Are Leopalaces worth it?

My placement has no predecessor or school housing so I’ll be going into a new apartment. My supervisor has sent recommendations but they’re all unfurnished. I know this is standard in Japan but the idea of having to drop a ton of money on a washing machine, curtains, lights, etc. when I’m only planning on staying for a year is stressing me out a bit.

I heard about Leopalaces and they seem ideal as they come with the basics. However, I have also heard the horror stories (thin walls, cramped, etc.) and that it isn’t too difficult to get what I mentioned above second-hand for cheap. I’m really not sure what to do.

16 comments
  1. Tbh, if you’re in a city most of the apartments in the same price bracket are going to be cramped and have thin walls/no insulation. If you’re a bit more rural the apartment will be larger, but it might be old. Leopalace is fine for a year, and it saves you the hassle of selling everything again even you leave.
    I had a privately rented apartment and I was jealous of my friend’s leopalace because it was modern, the toilet was separated from the bathroom, and she had a loft for extra space.

  2. Yeah, go for it. I had to furnish an empty apartment on JET and it royally sucked. I shit you not, I showed up with about $5,000 saved and that vanished in the first month just buying furniture.

  3. I think the main thing putting me off a Leopalace in my search now is that they are so small. When I put in “over 30m2” there is only 1 listing in my area.

    Another thing you HAVE to consider is the cost of getting to school. The leopalace might not be anywhere near your school so you might have to take a train/bus to school.

    In my situation, I worked out that if I’m not within walking distance of the school I would have to take a bus every day working out to around 8000-9000 yen per month. Also, leopalaces aren’t cheap enough for me to feel like I’m saving money by using their cheap furniture.

    Take some time to weigh up the options. Find some leopalaces you like and some unfurnished places you like and see which will make life easiest for you.

  4. If you’re only staying a year, a LeoPalace might be good for you.

    The issue is that they’re more like a dorm in terms of size, layout, and furniture. Plus it depends how they’ve been up-kept – some years back a whole bunch of their buildings were in unliveable shape. Definitely do as much research as you can beforehand.

    Yes, having to furnish an apartment from nothing sucks. It’s expensive. I’ve done it a couple times here, but if you find second hand shops and go about it smart, you can have a nice place that is exactly how you’d like it (a bonus that you don’t have 30 years of previous JET’s trash). *HOWEVER*, it only makes sense if you plan to stay a few years.

  5. I’ve never stayed in a Leopalace but if you’re only going to be here a year, then it would probably make more financial sense to go with one. Furnishing is expensive, even if you shop second-hand. You’ll spend the first few months of your JET tenure just recouping the costs from that alone.

    As well, my experience with my BOE (and at least a couple of others I’ve read about), they make us pay for our flights back home up front and we get reimbursed just before we leave. As a result, I paid about 200k yen last month. I know another JET in another prefecture who had to pay in April. Not gonna lie, 8-9 months is not a long time to work up the savings for that kind of expense. So if you’re BOE is like mine, you’ll be spending all your money the first couple of months furnishing your apartment, then you’ll have a couple of months of fun money, and then you’ll be saving up again for your flight back home (and possibly shipping your stuff back to your home country).

    If the LeoPalace is worth it in terms of other factors (like location), then it is probably worth going for.

    Also, fwiw, I don’t live in a LeoPalace and the walls are very thin in my apartment. I can hear one of my neighbours wretch/vomit every day.

  6. I’m in a rural area so no Leopalaces, but my friend had to furnish his apartment from scratch. He had initially been told that his 3LDK would be furnished, only to arrive to find it empty. He wasn’t financially prepared for it and it was a major hit to his finances for the whole of fall. He ended up deciding not to recontract and by the time he’d financially recouped, it was nearly time to start thinking about packing up and leaving and all the expenses that come with that.

    Furnishing costs can add up, so make sure you’re in a good place financially if you decide to go that route. Leopalace’s are bad value for money, but could end up costing less overall depending on furniture costs and how long you end up staying

  7. All JETs at my board of education are initially placed in LeoPalace apartments. I stayed in mine for just under a year before moving out (I wanted to live in a quieter part of the city), but other ALTs were satisfied enough to stay 3+ years (several lived in one for 5 years).

