Added: 4 years ago
From: tokyocooney
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  • It's quite common for Japanese landlords to insanely overcharge gaijins because...the landlords don't want gaijins in the first place. It is also a good opportunity to rob the gaijins in case they are insanely rich. It's basically two birds with one stone.

  • Comment removed

  • From my father's experience some companies you work for will rent the appartment for you and then you have to sub let off the company.

  • Is is possible for foreign to have an property in Tokyo?

  • Are these rent / housing contracts in english, that you can understand for what you are willing to sign your name on - or is it all in japanese and they "explain" it to you in english.

    Can it be only in japanese in some places / areas?

  • Great tips. The background music is very loud though, and the vocals in the music detract from what is otherwise a very informative clip.

  • There should be a video where Tokyocooney talks about the currency in japan

  • to l3e honest..well its there...LOL

  • How much does your average job pay? Like whats minimum wage and so on because i wanna leave the US pretty bad.

  • Fight fight fight!

  • In living in an apartment with 2 bed plus 1 bath that costs over 700 buck a month and all that stuff for an apartment in japan... Wow I still wanna go there though

  • I had to pay 5 months' rent before signing the contract for ALL the reasons you stated. Rent X 5 ! Thank you for this info.

  • i dont mean to be a dick, but if you cant hear him over that music you need a fucking hearing aid. I was expecting his speech to be incomprehensible the way to people bitch in the comments, but it was COMPLETELY LEGIBLE. I didn't miss a SINGLE WORD. So, STFU, and stop complaining. I swear you people just look for something to bitch about, or all have terrible audio.

  • im going to tokyo in decmeber this year to 5 jan 2011 and only got £2000 will this pay for rent and food etc? I can only say the basics like "do you speak engilish and how much is that" and of course I now the basics but renting for 1 month in uk sterling how much would I be looking at? 5 of us are going there

  • The background music is too, too, too distracting, hands down!

  • Please CUT the jeopardy background music.

    I seriously CANNOT hear what you are saying.

  • How did you ever find an apt. here? I mean, this is crazy ....

  • Very informative. After watching EVERY SINGLE one of your videos, i've learned alot...and even done alot of my own research.

    whats the song thats playing..sounds like an old 60s/70s theme song.

  • are you serious thats the ending song from the price is right come on! how do you not know that/???????????

  • hahhaa dudeeee i knew that, buti totally blanked. plus i didnt watch price is right much. jeopardy was more my thing. ^__^ thanks.

  • Nice video. Renting is a pain regardless of where you live imo! lol But very informative

  • @Wakako77 Well there not necessarily racist but really against change. From what I've seen they don't really like things that are different from their normal traditions. They even have a proverb which says, The nail that sticks up gets hammered down (I don't know the Roomaji) which pretty much is saying conform

    Well at least in my opinion.

  • hey dude where would u find a house with a garage

  • HAHAHA

  • wats so funny

  • From what I know. I suggest that you find a house in one of the suburbs of Tokyo, or surrounding towns. Otherwise you'll have to be super rich. >_>

  • is there any tech jobs like car selling and intel makin, phone inventing?

  • God PLEASE drown the music by at least -12.0 dB while you're speaking, instead of the other way around ^^:

  • Yes God.. please do that.. and while you are at it, then give me a nice woman.

  • Thanks! These videos are pretty helpful to someone looking to live in Tokyo.

    can't agree with the comment about "fear based on ignorance" though. They have a perfect right to decide who or who not to rent out to. They probably just want to avoid foreigners who may not always be able to fit in with all of their minute social norms and stuff.

  • shit, lol. you might as well buy a japanese house instead, after you pay all of those fees.

  • I have had good experiences with Sakura House

  • mate the music in your videos is always awesome.

  • Near the end of this video the music starts into playing over your commentary, which again ... makes everything you say very hard to hear, my dear!

  • @GimmeKitty Buts its pretty cool blues.

  • My only complaint about this video is that the music cut out, AFTER you had started into talking about living expenses.

    Was hard to hear the first minute or so, of what you said ;)

  • I went to your frien'ds link from ur-net...

