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05-26-2009, 10:02 AM

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.
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05-26-2009, 10:09 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sangetsu View Post
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.
hmmm a lot to think about.xD

a lot of money savings and internet is a must have.xD

well i know that i want to do something in life but not sure what.

i have a lot on my mind.>.<
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05-28-2009, 06:33 AM

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Originally Posted by LucifersCurse View Post
hehe well thats the hard part.>.<

do you have any pictures to show what the old apartments look like?o_O
im very curious about how they look.
Another question is how long do you plan on staying in Japan for? I mean if you want to stay for a few month, or for a year... well, huge difference in terms of what you'd be looking at then.

Last year, I lived in Japan for 3 month, just outside of Nagoya, and ended up in an apartment from a company called 'Leopalace21'. Thanks to Nyororin btw for all the help she gave me. Liked it quite a bit, and since I was staying for so little all the utilities were included in the rent so it was pretty nice.

I posted some photos of the apartment over at my site if you care to look: Part 1 and Part 2

From what I've seen most of the Leopalace buildings are more or less identical, so anywhere else in the country it'll look very similar both inside and out.



Last edited by imiss : 05-28-2009 at 08:31 AM.
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spicytuna (Offline)
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05-28-2009, 02:52 PM

imiss,

Thanks for posting those links. How much did that place cost you per month? Not including utilities, reikin, shikikin, etc.
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05-28-2009, 04:07 PM

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imiss,

Thanks for posting those links. How much did that place cost you per month? Not including utilities, reikin, shikikin, etc.
I`ll answer this one. (I was the guarantor for imiss... I`m even nice and helpful in real life!)

The regular price was 60,000 or there about a month. imiss was lucky and got it cheaper as they were running a campaign. There isn`t any reikin/shikikin/etc, but there are small fees for this and that, insurance, cleaning, etc. 20,000 or 30,000 for that, if I recall correctly.
They`re pretty strict when it comes to visas and the like though - even paying cash up front for the entire stay you`re going to need a guarantor who is either Japanese or who has a serious visa. And even then there were quite a few phone calls and a huge feeling of "we`re making an exception for you" to the whole deal. Oh, there is another thing. You`ll have to pay up front for the entire length of your stay. A few months is one thing, but a year or two and that`s a tidy bundle of cash.

All the utilities, including internet service, is included in the monthly price - so it ends up being quite a value. A student who has a lump sum in hand for housing could do a whole lot worse.


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spicytuna (Offline)
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05-28-2009, 05:35 PM

Thanks for the info. The price seems very reasonable for what you get.
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05-29-2009, 02:32 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by imiss View Post
Another question is how long do you plan on staying in Japan for? I mean if you want to stay for a few month, or for a year... well, huge difference in terms of what you'd be looking at then.

Last year, I lived in Japan for 3 month, just outside of Nagoya, and ended up in an apartment from a company called 'Leopalace21'. Thanks to Nyororin btw for all the help she gave me. Liked it quite a bit, and since I was staying for so little all the utilities were included in the rent so it was pretty nice.

I posted some photos of the apartment over at my site if you care to look: Part 1 and Part 2

From what I've seen most of the Leopalace buildings are more or less identical, so anywhere else in the country it'll look very similar both inside and out.
YMMV with Leopalace apartments. I stayed in one too when I first came to Japan. Leopalace apartments are not all identical, some are nicer, newer buildings, whereas others are older, and rather worn out.

The building I stayed in was one of these older types. It was poorly insulated, so I was often kept awake at night by noisy neighbors, or the traffic passing by on the street outside. The poor insulation also meant that it got very cold in the winter, and very hot in the summer. Electricity bills during the hot and cold months were very high. Utility bills are not included with your rent unless you pay an additional $200 to $300 per month for your rent, in which case they'll pay them for you.

Other complaints: The smell; a smoker had lived in my apartment before I moved in, so it stank of stale cigarette smoke. Bugs; in the summer I had to deal with giant cockroaches (and spiders). "Kitchen"; eating out in Japan is rather costly, so it is wise to do your own cooking if you can. The kitchen in my apartment had a single electric burner on the stove which took about 30 minutes to boil water. The sink was too small to lay a dinner plate down flat.

Leopalace apartments are okay if you are planning a short stay, and can't sign a long-term lease.
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05-29-2009, 11:23 AM

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Originally Posted by Sangetsu View Post
YMMV with Leopalace apartments. I stayed in one too when I first came to Japan. Leopalace apartments are not all identical, some are nicer, newer buildings, whereas others are older, and rather worn out.
Leopalace is both a rental management company and a construction company. They manage a huge slew of apartments which were not necessarily built by them - and most of those are of the regular rental (utilities not included, crappy old building, etc). The actual Leopalace built places are torn down and rebuilt every so many years - the others are not actually the property of Leopalace so all they do is manage the renting. Anything other than the most basic maintenance is the responsibility of the actual landlord.

So you have both Leopalace apartments and regular apartments rented through Leopalace. It`s not a matter of luck - you can easily tell which you`re going to get (their rental procedures are very different) and choose.


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05-29-2009, 02:27 PM

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Originally Posted by Nyororin View Post
Leopalace is both a rental management company and a construction company. They manage a huge slew of apartments which were not necessarily built by them - and most of those are of the regular rental (utilities not included, crappy old building, etc). The actual Leopalace built places are torn down and rebuilt every so many years - the others are not actually the property of Leopalace so all they do is manage the renting. Anything other than the most basic maintenance is the responsibility of the actual landlord.

So you have both Leopalace apartments and regular apartments rented through Leopalace. It`s not a matter of luck - you can easily tell which you`re going to get (their rental procedures are very different) and choose.

What choices you have will depend on your geographic location. Where I am at, the Leopalace buildings are all more or less the same, single-room studios, with or without a loft. In other areas they offer genuine, multi-room apartments.

You are correct that Leopalace also manages rental properties, a friend of mine owns 2 Leopalace apartment buildings (typical studio types). Around here it is hard to distinguish between a managed, privately-owned building and one that is company-owned.

In my case, I'll avoid them both; Leopalace apartments where I live are overpriced compared to other properties available.
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05-29-2009, 03:40 PM

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Originally Posted by Sangetsu View Post
In my case, I'll avoid them both; Leopalace apartments where I live are overpriced compared to other properties available.
I agree they`re all overpriced, for sure.
But I also think that it`s convenience that you pay for, particularly with the flat rate ones. No need to worry about setting up utilities, no separate bills each month, no need to even think about managing utility use, etc. Sort of like the combini of apartments. Ingredients at the local supermarket might be a whole lot cheaper, but you have to admit it`s much easier to pick up a combini bento.

Would I want to live in a Leopalace place long term? HAHAHAHA. No. But a year or two wouldn`t be that bad - especially since all the costs are laid right out there in front of you. I have heard it kills students when they move from a Leopalace place into a regular apartment because suddenly they find that aircon on 24/7 costs some serious cash.

I don`t really know of any larger Leopalace places around here. I was sort of under the impression that they were pretty much solely studio apartments aimed at students and first-time-living-alone types.


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