Apartments are Called “Mansions”in Japan

When non-Japanese are searching for accommodation, they will come face-to-face with a puzzling variety of names for apartments in Japan. They are eitheir called "mansion," "heights," "residence," "co-op," "casa," etc. In Japan, apartments (usually abbreviated to "apaato") refer to cheap wooden apartment houses.

Japanese rented wooden condominiums used to be once called "nagaya." After the war when Japan was greatly influenced by American culture, they came to be called "apaato (apartment)." Reinforced concrete condominiums built later were called "mansions" to distinguish them from "apaato." Other names are also used to express higher class accommodation, but the general term for reinforced concrete condominiums is "mansion."

Mansions often contain western and Japanese rooms. Floor area is described by square meter, but the term "tsubo," the traditional Japanese measuring unit, is often used. One tsubo is the area occupied by two tatami mats and is 3.3 square meters. It is likely that there are large differences in rents even in the same type of rooms. In Japan, rooms with a window facing south where sunshine comes in are the most expensive, followed by rooms facing east where the morning sunshine comes in. Corner rooms with windows facing south and east are best.

Learn housing jargon necessary for finding rooms
When searching for accommodation, you will encounter a lot of housing jargon in house advertising. Accommodation is generally described as (for example) "2LDK." "2" refers to the number of rooms (2 rooms), "L" means living room and "DK" means dining kitchen. "K" alone means a kitchen attached to a corner of room. Sometimes a room may be described as "1R," which means one room.

"Unit bath" means a bath with a toilet in a small space. Usually rented rooms are not furnished with beds or furniture. Many people use futon (Japanese traditional bedding) instead of bringing in a bed. This helps them create extra space when they fold and put it away.

"One minute walk" means 80 meters. Rent is usually described as (for example) "Chinryo (rent fee) 70,000 yen, Shiki 2 and Rei 2." "Shiki" is the abbreviation of "Shikikin" or deposit. "Rei" is the abbreviation of "Reikin" or key money. This means that you would be required to pay a monthly rent of 70,000 yen, 2 months deposit (140,000 yen) and 2 months key money (140,000 yen). So, in total, 350,000 yen would be required if you rented this room. Rent contracts are usually written in Japanese, so foreigners will probably require the help of a Japanese. Usually a Japanese guarantor is required.

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