apartment hunting in Japan

Apartment hunting can be difficult in any place, particularly in large cities where there are thousands of agencies trying to sell/rent you overpriced apartments. It's no different in Japan except for the fact that it might actually be worse than in most major cities in the world. In Japan, to move into an apartment, any apartment, there's a special system in which you have to give the owner of the property "a gift" of usually two months worth of rent. In addition to this "gift" , which goes straight into the pocket of the property owner, you have to pay the normal bond requirement (usually two months), a security deposit for up to two months, and the agency fee. Therefore a studio apartment that costs let's say 120,000 yen a month (about 1,200 dollars), actually costs 140,000 yen a month, with a move-in cost of about 360,000 to about 480,0000 yen. For someone with a decent salary, moving into a relatively cheap studio apartment, it may not be a stretch, but for an average person it can be really expensive. A 1LDK can be come a luxury for some people living a lone, and for families seeking more space, and therefore higher rent, moving can prove to be a fortune.

I think the most expensive element of this all is obviously the appreciation fee or the "gift". Aside from that, the moving costs would be generally standard, and you would get some money back when you moved out if you kept the apartment in a fairly good condition. However, the gift is a sunk cost, that neither pays for itself or compensates you later on in any way. I found out by talking to people that apparently, this appreciation fee system dates back to right after WWII. After the war, there was very little housing available, and as a way to compensate the land owner for allowing you the opportunity to rent in their particular place, residents would reward the land owner with the appreciation fee. In essence, it was a way to stay in favor with the land owner and have a suitable place to live, and give the land owner additional incentive to build and develop. At the time, it was a functional policy, but as you may guess much has hanged since then. These days, there's actually an excess of housing, but the same policy still stays in place. Although many people realize it has become outdated, it is the Japanese way not to criticize old ways. (After living in Japan for some time, you would come to realize that many things in Japan are outdated, but because it's the Japanese way not to criticize, these inefficient policies stays in place).

Recently, there has been some movement to move away from this tradition, as many large developers have begun to offer apartments that do not require the appreciation fee in the move-in cost. However, because these apartments are run by major companies, there's little relationship with the property owners and therefore tend to be of lower quality and little accountability. These types of apartments generally come in smaller sizes and in limited design and layout variation. People in Japan generally still prefer to pay the fees and live in "real apartments".

And the third element of difficulty for apartment seekers, and on a more sensitive note, tends to involve the racism that underlines Japanese society's social construction. In Japan, and no Japanese person will admit it perhaps, there's still a lot of discrimination against foreigners, particularly Chinese and Korean immigrants. Many times, when people of foreign cultures attempt to look for apartments, agencies will deny them availability or only show them the least desirable properties. Perhaps the same thing happens in America with immigrants seeking apartments, but I feel that it may be much more prevalent, purposeful and blatant in Japan than in America. Unlike America, no one in Japan will file a law suit for unfair treatment. In Japan, there's a much more systematic control of foreign immigrants. For a country that prides itself on the Japanese way, culture, and homogeneity, its not surprising albeit, somewhat disconcerting.

Regardless of the above, moving in Japan can be a very exciting change, particularly when moving from one locale to another in and around the Tokyo area. Tokyo is such a dynamic city in that every local area has it's own kind if "town center", usually in the area around the local train station . Moving to a new area in Tokyo usually offers a new set of bars, restaurants and attractions, interesting people, and new mini-cultures to get to know.
So is it all worth it? Well, I guess I'll soon find out....