Finding an Apartment in Tokyo, Japan

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Yes, this is the outside view of a Japanese apartment building.

This is part of a series responding to Christine at Almost Fearless' series 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World. 

Day 6


Finding a place to live for my first trip (Japan) doesn't intimidate me much. As an aside, the more and more I complete Christine's series the more absolutely convinced I become that I'm going to go on more than one long trip. The details of paying for it, however, are still up in the air.


I have lived in Japan before. I was a student, and I lived in the dorm recommended by my school. I know now that I could have found cheaper accommodations closer to my school, but it takes some legwork and research. If you don't speak Japanese it can be difficult to find the information you need.


Luckily, I now speak a little more Japanese than I used to.


Long term housing in Japan can be overwhelming at first. Tokyo rents are expensive. A typical lease in Japan is 2 years, and to renew a lease you have to pay a renewal fee of 1/2 to 2 months rent.


General Options
Gaijin Houses:
Sometimes people call these by the more PC term Guest Houses. This is basically a roommate or dorm suite style situation - most Gaijin houses have 4 to 6 bedrooms and a shared bathroom and living area. Agencies rent out these accommodations by the room, and keep in mind that there's not any sort of roommate screening or matching in most cases. The living situation can be the best thing ever or a nightmare based on who the other renters are. The whole apartment is usually furnished. These can be a very inexpensive option.


Dormitories:
You can find dorms in Japan that are not just for students - they basically operate like a long term stay hostel. You share both your bedroom and your living area with roommates, and the number of beds per room depends on the agency running the dorm. Sometimes you get private bedrooms in dorms. The type of dorm style depends on who they cater to.


Student dorms have a cafeteria you can buy a meal plan to. Dorms are not run by or tied to a specific school like they are in the United States. A dorm is run by a separate company, which may have a contract with your school so that they can be recommended by the school to its students. The dorm will most likely have students from multiple schools, and is usually single sex with curfews (and inevitably the girl's dorm has a earlier curfew than the guy's dorm). The dorms that cater to students are sometimes more expensive than renting your own studio apartment, so make sure to compare costs, especially of they have a business relationship with your school. Once again, your roommates can make or break your stay.


Company dorms are actually much the same as student dorms, though usually run or owned by the company that employs the people staying there. You sometimes share a bedroom, and the kitchen and bathroom are shared. They don't usually have cafeterias. Additionally, these dorms also commonly have curfews, though most leave a separate door unlocked so the residents can come and go as they please. Most foreigners employed by a Japanese company that runs a dorm will be given their own room. These are almost always cheaper than an apartment, as they whole point is to subsidize a company's workers' living expenses.


Some rental agencies run general dorms, where anyone can stay so long as they pay the rent. How many people in a bedroom depends on the dorm, and most have a few options. They are similar in set up to a company dorm, but they are usually more expensive than the company dorms. As the student dorm prices vary, they can be either cheaper or more expensive than student dorms.


Apartment:
Apartments in Japan are the same as apartments in western countries: private space including bed area, bathroom, and kitchen area. But if you search for apartments on a Japanese realty website you will notice that there seems to be some kind of weird code as to what kind of space is being rented. Japanese apartments are divided into the following categories:

• 1ROOM - A one room area, like a western studio, where the kitchen are and sleeping area are in the same room, but the bathroom is in a separate room. The shower and toilet are in the same room, which is considered less desirable by the Japanese.
• 1K - This stands for 1 bedroom + kitchen. Here the bedroom area is separate from the kitchen area, and the toilet and shower are separate. There is not usually enough room in the kitchen for a table, it could be described as a galley kitchen - just room to cook.
• 1DK - This stands for 1 bedroom + kitchen/dining area. These style apartments have a separate toilet and shower, as well as a separated kitchen and bedroom area. The difference here is that there is enough room in the kitchen for a table.
• 1LDK - This stands for 1 bedroom + living/kitchen/dining area. The only difference between this style of apartment and 1DK style apartments is that the kitchen area is a living room area as well. There should be enough room for a table (or maybe there is a bar/countertop that can serve as a table) as well as a space for a coffee table or TV area. 

The numbers before the letters stand for how many bedrooms are in the apartment, so for instance a 2LDK would mean that there is everything described above in the 1LDK description, plus a separate bedroom. If you are still confused there's a beautiful chart posted by a Japanese real estate agency association here.

Because I will be moving with my boyfriend and cats, an apartment is really our only option. 

