You probably already know this, but finding an apartment in Japan as a foreigner is notoriously difficult. The unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of apartments in this country simply will not accept you as a tenant. But that makes it all the more important to understand what factors affect your eligibility for an apartment. For whom is it the hardest to find an apartment? What about the easiest? In this article, we’ll tackle those questions—but first, let’s lay out the six key factors to know.
Factor One: Visa Status and Employment
Visa status, unsurprisingly, matters a lot when it comes to apartment availability. For long-term, standard apartments, you should assume that you will need to be either employed or enrolled in a school in order to be approved. Most property management companies in Japan these days require all applicants to first be approved by a guarantor company. The specific guarantor company is usually chosen by the property management company, though in rare cases you may have a few options. And in order to be approved by a guarantor company, you will almost always need to have a job or be a student, which brings us full circle. There are a few minor discrepancies to keep in mind, though.
Working Visa vs. Working Holiday Visa
If you are on a working holiday visa, a lot of property management companies will consider you to be a “short-term” applicant and may be less willing to accept you. In particular, if you’re on a working holiday and are not either employed (at a bare minimum, have a job offer) or enrolled in a school, you will either want to focus on getting a short-term apartment or seek employment/education ASAP if you want something longer-term.
Student Visas
Having a student visa does make you eligible for long-term apartments, though it is important to note that you will have fewer options available to you than a worker. There are also sometimes differences between what schools are accepted. For example, there are properties that accept exchange students at universities, but not from Japanese language schools. If you’re a student, it’s important to communicate what type of school you’re attending to your real estate agent!
Factor Two: Location
The big distinguishing factor here is whether or not you are currently located in Japan. If you already live in Japan and have your residence card, great! You can skip this entire section. If you are waiting to arrive in Japan though, read on. If you would like to secure an apartment before your arrival, this is possible, but you will need to find an apartment that specifically accepts overseas applications. Among properties that accept foreigners, those that also accept overseas applications make up an even smaller pool.
If you aren’t too picky about your apartment, especially if you’re just looking for a single-occupancy 1K, it can be pretty easy to find something even from overseas. But if you start tacking on more criteria, it becomes a matter of luck as to whether or not a suitable option is available that also accepts overseas applications. To learn more about overseas applications, we have a whole article about it here!
Factor Three: Japanese Ability
Even for apartments that accept foreigners, many will often require tenants to have some degree of Japanese ability. The strictness of this requirement can vary quite a bit, though in most cases, if you speak at least conversational Japanese (or at least have the confidence and wherewithal to survive an interaction with a neighbor or your property management company), then you are usually fine.
There are sometimes properties that will want further confidence in your Japanese, sometimes even requiring you to be able to read and write, though these are not super common. If you want to expand the apartments that may be available to you in Japan, it is highly recommended that you get your Japanese to a serviceable level. To use the JLPT scale, even just N5–N4 will make a massive difference!
Factor Four: Tenants
Who will be living in the apartment also plays an important role. Of course, if you’re going to be living alone, then you can skip this section! Apartments in Japan are very picky about who they allow to live in them. For example, most apartments under 30 square meters will not allow more than one tenant. A general rule of thumb is that you should have one room per tenant, but even then, the relationship between the tenants matters.
While having roommates is common in many countries, it is not very common in Japan. Many properties that allow two tenants on paper will not allow it if the two tenants are simply friends. Most of the time, two tenants are only allowed if they are in a relationship.
There are properties that allow friends to live together, referred to as “room sharing” in Japan. If you are potentially going to consider this, make sure to let your agent know ahead of time. Sometimes people will move into an apartment by themselves, assuming they can have a friend move in later, only to be surprised that it isn’t allowed.
Similarly, if you’ll be moving with your family, it’s important for your agent to know how your family is structured and the ages of the various family members. For example, there are often rental units which, despite their size, do not actually allow children. Many Japanese property management companies are also wary of accepting tenants over 60, so if you or someone you’re living with falls into that category, please let your agent know right away.
