I knew what Self Storage units were, but I didn’t know what a Trunk room was when I first heard the words many years ago. It was only after listening to my friend talking about how she needed to leave her stuff in a Trunk room because she was planning to move to a different city did I put 2 and 2 together. She was actually referring to Self Storage Units!
Trunk room
Why is it called a Trunk Room? Well, a ‘Trunk’ is a big wooden storage chest, and since the Storage units are for storing stuff… ‘Trunk room’. Sounds a little strange, but not definitely not illogical.
If you have ever had to move to another city (or country), or have had to move into a temporary place because your new apartment or house was not ready yet, you would probably have looked into self storage units.
What can you keep in these Self Storage Units?
As long as it’s not alive, almost anything.
Ok ok, lame jokes aside, you can keep anything from documents, clothes, boxes and even furniture there.
Types
There are 3 main types to choice from, though some offer more.
- In a building type (屋内型トランクルーム)
- Container type (屋外型トランクルーム)
- Bike Storage type (バイク トランクルーム)
Size
There are a variety of sizes as you can imagine, and they can be somewhere around 1 sqm to around 15 sqm. The height can be somewhere around 2 m.
Some Self Storage Unit websites refer to size information in sqm(m²) and some refer to them in jyo (帖). One Tatami mat is equal to 1 jyo, though the size of 1 jyo can differ slightly depending on the city.
But for the sake of simplicity, let’s use 1 jyo = 1.7sqm.
How much space do you need
1/2 jyo – about 24 boxes
1 jyo – about 48 boxes
2 jyo – about 95 boxes
(using the Kuroneko box (12) for reference)
Price
This depends largely on the size of the unit and the location. A unit closer to a city centre or station will cost more than a unit in a less easily accessible location. The thing though, is that those that are further out can have more options in terms of sizes. Some of them will also allow you to actually drive all the way up to the unit. This can be an important factor to consider if your stuff is heavy, or if it rains when you are moving stuff.
Based on a 1 jyo unit (per month)
- Central Tokyo – 12,000yen onwards
- Yokohama – 10,000yen onwards
- Nagoya – 10,000yen onwards
How to find Self Storage Units
Well, a quick internet search will turn up many results in English, but if Japanese is fine too, you can try トランクルーム + area name or トランクルーム 格安 + area name for less expensive options.
I have never used one in Japan so don’t have specific tips to share, but if you have experience renting one, how did it go?
Star
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Eva Petruzziello says
I used to live in Nagoya. Now I’m back in Canada. We use storage units a lot, but I can image that they are used even more in Japan!
Star says
Absolutely, I didn’t realize how much people actually make use of them!