    I didn't understand what its about, hehe -.-

  • what does F,Y.I stand for

  • For Your Information^^

  • lol!!

  • what the hell are you on about?

  • fucked up is really overly harsh ...soemtimes its better to be complicated because then you dont get cheated out of money...

  • dude thanks once again, your video's are easily the most usefull ones ive ever seen on youtube. thanks bro

  • Vote for Tokyo Cooney.

  • This is the worst part of living in Japan. Most realtors and owners outright reject foreigners, out of prejudice, ignorance and racism. And regardless of how desperate is the situation, as he says, they still reject foreigners even if they have guarantor (hoshonin) and all their documentation.Housing in Tokyo sucks.

  • I prefer to deal directly with the Oyasan (the apartment owner).

    If you can, get introduced by a Japanese friend and start a long conversation about what you do in Japan what your business is and so forth.

    Once he (or she) figures you out, all sorts of good things start to happen.

    Some don't rent to foreigners for ignorance, but once they know you it goes the other way around.

  • holy shit, you pay close to nothing for rent! I have a 2 bdrm apartment in Sonoma County, CA and I pay $1140! I gotta move to Japan. NOW.

  • My rent is about the same in Florida

  • I love your videos they are so informative. I soon will be apato hunting in japan. People have told that have have to pay like 6 months rate up front by they are basing it on facts from 5-10 years ago. I have several japanese friends that only paided like 2-or three months rent up front.

  • If things had been better in my life, I would at this very moment be in japan with a great resturant job, and perfect apartment!

    Sadly my life sucks so that slipped away. T-T

    It was the best job ever too! They offered transportaton fees and meals too! The pay was beautiful too. I'm not telling you what it was as it hurts to think about it!

    And the apartment I found no Key money and I would only have to pay a small fee that I would have got back. I hate my life.

  • It would be easier to concentrate without the price is right theme at the begining. Good video though.

  • Sakura are supposed to be a pretty good gaijin house. I don't have first hand experience but I did stay at the Sakura business hotel in Hatagaya last year and the staff where very nice and the room was small but clean. I am moving to Tokyo in about 18months and so far the Ikebukuro Sakura gaijin house is the best so far. It's not a dorm so much as a rather large apartment with about 4 people at a time.

  • i really like your videos, especially because i consider to live for some while in tokyo, or in another big japanese city, but sometimes the music is just too much...

    your english can be good understand, but the music makes it harder to hear the exact words of yours..

  • I live in a guesthouse, I guess that's what you call a gaijin-house, since there are only foreigners living here. No extra fees, exept a 30,000 yen deposit. But I think I'm getting ripped off though cause my rent is 77,000 a month and I have to share kitchen and shower with 6 other people...

  • all those fees must sum up to be a pain to your bank account. i would hate having to pay so much so i could live in an apartment.

  • This was interesting to watch, because it actually got me considering moving to Japan. I always knew I'd like to visit, but this got me thinking of doing it, even with all of the fees. I'm interested in writing, and considering that by the time I'm done with school and Uni, I'll probbably be doing well enough with my Japanese to actually get a teaching career. Japan seems like an interesting place to live, business and community wise, basing this on your videos, and things I have read.

    :D

  • If your looking for housing around 40,000 yen a month are the apartments any good? Just asking for an opinion. ^.^

  • look through the sites he listed, 40,000 will get you a 2-3 mat place with communial toilet/kitchen/bathroom

  • u really can't get an apartment for 40,000 yen a month..the location would be hours away from work by commute..but u can get apartments for 120,000 yen that are good and usually 25-40 minute commute from work. if u have questions just send me a message i got plenty of listings that are cheap and good

  • The music is distracting.

  • i've heard that i can stay at some furnished apts on a weekly or nightly basis. do you know which ones in tokyo offer this?

  • Im curious, what does agency fee of 1 mth means?

    if your monthly rent is 104k with a deposit of 7k.

  • agency fee usually is the same as one months rent

  • is it a one time payment or?