    Not needing to worry about getting a refrigerator, microwave, or even lights was a huge relief when I first arrived.

  8. We had a non jet alt move into our area and they ended up finding a rental company to rent them furniture for the year they were there. Might be worth looking at if leopalace isn’t an option.

  9. I currently live in a leo palace residence and while the convenience of it all is alluring, I think if you know you’re going to stay for more than a year its worth the investment to spend and stay at a decent place. I knew I was going to be here for a year so it didnt really matter that much but upon my decision to recontract my apartment was the deal breaker. Its too cramped and I didn’t want to move all over again. I am currently looking into options for my successor and wagayajapan has some decently priced and sized apartments that could also be furnished

  10. I lived one year in my leopalace. Loved it. Cheaper than buying my own stuff

  11. To each their own, but please take care if you’re considering one as your accommodation. This is an article from 2019, which showed that a great number of buildings were non-compliant to national building codes. They were ordered to fix many of these issues that year. Granted, I haven’t looked for any follow up to this article, but related articles look like they were knowingly negligent.

    [https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190412/p2a/00m/0na/017000c](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190412/p2a/00m/0na/017000c)

  12. The less time you spend in Japan, the more a furnished Leopalace for a single person makes sense. Most of the basic things are provided; a washing machine, curtains, lights, microwave, IC cooker, fridge, usually a large mirror, aircon, a lot of storage, a table, a chair, TV (can be used as a monitor), and ready-to-use internet.

    You’ll still need to buy a futon, futon cover, pillow, pillowcase, doona, frypan/pot, cooking utensils, bowls/plates/cups, cutlery, bathroom mat, towels, preferably an internet router, clothes hangers, clothes iron, washing detergent, maybe a clothes drying rack, and preferably a circulation fan and dehumidifier.

    Even a semi-furnished Leopalace provides a fridge, washing machine, and microwave, which even when bought used, adds up to about 3万円.

    So most of the more expensive things are covered and you won’t need to worry about getting rid of them when you move out. You still need to buy a lot of stuff, so it’s good for the people who don’t have much starting funds.

    The lack of space is a problem, but it’s easier and cheaper to cool or heat up your room. You should try to not buy many things anyway since you’ll need to bring them all back or throw them away, and aim to save money to travel during your year here. The amount of storage space means you shouldn’t need to buy shelves or カラーボックス, just things like tension rod shelves. The one thing that sucks is the lack of kitchen counter space, so you need to work on your mise en place when cooking. The internet isn’t the best available, but some of the big providers only do 2-year contracts, which might have cancelation charges depending on how many months are left.

    Sound concerns are definitely a problem for maybe most older Leopalaces, but it depends on the age and quality of the construction, and who your neighbors are. Other foreigners, which are likely factory workers, can be very loud as they sometimes have their friends over to drink or they have hours-long conversations over the phone or Facetime. The main sound coming through are men’s voices, women’s voices are less likely to come through. Leonext apartments have excellent soundproofing as they’re newer than most Leopalaces, but they’re a little more expensive.

  13. My company several years ago put me up in one and it was fine. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s no palace, but it’s livable. They had a microwave, fridge, washer all set-up when I got there. Worth it for a year.

  14. Look at the floor plans, I stayed in two. One had a bed on top of a little storage area and it was great. It also was second floor and the stairs were inside and there was an extra little storage nook.

    The other was one with a storage area in a high up cubby hole that was actually supposed to be for sleeping but is terrible for sleeping. This one sucked and was too small

    If you cook at all pay attention to the cooking area, my first one had shelves in the kitchen and was amazing. My second one didn’t and I had to cut veggies on top of the washing machine

    If you look around you can find much better for the same price or slightly more. But if you don’t wanna look then LeoPalace is always gonna be generally clean and good enough.

    But yeah the walls are made of paper. That didn’t bug me too much but if you watch tv late at night or are at all loud then you may get complaints

  15. Noise level from adjacent units – next door, above, below, can be very challenging. If the BOE has a 2-year lease contract with the property management, you are stuck and will not be allowed to move. Maybe they’ll let you move to another unit within the building. Check your options prior to moving in.

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