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If you are going out to rent a Japanese apartment, let us show you some tips
Japanese apartment count rooms 1R, 1K, 2K, 2LDK, etc
Don’t be surprised when you see a room with nothing in big cities, yes, it’s a 1R or One Room, usually some with nothing, neither a kitchen or a toilet (though some have toilets included now).
Next you will find rooms number, plus K for Kitchen, D for Dining room, and L for Living room, like this: 1K, 1DK, 1LDK – 2K, 2DK, 2LDK
And they include a toilet.
Japanese apartment rent rules
If you are renting in Japan, be aware of key money (Reikin,礼金) or gift money, which is a gift from you to the landlord, usually cost 1 month rent or more. And deposit money (Shikikin, 敷金), which you can get back when you leave, without damaging anything, also usually costs 1 month rent. Try to ask about this with your real estate agent when searching for an apartment in Japan, ask them to find a place without key money if possible.
Some hidden fee that you might want to know
Taxes usually don‘t appear in conversation or contract. If you are living in Japan, especially Tokyo, each ward has a different tax system, be sure to ask that beforehand.
Agent’s Fee (Chūkai tesūryō,手数料) and Guarantor Fee (Hoshōgaisha riyō-ryō,保証会社利用料) are not included in rental advertisement so the total moving in fee might be triple or four times the actual monthly rent.
That should be it for the renting fee, let’s head in to know what special when renting an apartment in Japan:
Westernize style with a traditional twist: Tatami Room
If you never heard the word, Tatami is a mat made from straw, warm in winter and cool in summer, quite soft also. The Tatami was used in traditional Japanese houses and still keeps its way to Japanese traditional bedrooms. Where you sleep in a futon on the floor.
Japanese apartment toilet with a bidet (MAGICAL JAPANESE, and limited)
If you also never heard about this before, it would blow your mind. Click a button, hand free washless. Enjoy the Japanese convenience, but stocks are limited and not every apartment has one, or has an electric plug inside the toilet.
Japanese apartment doorway with a dedicated shoes closet.
Living in Japan, you will take off your shoes, leave all the dirt at the doorway, where you have a shoe box right on the side. The shoe box/cabinet is called “getabako” named after “geta”, wooden clogs, traditional Japanese footwear and ‘’hako”, a box.
Japanese apartment’s kitchen in minisize
As Japanese apartments are relatively small in size, the kitchen was also minimized with only one stove, and a small kitchen sink. In a 1K room, the kitchen is usually right on your door way, straight in the middle of the hall to your room.
Japanese apartment and what to do
Trash is separate at source and will be collected on a decided date, check with your ward office, or real estate agency to know which day for your burnable and unburnable trash. Also, each apartment in Japan has a designated trash collecting spot.
Japanese apartment and what you should not do
People in general like a quiet atmosphere during night time, and to respect that, plus thin walls in Japanese apartments, let’s try to keep the noise down during night time.