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Published: November 17th 2006
I am sorry I haven’t posted an entry lately… We’ve just been busy finding our way around Tokyo a bit. But… more about that all later… today I am going to tell you all about what it is like to find a place to live in Tokyo.
To put it in one word… UGH! In many ways, this is no different from looking for a place to live back home in the states. There are always so many things to consider, and it all becomes a balancing act of the things that are most important and trying to get as many of them as possible in one home. Here, there are just a few more “monkey wrenches” to make the process even more fun!!
Before we had even arrived, Marc had done a lot of research regarding the areas where we might want to live. (No surprise to any of you who know him well!) We decided to live in Tokyo even though Marc will not be actually working in the city of Tokyo most days. He will be working primarily at the Japanese Air Force Bases Fuchu and Iruma. He will, however, have frequent meetings in Tokyo at various Japanese companies’ offices and at the US Embassy. Depending on where our apartment is located, his commute to Fuchu or Iruma could be 45 minutes to an hour or more. The good news is that both Fuchu and Iruma are outside the city and thus, he will be traveling the opposite direction during rush hours. We had considered looking for a place closer to Fuchu, but decided against it for several reasons. When we began discussing where we would like to live, number one on Marc’s list was to have the experience of living IN Tokyo. First on my list was to be near an international grocery store and some US restaurants so I could have a bit of home when I need it. Fortunately for Marc, my number one request corresponded to his, in that nearly all of the International grocery stores and US restaurants are located in the city of Tokyo. They become much more difficult to find the further away you go from the city. My request though, brought us to decide to live in one of the areas of Tokyo where there are large populations of US expatriates, and thus more familiar shopping, etc.
Tokyo is broken up into “wards” much like New York City has its boroughs. Tokyo however has 23 wards. Some wards are predominantly residential, some are predominantly commercial and many are a mix of both. There are several wards that have larger populations of expatriates, both US and numerous other countries. Usually the reason is because the countries’ embassy is in the area, or because of the schools, shopping and restaurants in the area. There are several wards that have large US expatriate communities and those are the areas where Marc and I are mainly looking to live. These wards are Minato Ku and Shibuya.
Here in Japan most people work with a real estate agent to find and lease an apartment. Obviously a necessity for us, considering our extremely limited knowledge and use of Japanese! We are using the “Ken Corporation” as that is the company others here have used. Our agent is Yurie Sato, and she is an angel! She speaks very good English. She lived for a while in Oklahoma, primarily to work on her English skills, and was, as she put it, “a western & country person!”
So, now we know where we want to look at we have an agent! YIPPEE!!! I thought, now we can see some apartments. But nope, not yet! Deciding on the areas where we want to live and finding an agent is only the beginning of the process! Nope! Now we move on to other issues not normally found in the US…..
In Japan, leasing an apartment requires a guarantor. As I understand it, this is necessary to ensure the payment of rent over the length of the lease. This is usually done with a sort of “bond” taken out with a Japanese company. The problem is that some landlords will not accept this “bond” so those properties with these landlords have to be eliminated from the start. This guarantee is completely different from a deposit which is also required. This is usually 4 - 6 months rent. When you consider that the apartments we are looking at run between $6,500 and $7,700 per month, this deposit adds up to some serious money. We are fortunate in that Marc’s company, MITRE takes care of the deposit.
Now that we have narrowed our search to several areas, found an agent AND eliminated those that won’t accept the guarantee “bond”, we can now finally actually start the apartment hunting process! Whew!
Within the wards of Minato Ku and Shibuya Ku are various smaller areas, each with their own “personality” and name. We have looked at apartments in Mita, Motu Azabu, Minimi Azabu, Nishi Azabu, Azabudai, Hiroo, Roppongi, Akasaka, Aoyama, and Daikayama. One would think that we could narrow our search further, but we haven’t been able to as there is usually only two or three apartments that meet our requirements in each of these areas.