  • @youmylove0 As long as you pay rent

  • Mannnn, I wish I had that life..living in Tokyo. Sounds kind of overwhelming, but you probably get used to it over time. I join the airforce in December of this year and i'm signing in for 4 years..so I get to move there no later than the beginning of 2013. Ill at least have a bit of money saved up..its just the wait that'll kill me >_>

  • That or getting esploded out of the air!

  • The Price Is Right!

    haha that music made this video awesome!

  • lol yea i want to play that on piano now. Lol

  • i live in tokyo and i hate all the bullshit involved in getting a flat here..they are really greedy fools here

  • nice video and i like how you explained it with fact rather than exaggeration unlike most people.

    also I totally agree about the owner companies being more open to foreigners than private landlords. The companies don't care about much other than if you can afford the apartment. Also the companies are more likely to accept the guarantor company as a guarantor and many private landlords do not. I've had both company and private landlords and the application process with the company was painless.

  • hey you dude i was thinking of moving to tokyo in Akihabara, what would you recomend apartments wise in that area.

  • i gotta visit akihabara for sure. looks awesome and you cant be criticized for having an otaku-like nature.

  • Hey, love your videos.

    Quick question, is it better to try and find an apartment on a high floor so you can dry clothes outside without the smell of smog (if you're in a big buiding)?. I'm looking into moving over for the JET programme soon, or some other teaching position.

  • @musicsugarlove what is the JET program?

  • @sheemsheem

    I'm going to JSL in Fukuoka. It is cheap, like 2000 bucks for 1 semester with housing. I semester is 3 months. Very nice. It's a japanese language school. But the Jet Program I think is community service.

  • I must be blunt: if you're in Tokyo short-term, STAY AT SAWANOYA.

    It's a real ryokan catering to gaijin. We were the first tourists to ever stay there for one month (amazingly!) and Sawa-sama treated us better than family; the whole neighborhood did. There are cultural events every week. The local restaurants are great and Nezu Metro station is within walking distance.

    Contact them directly, not through your travel agent, for better rates - although for Tokyo they're more than reasonable.

  • He's been living in Tokyo for over 6 years now. It's not short-term.

  • Curry and garlic smell---sounds like my house too.

  • i have a bachelor's in exercise science and 2 years experience in the personal training/sales business in america.  is there a business for me in japan?

  • How about to be english teacher with cheap salary? My recommendation is to apply the american company which have branch in Japan. And wait for the chance to move.

  • Damn Japan is expensive.

  • Anyone have any advice for a high school graduate moving to japan looking for a job? I don't need a visa since i'm half japanese but the catch is, i don't speak japanese. I want to work there during the summer between my graduation and going to college. So does anyone have any advice on any jobs i could have??

  • iunno if this helps but i knew this person who didnt speak japanese and worked in a resturant for a year or two...not much but it worked

  • Yah my dad suggested Starbucks...heh I donna about that though. I was thinking babysitting/teaching japanese to the kids at the same time. My japanese friend did that.

  • starbucks is easier since the drinks name are the same such as the size.

    but i think you should be nanny, no offense of anything but my friend did that when she was in europe, and it was great for her. she earned money, and get to stay in somebody's house.

    so you could try that! also, they might want a nanny that speaked english because they want their children to speak english

  • you needa at least bachelor degree to work in Japan.

  • Yep, Gorokusa is right. You need a bachelors to work in Japan, its not as easy as you think. Can't just pick up and move over one day and get a job the next.

  • Go to the house of your relatives.

    Jobs? ah, what about to work as a assistant of english school illegally.

  • and get jailed or deported? no thx! love japan too much to do that

  • Also, I thought Buddhists dont eat meat? =o

  • Oh, wait. she has nationality of JPN. So, it is not illegal. I recommend to work in the u.s. military base.

  • "Also, I thought Buddhists dont eat meat" That is misunderstanding. Yep, high level monks tend to be vegan to persue their ideal. But in reality, most of buddists & even some monks made excuse to eat meats histrically. So it's no problem to eat meats with thanking to animals & nature for me.

