8. How does housing for expats differ from regular Japanese housing?

The major difference between a typical Japanese room and the average expat room is in size. The average Japanese apartment/house is typically 50 to 70 percent smaller than an expat apartment/house.

• Price and Size
The typical Japanese rental property is anywhere between 17 sqm and 140 sqm., whereas expat housing is typically in the 50 to 300 sqm range. Due to the larger floor space, the price range for expats housing lies in a higher range, 350,000 to 2,000,000 yen and higher. The majority of Japanese people prefer to spend less than 400,000 yen for rent, because at anything higher than that, purchasing a home becomes a better deal.

• Facilities
Most expat housing comes equipped with such basic appliances as a stove/oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer (and as is often the case, a telephone line), while it is still quite uncommon to find such equipment in regular Japanese housing. In many Japanese apartments, it is not at all rare that you have to purchase air conditioning units and light fixtures in addition to the host of appliances mentioned above.

• Layout
the layout of a Japanese house or apartment is pretty much similar to ithe typical western/expat house. The only difference is that everything is "miniaturized."

Also, tatami-matted rooms are still a fairly common sight in Japanese houses, while they are extremely rare finds in expat-targeting apartments.

• Rental Conditions
The typical Japanese apartment or house up for rent requires 1-2 months’ rent "key" money (gift money to the landlord which is NOT refundable), 2-3 months’ deposit (refundable at the end of the lease) in following with custom. Also a fee of 1 month’s rent at the time of contract renewal is quite common.

Since the vast majority of foreigners are not familiar with these peculiarities, housing geared toward expats is largely free of such fees, with the exception of security deposits (usually 3-6 months rent) which are usually required for high-rent properties.

Posted by miyauchi at January 1, 2003 12:01 AM