The House Hunt

We had originally been hoping for a furnished house – after all, the plan is to stay in Japan for a year, maybe a bit more. Neither of us wanted to stock(and then get rid of) a household’s worth of stuff. It seems so wasteful, with money, resources, and time. But. The furnished places we found were of three types:

1) Geographically Undesirable: Charming, but requiring a 2-hour commute;

2) Utterly Depressing: Bitingly cold, with grimy floors and a 2 ft square bathroom; or

3) Sketchy: Think about CraigsList, where it says “don’t send any money via Western Union”…yep.

Living in the Navy Lodge (the on-base Holiday Inn-esqe hotel) was a great option for a few weeks, but wasn’t a long-term solution.

So we threw our efforts into an unfurnished house. Apartment. Mansion. Duplex. We weren’t quite sure what the terms meant (I’m still not sure about “Mansion”), but looked at all types. Soon enough we had clarified our criteria (for more about Japanese real estate terminology:  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2207.html )

• 2-3 LDK: 2 Bedrooms, plus a living/dining/kitchen area. These tended to have a better layout than the DK.
• >50 m2 (or larger than 535 ft2). Smaller would be do-able, but we wanted space for home offices…and didn’t think we would be efficient enough to roll up our futon each morning, and multi-purpose the bedroom.
• Public Transit: Within an easy walk of a train station
• Quiet (both for working from home and for sleeping)

Bonus features would include tatami flooring in one or more rooms, heating & AC units, and one or more appliances (i.e. a stove) pre-installed. This helped, since we knew what to ask for. However, there’s no high-tech electronic real estate search system. Most rental offices have printouts papering their windows, and dusty three-ring binders with “current” listings.

The turnover of these properties seemed low. Nor was it easy to tell what a house was really like from the maps (see below) and one-sheets (see above and below) provided. The charming red farmhouse looks out in the country...but was right next to a major trucking highway. Pass.

Granted, this isn't an easy process in the US either. And eventually, we connected with a more high-tech real estate agent, and asked to a selection of houses we had found via the company website. (http://tokyoapartmentinc.com/ ) Significantly more options, and a LOT more turnover with those listings – it turned out that only 3 of the 8 we had identified were still available.  Off to look at the available three...on went the search.