  • Jesus i need to get a job that pays well in my home country and stash up some cash before i move to Japan, since the housing is so damn tricky. Since you know so much about the real estate there im guessing that you've had your share of problems with it. I can't even begin to imagine how much crap a 24 year old student(namely, me) is gonna have to put up with before i get a place and a job thats gonna keep me running there.

  • Great video! I guess real estate field in Japan will become more open to foreigners because the number of Japanese workers has been decreasing due to the recent sharp dropping of birth rate, which has forced Japanese government to make more foreigner-friendly living environment to attract them to Japan to fill the lack of workers.

  • That was truly fascinating. I never knew or even thought about how different it would be getting started in an apartment in Japan.

  • You what! thats what happened when you go to a country where ther is no representation of foreigners to such as, offices for appartments and housings, lawyers and people to takecare of the japanese landlords. in US, every ethnicity has someone or something that helps them in there needs such as housing, banking, insurance, moving and packaging. Japan is not a place for foreiners, Yet. they still have long way to improve there status

  • i have a question about yen. how much yen to you need to have a u.s. dollar? i know somone who went to vietnam and told me a really big house is like 20 dollars and a penny is a thousand dong and they bought a purse for ten dong so i like the idea of paying a samll amount of money for something really nice in a forein country.

  • I think about 120 yen is about $1.00

  • is 108 yen is abour 1.00 US,DOLLAR

  • Thing with vietnam and Japan is that they are absolutely WORLDS apart when it comes to economics. A large part of asia lives off tourism and doesn't have a heavily industrialised income source. But Japan is THE SHIT when it comes to industrial and technological export. =|

    In other words, they got more doshthan you do. =|

  • Thanks, just arrive in Japan, I am living with my wife's parents at the moment, and planning to move out soon... I'll let you know

  • much clearer hearing these things rather than reading them on a Japanese site haha. thanks for making this!

  • Boy makes me glad I own my own houses in America.

  • thanks for making this! I don't plan on living in Japan any time soon ( I'll be an exatange student in a few years) but I wanted to know more about housing in japan anyways. also by any chance do you know a good way to learn how to read, write and speak Japanese?

  • only 60,000 yen? are you serious thats only 500 a month

  • I LOVE THIS VIDEO. It was informal and I loved the hints. By the way, I'd love to see some more opinions on the ALT programs.

  • if you're referring to housing for ALTs in the JET Program, it all depends on where you are sent. if you are in a big city like osaka, you'll end up in city government public housing. it's not as bad as it sounds. if you end up someplace in the countryside, you could have a small two-story unit built just for the local ALT complete with satelite dish and the option to buy your predecessor's (sp?) used car at a very reasonable rate.

  • BTW, that was in response to JustSujC.

    if you want to know about the JET Program in general, check out my ALT RAP video!

  • Geez, us poor gaijin :( I knew that Japanese apartments were hard to get, but thats kinda crazy.

  • Sakura house is also not $300 a month though.

    I am not trying to be a prick, well I am, because I did a lot of research before asking that question and nothing around that price, all the guest houses I saw were $400. Plus, like, I live in Japan and therefore, it's more relevant to me vs. people who are thinking about comming here for 2 week vacations ;)

  • Very informative. Thanks! ^^

  • great music

  • I was wondering, did you learn Japanese before you went to Japan from a teacher in the States? or did you learn it after you arrived?

    ..or the third option, have you been able to speak Japanese all your life.

  • Very informative.Excellent stuff. I was going to rent a place in Tokyo but was shocked at the amazing number of fees involved. I ended up buying rather than be beholding to some landlord.

  • Thanks for posting your videos, you are actually informative and helpfull in comparison to other video blogs people have posted about japan who seem socially retarded or complete drunkards, if all goes as plan i can thank you in person with a bag of 100 yen cookies for your vlog help

  • Thank you very much for your efforts to help people looking to move to Japan. This was very helpful to me!

  • you said some gaijin houses were $300 a month? Where would those ones be?

  • Goku...it's called research, Goku...

    As a matter of fact, OTAKU...stay home and quit taking jobs just because you like japan is anime land...

  • suck me plz^^

  • not tokyo cooney, just Seji

  • thanks.

  • Good information! Thanks for posting both the video and the links.