Lastly, I should also mention that visa status plays a role here too. Finding an apartment for a student on their own often isn’t too bad, but two students living together, even if they are a couple, is a whole other story. While not impossible, options will be significantly more limited.
Factor Five: Lifestyle
There are also a few lifestyle factors we should quickly go over:
Pets
Not very many apartments in Japan allow pets. Of the ones that do, they generally require an additional month of deposit (usually non-refundable), and often only allow one pet that weighs up to 10 kg. If you have multiple pets or a larger pet, you’re often going to need to rent a house, and even then, it can be almost impossible to find a place that allows more than two or three pets. If you want to bring your pets to Japan, plan ahead and understand what may or may not be possible.
Instruments
Most apartments in Japan also do not allow you to play instruments. That being said, if you play an electric instrument that can work with headphones, it’s essentially impossible that anyone would complain, so you would most likely be fine, despite it still technically being against the contract. If you really want a property that allows you to play instruments openly, they do exist, but are a bit rare. Again, bring it up with your agent early if this is important to you!
Smoking
Newer buildings often ban smoking inside the apartment, though some older ones actually do not have a specific rule against it. That being said, it’s still important to note that if you choose to smoke in an apartment, the wallpaper will be damaged, in which case you will be required to pay for the replacement of all wallpaper in the apartment. This can potentially add up to hundreds of thousands of yen. Those fees can be life changing, in a negative way, obviously, and thus it is strongly recommended you never smoke in your apartment even should it not be explicitly banned. Smoking outside of the room, such as on the balcony, will likely draw complaints from your neighbors, so that is also usually either banned, or could get you in trouble regardless with your property management company.
Factor Six: Emergency Contacts
The last important factor is whether or not you have an emergency contact. To be clear, this is not a guarantor and involves no financial obligation. It is simply someone whom the property management company can contact should they be unable to reach you. Nearly every long-term apartment in Japan will require you to have at least one emergency contact who lives in Japan.
If you are moving from overseas and do not yet know anyone in Japan, we strongly recommend you make a friend here ASAP—whether it be through a mutual friend, an online language learning app, or someone at your future workplace or school.
The emergency contact will need to be comfortable sharing their personal information, including their full name, gender, date of birth, phone number, and address. Oftentimes, their work information may also be required.
How Hard Is It for You to Find an Apartment in Japan?
Let’s draw some conclusions based on the above. First of all, it’s vital that you have an emergency contact in Japan. Without that, you’re likely to be dead in the water. After that, consider your visa and language ability. If you’re employed and speak at least a decent degree of Japanese, you’ll pretty much have access to any property that allows foreigners! Then you’ll need to narrow those down a bit further if you’re a student, and further still if you’re on a working holiday…
Also think about how many options you want. If you’re overseas, your options may be limited. If you’re able to wait to come to Japan before finding an apartment, you’ll have more options, but you’ll also need to spend money on temporary accommodation, and you may find that units are more competitive, especially if it’s close to the start of a new school term.
Imagine your potential lifestyle in Japan. If you want to have a lot of pets or play musical instruments, this may not be the best country for you—at least as a renter. Living in a foreign country may come with sacrifices. But at the same time, the most important advice I would give you is this: when it comes to finding an apartment in Japan as a foreigner, it’s just as much about finding an apartment that will accept you as it is about finding an apartment you like.
Let your agent guide you through the process by providing them with as much information about you and your plans as possible. You don’t want to have spent two weeks applying for a property only to realize it won’t actually allow your friend to live with you when they move to Japan a few months later.
Lastly, if you found parts of this article discouraging, don’t get yourself down! If you’re not moving to Japan quite yet, hopefully this gives you an idea of how to improve your prospects in the future. Even if you are moving soon, this information can help you communicate smoothly with your agent about your needs and understand what might be available to you. Speaking of agents, if there is anything you would like to ask about apartments, Dovetail is here for you. Please check out our inquiry form here!