Nikuraba's
Japanese MMA Bible
4. Housing
Finding
a decent place is really hard in Japan. Generally speaking,
Japanese estate agents do not want to let accommodation
to foreigners so you have to cajole them into accepting
your money. If possible take a Japanese national with
you to the office and viewings so they don’t try
and offload their worst apartments onto you.
Also
you typically have to pay non-refundable key money
just for the right to move in, equivalent to a month
or two of rent. Then the deposit is on top of that.
The places listed below don’t usually require key
money.
In
addition to these places, check out the housing classifieds
on www.tokyoclassified.com,
www.gaijinpot.com,
www.tokyoconnections.com
. There are some ads in Monday’s Japan Times but
usually very expensive and aimed at business men.
4.1 Leopalace
and Sakura-house
These
are 2 companies that run franchise accommodation throughout
Japan. I don’t know much about Sakura-house but
I roomed with a friend in Leopalace and it was a nice
enough place. They have a number of small (2 or 3 storey)
apartment buildings clustered around each train station,
usually quite new buildings. Each room is self contained
with a small kitchen, shower and bathroom - a studio
apartment, basically.
The
leopalace website has an English page, but if you can
read Japanese use that page because it has maps, floor
plans and photos of each building.
Usually
there’s no key money and only one month deposit
and the rents are okay. Leopalace has a free-call number
from inside Japan at 0120 008 021. If you can pay the
entire rent in advance then it works out cheaper using
the `monthly system`. Check out the English page on
their website for full details.
www.leopalace21.com,
www.sakura-house.com,
4.2 Gaijin
houses
Major
cities in Japan have the Gaijin House system
which are basically doss-houses for short term stays.
It works out well if you are coming without a job and
therefore can’t commit to a 1 year contract / no
key money deal in the normal houses.
You
get your own room and share the kitchen, shower and
sitting room. Usually everyone else there is English
speaking and getting by with English teaching too. It’s
a good place to start but you probably won’t want
to stay for more than a few months.
Some
listings
I
recommend Big World (also called Apple House). They
run a few youth-hostel style gaijin houses around Tokyo
suburbs. call 0422-51-2277. The rooms are nice and not
so expensive. The place I live is quiet, has good facilities
and is kept clean by staff.
J&F
House Senju-Ohashi, 1-21-23 Senju-midoricho, Adachi-ku,
Tokyo
e-mail:
info@jafplaza.com,
Tel 03-5366-6356, Fax 03-5379-2747
Reservations
from 1 week in advance, 20,000yen deposit, minimum 2
weeks stay, 8min walk from Senjuohashi station, 50,000
to 80,000.
J&F
House Jujo, Jujonakahara, Kita-ku, Tokyo
e-mail:
info@jafplaza.com,
Tel: same as above
Reservations
from 2 weeks in advance, 20,000yen deposit, minimum
2 weeks stay, 7min from Jujo station. Rent 55,000yen
or 75,000yen for 2 sharing
Yoshida
building
e-mail:
suidobs@ichii-re.co.jp,
Tel: 03-3239-4808, Fax: 03-3239-4760
Fujishima
House
e-mail:
info@jafplaza.com,
Tel: 03-5366-6356, Fax: 03-5379-2747
1
month deposit, minimum 1 month stay, 5-min walk from
Meijiro station
150,000yen
rent, reservations from 2 weeks in advance.
J&F
New Life Shinjuku
Contact
as above. 1 month deposit, minimum stay 1 month. 3min
walk from Shinjuku-gyoenmae station. 140,000yen rent
J&F
House Kamata, 5-18-8 Nishi-kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo
Contact
as above. 20,000yen deposit, minimum stay 2 weeks, 7min
from Kamata station
Reservations
from 1 week before. 65,000yen rent or 80,000yen for
a couple sharing.
J&F
House Shiki, 2-25-9 Tohoku Niiza-shi, Saitama-ken
Contact
as above. 20,000yen deposit, minimum stay 2 weeks, 55,000yen
rent. Reservations from 2 weeks in advance.
Liberty
House, 541 Wasedatsurumaki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0041.
Tel:
03-5272-7238, Fax 03-5272-7531
5
minutes from Waseda station on Tozai line
Aki
House, 5-7 Shinogawa-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Tel/fax:
03-5225-0445, 5 minutes from Iidabashi station on the
chuo line
Kichijoji
e-mail:
welcome@gaijinhouse.com,
Tel: 03-5386-3886
Minimum
stay 2 months, 10,000yen deposit, rent 59,000 yen
10min
from Kichijoji station on Chuo line
Foyer
Monet & Musset, 1-9-6 Kami-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku,
Tokyo 170
Tel:
03-3917-0301, Fax: 03-3917-1139
8min
from Ikebukuro station. Rent 100,000yen or Y50,000 each
for two sharing.
Friendship
Residence Nippori, Tel: 03-5386-3886
10,000yen
deposit, Rent 59,000yen, long stay only
Also
a house in Nippori, 118,000yen rent, 30,000yen deposit,
minimum stay 2 months
Room
search Japan: f-house@hiraganatimes.com
Housing
agents
I
can`t vouch for any of these. This is just a list of
what has been advertised recently.
Fontana
Apartments & GuestHouses. Tel: 03 3382-0151
Tokyo
Apartment. Tel: 03 3367-7117. www.tokyoapt.com
Mimosa
GuestHouse. 0424-99-3138. Y55,000 per month, Y30,000
deposit. Fully furnished with TV, video, satelite. Short
term ok.
Homestays
with Japanese families: homestayclub@rio.odn.ne.jp
Advance
International, 03-3377-7471. Y75,000. Close to Ebisu
(very central)
Room
in Ikebukuro, Y45,000 pcm, Y17,800 weekly. Polki69@yahoo.com
BB
House Hoya, Y25,000-50,000 pcm. Pretty far out of Tokyo.
www.ucangetfree.com/bbhouse/
U&I
Guest House, Y50,000 pcm Y10,000 deposit. http://home.att.ne.jp/sun/U-I_house
Another
one is at www.tokyo-information.com e-mail: nichio@dh.catv.ne.jp
Bamboo
House is at www.bamboo-house.com Y48,000-60,000 pcm.
Also
try Kimi Apartment Search on 03 3986 2477. They are
just a normal estate agent but they specialise in foreigners
and they all speak English. They offered me a couple
of reasonably priced places in the area I asked for.
4.3 Lodging
You
can always try going through word of mouth to lodge
at someone’s place. There is a big JET community
around each major city and they are normally very friendly
and helpful to incoming English teachers. I found my
first place by getting a friend to post an advert on
the internet noticeboard for the JETs in Saitama prefecture.
I paid half share of rent and bills for the month I
was there
You
could try posting up on the Japan forum at www.mma.tv
because quite a few Japan-based mma fans post there.
There are also a few websites around that have Japanese
families offer to take in lodgers in return for doing
some community work.
Next
Chapter :
5. Training in mma
