Housing
Renting, guarantors, and practical housing advice.
End-to-end walkthrough of renting in Tokyo as a foreigner: searching on portals, viewing, document checklist, approval timeline, and what to expect at contract signing.
Explains the up-front costs of renting in Japan — key money (reikin), deposit, brokerage fee — and how the guarantor company system works for foreigners without a Japanese co-signer.
One of Japan's largest furnished-apartment providers, popular with newly arrived foreigners: no key money, no guarantor required, English contracts available.
Everything involved in moving between apartments in Japan: choosing a moving company, lease termination, key-money refunds, and the address-change paperwork.
Apartment Hunting Do's and Don'ts in Japan
(blog.gaijinpot.com)
GaijinPot's practical do's and don'ts for apartment hunting in Japan as a foreign resident.
How to Rent an Apartment in Tokyo: A Guide for Foreigners
(tokyocheapo.com)
A practical walkthrough of the Tokyo rental process for foreigners, from agency visits to the up-front costs to expect.
Covers the realistic options if you don't want to use a guarantor company: UR housing, employer-backed leases, and guarantor-free listings.
Japanese Culture Specific “Guarantor System”
(u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Explains why landlords ask for a guarantor and what a guarantor company actually does - written for incoming staff/students, but the logic is the same for anyone renting.