  • the cost of houses from the united states compared to japan, is it a big difference? For example, one of my cousins said that if you were to buy a house at japan, it could be worth a mansion in united states? can you talk about the money comparison or did you already. thanks.

  • Totally depends on the size of the house. And americans... for many reasons... some phyiscal need bigger housees. You cant buy land here the size you can in america. That said, Manhattan and London have equal or higher land values.

  • hy cooney i was wounder what i would have to do to move out to japan what would i need before i left the states like about how much us dollar would i need to save before leaving what would i need to do be certifed as a eglish teacher or could i get diffrent job to afford an apartment ok thx for reading this XD I WROYE EVERYTHING ON MY WII thx agian

  • kokumin hoken or national insurance will cover you (not as a tourist). The cost is based on last year's salary, so for the first year, it is really cheap (like $20-30/month). It covers 70% of all medical expenses; you pay 30%. But medical costs in Japan are way cheaper than in the USA. I paid around $10 to go to the dentist. I paid about $45 to go to the hospital for an exam AND Rx drugs.

    Some companies will offer you private insurance. I had that once, and it covered 80% of expenses.

  • great answer!

  • Good quality. How do you take and render?

  • In the more recent videos Im using an HD camera, and generally compressing it using mpeg4 but Im still figuring out what works best.

  • Please let us know your rendering settings (size, codec) when you have settled on a format. I am struggling.

    But...it seems that HD is the way to go, even for Youtube. Strange.

  • I love your videos man, I truely do, so informative, I hope to someday live in Japan and these videos solve alot of questions.

    Do you have any information on health care? does it come out of tax money? I know this is off subject so I won't be annoyed if you don't answer the question lol

  • Good question, hadnt really planned to do a video on that so Ill anser it here. There are private companines, but  feel the best deal for the money is the National Insurance. Its optional to enter or not. It covers medical and dental. It is based on your total income and you pay per month. Its availalable to all legal residents of japan... including non citizens.

  • Are you in Tokyo? Seems like it. I lived there 2 years myself. Anyway I've heard that in Kansai (osaka region), key money (security deposit) can be up to 6 months rent.

    Another option to consider is monthly mansion -- basically no lease month to month housing. They are usually more expensive per month, but if you factor in all the gift money and contract renewal fee BS, it might work out roughly the same and then at least you are free to leave anytime you want.

  • Im in tokyo... the deposit will only get as high as six months if oyu are renting a place of business though. Highest Ive seen is 3, though during th bubble economy it may have been higher. Actually Ive also heard its usually higher in Kansai.

  • Ah! I like this little series, I might hit you up on Stickam about trying to work my head around all the different aspects of moving.

  • ganbatte! I have the same problem. My 2-year contract is going to end this coming September. AAAHHHHHH!!! Frustrating, huh?

  • Very informative, your explanation is really clear, I like the little kanji bits in the middle too.

  • i´m not sure, if a coment i put a couple of minutes ago went thru, but i just wanted to know if you were ok, ´cause of the earthquake, i know it wasn´t in tokyo but i do know that was strong so you migth felt it

  • Don't worry Im ok. But Im a bit busy at the moment, so it might be a a week before I post a vid, FYI video or otherwise. Thanks for the concern though!

  • no prob. glad to know that you´re ok

  • hey, are you allrigth over there?, i heard that it was an earthquake, and it were several injured people, all tough it wasn´t on tokyo but you must at least felt it ´cause it wasn´t that far.

  • Thanks a bunch for the info. I've been moderately interested in living in Japan, so this helps.

  • What a fabulous idea! I look forward to more FYIs! Cheers and beers!

  • how do you do it if you are a student?

    does the university get you a dorm or you have to go with a ooya san or fudou san to get one?

    one of the big deals of housing that tokyo has, and this one i heard it from you, is transportation so i´m gessing that there are some zones really populated because they are close to a train station or a main street, could you clarified that?

    i´ll be thankfull

  • As foor students, my understanding is that they aare in a dorm or an apartment that their parents find for them. But actually in tokyo many students live at home and commute up 2 hours each way because they want to live at home. Basicslly all of central tokypo is heavily populated so students tend to live further outside the city and take the train in.

