Moving to Tokyo in July

Hi Laurent,

Welcome to Expat-blog!

I hope you will get recommendations very soon.

You may have a look at the "accommodation in Japan" guide.

I wish you good luck
Christine

Hi Laurent

You didn't specify what your monthly rental budget is. I imagine your company will be paying but it will still matter how much they are willing to cover since some areas can be quite expensive, particularly if you want an American sized place.

Firstly, this is a map of the Tokyo rail system.
Secondly, Jorudan website will show you how long the train commute will be station to station.

Yurakucho station is serviced by the Yurakucho metro line, Keihin Tohoku line and Yamanote line. There is also an underground passage to Hibiya station (Hibiya line). This is great because it gives you a lot of options.

Best thing to do is to find somewhere on one of those lines so you don't even need to waste time changing lines during your commute. There are plenty of decent places on those lines.

I have personally lived close to Meguro and it's a good area, lots of facilities, close to international schools if you'll need them, not far from nice places to go on the weekend, lots of different stores including some with foreign goods. I wasn't on any expat deal so my apartment was pretty modest in comparison but I was very happy with my choice.

If you are on a package and don't have to worry about rent then you might want to look at areas like Ebisu (Yamanote line, Hibiya line); Naka-Meguro (Hibiya line); Hiroo (Hibiya line) - though beware, the station doesn't have any lifts or escalators.

Finally, you should also check out Japan Family Guide (japanfamilyguide.com) which is a great resource for foreign families living in Japan.

Hello Sydney,

Thanks for your post.

The company will give me a monthly housing allowance which should cover 50% of my rent. And I actually forgot that the company HQ will move to Tokyo Station in August, a few weeks after I start. As I need two rooms (one for the baby, one for my wife and I), I was thinking looking north which seems cheaper than the south (Shinagawa) and west.

How is it like to be living between Nippori and Oji ?

Thanks,

Laurent

Hi Laurent

I don't know much about North Tokyo except as you said, it is cheaper. Hopefully someone else can help you with those areas specifically.

I'll tell you a bit more about several apartments I had and the cost because you might be pleasantly surprised. My husband and I were not on an expat package (we were local hire) so we paid 100% of our rent ourselves. There are 2 places we lived with our son, both in very nice areas in Tokyo.

Yutenji - 2SLK - 150,000yen - approx 65m2
This was a ground floor apartment approximately 12 minutes walk from Yutenji station. Contained kitchen, small lounge room, laundry, bath, toilet, massive tatami room which at various times we used as a bedroom with the cot in their too, and later a lounge/play room, another tiny tatami room which we later put the baby's cot in, and finally an average size room. There was also a small outdoor area to hang clothes with a view of the playground (and car park) and our very own persimmon tree. The apartment was from the 80s I believe but renovated.

Musashi-Koyama - 3LDK - 220,000yen - 100m2
This was definitely my favorite. A spacious open plan lounge/dining/kitchen plus three bedrooms, one of them quite large, the other two average sized. We ended up keeping the computer in one plus guests got to sleep there. This apartment was also from the early 80s, a mammoth building with many apartments that was quite unattractive to look at (made me think of a prison) but with the caretaker working daily plus several cleaning staff, it was kept impeccably clean. The apartment itself was renovated and looked lovely with shiny floorboards, a washlet toilet, a fantastic bathroom with large bath (not small Japanese style) which was programmable (fill at certain temperature at set time, keep warm feature, etc). Excellent storage throughout the apartment. Two reverse air-conditioners, a built in combined oven/microwave (it's not that common to get a proper oven in Japan), kitchen also came with stove/grill. Long but thin balcony with city view (we were on 7th floor) to hang clothes on. Only downside was low ceilings but we quickly got used to it. All in all, a fantastic spacious apartment you could easily raise 2-3 children in only 6 minutes walk from the station and an impressive shopping area.

If your company is paying half your rent, you may want to consider living in a more convenient area in an older but renovated apartment. The areas I mentioned in my previous post won't fit the bill as they are too expensive but other areas in should not be difficult to find something (for example on the Tokyu Meguro line or further along the Tokyu Toyoko line). To do this you will most likely need to sign a 2 year lease through a regular Japanese real estate agency, i.e. not the ones that deal with expats on generous packages. They will most likely want the 2 months deposit (most of which we got back on leaving), 2 months key money and 1 month agency fee. Feel free to negotiate on both the rent and key money. I did and I think I only paid one month key money and rent was reduced a little. If you don't speak Japanese it will be easier to get help from your office. That said, my Japanese was very basic and my partners only a little more and we never had a problem. There will be the occasional agent that doesn't want to deal with you but for the most part, the agents we've talked to have been really helpful.

Best thing to do is take a walk around an area and look at the ads outside the agents windows. Agents in Japan will also have access to apartments represented by other agent so what you see on the window is only a fraction of what they can show you.

Sorry about the rambling post. I'm writing it while my son is playing a very loud computer game!

Gamze

Dear Gamze,

Thanks for you post. I am sorry for the delay. I have just seen your reply today (july 4). I am about to move to Tokyo in a couple of days. I am very excited.

The company actually assigned an agent to help me. You talked about negotiating the rent. Do you think I can ask the agent to negotiate for me?

Thanks,

Laurent