I just wanted to ask this question since I haven’t seen clear answers in regards to renting on a student visa.
I’m planning on moving from the US to Tokyo in January 2025 for likely a 1 year language school term. During and after I’ll be looking for a job to be able to stay in Japan longer (I’ll be 31 and have a Bachelors and 6 years of software engineer experience).
I currently have a cat, and she is already in the process for all the shots/testing/paperwork to be imported. I was hoping to come over on a work visa which would be easier, but job hunting hasn’t been successful, and I wouldn’t mind what would amount to basically a vacation with a language school anyway. I do not have any trustworthy person that could watch my cat for a year. Friends and family either aren’t allowed pets or have their hands full already.
I have done a ton of searching about moving with a cat and know it is hard and expensive, which is fine. Obviously anything through the language school would not allow pets, so I am looking at renting an apartment not through them. But my question is that even possible on a student visa without currently having a job? I have enough savings to pay the higher costs of an apartment that would allow the foreigner and a pet, but is the combo of foreigner plus cat plus student visa impossible to find? I could even pay the years’ rent upfront if that is what is needed, though I hear 2 year leases are the norm in Japan so would that even work?
Has anyone gone through this themselves and have any insight? Would be nice if there was a site like Fontana which leases furnished apartments for foreigners but also allows a cat. But I guess part of why this is hard is that there isn’t such a site. Just want to know if anyone has had success with it, and maybe some realtor recommendations?
The other option I was looking into was long term airbnb. Searching on airbnb for January to June, there are about a dozen places that are available and allow a pet (some specify a cat some don’t) and are around the 220K yen a month range. I know you can only stay at an airbnb for a max of 180 days in japan so I would need to move to reset, but if I can’t rent an apartment then this seems like a viable alternative, right? As long as I have access to the mailbox I should be able to register the address for my residence card?
And I would likely need to do a short stay at a pet friendly airbnb while searching for an apartment if I want to just make one trip; though it would probably be better to find an apartment first and then bring my cat over, but again I don’t really have anyone who could board my cat in that time.
by TrappedOwl