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Big in Japan: How to rent an apartment in Tokyo
It's been a busy week for me here in Tokyo...
After all too many years of living in foreigner guest houses, I decided that it was finally time to get a real Japanese apartment.
Now, I know you're probably thinking that this is a completely normal and respectable proposition. However, I can assure you that moving shop in Tokyo is anything but easy.
What exactly is involved in renting a real apartment in Tokyo? Good question!
For starters, Japanese use the phrase hikoshi-bimbo to describe someone who recently moved into a new apartment.
Literally translating as 'moving poor,' hikoshi-bimbo describes the state of having to fork over six months' salary for the privelege of renting a new apartment.
That's right folks - it costs an average of six months' salary to rent an apartment, not including purchases of furniture, bedding, appliances and other "luxury items."
Believe it or not, Japan still has a number of feudal laws on the books aimed at maintaining the gap between rich and poor.
Essentially, this means that you need a serious amount of cash on hand before you can even step foot into the realtor's office.
Confused? So was I, though hopefully this post will help clear things up a bit.
My new apa
rtment is a 2LDK, which means that it has two bedrooms, one bathroom and an all-purpose living room / dining room / kitchen. It is located in a high class part of Tokyo, though the rent is affordable since the building is fairly old.
Rent for one month is 170,000 yen (US$1500), which isn't that terrible considering that I'm sharing the place with a good friend. However, before being handed the keys, we had to pay considerably more than this amount - in cash.
As a rule, all new renters also have to pay two month's rent in advance, which is somewhat reasonable considering the percentage of defaulters in Japan.
On top of that, all new renters have to give another two month's rent as a security deposit, which is refundable assuming there is no damage to the apartment.
Here is where things start to get a bit shocking...
On top of that, all new renters also have to give another two month's rent as a gift to the landlord, which is not refundable under any circumstances. This money, which is known as reikin (礼金; key money) in Japanese, is a huge blow to the wallet.
On top of that, all new renters also have to give another month's rent as a finder's fee to the realtor, which is also not refundable under any circumstances. This money is considered to be a small price to pay given the competiveness of the Japanese real estate market.
To summarize, this means that my somewhat affordable apartment required an initial down payment of a whopping 1,190,000 yen or approximately US$10,000 in cash.
With that said, my apartment is amazing, especially if you're a fan of traditional Japanese architecture. Although I'm certainly going to be hikoshi-bimbo for a little while, at least I'm doing it in style.
(If you don't believe me, check out the pictures of my swinging pad!)
Filed under: Asia, Japan, Big in Japan
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chris Dec 29th 2007 11:20AM
Great post Matthew. Your apartment is certainly bigger than my girlfriend's former Tokyo pad from when she was an English teacher - check the pictures on A Very Short Walk Around A Tokyo Apartment to see what I mean
Chris Dec 29th 2007 11:23AM
oops, screwed up posting the link - it's here
http://www.travelhappy.info/japan/a-very-short-walk-around-a-tokyo-apartment/
peter gusztav Dec 30th 2007 12:02AM
Yeah, its so hard I have tried in Osaka, and it took me 10 landlords until somebody finally acepted me, I placed this story on my blog as well
http://www.opentopix.com/topic/off-beat/renting-a-flat-in-japan-6months-deposit
Stefan Dec 30th 2007 12:07AM
I live in Okinawa, and I'll tell you its just about the same thing, but because I'm military, I got away without paying the landlord a gift, and the government fronts me all the cash to move me in. But once you find a place you're locked in, because theres no way I could afford to do that again on my own.
joe Dec 30th 2007 12:14AM
It certainly depends on -where- in Tokyo you want to live, but there are definitely options in the city that do not involve reikin, or shikikin, or the finder's fee; i.e. places like the U.S. that require only the refundable security deposit along with the first months rent. These take a bit of searching and good Japanese skills and/or a Japanese pal help out quite a bit, but it's definitely not impossible. Last time I looked the local mini-mini had some pretty good deals: http://www.ebisu.biz/S35224.html
Also, did make sure to check the terms of 'renewal of contract' in many cases where initial key money is involved, a renewal of the original contract when it comes to an end requires yet another payment of 2+ months worth of key money, for the dubious privilege of staying where you are.
Vico Dec 30th 2007 12:25AM
I moved to a brand new apartment in Nakano area (Very close to Shinjuku), my Japanese friend argued with the realtor for about half and hour and he actually reduced the "gift to the landlord" to a single month's renting worth. I paid one month rent in advance, two months deposit, one month "thank you oh' humble landlord fee for allowing me to pay you rent every month" and one month "thank you for being useless incompetent agency fee".
Japanese are notorious for their ability to bow down to their masters and take a huge one up their arses over and over again without failure of saying "thank you" without a smile while asking for more.
