Hi everyone,
I just got my letter of acceptance for grad school at Waseda, which means I’m going to be moving to Japan for the next two years. Now that I’ve started looking more seriously into housing options, I realize that I struggle to tell which is more advantageous financially between applying for a dorm, getting a sharehouse room or simply getting an apartment by myself.
I don’t have a clear understanding yet of all the one-time fees that go into renting something either, which is making the process more confusing. I see a lot of talk about agency fees, key money, deposit money, contract fees, etc. that I’m not familiar with because it’s not a concept where I’m from.
I wanted to see if anyone on here would be able to provide recent insight on which option may offer a better quality of life/not financially draining balance between the three possibilities I have at the moment. All the advice about dorms on different subreddits that I’ve seen is years old now, so I’m not sure how pertinent it is for me.
I was considering the following areas for an apartment: Nakano, Nerima, Kita-ku (or any other neighbourhood within a 20-30min train ride from Waseda campus). Also looking for anything below ¥100,000/month ideally.
Does anyone have any insight or resources to suggest to help out? Thank you in advance 🙏
by ApprehensiveShake733