Costs to Rent an Apartment
The Japanese don't move much. There's a reason for that.


Security Deposit:
In order to rent an apartment you need to pay a huge security deposit of 2 months rent. You can get your money back if there's no damage to the unit after you move, but be aware that Japanese property managers and landlords act much like property managers and landlords everywhere, which means that if there's damage they're not going to bargain shop for the cheapest repair, and they may inflate their costs a little. If you have damaged your apartment in any way, it may be cheaper to hire someone to repair it before you move than let the landlord decide how much the damage should cost you. Oh, and if you want to bring your pet you need to pay an extra months rent towards the deposit.


Advance Rent:
You are usually required to pay the first two months rent in advance, on top of the security deposit. I have heard this is because there is a high percentage of people in Japan who sign the paperwork on an apartment and then never move in, but I have no idea how true this statement is. 


Key Money:
This is where you get to see the ghosts of Japan's past return to haunt you. Key money, or reikin (礼金), was basically bribe money. After World War II there were very few properties left standing, so people gave gifts to the landlord in order to get housing. Despite the fact that housing is no longer scarce, everyone in Japan still pays key money. In case you couldn't guess, this about is also 2 months rent. 


There are ways around paying the key money, but it often involves paying high rent (sometimes higher than rent + the key money would have been) or catching a promotional sale by the property manager. If you are going to move to Japan, budget for paying this, as the chances of avoiding this fee is not in your favor.


Guarantor Fees:
In order for anyone to rent an apartment in Japan, they must have a guarantor or hoshonin (保証人). This is in effect a cosigner on your lease - if you do not meet your obligations the landlord can turn to the guarantor for the money you owe them. Because this is such a big deal, most Japanese will only sign on as a guarantor for family members. 


Here is the problem for foreigners moving to Japan - the guarantor must be Japanese. I may be wrong, but I don't believe there is a legal requirement for the guarantor to be a Japanese person, just a Japanese resident to that the legal system will have the ability to extort have jurisdiction over them should you not pay your rent. If someone is not ethnically Japanese, even if they are Japanese residents who have been in the country for 25 years or have married a citizen, Japanese property managers will not let them be a guarantor. 


Japanese people see foreigners as unreliable, and every time I hear about an English teacher skipping the country leaving unpaid debts behind I think that they have just made is harder for honest foreigners to live in Japan. Yes, it's a stereotype, and stereotyping is bad. But stop reinforcing stereotypes, people!    


So what is a poor foreigner to do? Pay out the nose, of course. There are guarantor companies in Japan, called hoshonin-gaisha (保証人会社), which are basically insurance companies that will sign on as your guarantor in exchange for one month's rent per year you need them to act as guarantor. Expect to pay both years up front. This would be an additional 2 months rent to your move in costs.


Agency Fees:
In order to find an apartment in Japan you usually need to find a real estate agent. Renting in Japan is competitive, and even Japanese people use rental agencies to find an apartment that suits their needs and budget. Almost all apartments in Japan are advertised through an agency, so often you pay the fee even if you didn't hire an agency to look for apartments for you. 


Of course, finding a good agent if you are a foreigner can be hit or miss. Many Japanese agencies won't serve foreigners, sometimes out of fear that they will be unable to explain key parts of the lease to someone who does not speak Japanese. Other times it's racism or prejudice. Some agencies will search for an apartment the same way they would search for a Japanese person's apartment - which is bad since many landlords will not rent to foreigners, for the same reasons.


Agencies aimed towards foreigners usually have a certain clientele in mind, and they seem to price rents a little higher than a similar quality apartment listed on a Japanese rental agency's website. Some are companies that own their own network of buildings, and will only show you the open rooms in their network, and others are more traditional agencies that just happen to cater to foreigners.


The best place to find an agent would be to ask on an expat message board like gaijinpot.com or  eslcafe.com. If you plan on teaching English in Japan I highly recommend elscafe.com for general questions. 


So what are my total costs to rent an apartment in Japan? 9 months rent, give or take, just to rent the room. Of that, only 3 months worth can be refunded. Pretty pricey.  

Goodbye Pete

Pete left yesterday. *Sniff*

I thought I would be much more sad about it. I am sad, but I think the fact that I am at peace with it just shows that I made the right decision.

