Apartment Hunting

I've been checking out some spots to move to in Tokyo. Now, I live on the north side of the Yamanote, near Sugamo station. My spot is cool, in a brand new high-rise building, and only a few minutes walk from my primary job. But for reasons I won't go into (yet) I want to move. Actually, I was told that I need to move, then assured that that was not the case by my lawyer. Again, I won't go into it (yet).

Before you watch my videos, let me warn you that these are just boring videos of me looking at apartments. They are only like a minute long each, so I don't feel bad for wasting anyone's time.

Let's go the order I saw them. First up is one in Nishi-Ogikubo. Maybe 10 minutes from Shinjuku by train. It's small, and I instantly realized that it is important to be very specific when looking for a place. You don't just look them up on craigslist, you have to be shown the apartments by a real estate agent, who gets a one month cut if you decide to rent. By only specifying "good price", I got shown some real dumps. But the price was low.

Next is another in this part of town. These are pretty small, in old buildings, with little sunlight. By the way, both of these run about $500 a month.

Next up is a spot about a minute from Nakano Fujimicho station on the Maranochi subway line. It's a few minutes from Shinjuku, but you have to transfer. Bonus, it's above a pachinko parlor!

Same building, corner room. I dig the loft. These spots got for about $700. Plus moving costs, which I'll explain later.

My friend, who is a real estate agent, introduced me to some places around Higashi-Nakano. I really like this area. It's close enough to walk from Shinjuku, meaning I can drink until 2am instead of running to catch the 12:30 last train. This apartment was reformed in 2007, meaning the bathroom is pretty kick ass. You'll pay an extra $100 a month for the reform though.

As you can see, these rooms are pretty big. Around $1000 a month. Next up is the same building, but this room wasn't reformed. Bonus! My friend learns about American humor!

"It's no joke! It's serious problem!"

So there you go, some places for rent in Tokyo. Now, you may be thinking that you can afford to move into one of these. Slow down there money bags! There are a few extra charges before you get the key. You've got 2 months deposit. Then you've got 1 or 2 months key money, which is a nice way of saying extortion from the landowner. Yeah, you just give them a ton of cash for no reason, except that you have to. That's the reason. People just do it. Oh, that real estate agent who showed you the place, they get a month out of your pocket. Then there is mandatory fire insurance for about $200 for 2 years. Oh, and you have to pay the normal rent for the first month.

So a $1000 a month apartment is gonna run you around $6000 just to get in the door. Welcome to Japan.