Hi there,
I’ve read probably all similar threads on this and other subreddits, but most do not cover the family in the context. So:
I will be moving in to Japan by the end of the year with my wife and our 1.5 year old son. This is for remote work, so theoretically I can work wherever but practically I might need to visit office near Shibuya from time to time (1-4x per month).
We’d need a 2LDK. Our monthly budget for rent maxes out at 150K JPY. I speak N2ish Japanese, but probably not fluently enough to charm a landlord. I also sort trash like a pro, probably no one will believe me though.
We’re coming from central/eastern Europe and lived in older as well as modern blocks of flats, so it’s not like we’re moving from a huge detached house in the suburbs. But my current understanding is that most of properties in Japan within my budget will be significantly worse in many aspects (insulation, noise isolation, no central heating, single glazed windows etc.)
Because our child is, well, quite loud to say the least, I was only considering newer (<10yrs) mansions, with “deluxe” furnishing (hoping for double floor and maybe just a tiny bit better sound isolation). Detached house is also an option but probably hard to find something recent (and not at the end of the world) within that budget.
And now, questions!
1) We are open to living in Kanagawa, Tokyo’s 23 wards and Saitama. Are my expectations in line with reality? That is: RC mansion, “deluxe” 2ldk, <80 min to Shibuya, normal neighbors, all for 150K JPY?
2) I hear that only around 5-10% of properties on the market are available for foreigners. Will our selection get even smaller when looking as a family? Any ways to make our odds better (other than “increase your budget”)?
3) How much time should we schedule for apartment search? I thought that three weeks would be plenty, but I’m having doubts now.
4) Is it really so bad with the neighbors here? Like those neverending neighbor complaints about FOOTSTEPS, banging in the ceiling, anonymous threats etc. Or is it just my selection bias, and those few horror stories I’ve read are likely to be infrequent outliers? Any positive stories of other parents out there?
4) I’m looking for family friendly districts with plenty of greenery (both manmade and not). Any suggestions or tips how to find them? Or maybe a particular area recommendations?
5) I will also take any other random advice which would make my moving-with-family experience better. 🙂
1 comment
So my family made a similar move to Japan with a 2.5 year old last year. We live in Yokohama, about an hour away from Tokyo, which has the advantage of being a vibrant city, a little more spacious, and lots of family-friendly activities/spaces and lots of expat families.
We have a 3LDK in a nice new mansion (built 2018) and pay about 230k JPY. We used a realty/language assistance service to help us find the place (I speak Japanese, but I didn’t want to have to deal with all the translating for my husband, who doesn’t). We didn’t have a ton of options (maybe about 7 places listed, we saw 3 or 4?), but we also have a dog so that was the complexity. No one cared that we had a family.
Our nice new building means that most noises are muffled— we hear some stomping around sometimes, but not enough to bug us. We live in the ground floor so we don’t worry about our kid’s running bugging neighbors. Besides, there are a ton of families in our building, as it’s a family-friendly area (lots of parks and schools nearby), so we figure everyone knows what’s up. We never hear any crying/yelling, unless we open our windows and the other toddler upstairs is having a rough day. Apartment is well insulated and though no central air/heating, that doesn’t matter as the aircon systems in each room work really well! We love our place and find it cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but we do run our aircon a lot!
It took us about a month and a half to find the place, apply, have one fall through, apply again, and then furnish it enough to be able to live in it (refrigerator, laundry, bed). One thing is with a toddler in tow it took forever to see any place. We thought we’d see 3 or 4 places in a day. We did 2 and then toddler was DONE. Also I was working full time at the same time so it was tough.
Your other main concern may be childcare, if your family needs that. Happy to talk more about that if it’s relevant, but basically start thinking about it early!