The most important issue for us with any apartment is the commute to the various offices for Marc. This is such an important point in Tokyo that the description of each apartment includes the # of minutes it takes to walk to the nearby train or subway stations. The next most important issue for us is the size of the apartment. We are looking at 2 or 3 bedroom units that are greater than 100 square meters. This means we will have approximately 1,200 to 1,500 square feet, which by Tokyo standards are quite large. We started looking for 2 bedroom units as we thought we could use the second bedroom for both an office and a guest room. We soon realized that the size of most bedrooms makes fitting a desk, file cabinet and a futon in the same room almost impossible. So, where possible we would really like to have a 3 bedroom unit, so we have plenty of room for guests. (Hint, Hint, Hint) Next on the list is the proximity to an international grocery store. We will probably only go out to the USAF base Yakota once every 4 - 6 weeks, thus we need to have a place for fruits and vegetables and such close by. The next issue is the appliances. Most apartments here have (no surprise) Japanese appliances. Until you have seen Japanese oven, you can just not imagine them. Once you have seen one, you can’t imagine how they cook in them. Overall, they are about the same size as those in the US, but can be smaller depending on if it has 2, 3 or 4 burners on the stovetop. The oven however is much smaller because the space is “shared” by the “fish grill.” Usually the fish grill is below the stovetop, but above the oven. These are narrow and thin and I assume is a sort of grill/ broiler / oven just big enough for a small pan of fish. Under the fish grill is the oven. It is usually quite small, about the size of a microwave oven and is sometimes a combination oven / convection oven. As it is under the fish grill, which is under the stove, it is usually so low that it is only 2 or 3 inches of the floor. These ovens are so small you could not use most American pans, dishes and cookie sheets in them. I literally cannot imagine baking Christmas cookies in one! I would have to start in September! A roast or chicken would be impossible not to mention a Thanksgiving Turkey. You might be able to roast 2 Cornish game hens but it would be tight. Some, but not nearly all, of the apartments in the expat areas have been built or renovated to accommodate a “western” stove and oven. Very few apartments include a microwave. The refrigerators are usually similar to western ones. We’ve seen lots of old ones and lots of side - by -side ones. I would love to have a new Japanese one, though. They are the same size as western ones, but they are just so much more modern. They are really cool. (sorry!) The washers and dryers here are sometimes similar to the western ones, sometimes not. Sometimes stackables sometimes stand alones and sometimes they are one machine which is a combination all in one. You really have to watch what is in the apartment, because some of them are so small, they literally can only accommodate very small loads such as two towels. Two towels… that is it! I can’t even imagine! Just the two of us and I would probably have to do laundry all day every day. I can’t imagine have one of those and doing laundry for a family of 4 or more.
After these “major” considerations, there are the remaining issues. We would like to have an apartment in a building with a concierge service if possible. We have been told this can be invaluable. They can write out directions in Japanese to give the taxi drivers, tell you where to shop for specific items, handle your mail, and on and on. We both want an apartment that has a lot of windows or baring that, at least enough so that it is not dark during the day. It would also be nice to have windows that open, and an area that is not so busy that you hear city and traffic noise all night long.
We have looked at about 25 apartments, some in each of the areas I mentioned above. We’ve seen 2 story buildings and 40 story buildings. We’ve seen apartments that are old and ones that are new. We’ve seen apartments that are big (so to speak) and ones that are tiny. We’ve seen buildings with million dollar views and apartments that look out directly on the building next door which is 2 feet away at most. We’ve seen 2 floor apartments and ones all on one floor. We’ve seen ones with big kitchens, tiny kitchens and one with almost no kitchen. We’ve seen ones with one bath, two bats and three baths. Put this all together and what do you have? I’ll tell you what you have…. You have one BIG confusing decision to make - THAT is what you have!
