My supervisor has given me a 2 week deadline to find an apartment in Shiga

8 comments

1. Can’t you just move ahead of your spouse into temporary housing and then find a spot? A pet apartment is going to take a while. Also, if you’re not in Japan, this will be quite difficult.

   Minimini is the only one on this list I know is foreigner-friendly.

2. >Do you think it’s possible?

   Honestly? No, not really.

   This is a ridiculously short timeline to find an apartment in the best of circumstances. And your circumstances aren’t the best, because you’re moving with two cats.

   “Pet Friendly” in Japan generally means a small dog or one cat. Two cats is going to rule out the majority of what’s available. When you combine that with the usual difficulty of being a foreigner, well… There’s not a lot of overlap in that Venn Diagram.

   And then there’s the added difficulty of not being in Japan yet. Most real estate agents don’t want to deal with people who aren’t in the country yet.

   Your only real option is to delay your husband’s (and cats’) arrival and find something temporary in the short term, then look for something more permanent once you arrive.

3. Honestly… Not likely.

   Firstly, have you confirmed if your cats are able to enter the country? For most countries, Japan expects a rather long quarantine period on top of taking the rabies vaccine and serology tests.

   Secondly, we worked with Minimini (they’re foreigner friendly), but even then, they didn’t entertain us until we entered the country. No one would do any viewings until we’re physically in the country. And 2 cats is difficult, really difficult. We are also moving with 2 cats and we’re moving to Tokyo, and Minimini found just 3/4 apartments for us on the first day (after we expanded our budget). I don’t know about Shiga and how easy it’ll be to find apartments for 2 cats.

   Thirdly, I believe your language ability will be a hindrance. My husband overheard the agents speaking amongst themselves and some were asking if my husband could speak Japanese. If he couldn’t, I’m sure it would be even harder to be approved.

   As someone else mentioned, it’s much easier to enter first, maybe on a short term lease somewhere. Then hunt for an apartment and have your husband and cats join you thereafter.

4. Ummm, my daughter and her husband are having my wife and I foster her 2 cats because the import rules are hard.

   [https://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/animal/dog/attach/pdf/import-other-42.pdf](https://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/animal/dog/attach/pdf/import-other-42.pdf)

5. when looking for an apartment in Japan as a non-Japanese, you pretty much have 2 options. you either go for places specialized in foreigners which will make your life a lot easier and will demand a big premium, or you go the way you seem to be going which is trying to navigate the Japanese system. I’ll give you a pessimistic answer and tell you that this second option won’t be possible without Japanese and your specific requirements.
   have you asked your supervisor if your school offers any support for you? they may at least be willing to act as guarantor and perhaps even help to get you an apartment.

6. I did this but eventually just told them I only have 1 cat. Nowhere accepts 2.

7. This is a ridiculously short time frame for anyone, let alone someone relocating to the country so the answer is no.

   You will probably need to stay at a hotel or an airbnb until you have found somewhere and then have your husband and pets come over later.

8. Securing a place from abroad that accepts foreigners and multiple pets in two weeks would be very difficult. 

   Do they really want you to already have an apartment secured? Or do they just want you to be in the country so you can start your job?

   It makes much more sense to get temporary housing while you hunt for a permanent place, then send for your husband and cats. Especially since when you rent an apartment it won’t have a refrigerator, washing machine, etc. Temporary housing is a good idea either way. 

   It took us about a month to find a pet-friendly apartment (though we were also looking for a 3 bedroom mansion). Part of the problem is the application takes time, then the first one we applied for fell through, etc, etc. Two weeks might be tough.