Renting apartments in Japan is quite different compared to the other countries.
Unlike the United States or the UK, or other places, Japan’s tenant and landlord laws look very favorably upon the tenant, rather than the landlord, making evictions exceedingly difficult. As a result, many rental offices in Japan will not rent to an individual without an additional guarantor of funds.
An interesting part of the Japanese culture is the idea that one must pay some amount of money as gratitude towards a landlord for having agreed to rent a room, apartment, or home. Usually, this amounts to one or two months’ rent. Upon this, many real-estate agencies will charge a fee for introducing you to the apartment. This can also add a significant amount of money to the total of all the move-in costs.
You should be also aware of the fact that the majority of the apartments for rent are not furnished. This means that right away you will have to buy all of your furniture and appliances.
We at Tokyo Furnished do not accept any form of key money or agent fee, nor do we require a guarantor. We also provide fully furnished apartments. This is primarily because Tokyo Furnished works with the international community and those who are looking to fill a unique need in renting apartments for shorter terms than the usual 2-year contracts needed in Japan.