Believe it or not, we have narrowed our decision down to two front runners. Funny thing is these apartments could not be more different! Even more amazing…. The first one on the list is one we haven’t even seen. (I know, I know). This unit is in Roppongi and is on the 9th floor of an 11 floor building. Only the top 3 floors are residential, the others are businesses. We were able to see the vacant 2 bedroom apartment next door, but we would really like to have the 3 bedroom one. This is still occupied, with the tenant moving out the end of November. It is really bright with lots of windows that open. The view isn’t fantastic, but it certainly isn’t bad in any sense. If we wanted the 2 bedroom unit, the landlord had offered to replace the carpet with carpet of our choice or hardwood flooring. As I understand it, this is a very common thing here, along with asking for new drapes, and new appliances if necessary. The 3 bedroom unit has not been renovated recently, but is due for it when the current tenant moves out. Thus, we might be able to have the carpet, drapes and appliances of our choosing. It is in a pretty busy commercial / residential area, but the apartment faces away from the main road and commercial activity so it should be quieter. There will be a new medium size international market two buildings down in the next couple of months or so. There are several “American” restaurants nearby including the Hard Rock, a TGI Fridays and a Tony Roma. Now for the not so good part - but even this depends on your perspective I suppose. The area is known for its bars. In fact there are two on the first floor. One is called the Hobgoblin and is a “British Pub.” Evidently it is very well known in Tokyo. (One of Marc’s colleagues said it would be his dream location, being able to live right above the Hobgoblin and having a Guinness any time he wanted one!) The other one is “Legends Sports Bar.” This is a small sports bar, very popular with the American expats as it shows American sports whenever possible. Marc checked their website and was ecstatic to find out they are showing all the USC games! We stopped by last Sunday and sure enough they were showing the USC / Oregon game live as it was being played in LA on Saturday night. There were both USC and Oregon fans there watching the game. We understand they also show the NFL games, golf, hockey, basketball and on and on. Marc’s dream location in Tokyo I think! Some people have told us they wouldn’t live there because it is an area known for the nightlife. Others have told us that it isn’t that big of a deal. We walked down there on a Saturday night and while it was busy, it wasn’t that loud and certainly did not feel unsafe, as there were police on nearly every other block, just like during the day. Another down side is that there is not concierge in the building.
Our second choice is in Akasaka and is right next door to the US Embassy. It is in a high rise building about 30 floors I think. The first 15 floors are commercial and the rest are residential. This is a very exclusive building, and thus it has a price tag to match. So, here we are looking at a 2 bedroom, 1 & 1/2 bath unit on the 21st floor. This is a brand new building and state of the art. The appliances are terrific, the oven is just like mine back home, and it has one of those really cool refrigerators. The piece de resistance, though, is the view. There are floor to ceiling windows in the living area and the second bedroom. The master bedroom has two full walls of glass. The view is of Tokyo and at night, it is simply breathtaking. There is a concierge and while the unit is small, it is really well done and has a storage room on the 15 floor. I think if we had this, we would use the second bedroom as the office and then when we had guests, Marc and I would use the pull out sofa bed and have the guests use the bedroom AND enjoy the views. Now for the downside…. It is in an area that is almost completely commercial offices so there is not much shopping or many restaurants nearby. The closest grocery is quite a walking distance away, too. On the other hand, all the grocery stores deliver and I’d have a concierge to receive it! We walked around the area a lot last Saturday and it was very sleepy on the weekend with all the offices closed. On the other hand it was very quiet! The windows do not open of course and there is no balcony. On the other hand, there is a rooftop deck / patio area that includes a beautiful garden area that would be wonderful for having a drink, relaxing and enjoying the view after a long day.
After this explanation, you can probably see why we are having a hard time finding just the right apartment. Everything we have seen has good points and bad. We haven’t found a perfect one yet! But, as we are running out of options, we finally put in an application for our first choice yesterday. We asked that it be renovated, that we be able to pick the carpet and drapes, that it have western appliances and that we can move in by December 22nd. So… now we just wait to see if they accept it or counter it. We finally decided that the lower rent and the larger space trumped our second choice as the view was great but not as important as having more space. Plus we will have money left over to spend on seeing the country and Asia. We figure that if they come back and accept everything, great. If not, we’ll either look some more or go with the second choice. So…. Stay tuned! Time will tell.
Now that the apartment hunting is hopefully done we are going to finally have time to explore some of Tokyo. This weekend we can finally relax and enjoy the city and see some sights. Stay tuned… there will be more to come….
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Karen
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Pictures, pictures, pictures!!!!
Arlene, I always love every word of your blogs! Apartment hunting is Tokoyo is nothing like I thought it would be!! Oh how I wish we could of seen pictures of your top two choices :-) xoxo Karen