Hello, this is going to be one of those posts.
If all goes well, I’ll secure a spot in a doctoral program at a university located in Shibuya, starting this April. Currently, I live in Sendai, close to a huge park/forest and a noteworthy shrine, both of which I often find myself enjoying. I’m commuting with a bicycle, and I occasionally venture off for longer rides as well. I’m currently living in a relatively new 2LDK apartment, with a monthly rent of 55k JPY.
I plan to move with my Japanese girlfriend, we’re looking for a 2LDK apartment or roughly 40sqm of space. Our budget is around 75-95k JPY, and the areas that have caught our interest so far are Kawagoe (a place I frequented every few weeks when I lived in Sakado, Saitama) and along the Shonan-Shinjuku line (of which her friends recommended), such as Ageo or Akabane. We have a preference for living near to a park or to a quiet shrine, given our interest for outdoor activities, and we’re not really into the pubbing or such.
Realistically speaking, I understand that maintaining the same standard of living in Tokyo within our budget might be a challenge compared to Tohoku.
I don’t mind taking a 45-60 minute train ride to Shibuya, (might even ride with my bicycle on better days). However, the cost of commuting to the university and back home 3-4 times a week quickly adds up (around 1200-1300 JPY daily), and finding the right balance between living quiet and proximity to Shibuya is a balancing act.
Do you have any recommendations for areas/places that would suit our needs?
Considering that the results won’t be out until early/mid-March, do you think it’s a wise move to start searching for apartments now, maybe even getting in touch with a real estate (recommendations)?
Thank you for all your kind answers!
by Seseragi-san
8 comments
Kichijoji seems to fit what you’re looking for, its got a huge park nearby (Inokashira Park) and has direct access to Shibuya via the Keio Inokashira line but I’m not sure if you can find a 2LDK below 100k around that area.
Alternatively you could go southwest across the river to Kanagawa, along the Den-en-toshi line that directly connects you to Shibuya.
>Considering that the results won’t be out until early/mid-March, do you think it’s a wise move to start searching for apartments now, maybe even getting in touch with a real estate (recommendations)?
Mar-Apr is peak moving time so I advise getting in touch **now now**, like right away. Probably sign a contract and start renting one month early (from March) if you have the means to.
I recommend Wako/Asakadai/chofu/tachikawa. If you go too far you will burn out from the crazy trains and trust me riding a bicycle from Ageo to Shibuya would be a nightmare. You will probably need to double your current rent to find something that is not ancient and not so far away you will go insane. Now is hunting season for apartments so by April most of the best places and deals are gone and it can be slim pickings.
The above areas you should be able to find something around 50m2 2ldk for 100,000 or a bit lower.
Just a heads up apartment hunting here is no joke it’s like war and can be stressful. Had a place slip out of my hands once while driving back to realtors to sign the application. Crazy things such as sight unseen are normal. If you can find apartments made by big construction companies like Daiwa house it’s nice to be able to tour them as models because they are built the same. That way you don’t have to worry as much about having places stolen out from under you and can go sight unseen with reasonable confidence.
As a student your commuter pass will be much cheaper than the normal one. If it’s 1300 yen round trip. Then a monthly pass should be around or less than 14k yen.
Use this to calculate: [https://www.navitime.co.jp/transfer/pass/](https://www.navitime.co.jp/transfer/pass/)
Riding to and from Shibuya by bike from somewhere an hour away by train may prove to be difficult. You can use Google Maps to give you an idea but there’s definitely some less difficult and/or shorter routes that it won’t show.
You should definitely be looking for a place now because there’s thousands of others with similar plans to be in Tokyo to start attending university/working in April. Seems like a dick move on the school’s part to not announce the results until March when classes are scheduled to start in April.
Only have a few mentions that have at least a decent-sized park nearby and are on a line that goes directly to Shibuya Station. They’re probably all completely unrealistic for OP’s budget though.
Eifukucho/Nishi-Eifuku (Keio Inokashira Line) – Wadabori Park, Omiya Hachiman Shrine
Kichijoji (Keio Inokashira Line) – Inokashira Park
Komazawa-Daigaku (Tokyu Den-en-Toshi Line) – Komazawa Park
Yoga (Tokyu Den-en-Toshi Line) – Kinuta Park
Also second Wako/Asaka/Asakadai/Shiki. I lived there a long time when commuting to Shibuya. Kawagoe is a cool town in its own right but it’s a bit more distance.
From Wako you have two different ways to get to Shibuya (over ground on Tobu Tojo Line + JR and underground on Fukutoshin Line) which is good if one of them gets delayed.
I moved there after living in the boonies for a while. I wanted to have a car and be able to get out to the mountains at weekends. It’s kind of an area where Tokyo is really thin, so the distance from the edge of the city to the centre is short. Also it’s pretty near the expressway (Tokorozawa interchange) on the outer side of the Niiza toll booth which where the traffic jams up when people are getting back into the city. For cycling there’s a path alongside the Arakawa River then you have a lake to cycle around on the other side. There used to be a guy walking along the riverside at the Wako end playing bagpipes.
Draw a 10 km circle around your (potential) university and look for places far from stations. Few people want to live a 25-minute walk from the nearest station, but there are places like that in Tokyo and relatively close to Shibuya. The last place I lived alone was a 2LDK 18 minutes from the Odakyu and Keio Lines and was 103,000 per month. The building was fairly old, but it was in a good neighborhood, close to a lot of public facilities and several supermarkets. (I lived there while doing a doctoral program, as it happens.)
> Considering that the results won’t be out until early/mid-March, do you think it’s a wise move to start searching for apartments now, maybe even getting in touch with a real estate (recommendations)?
I wouldn’t bother looking unless you’re ready to move within the next month or so, or happy paying rent on two places for a bit. Tokyo landlords aren’t interested if you’re not going to take the place pretty much straight away.
Rare find, but me and my wife have an apartment with the specifications you are looking for for 70000, in a couple train stops away from Ikebukuro. I highly recommend the Ochiai, Nagasaki and Nakai areas, as there seem to be quite a few of them. Helps to speak japanese and have a japanese SO though.