House

Thanks for visiting! I introduce the different part of the house between Canada and Japan.

CONTENT

1.　how to find the house

2. check the

1. How to find the house

・Facebook Marketplace

・craigslist

・JP Canada (just for Japanese people)

Facebook's

good point

1 has a lot of information

2 can find to live the house which is an international.

bad point

1 it`s not a clean room

2 some information is scam

craigslist

good point

1 have lots of information

2. What is Reikin?

Reikin is a common, non-refundable fee that you pay to the landlord on top of rent. It was originally paid as gratitude for the landlord, back when there weren’t enough apartments for people to rent (I think it’s one of the Japanese old fashioned things). It’s typically a month’s rent or might be two month’s rent (Eg: If your rent is 60,000 yen, you will pay the same amount of money). You pay it when you sign the contract. Nearly 60% of properties adopt the Reikin system, so you should keep it in mind.

3. Room Type & Size

There are many kinds of room types and sizes when you look for an apartment room in Japan. It can be confusing at first sight, but it would be fine once you learn the concept of “Madori'', which stands for floor plan/room layout. Madori is represented by the combination of numbers and alphabets (R for room, D for dining, K for kitchen, L for living room) such as: 1R, 2K、3DK、4LDK etc (explained below). There is suitable Madori for each case, such as Family, two people, one person etc. 1R,1K, 1DK, and 1LDK are actually common Madori for those who live by themselves. I guess, most people from other countries who are going to look for an apartment are supposed to live by themselves, so here, let’s look specifically into 1R,1K, 1DK, and 1LDK.

* Initial number stands for the number of living rooms except "LDK". For example, in the case of 3LDK, it means that there are "3 rooms and a living / dining / kitchen".

* “&” means the rooms are in the same space. No wall or door to be divided.

* “＋” means the rooms are in different spances for each. Divided by wall or door.

1 Room & Kitchen

→Each space is NOT separated by wall or door. It means that the living room and kitchen are in the same space.

1 room

＋

Kitchen

→Kitchen and the room are separated by a wall or door. It means that there is a room for living, and a room for a kitchen. They are not in the same space.

1DK

1 room

＋

Dining & Kitchen

→You can have a dining room in the same space as the kitchen. You can have space to put in some furniture, electrical appliances, etc, compared to 1K.

1LDK

1 room

＋

Living & Dining &

Kitchen

→There is another living room compared to 1DK.

4. Tips to Look for

☑Avoid Busiest Seasons

January-March is the busiest season for real estate agencies, because new semester and new life usually begin in April in Japan, so more people go to the real estate agencies to find their new room to live, so it's the busiest season for them. It is more competitive than other seasons. However, at the same time, there are a lot more options than the other seasons.

You are more likely to sign a contract cheaper in June-August, because it’s rainy and the hottest season.

There will be more options to choose from in November-December.

☑Train Station and Line

Make sure that there is a train station nearby and that the line is convenient (Here is the ranking of how many train lines each station have:

1. Shinjuku Sta.(14 lines)

2. Tokyo Sta.(12 lines)

3. Shibuya Sta.(10 lines)

4. Ikebukuro Sta.(9 lines)

5. Ueno Sta.(8 lines)

☑Bathroom Type

There are two types of bathrooms for apartment rooms: Unseparated type and separated type. Unseparated type means that the bathroom is not separated from the showeroom. Separated type means that the bathroom is separated from the showeroom. Separated type is a bit more expensive.

☑Convenience Store

Make sure that there is a convenience store nearby. Convenience stores in Japan stay open 24/7, so you can get any daily necessities there whenever you want!

☑Other Residents

Ask the landlord about the other residents in the apartment and next to/above your room, to make sure that you can live in comfortably.

☑Autolock

Those who care much about your safety (especially women) should choose the room with auto lock door.

☑Kind Landlord

Make sure that the landlord (Ooya san in Japanese) is nice and kind. A nice landlord would kindly help you when some troubles happen.

☑Outlet

Where and how many outlets are there in the room?

☑Direction

The most popular direction is south as it gets a lot of sunshine. However, it's hotter in summer. It's the most expensive direction due to the popularity.

Here are the tips that I would give you. There might be a lot more tips to look for, so it would be great if you ask dependable specialists at the real estate agent!

5. Extra Helpful Info

★Useful Sites★

English site about an apartment hunting in Japan→ https://matcha-jp.com/en/9844
Apartment hunting in Japan through online→ https://www.gtn.co.jp/en/online_room_preview_ma/
One of the popular websites among Japanese people→ https://suumo.jp/kanto/

★Recommended Stores to Buy Some Furniture★

Lots of varieties with

affordable price

https://www.nitori-net.jp/ec/

Functional and fashionable design

https://www.ikea.com/jp/ja/

Everything is fancy and affordable

https://www.muji.com/jp/ja/store

6. Vocab List

Vocabulary list

7. Summary

(Comment from the Editor)

That's all for my apartment hunting page! Overall, it was quite hard to explain well, but I tried my hardest. I hope you understood at least, the outline of the apartment hunting in Japan. Actually, there are a lot more things to explain, so I hope I will add more content later.

Enjoy your life in Japan:)

Date: January 27th, 2022

Edit: Natsuki

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