I already have a horse to spend time and energy on, and to be honest he's been getting a little bit of a short shift with Pete to take care of. My riding has improved so much in the past year. I have been unable to save enough for a replacement trailer after the Great Trailering Accident of 2010 (aka I Hate Alabama), which happened over a year ago. The extra $300 a month could make a big dent towards that replacement trailer. The sooner I get a trailer the sooner I can get off the farm and attend clinics and competitions.

I'm still sad, though.

Hooves. And Farriers.

I have had a rough time finding a good farrier in South Carolina. Or maybe its just that I have had some serious issues in the past two years.

In 2010, probably around March or so, the farrier I was using did not return my calls when Avalon ripped off his shoe and a chunk of his foot. Avalon was dead lame, and he needed a shoe put on in order to give him some relief - he always went lame when he lost a shoe. We've got granite chunks in the pasture that pop up like weeds after every rain.

After a few days of no return call no show I found another farrier. I'm not going to name names here - let's just call him Barefoot Guy. I call him Barefoot Guy because he was very into the natural shoeing trend that's going around. And you know what? In many places, for many horses, you can go without shoes and it's better for them. That did not end up being the case for Avalon.

When he came he took one look at Avalon's feet and said that he had some heel problems. He was right. A few years ago I had to switch farriers when one collapsed Avalon's heel (the same heel) through fitting the horse to the shoe instead of the other way around. He was lame for 3 months off of that. As a side note, total South Carolina farrier count so far is 4 with Barefoot Guy being the 4th. So Barefoot Guy put shoes on all 4 of Avalon's feet for a couple of months, then said that his back feet probably didn't need them. I was concerned about it, but I gave it a try, and you know what, it worked. Avalon is still barefoot in back, in fact.

We continue to put shoes on the front, until Barefoot Guy tells me that he cannot fix the problems we are having with Avalon's heel by putting shoes on. He tells me that he's just in a holding pattern, and shoes are preventing Avalon from getting the kind of growth he needs to grow out that collapsed heel. I decide to give it a shot, since it worked well in back, and we pull his shoes in August of 2010.

Avalon goes dead lame, but Barefoot Guy says this is normal, and horses generally need a couple of months for their feet to toughen up enough to prevent bruising, and once they do they get healthy feet. He tells me it's temporary, and about two months later (right before he's due for a trim) Avalon seems to be getting sounder.

It doesn't last. Avalon gets sounder when his feet are long, and lame after a trim. The Barefoot Guy keeps telling me it's temporary, but my horse is lame. I call the vet out in November, because Barefoot Guy has me half convinced that the problem isn't bruising now, but that heel problem we are trying to correct. We nerve block parts of Avalon's feet to see where the pain is coming from - and it is definitely his sole.

I ask Barefoot Guy in December to put shoes back on Avalon's feet. My horse has been lame for nearly 6 months with him continually telling me that his feet will toughen up any day now, but my gut is telling me 6 months is too long for this to be a temporary issue. I want my horse back. Barefoot guy refuses to put shoes on him, saying that it will undue all the work he's put into Avalon's feet and that eventually Avalon will be permanently lame if he has shoes put back on, ever.

I find a new farrier in January. Farrier Number 5.

Farrier Number 5 is my current farrier, but I am now so paranoid about crappy farriers I have serious concerns about Avalon's feet. Next month (aka when I have money), I am going to get a vet to come take xrays of his feet and make sure they are balanced. Avalon is sound. But the way his feet look, I don't think he will be for long.

I took these pictures on July 3rd, which was a couple of days before Farrier 5 was supposed to come out and trim him. These pictures really concerned me.

This is his funky foot. The one I have had past heel issues (twice!) with, and the one that looks different than the other 3. I don't think it's a true club foot, but it's definitely low compared to the rest of his feet. I do NOT like the way his heel looks. It looks completely underrun/collapsed to me.

I always doubt myself with hoof issues because I'm not a farrier and I'm not a vet, and what do I know. That self doubt is why I let Avalon be barefoot and lame for 6 months - my farrier convinced me that he knew better than I.

This is the other foot. Far more upright, heel looks maybe a little but underrun, but really not like the other foot. Toe is too long, I think, but he's due for trim.

This is a front view. I am 90% sure that the "dishing" you see, or the flares, are a bad thing. My understanding is that this shows that the white line is separating from the rest of the hoof, because the feet are out of balance or too long.

I really think I was directly behind the foot when I took this photo. Shouldn't his leg be straight, not kind of bent inward? Are the two sides of his heel growing at different speeds or lengths or is the farrier just not balancing him right?

