Last Updated on October 25, 2021 by Star
If you are thinking about moving house in Japan, or have just moved house and are wondering if you missed anything…. This post is for you.
During the 10 plus years I have lived in Japan, I have moved at least a dozen times. I have made some silly mistakes and found myself frustrated and confused a few times. So by sharing what I have learned about the procedures, timings etc, I hope it helps you avoid those same frustrations and headaches!
Manshon and Apaato
Manshon are concrete apartments and Apaato are apartments with wooden frames.
I know manshon sounds like ‘mansion’ and that’s probably where it came from. But nooo…it is far from that castle like building we associate mansions with! Japanese cities are far too tightly packed for that. We can still wish though, right? 😉
Manshons (Can I use the plural with a Japanese English word? I dunno…but anyway) are more solid and are generally more expensive than apaato.
Apartment layout terms
If you already live in an apartment, you will already be familiar with terms like 1R, 1K, 1LDK etc.
But just in case you were not the one that did the paperwork for your current apartment, these are what the layout terms mean.
Layout Terms
- R = Room
- L = Living
- D = Dining
- K = Kitchen
- S = Storage
So 1R would be a 1 room apartment. Kinda like an all in one studio apartment where you might have 1 bathroom, and 1 connected space which will serve as your kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom; this also means that it is very very small.
I lived in one when I first moved to Japan, and I remember not even being able to fit a washing machine in my apartment! This meant that once a week, I had to play Santa Claus (not the giving gifts kind – the sack over the shoulder kind!) when I brought my laundry down to the nearby laundromat.
If you are looking at a 1DK apartment, it would be 1 bedroom and 1 dining and kitchen area in one area…and so on so forth.
Some useful reference links
- Survival Japanese: Housing Terms
- Apartments
- What do Japanese Apartment Layout Terms Mean?
- 1R, 1K, 1DK, 1LDK APARTMENT: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE AND WHICH SHOULD I RENT?
Preferences
All Real Estate search engines and Real Estate Agencies will give you a long list of choices. This includes everything from prefecture, area, train line and station, to things like whether it has air-conditioning, has a place inside the apartment for a washing machine or whether you will be moving in alone or with another person.
Pets
‘Pets’ is one of these preferences. Most of the available apartments in the big cities are not pet-friendly. I think this is probably because apartment owners don’t want the pets to damage their property. They probably also don’t fancy dealing with noise complaints. But if you really want one, check the Pet (ペット相談) box in the conditions category.
The number of available apartments drops dramatically if you check this box so I for one have never rented one of these apartments. But I know people around me who already had a pet and insisted on getting a pet-friendly apartment.
I have noticed that they either get apartments that are further away from the city centres, or get smaller, more expensive apartments if they want to live in the main areas.
They also tend to leave their air-conditioning on 24/7, especially in Summer. I mean, Japanese Summers are brutal, and many of us have a hard time dealing with the heat and humidity. Can you imagine wearing a fur coat in summer??? Urgh… just the thought of it makes me feel ill.
So yeah, just be prepared to fork out a bit more if you need a pet-friendly apartment.
Securing the apartment
Once you have decided on an apartment, the next step is to secure it.
The process for moving house in Japan involves first applying for the apartment, then submitting the necessary supporting documents (like proof of income etc). The apartment owner usually has the final say, so if everything is ok, we will usually hear back from the agent within a few days.
Costs
The topic on costs is pretty huge, so I will briefly summarize it:
The main ones are security deposits, key money, cleaning fees, insurance fees, maintenance fees.
I had heard of Shikikin (security deposit) and Reikin (key money) before I rented my first apartment, but was quite surprised to find that there were many other things in my contract that I had not expected!
Commonly seen words when renting an apartment
- 敷金 (security deposit)
- 礼金 (key money)
- 保証金 (insurance)
- 鍵交換費 (changing of the keys)
- 室内クリーニング (apartment cleaning – for when you move out)
- 管理費 (maintenance fees)
- 更新料 (contract renewal fees)
- 保証人 (guarantor)
- 保証会社 (guarantor company)
Ward Office matters
To officially move to your new place, you need to first deregister yourself from your current ward before you can register yourself at the new ward.
Of course depending on the ward/city office, they may require more or less documents, so for the list of actual documents, please check the ward/city office websites!
Some years ago, I absentmindedly went down to the new ward office and tried to register myself without going to my (at that time) current ward office, and after waiting for like 20 min, got told that I did not have the necessary documents.