Vico Dec 30th 2007 12:29AM
I forgot to mention, if you're a foreigner in Japan, 70% of all landlords will refuse to let you rent on their property regardless of your financial status, even if you're married to a Japanese national.
ae Jan 26th 2009 11:03AM
bollocks
in Tokyo,no one refuses rent to foreigner unless you look weird.If you have a proper company behind you/or a Japanese gf or wife,then you are actually in a better arguing position than a Japanese only couple cause you can play the discount game.Its all about how u handle yourself mate.hell i never payed an agent exactly what they asked for,its all a game m8,aint a supermarket
Leon Dec 30th 2007 12:39AM
6 months salary? You either got ripped off big time, get paid very little, or get rent and salary mixed up (as most places will cost you 6 months rent up front, only 2 of which is actual "rent" payments).
Reikin is a kickback from after the Kanto earthquake (and again after WWII) where people would pay the landlord "thank you money" for giving them a place to stay. At this time it was hard for everybody, and landlords would have spent a substantial amount to rebuild or repair a building after both destructive events.
But why is it still around? Greed, some tell themselves it is now "tradition". Reikin is far less common outside of Kanto (Tokyo/Yokohama/Chiba area), and you find that prices are far, far more sensible outside of Tokyo even in built up areas like Osaka.
And "competiveness of the Japanese real estate market" made me laugh. Thanks for that :)
shari Dec 30th 2007 12:40AM
Even for Tokyo, 170,000 yen a month is a very, very expensive place though I guess if it's big enough to share with another person, it's not too bad.
However, it's not 6 months of *salary* to rent an apartment as most people make more than 170,000 yen a month (a low pay rate is 250,000 for most foreign folks). It's 6 months of *rent* (first and last, 2 months gift, 1 month security, 1 month rental agency fee). And you are going to get roughly half of that back (2 months applied to your rent and some, possibly most, of your security deposit back).
The biggest impediment to renting isn't covered here and that is the discrimination you face as a foreigner. A lot of landlords say, "no pets, no foreigners, and no prostitutes."
Marcin Dec 30th 2007 1:38AM
I'm never going to Japan -- lol.
Tokio Dec 30th 2007 2:00AM
Oh yes, I've heard about this. I plan on moving to Tokyo sometime after I graduate so I've done a little online research here and there.
It seems I'm going to have to win the lottery before I move there, or else I won't be able to afford anything.
Or get a job where the company helps supply my apartment...
Nikhil Dec 30th 2007 2:35AM
In Bangalore it is standard practice to pay 10 months rent as security deposit, 1 months rent as 'real-estate agent' fee and 1 months rent as advance.
The best part is that landlords don't rent out their place, but lease it out for 11 months. This is due to local laws which protect a person from being evicted and arbitrary increases in rent once he has stayed in a house for more than 12 months.
So basically you pay 12 months rent upfront (apart from making monthly payments) for an apartment from where you can get kicked out after 11 months.
Jamar Dec 30th 2007 7:53AM
Out of curiosity, does anyone know what it means when an apartment is described as 2SLDK? What does that extra S mean?
bonjour Dec 30th 2007 9:12AM
sometimes you're able to negotiate out of having to pay key money. i was able to do this because my place was having a promotion, i had a nice mansion in shibuya that i was renting right across from the nishihara public gym (keio shin sen), it was a nice whopping 210000 yen a month though and as so high priced (for a 1 LDK, 56 sq meters), i guess nobody was stupid enough to rent it aside from my company. i'm glad that i'm living in shanghai now, i have a brand new, 33rd floor, 2 LDK, 118 sq m flat in the nicest part of town for only about 9000 rmb or $1100 usd, comes fully furnished, too. the times were good in tokyo, but i'm glad i moved the hell out!
word up on the gaijin inequalities, luckily my company helped me get a place out there as a lot of my friends weren't that fortunate, japanese people are very scared of foreigners and their typical differences in mannerisms and fidelity of rent payment. cheers.
ohayo Dec 30th 2007 10:08AM
you paid too much. i live in tokyo too and only paid 1 month security deposit and 1 month fee to the agent. no key money at all. you should have negotiated harder.
HaraldK Dec 30th 2007 11:10AM
S is a small storage room.
And about the original story and reikin: It's from our experience, fairly easy to decrease this: find something which does not look like you'd like to have it (e.g. bathroom has old tiling), ask if they can remodel it (costs about 1-22 million Yen), or alternatively reduce the key money. Worked twice for us. It helps a lot when your wife is Japanese though and knows how to ask for that. If you push too hard here, they'll simply refuse and that's it.
Stormy Dec 30th 2007 11:35AM
Thanks for sharing! In Spain there was a law that they couldn't raise the rent and they could only kick you out to renovate or to use the apt for family. Some people had $200/mo rent and had rented the same apt forever.
Jeff Dec 30th 2007 1:02PM
Reading the comments it seems renting is just as difficult all over the world. Like Stormy said you can rent an apartment in Spain for $200, but in Barcelona I also paid 3 months rent as a deposit, 1 months rent as a finders fee to the agency and another 3 months rent as a security deposit to the landlord because I'm a foreigner. All together I paid 11,000 euro's which is about $16,000.
Granted I'll get most of it back when I move plus I earn interest on the deposit, but let's just say I won't be shopping for any designer furniture.
paolodm Dec 30th 2007 9:45PM
This makes me hate Japan even more.