete. I also recall when it used to be assumed that the bulk of the deposit would be used for cleaning when you move out but these days competition and a slower economy have conspired to make those kinds of pocket-lining tactics less common. In some cases, especially in newer/larger buildings where the landlord is also the developer, you can find places with only a couple month's up-front cost. The range is very wide -- no doubt a function of the desirability of the area, the quality of the place, and supply-vs-demand.

The thing is... you probably can't afford to stay in temporary housing for a few months while you search for a decent place at minimal cost. And you shouldn't have to. If your company is sending you over, you'd think they could hook you up with a reasonably good real estate agent who can do an initial search based on your requirements. In fact, it seems unreasonable to expect someone to make an international move like this with no local support at all.

You could also consider a "guest house" which is designed for ex-pats staying in Japan on a short-term basis. Search for Sakura House online or look up the classified ad section in Metropolis magazine (also available online). You could plant yourself in a guest house for a few months with little up-front money and that might give you time to get familiar with various neighborhoods and find places with low deposits and minimal (or no) key money.

You should also think about furnishings. Bringing your own is likely to be costly (unless the company is paying to ship your stuff) and, with the exception of the short-term (and usually higher-rent) places, most apartments come unfurnished.

And unless you intend to be flying every couple days, I'm not sure I'd worry too much about proximity to the airports. Narita is just over an hour away from the center of Tokyo and most places in Saitama aren't going to add more than 20 minutes to the total trip, anyway. If you have relatively easy access to Ueno, Shinjuku, or Tokyo stations, you're probably fine. Plus your airport trips are more likely to happen outside of rush hour so you may want to bias your search more toward where your office is located.

Do you have access to co-workers in the Japan office? If so, ask them where they live and/or which lines are the most convenient for getting into the Tokyo area.


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## Mangoplus

larabell said:


> Generally there's one or two month's deposit (two months used to be common but that's slowly changing),


Ok, sounds more reasonable, similar to the situation here, more or less.



> And you shouldn't have to. If your company is sending you over, you'd think they could hook you up with a reasonably good real estate agent who can do an initial search based on your requirements. In fact, it seems unreasonable to expect someone to make an international move like this with no local support at all.


Oh I'm definitely getting support, but this will be a negotiation so I want to know what to ask for and have arguments. It's going to be a mix of higher salary and extra's like moving costs / real estate agent costs / whatever...




> You should also think about furnishings. Bringing your own is likely to be costly (unless the company is paying to ship your stuff) and, with the exception of the short-term (and usually higher-rent) places, most apartments come unfurnished.


Is this expensive in Japan ? I was thinking cheap "ikea style" + craigslist, is this realistic ?



> And unless you intend to be flying every couple days, I'm not sure I'd worry too much about proximity to the airports. If you have relatively easy access to Ueno, Shinjuku, or Tokyo stations, you're probably fine. Plus your airport trips are more likely to happen outside of rush hour so you may want to bias your search more toward where your office is located.


I'll be flying regularly to other Asian countries. I expect to be out of Japan 1.5 to 2 weeks per month but yeah, probably flights at decent hours. 




> Do you have access to co-workers in the Japan office? If so, ask them where they live and/or which lines are the most convenient for getting into the Tokyo area.


I already did, but nobody lives in the same area, and they all have different family situations (40 yomarried with kids, 25yo single guy, living in Saitama, Shinjuku, Yokohama, Osaka even)... Doesn't help.

With regards to quality of daily life (jogging in a park before going to work, groceries for a decent price, meeting people, etc etc), and not paying through the nose, are there areas of Tokyo you'd recommend ? I've always stayed in the center (Ueno or Tokyo station) or Odaiba while on business trips there.


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## larabell

Mangoplus said:


> I was thinking cheap "ikea style" + craigslist, is this realistic ?


Sure. There are Ikea stores around. Metropolis magazine is also a good source for used stuff... there are a couple other "me too" classified ad magazines around but I forget the names -- you can visit certain bookstores that sell English books and find the latest issues for free. The reason I mention Metropolis is that I know they have the classifieds online (use Google) so you can check stuff out before you come over. The local "craigslist" or "eBay" are going to be in Japanese so unless you're fluent or have someone to help you, the English classified magazines are probably your best bet.



> I already did, but nobody lives in the same area, and they all have different family situations (40 yomarried with kids, 25yo single guy, living in Saitama, Shinjuku, Yokohama, Osaka even)... Doesn't help.


Yeah... ok... I guess that makes sense. A lot of times people stick to a single area even when they change jobs so I know a lot of co-workers who commute an hour or more each way. Hard to imagine someone commuting from Osaka, though :confused2:.



> With regards to quality of daily life (jogging in a park before going to work, groceries for a decent price, meeting people, etc etc), and not paying through the nose, are there areas of Tokyo you'd recommend ? I've always stayed in the center (Ueno or Tokyo station) or Odaiba while on business trips there.


That's an even harder question to answer. If you're willing to shop locally (ie: not rely on stuff imported from back home), groceries and other staples are going to be more-or-less the same no matter where you go. And most neighborhoods have parks and a shopping area where you can find restaurants, etc. I can't imagine a residential neighborhood that doesn't have those basics at least.

The areas where there is a reasonably strong ex-pat community tend to be in the more expensive areas -- Hiroo, Azabu-juban, Den-en-chofu, etc. I don't know what areas in Saitama might be good for meeting people. I figure if you find the smaller shops in your area and frequent them (especially where people hang out at night) you'll meet people. But probably not ex-pats.

One thing you might check out is locations where there's a Sakura House. That's a chain of lodgings of various sorts (mostly "guest house" style) and the last I looked, they had offerings all over. There's one in my neighborhood and that has meant a steady stream of non-Japanese in the local bars and restaurants. I don't know if that's what you meant by "meeting people" but it's an idea.

When it comes to specific neighborhoods, though, I suspect you could throw a dart at the map and find small shopping streets, mom-and-pop restaurants, and various community activities all within easy walking distance. It's really more a matter of learning the neighborhood in which you end up rather than trying to pick a neighborhood where everything you want happens to you automatically.

It also depends a lot on you... For example, I like being able to walk home from a major city center (for those times you go out with co-workers and miss the last train home). But some people don't like to be that close to so much concrete. You might prefer a bustling place like Omiya or Akabane or a quiet rural town like Chichibu (I have a Japenese friend who runs a restaurant in Akabane so if you end up there I can introduce you because he knows a lot of good places around the station).

You're not likely to get anything more concrete than that because: (a) there are simply too many decent neighborhoods for anyone to know them all, (b) the forum doesn't have enough members to get a handle on every area of Tokyo, and (c) we still have no idea where you're going to be working other than Saitama. That makes it pretty difficult to come up with any specific recommendations. I'd suggest you plan on checking out various places once you come over (or, preferably, on a house-hunting pre-trip if your employer will fund it), pick a place near work that feels right, and then figure out where everything is rather than the other way around.


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