I ended up having to leave and get the documents from my (at that time) current ward office. And then going back to the new ward office!! I wasted so much time and effort! Don’t make the same mistake I made!
So anyway…
Current ward office – Deregistering yourself
The first thing to do is to go down to your current ward office and submit a Notification of Moving out (転出届).
Generally you need to have things like your New Address, Passport, MyNumber card, Resident card and the Notification of Moving Out Form with you.
And if you have the National Health Insurance, you might also want to speak to them about it.
New Ward office – Registering yourself
Once you have registered yourself from the current ward/city office, you will receive proof of this (転出証明書).
Once you have this, bring all the same documents (Passport, MyNumber card etc) down to the new ward office and fill out a Notification of Moving in (転入届) form.
Quick note
According to the current rules, all legal non-Japanese residents have to complete this procedure within 2 weeks of moving. And this has been the case for as long as I can remember, so I usually try and get all this taken care of as soon as possible – I don’t want to have to worry about it.
Utilities
Whether you need to cancel your Water, Gas and Electricity or just change the address really depends on the new apartment.
For example, I once moved to an apartment that only used propane gas. So as I had been using city gas, I had to cancel that contract and get a new one with the propane gas company.
Luckily, most real estate agencies will give you this information, so you won’t actually need to do any research. You can just call the phone numbers given to you.
Pro tip
Have your latest utility bill in front of you when you call them as they will ask you for your customer number.
Moving Company
There are many ways of finding moving companies, like internet searches, word-of-mouth recommendations etc so I won’t go into that. But these are some things to be aware of when choosing a Moving Company.
If keeping costs down is important to you, try to move on a weekday.
There are 3 main types of services
- Moving service (Boxes provided but you will have to pack things yourself)
- Packing and moving service (The staff will both pack and move the things for you)
- Bare bones moving service (Boxes provided but you will will have to pack things yourself. You will also have to help them move the boxes.)
Of course, the costs are different, but one thing to keep in mind is that moving costs on a weekday are lower than moving costs on a weekend.
If keeping costs down is important to you, try to move on a weekday.
Pro tip
If you already know which room you want the box to be in, try naming it so the movers know where to place them when they get to your new place. What I do is name them A or B or C, and I ask the movers to put boxes with “A” in this room and “B” in that room. This makes the unpacking a LOT easier as I don’t need to carry boxes in and out of rooms.
Furnishing your new apartment
I think this is probably one of the more fun parts of moving house! You get to get rid of furniture you don’t want or need, and go shopping for items that better suit your new apartment.
Where you shop depends on your budget of course, and there are so many brick and mortar furniture shops, as well as online shops that you can purchase stuff from.
So instead of just giving you a list that you can easily search for, I wanted to share a few things I have learned.
If you don’t have a big budget, try second hand stores aka Recycle shops. Search for リサイクルショップ + area name.
They carry both furniture and electronic items, and many of them also carry other things like plates, clothes and even heaters and bicycles.
And I know the name Recycle shop sounds like everything will be old, used and dirty. But, the items they buy from people are all checked and cleaned and most are in pretty good condition. Sometimes you can also find brand new items as well.
I have seen brand new fridges and washing machines sold in Recycle shops, so try to shop around.
Pro tip
Either try to get stuff from a Recycle shop near your new apartment, or make sure you are able to transport it to your new place.
This is because Recycle shops generally only arrange for delivery if your new place is nearby. And there are delivery charges so even if they agree to send it to your new place if it is far from them, the delivery charges will be quite high.
Getting rid of your old furniture
Last but not least, you will almost definitely have some old furniture that you want to get rid of. And many times, if you tell the store that you buy the new piece from that you want to get rid of your current one, they can do it for a nominal fee. But this is usually if you have already moved.
So for example, if you have moved to a bigger apartment and want to upgrade from a single bed to a double bed, the store can remove it for you before they place the new one there.
But if you have not moved yet, you may need to get rid of the old piece of furniture yourself. Search for oversized garbage and your area (粗大ゴミ + area name) for information on how much it is and where to place it. You will also need to arrange for it to get picked up on a specific day too.
Finishing up
There are so many other smaller details but I hope this post gives you somewhere to start from.
If you have any other tips to share or if you have any questions on moving house in Japan, let me know in the comments section. 🙂
Star
Related posts:
How to make the rainy season in Japan more comfortable
Image credits: Flower photo created by Racool_studio – www.freepik.com