If you guys have any advice I would very much appreciate it. Even if it’s just a simple URL to a website that has more information. With my research the past couple months I’m not able to find any real solutions around our issue, if there are any. Thanks in advance\~\~
My girlfriend and I are Kyoto residents and we are looking to upgrade our living a bit now that we’re moving in together. I’m from America (Seattle specifically) and I’m used to paying between $1,400-$2,000 (190,000¥-270,000¥) for my living spaces. My girlfriend is from Italy and is used to paying somewhere around half that. We have been living very affordably here, about $400 (55,000¥) a month, but seperately. We are looking to get a 3LDK+ 65m\^2+ with a budget of about $2,300 (300,000¥) give or take. We’re happy to spend less, that’s just our upper limit.
The difficulty is, we are here on saved money on cultural and student visas. I don’t have income outside of investments and some stuff from a family limited partnership (a sort of trust from my family). None of it can really be considered income. I can show them my bank account but at the few “non-foreigner friendly” places, the basically called back two hours later and said no, according to my friend/guarentor, is likely because we are not on working visas and do not have provable income in Japan, even though our bank statements show that we could very well pay the rent for the year lease ten times over.
The problem is that the foreigner friendly places, while incredibly good budget-wise, have pretty horrible insulation (which isn’t something I can deal with in Kyoto summers), were made 40+ years ago, almost never are over 30m\^2, nonetheless 65+. I’m just running into a lot of frustration with finding a decent place that will actually consider us nearer to our budget with good insulation, an extra bedroom and a functioning kitchen, ideally that was made sometime after 1990.
Extra information if it’s needed:
I’m on a student visa at a language school. Taking time off work for a couple years to do something new, but have plenty of savings and a career to go back to after.
My girlfriend is switching over to a working visa but is currently on a tourist.
We have a good guarentor and connections with some people that have been helping us, but they don’t have a ton of experience in foreigner renting.
I’m somewhere in between N5 and N4 right now, which may be playing a part in the deicision, although I’m not totally sure.
Thanks again, looking forward to any information, help or personal experiences you may have.
5 comments
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The issue is your income. They need to see you can afford the apartment through work, paying for a year upfront isn’t really a thing here – the owner wouldn’t make any money on the interest regardless.
The real estate / owners don’t care about how much money you have in your foreign bank account – the fact your a student and your partner is a tourist (?!) means you’ll only be considered for the higher price, older places that some smart old men bought realising that foreign students will pay anything to make a life in Japan.
Best bet? Find an older apartment and make the most of it until you both have jobs.
Sounds like the girlfriend on a work visa is your best hope. You’re dead weight as far as the landlords are concerned.
I recommend you to choose a regular apartment whose owner doesn’t mind renting people from abroad.
As you said, foreigner-friendly rentals aren’t good compared to regular ones. I mean its conditions and locations.
Idk your lifestyle but apartments where people with various backgrounds live are sometimes noisy and some of them don’t follow some rules(e.g. garbage disposal rules), which would be uncomfortable.
However, brand new apartments that have easy access to city centres are really popular amongst Japanese people, so their owners want to rent a Japanese person who has a decent job(like working at a huge company), so it must be hard for you guys to find the one. You need to compromise some.
In my opinion, your budget is enough to have a big apartment in Kyoto city.
It’d be better to find a building that was built after 1995(The great Hanshin earthquake occurred 1995 and building standard laws were changed). The buildings built after 1995 would be more stable and sturdy.
Look for a UR apartment. They will rent to anyone if you pay the first year in advance. There are newer ones that have good enough insulation but beware in any apartment in Kansai over 1LDK, they won’t come with any ACs or a stove.