Hello everyone! My colleague/friend (M28) and I (M30) are relocating from Italy to Tokyo starting this September for a 2+1 year work assignment at our company's HQ in Marunouchi. I have been to Tokyo several times for business, but always in that painful mode where you see the inside of meeting rooms, the hotel lobby, and approximately one izakaya if you are lucky. This time we actually get to live there and so we are trying to do this right.
We are trying to figure out the best area to settle in, based on a few hard constraints and some preferences:
MUST
- Office is in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, walking distance from both Tokyo Station and Hibiya. We will likely go in often (we actually like our workplace, don't judge us). Max 25-30 min commute, and we would love to avoid the most brutal lines during rush hour; Tozai line trauma is already a known concept to us from colleagues' warnings.
- Budget is ¥130,000–180,000/month per person, rent only.
THE APARTMENT QUESTION (genuinely unsure here)
The company is covering one 1DK each (~30-35 sqm). We are debating whether it makes more sense to pool the budget and negotiate a shared 2LDK (~50-55 sqm) instead, something with an actual living space where two adults can coexist without developing psychological damage. We know hosting culture in Japan is different from Italy, but we do plan to inflict our italian cooking skills on Japanese colleagues/friends on a semi-regular basis, so a functional kitchen and some floor space would help. Has anyone done this? Is the shared route worth it?
NICE TO HAVES
- Good restaurant scene, some nightlife, a decent gym nearby.
- Access to daily essentials to live comfortably.
- It doesn’t necessarily have to be an international neighborhood (N5 students here with the aim to improve asap).
- We both have a soft spot for well designed spaces and neighborhoods with some architectural character, but this is firmly in "bonus" territory.
We are planning a 3-week business trip to Tokyo in mid-June specifically to visit apartments and get a feel for neighborhoods before the assignment starts. Would love to go in with a shortlist rather than wandering around looking confused (we will save that for later, once we actually live there).
Any neighborhood suggestions, practical advice, or things you wish you would known would be hugely appreciated.
And if any of you would like to meet up during our June trip or after the assignment's start and show two clueless Italians around, payment will be in the form of a home cooked dinner. We have been told we are decent at it.
by Legal_Web_4678