[Sangetsu]

Average rent for your recent college grad/English teacher is about 60,000 ($600) per month. You'll pay at least 3 months rent up front to move in, and some places will add an extra month or even two months worth of "key" money, meaning that the move-in cost of a $600-a-month apartment can run anywhere between $1,800 and $3000. You'll also need to come up with a couple years rental insurance up-front, which will run another $200. If you have city gas service, you'll need another $100 for a deposit to get it turned on. If you need to buy a telephone line, or internet, add a few hundred more dollars to the pile.

Another thing to consider is proximity to work and transportation. Places with lower rent tend to be far from both, meaning that you'll need a bicycle (the weather often sucks here; freezing cold, hot and humid, or pouring down rain) or a car (a lot more money).

What exactly do you plan to do for work in Japan? Entry-level teachers earn between $2000 and $3000 per month, entry level IT pays about the same thing. Non-college grads on working holiday visas are limited to working part time, and they'll usually earn $1200 to $1800 a month. Those with working holiday visas can usually find employment only in the metro areas, where the rents are much higher than elsewhere.

Before rent or anything else, you should be thinking about what kind of work you are going to do in Japan. And be realistic, the listings of jobs available to foreigners are about half the size they were last year, which means that many fewer places are hiring.