Here’s the situation. Myself (M) and 3 others (M, F, F) will be moving to Tokyo in the end of November to work full time at a Japanese company. We need to find accommodation, and have been looking at several sharehouse providers over the past few weeks, but especially us guys are having real trouble finding good rooms.
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I’ve been looking at a website called [Fine Select](https://fineselect.jp/), and it has a lot of great options for women, so I think those two will have it sorted through here. But myself and the other guy are in a pinch. This provider has mostly women-only rooms, and the few properties that do accept men are way out of the main Tokyo city (In Kawasaki, or further). The only property accepting men has an insane rent of 92,000JPY per month including utilities.
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As for other providers, our company recommended a budget option called [XROSS](https://x-house.co.jp/), but the only good option we found there was a property in Itabashi-ku which is about an hour’s daily commute to work (which is okay. it might just be our best option rn)The problem with XROSS and most other providers like Sakura house and Oakhouse is that the floor plans are super unreasonable with toilet and shower sharing. 6 people to a single toilet and shower per floor just isn’t comfortable, no matter how you look at it. The one option in XROSS I mentioned earlier was genuinely the ONLY sharehouse we’ve found so far that shares 1 toilet between 2.5-3 people at most. And despite this incredible inconvenience, rent is 55,000JPY-70,0000JPY everywhere.
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It feels so impossible right now haha, I’m really stumped as to what I should do. I didn’t think my requirements were asking all that much; I just dont want to be sharing a toilet with any more than 3-4 people, and I want to be within an hour’s commute from my workplace in Minato-ku. (And I want to be within the main Tokyo City area, not Kawasaki)
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Am I asking for too much? Does anyone have any better leads from where I could find something matching these criteria? Would greatly appreciate any help in this regard, thanks.
6 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Impossible to find rooms with a reasonable toilet sharing scenario**
Here’s the situation. Myself (M) and 3 others (M, F, F) will be moving to Tokyo in the end of November to work full time at a Japanese company. We need to find accommodation, and have been looking at several sharehouse providers over the past few weeks, but especially us guys are having real trouble finding good rooms.
I’ve been looking at a website called Fine Select, and it has a lot of great options for women, so I think those two will have it sorted through here. But myself and the other guy are in a pinch. This provider has mostly women-only rooms, and the few properties that do accept men are way out of the main Tokyo city (In Kawasaki, or further). The only property accepting men has an insane rent of 92,000JPY per month including utilities.
As for other providers, our company recommended a budget option called XROSS, but the only good option we found there was a property in Itabashi-ku which is about an hour’s daily commute to work (which is okay. it might just be our best option rn)
The problem with XROSS and most other providers like Sakura house and Oakhouse is that the floor plans are super unreasonable with toilet and shower sharing. 6 people to a single toilet and shower per floor just isn’t comfortable, no matter how you look at it. The one option in XROSS I mentioned earlier was genuinely the ONLY sharehouse we’ve found so far that shares 1 toilet between 2.5-3 people at most. And despite this incredible inconvenience, rent is 55,000JPY-70,0000JPY everywhere.
It feels so impossible right now haha, I’m really stumped as to what I should do. I didn’t think my requirements were asking all that much; I just dont want to be sharing a toilet with any more than 3-4 people, and I want to be within an hour’s commute from my workplace in Minato-ku. (And I want to be within the main Tokyo City area, not Kawasaki)
Am I asking for too much? Does anyone have any better leads from where I could find something matching these criteria? Would greatly appreciate any help in this regard, thanks.
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Sharehouses are not the most comfortable but allow you to stay for short periods with no bureaucratic headaches to deal with.
Your best bet is probably to find a decent shared house where you could imagine living for a couple of months, and as soon as you start living there start looking for a real apartment. Tokyo has a lot of available housing and small studios for one person will be cheaper than a room in a dingy shared house in 90% of cases, even in the fancier, central neighborhoods.
Embrace the simple, cosy life in a shared house, so your basic paperwork to get your phone, bank account and all set up, and then get to work with a real estate agent right away.
No one who comes to Japan for a proper full time job should need to stay in a shared house long term unless you really enjoy it and somehow are ok with the value for money or the flexibility.
>I just dont want to be sharing a toilet with any more than 3-4 people
Fair, but if that’s the case then you’re better off looking for regular apartments rather than sharehouses.
>And I want to be within the main Tokyo City area, not Kawasaki
Any specific reason for this? Minato-ku is very accessible from Kawasaki. Tons of people commute to Tokyo from Kawasaki every day. Your budget of 60,000 (I assume) doesn’t match your requirements. Rent in central Tokyo is more expensive than you think.
you can also try gghouse.
for women , just find women only sharehouse. beware of garbage rotation politics.
for men, if budget is a concern, there is a dorm style in oakhouse.
Check on go go Nihon
World neighbors has private restrooms
Edit: some world neighbors