Renting a House in Japan

In November 2025, I completed my second move in Japan. This time, it was a bit more complicated than the first. I gained a deeper understanding of Japan's rental system and wanted to share my experience.

The primary goal of my first rental was simply to have a place to live, so I quickly moved out of my Chinese colleague's house in rural Saitama. With a sense of adventure, I wanted to try renting a place through a Japanese agent using my limited Japanese, so I wasn't too picky about the property. In the end, I managed to rent a fairly decent place, a newly built apartment completed in May 2023, and I became one of the first residents. The facilities were brand new, with a toilet that had a bidet, free broadband internet, and a garbage room where I could dispose of trash 24/7, as long as I sorted it properly. However, its downside was its location in Katsushika Ward, "Horikiri Shobu-en," which is somewhat remote in northeastern Tokyo, and I wasn't very satisfied with the location. At that time, I was working in Shinjuku, northwest Tokyo, and my daily commute took about 50 minutes one way, which was quite exhausting.

For this move, I decided not to make any compromises and insisted on finding a balance that satisfied me in terms of price, location, and layout. Therefore, I found a Chinese agent, and communication was no longer a barrier, allowing me to focus on selecting the property itself.

As many may know, all housing prices in Japan are public, and real estate agents only earn service fees. However, there are a few people applying for the property through guarantee companies (see "First Encounter with Japan"). This information is also public. Guarantee companies review candidates in the order of submission. If someone has already applied, the property is basically theirs. The probability of a guarantee company rejecting someone is very low. If they do reject someone, the next person in line is automatically reviewed.

For example, I was interested in a property near the Yamanote Line's Tabata Station and said I would consider it. After just one night of consideration, the next day the system showed that someone had already submitted an application for that property. The agent told me to look at others, as it was highly likely that the property was taken.

This seemingly transparent system led me to encounter a pitfall, forcing me to recalibrate my understanding based on real-life lessons. I applied for a property in Bunkyo Ward, near Suidobashi. It was a 17-minute train ride to Ueno, 17 minutes to Ikebukuro, 15 minutes to Akihabara, 30 minutes to Shibuya, and a 20-minute walk to the Imperial Palace, making it an excellent location. The only downside was that the property was somewhat old, but after investigation, I found that its earthquake resistance rating was fine. At that time, there were no other applicants, and it felt like a great find, with the agent even congratulating me on my luck. So, I eagerly submitted my application. During that time, I thought I would be moving from Katsushika Ward to Bunkyo Ward and even boasted to my Japanese colleagues during lunch that I was moving to Suidobashi. However, after waiting for more than a week without any response, the agent found it strange. But everyone believed that since the guarantee company reviewed applications in order, there shouldn't be any issues.

Two weeks later, the property company informed the agent that they had "落とした" (rejected my application). It suddenly dawned on me that the property company knew their house was highly cost-effective and in high demand, so they deliberately held back the applicants' information to collect more and then select the best candidates. My information as a foreigner was likely overshadowed by others. If my application had reached the guarantee company, it would have been almost certainly mine, but my information was stuck with the property company and never made it to the guarantee company. I wasted two weeks because of this, and I had already agreed on a move-out date with the guarantee company of my current residence, making the timeline tight. The agent then arranged for an additional person to help me select properties. He had been in the industry for many years and had never encountered such a situation before.

I saw a Chinese blogger on Twitter who had lived in Japan for many years and whose wife is Japanese, discussing his experience helping Chinese students find housing in Tokyo. The Japanese agent told him that a property had already been rented, but after a while, they said the property was available again. This should be an extremely rare case where a candidate's application reached the guarantee company but was rejected.

Finally, let me explain how I rented my house. First, I told the agent my rental budget and the target stations I wanted to be close to, and the agent provided me with many candidate properties. Next, as a Chinese otaku uncle, I had some places I wanted to frequent: Ueno, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Akihabara. I checked the travel times to these locations. Then, as a foreigner, I also looked at the distance from the property to Narita and Haneda airports. Of course, since no one flies every day, this was just a reference to have a general idea. After selecting suitable locations, I considered other conditions of the properties, such as layout, whether there was a garbage room (if not, I had to strictly wake up early to dispose of trash at designated times and places, otherwise it would be illegal), whether there was parking, whether it was wooden or concrete (wooden houses are cold in winter and hot in summer), and the year it was built (the two earthquake resistance standards are 1981 and 2000; houses built after 1981 are unlikely to collapse in major earthquakes).

In the end, I chose a property in Taito Ward. It takes 25 minutes by train to my workplace in Nihonbashi and 20 minutes by bike. It's a 15-minute walk to Ueno Station, a 15-minute walk to Nippori, a 10-minute walk to the Chiyoda Line's Nezu Station, two stops to Akihabara, 30 minutes to Shibuya, 25 minutes to Ikebukuro, and 30 minutes to Shinjuku. To get to Narita, I can take the Skyliner directly from Nippori, which takes 50 minutes. To get to Haneda, I take JR and then the monorail, which takes 45 minutes. On nice days, I ride my bike to work, passing through Akihabara every day. The downside is that it's an old house and doesn't have a garbage room, but the earthquake resistance is fine. After negotiating with the property management, I can dispose of trash the next morning after dawn. Overall, I am quite satisfied.