Important things you should know when you rent a room

When Japanese rent a room, they care which side the windows are facing. Winter in Japan is cold. The bright sunshine enters the room at midday and keeps the room warm if the windows are facing south. Therefore, rooms with windows facing south are preferred. The next most preferred rooms are those with east facing windows through which the morning sunshine can enter. Rooms with south and east facing windows are considered the best and their rental rates are usually the most expensive.

Even if your windows are facing south, you will not get much strong sunshine in summer as the sun moves so high. You can get fresh southern winds through a south facing window. Rooms with north facing windows cannot get sunshine and become damp, and you cannot open the windows during winter since the cold wind blows in from the north. This is the reason Japanese prefer rooms with south facing windows.

In room rental adverts, descriptions such as “2LDK” or “3LDK” can be seen. “L” means living, “D” means dining and “K” means kitchen. “2LDK” means 2 bedrooms with a living room, dining room and kitchen. ?One room mansion? means one room with a kitchen and bath in an apartment. Usually it is as small as 20~30 m2. Apartments built with iron and concrete are generally called “Mansions” in Japan.

In the descriptions you will also see the expression “xx minutes walk from XX station.” One minute means 80 meters. “10 minutes walk from Shinjuku Station” means 800 meters from the station.

”Rent 80,000 yen , Key money 1 and Deposit 2” means Rent is 80,000 yen a month (advance payment), key money is one month (80,000 yen) and deposit is two months (160,000 yen). So, you would be required to pay 320,000 yen when you rent this room. In Japan furniture is not generally provided in rooms

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