His funky foot is even worse. I know his heel is collapsed here, and I am worried that this picture shoes a prolapsing frog.

The pictures I took after the trim show significant improvement. But...I cannot just trust the farrier. Too many bad experiences. I want xrays and vet consult, because my gut is telling me that if I don't get this done right then I'm going to have a lame horse again.

Maybe the vet will tell me I just wasted $500.00. But I'm pretty sure he's not going to say that.

Do I really need that second horse?

I have decided to give Pete back to his owner. She asked how things were going last week, and told my trainer that in August she would only have one horse on her property, and she would take Pete back if I was ok with it so he could be a pasture buddy.

I had to make this decision with my head.

I like Pete. He can get bratty under saddle, but he's not vicious. He's not trying to get me off, he's just expressing his displeasure at being worked in the heat or having too much time off. And on the ground he is the sweetest horse ever. He's super affectionate, and will come up to say hi in the pasture, even if you're all the way across the pasture from where he's eating his hay. He comes to the gate when you come out to the fence. If he could be trusted at the canter he would be the perfect Pony Club horse for a little girl.

I like him a lot.

But I don't have a trailer. I'm trying to save up for a trip to Japan in the next couple of years. And I have a perfectly sound horse to ride that's mine.

Spending $300 a month because I like a horse doesn't make too much sense at this point.

Pete taught me a lot. I am more confident in my leg, and I have a much faster reaction time to misbehavior or bad situations than I did before I started riding him. I know how to do a shoulder-in now, and I use my outside rein like I am supposed to. I have the confidence to loop the inside rein and trust that the horse will stay on the bit. Stuff that would have thrown me for a mental loop a year ago doesn't phase me today.

It was worth having him, especially while Avalon was lame. But I think I have learned the important things I could get out of riding him. My trainer thinks so, too. Horses will always continue to teach you, but I think in this case it's time for me to start concentrating on my own horse again.

I think I would have come to a different conclusion if I had a trailer. Showing Pete would have been something that could have really helped me gain confidence in the show ring. It's funny, I don't 100% trust Pete at the canter, but I doubt he would get as worked up as Avalon does going off the property. Going to a show where you can concentrate on your riding  and your own nerves instead of your horse's nerves would be a great thing for me to experience - but I need a trailer to do that. And the Great Trailering Accident of 2010 (also known as the I Hate Alabama incident) took care of that.

I need to save up for a trailer. I'm doing a good job of knocking my debts out one by one, but I haven't made much progress towards the trailer as a result. $300 a month can make a big difference.

And Pete's owner loves him as much as I do. It's time to give him back.

Can you bring your pet to Japan?

Source

This is part of a series responding to Christine at Almost Fearless' series 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World. 

Day 5

This post was about deciding whether or not to bring your pets with you when you go abroad. 

Many people think this is just plain crazy, but all it really takes is some extra planning. Of course, when you say that it's not a big deal to bring you pet abroad and all you have to do is plan ahead, you are assuming the type of pet owner you are addressing is a responsible one. Pet owners who think finding a new apartment in the same city that allows pets is too difficult, and then dump their pets, are probably not going to be the type of pet owners willing to put in the extra effort to bring their pet overseas. 

I am clearly not a fair weather pet owner, since I plan on bringing two of my cats (and possibly my ferret) to Japan with me. Bringing all five cats would pretty much be impossible, so the three who are most likely to adapt well to a new living situation are going on vacation with my family members. One may stay permanently, I think she may be happier in a one cat household, and my brother loves her. Avalon is staying with my old trainer - he knows her and the horses there, and she loves him like he is hers.

I plan on spending a few weeks at my parents' house before we go, which will give the cats who are staying time to adjust. To be honest, one is a little bit touched, so she may not notice the people are different, but the other cat is pretty smart but shy so I want to give her some time to adjust. I also plan on leaving my horse in the same city, and giving away or selling my truck. Might as well do it all in the same place to make things less complicated. I know some of our furniture is going to have to be sold and some will go into storage, and I really want to keep my dining room table, so I don't know which city that stuff will be in. The house will be rented out, so it may make sense to just have a storage place here. I don't plan on living in South Carolina again, though. Maybe I should bring the stuff I don't get rid of down to my parents' city.

