I'm moving to Tokyo in January. I've been reading a lot of posts on this sub/wiki and online widely, but I can't seem to find a good solution for the situation I'm in.
Background: Arriving in early Jan, work starts early Feb. I would have preferred to arrive earlier, but work will only pay for flights within 1-month of my start date and 2 weeks of temporary accomodation. They also said my housing needs to be settled by my first day as I need my rental contract. My budget is relatively healthy (130k for a 1K) and don't have any complications apart from being foreigner not physically in Japan yet (just myself, no pets).
Work advised that I should sign a rental contract from outside of Japan as there will be not enough time to view before I start work. From reading the sub and elsewhere, 4-6 weeks seems the average time from viewing to moving in and having all utilities connected, so this makes sense. Work put in my touch with a real estate agent that helps foreigners (as I don't speak Japanese). But almost all places I bring them from Suumo have been booked already, even places with an occupancy date two months out in late Jan.
Now, for others in similar situations, the typical advice on the sub is to not agree to rent something without viewing and book temporary accomodation for a few months (Sakura House, sumyca, etc). But my agent warned me that this would put me into the middle of peak season and it will be much harder to find a place. Seems to checkout, as the general advice on the sub is to avoid moving during then. Also not sure what work will do if I don't have a rental contract on my first day (I'm guessing they may not pay my housing subsidy, which will be a hit).
I understand something will have to give. Either book temporary accomodation (and take whatever financial hit this entails) and accept I have to move in busy period. Or agree to rent something I'm not 100% sure about without viewing it and hope for the best. I'm not on a lucrative expat contract and my job will be challenging from day 1 (as I'm moving to a new area), so I'm leaning towards the latter, to get settled as soon as possible. All the options seem not great, is there anything I am missing? Which would you pick?
by rickconvenient
3 comments
>But my agent warned me that this would put me into the middle of peak season and it will be much harder to find a place.
This is somewhat odd advice from your agent.
Yes, “peak season” (AKA: March) has more people looking for apartments. But because of the way things work in Japan it also means that are more ***available*** apartments. Pretty much everyone who’s moving in Japan does so during the March/April window. To the extent that apartment availability outside that window is probably on the order of half or less.
So if you want the most choices/options moving during “peak season” is more or less a necessity.
All that said…
>Or agree to rent something I’m not 100% sure about without viewing it and hope for the best.
This is honestly probably the best option. Doubly so because of the job situation you described. It will be easier to have *something* (even if it’s not perfect) rather than just adding to your stress levels in the opening weeks/months of your new position.
If you dislike the apartment you end up with you can always move next year.
I personally wouldn’t advice to sign a lease without viewing, mostly because things like sound from outside, location, etc are hard to consider when you only have Google Maps to rely on. I actually planned an extra trip just before my arrival, to walk around a preferred neighbourhood and location I was looking to rent to have an idea about what the situation was like. Especially because Japanese apartments are notoriously noisy and most older building do not have the best sound-proofing qualities.
You can probably ask if you could do an online viewing if you’re fine with that. That’s what I did when I was moving to Hokkaido since I was on a tight timeline and flying from the main island was too expensive just to view an apartment. They showed me the surroundings of the apartment, the exterior, and the interior. Granted, I was in no place to be picky and I was moving to a small town.