Hi all.
A quick background before I ask a few stuff. I lived in Ibaraki from 2017 to 2024 (5 years education, 2 years work) and returned to my home country for a year break. I have now landed a new job in Utsunomiya city, Tochigi prefecture and will be moving back to Japan most likely in July end.
Main thing right now is to find a place to live before moving into a new apartment and I'm not sure how I should proceed with that. I speak Japanese so there is no language problem. My initial thought process was to arrive in Japan 1 week before I start work in my new company so that I can look around for apartment, get my new address registered in the city office, get a new phone number, etc. However, now I realize from my previous experiences is that finding an apartment and then getting the keys will take at least 2 weeks. Additionally, I checked in Google Maps that my company is located 15km north of Utsunomiya city so even if I initially live in a hotel, rent a car and drive upto my place of work, it will cost a lot of money as daily charges for rent cars range from ¥5000 – ¥10000.
I checked a few apartment options in SUUMO, there are good ones and I got in touch with a 不動産 by email. They asked me by when I am expected to be in Utsunomiya, I said 1st August but it depends on my new visa which will take 2 months to get. They then asked me to get in touch with them when I am in Utsunomiya city.
What do I do now? How do I find a place of live? If I decide on a cheap hotel, they don't have contact numbers listed on Google Maps and after I reach Japan and go to the hotel for check in, I will be screwed if they don't have vacant rooms. I feel so lost.
by Ecstatic-Loquat-2579