  • oh, so basicly you have to do your own search to get a dorm or an apartment. and probably they would be not very close to the central tokyo.

    what about transportation?, i´m sure that´s eficient, but is it really that of a nightmare to get on those?, because my cuontry just recently changed the laws of public transportation and i got to tell you it doen´t have been placent, but maybe ´cause it´s new

    it´smostly too much people using it that make it unplacent

  • PLEASE. MARRY ME.

  • HAHAHAH! I think she likes you Dude.

  • Just maybe? LMAO

  • oh yeah one more hahaha is there a lot of plesant girls there or is it a rude remark on my behave but thanks a lot keep it up.

  • hey um well to start ill say that im 17 male and hispanic and um well my dream was i mean is to go and live in tokyo and well is it that hard of a place to socialize with people um well i should had said it was a double question but anyway here it goes is it worth the trip or not tell me what you think if so i just might go and if it happens that we meet ill buy you a beer lol but anyways thanks for the vids they all ready help me alot.

  • debe ser dificil encontrar compatriotas en un lugar como tokyo, el lugar es extenso y además no se sabe si hay concentraciones de etnias por allá, tu sabes como un chinatown o de otros países, tal vez esa sea una buena pregunta por hacer, así si planeas ir allá pude localizar compatriotas antes de desplazarte por ti mismo

  • hey dude... could you record what it looks like around the city. Show things that you are likely to find on the street like vending machines.... show what its like in the shops and stuff... just walk around town and record it... thanks man -- peace

  • but he already did that, you have to search for life in tokyo, there are 17 vlogs with that kind of stuff, and they are from this guy, you´ll find the vending machines, some main streets like akihabara and some of the things you wanna know

  • Thanks a lot for your info.! It's quite interesting to me! Keep it up!

  • Thanks lots for the info. i will use this when i move up there.

  • Nice video and nice thought of having these F.Y.I clips. Will be very useful for people who plan to go to Japan, like me.

    Just a side note. Sakura-house have a very bad reputation from many websites, forums and people. The service is bad. The pictures of the rooms don't show the real standard of it. Usually because they don't clean up from the person who used to live there. And the standards of the rooms, most of the time, are utter crap.

  • Nice video. Next time, turn the music down just a LITTLE bit more, it's hard to understand in some parts. As for the government program (UR) I don't see any information other than what they want to do. Am I missing something?

  • good point about the music. as for the government web site I beleive the program is in its infancy so maybe check back in the future

  • o__o; That's rediculous, it'd be one thing if it was a small transaction fee or something like that, but a month worth of rent? I'd probablym out of spite move out. Because I'm a stubborn American. xD Hope all goes well with that! Good video :]

  • If your rent is the same,a contract renwall fee is for paperwork: around 3000yen.

  • According to my contract, every two years I have to pay a one month (67,000 yen) fee to renew the contract. From what Ive seen during my time here this is common. Japanese friends all said... "of course you have to pay it"

  • Thanks a lot Cooney for the video, if I get the offer for work in Tokyo then you will have really helped me out. That is crazy they charge double deposit,heh im with you, move out spite the bastards :P

    Wish you the best of luck finding a new place man.

  • I forgot to say my landlady was really nice and she only charged 2 months rent deposit and I got that all back when I left. (there are some good landlords/landladys in tokyo too)

  • I lived just around the corner from you for 2.5 years. I was quite happy there at 60,000 a month, with a good sized kitchen and bathroom (for tokyo) and it was clean. but I did share with 2 other japanese people but we got along just fine. (it was a 3 bedroom place). It was a big building so there maybe something available now? (maybe not too). Otherwise for a temp place sen inn in funabori is cheap clean and friendly.

  • Just a question here. are there different types of apartments in Tokyo? and if so what are they?

  • there are lots of diferences, and they break it up into a whole different system... i.e. "1LDK" = one bedroom with a livingroom kitchen and dining room... so, you will see apartments listed as... 1dk or 2ldk or 3lk etc etc