Share house or unfurnished apartment to rent in Kyoto for a graduate student

I will be attending iMBA at Kyoto University coming April 2026. Sadly, I didn’t get the university housing and now finding a place to stay for 2 years.

Currently, I found 2 type of places that are available and close to university. Share houses and unfurnished apartments. For furnished apartments, seems like all the good ones have been taken already. 🙁

So I was leaning on to share houses initially because although the initial rent can be slightly higher than unfurnished apartments, it has all the necessities and don’t have to buy extra big furnitures which I may not even use after 2 years. And since I am moving with no friends, I can make new friends there also.

However, most share house has very limited toilets and shower rooms (e.g. 3-5 pax to 1 toilet) so I am afraid of the hygiene and the availability of the cubicles.

I have always wanted to live in a private space also so now I am torn if I should invest on a private apartment instead even though the cost might end up a bit higher.

Can anyone who has lived in share houses or unfurnished apartments share some opinions please? Thank you~

For your information, I am late 20s F.