Since my boyfriend and I are both planning on going, we would simply have one cat in a carrier as part of our non-checked baggage. I would prefer to transport the cats in cabin because one of them is pretty insecure, and I simply don't trust not having them in sight for such a long haul flight. There would be at least one changeover for us, and I can't risk them getting lost or overheated/too cold. Too many animals die on airlines because the staff is so overburdened, I would rather have them in the cabin ad therefore my responsibility. There is usually a fee for this, and only some airlines allow it, but there are three airlines I know of that allow pets in the cabin and fly to Tokyo. Even better, most of these airlines allow them in business class, and I have enough frequent flyer miles to pay for those tickets. 

Japan has a 12 hour or less quarantine period if you have all the correct paperwork and vaccinations done, and most of the people I have tracked down who have done this said they were allowed to leave with their pets after 2 or 3 hours. Narita airport is about 35 miles from Tokyo, and we plan on using public transportation. JR trains allow crated pets under 10kg as luggage, and since taxi drivers are so competitive in Tokyo, if we wanted to take a taxi it would probably not take more than a couple tries to find one who could take us. The train is very inexpensive, though.

Apartments in Japan that allow pets are rumored to be impossible to find - but I think the only people who think that are people who haven't looked for it. There are plenty of pet-friendly apartments in Japan, and they just require a pet deposit like apartments in the US. They don't appear to be priced any differently than non-pet friendly apartments, either.

However, there are almost no hotels that allow pets, so I may make a trip to Japan alone about a month before we move to find an apartment and set up the house. Since renting an apartment in Tokyo is a time consuming process in general (and there is almost always a wait for move in) this seems like something I would have done with or without the cats. It would be nice to have a place to go straight from the airport that already has a litter box and food (for cats and humans), as well as beds for the people. The flight takes a lot out of you, and I would rather have a permanent place to head to, instead of having to hustle and find a rental while jetlagged. Luckily, my frequent flyer balance makes this affordable for us.

Long Term Travel and Significant Others

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This is part of a series responding to Christine at Almost Fearless' series 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World. 


Day 4

I have lived with my long term boyfriend for the last 6 years.

We have done the long distance relationship thing (8 months while I was in Japan) and while that could probably work out for me again for a long period of time, he had a much rougher time.

If it only works for half of a couple - then it doesn't work.

Luckily, he is 100% on board with going to Japan while I finish my language training. He is so on board he is in the process of getting his TESL certification, which will help him find a job teaching English while we are there. That goes a long way towards making this affordable.

Great news, right? Yes! But...

But he is not fond of the idea of going to China later on, nor does he think a nomadic round the world trip is feasible for us. I decided on going to Japan first, for many reasons, but perhaps subconsciously I also knew that I would get the support of my significant other if I aimed for Japan first.

I kind of hope that my boyfriend will experience living in another country and fall in love with it, like I did. He hasn't traveled outside of the US much (that he was old enough to remember). He is also inherently more nervous about change than I am. I'm not trying to be manipulative, I just honestly believe that once he gets his feet wet, he'll decide it isn't such a bad idea.

But for now, we have a plan. A plan he is comfortable with, and I am excited about. For right now, this is working. I don't really know what's going to happen in the future. There may be a time when I have to choose between my relationship and my passions. I hope that time never comes.

Can a lawyer go digital?

Source

This is part of a series responding to Christine at Almost Fearless' series 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World. 


Day 3

The third post in the series is all about turning your job digital. Unfortunately, I don't think what I do can be turned into a location independent job - I have to show up for hearings. Even if I decided to not be the one to show up to the hearings (which would jeopardize my usefulness to my boss) what I do on the computer, while technically possible to do anywhere, would require a major operational change in how my boss does his work. Since he plans on retiring in the next five years or so, this does not seem like something he is willing to do.

Additionally, a large component of small law firm work is customer service. If you're drafting someone's will, or handling the estate of their deceased relative, people want to talk to you in person. Maybe this preference will change when my generation starts getting older, but the demographic who is in need of those services right now tend to be old fashioned and want a face to face meeting.

There do seem to be some legal tasks in big law which allow for location independent work. Actually, there is plenty of big law document review work that could be done remotely, but every document review project I have heard of requires you to go into an office to do so. BUT! Document reviewers fluent in other languages and legal translators seem to have more bargaining power - almost every legal translation of foreign language document review project I have seen is via telecommuting.

That is something I could do. That is something I would like to do. But that is something I need additional training for before I can do. My Japanese isn't good enough right now - and I am not capable of getting to a fluency level without immersion training.

While that idea doesn't get me to Japan any faster, it does give me a possible income for after. That's pretty significant.