The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
Housing is where foreign residents report the most discrimination in Japan. What you pay upfront, how guarantor companies screen you, and how to get approved.
Renting an apartment is the single hardest step of moving to Japan, and the data says so plainly. When the Immigration Services Agency asked 8,874 foreign residents where they had faced discrimination, "when looking for housing" came first at 19.4%. That is higher than at work (17.5%) and higher than job hunting (13.2%).
For people on the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa, the most common work visa in Japan, it is worse: 33.5%. That is nearly double the average.
So if you have a signed job offer and landlords keep saying no, the problem is usually not you. It is a system built around risks that have nothing to do with you personally. This guide covers what you will actually pay upfront, why guarantor companies reject applications, and the practical moves that get you approved.
Far more than the rent. Japanese leases pile up one-off charges that rarely exist elsewhere.
Here is a realistic breakdown for a ¥100,000 per month apartment in Tokyo:
| Charge | Japanese | Typical | On ¥100,000 rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| First month's rent | 前家賃 | 1 month | ¥100,000 |
| Deposit | 敷金 | 0 to 2 months | ¥100,000 |
| Key money (non-refundable) | 礼金 | 0 to 2 months | ¥100,000 |
| Agency fee | 仲介手数料 | 1 month + tax | ¥110,000 |
| Guarantor company | 保証会社 | 50% of rent | ¥50,000 |
| Fire insurance | 火災保険 | 2-year policy | ¥20,000 |
| Key exchange | 鍵交換 | flat fee | ¥20,000 |
| Total | 4.5 to 5 months | ¥500,000 |
Two of these surprise people. Key money (礼金) is a one-off, non-refundable gift to the landlord, and you never get it back. The agency fee (仲介手数料) goes to the agency that showed you the room. The law caps it at one month's rent plus consumption tax.
Those charges sit on top of your normal monthly costs. Our Tokyo cost of living breakdown covers what the ongoing side looks like.
The deposit is refundable in principle. Since the 2020 Civil Code change, normal wear and tear is the landlord's cost, not yours. In practice, cleaning fees still get taken out.
Less than it was, and it depends heavily on your budget.
LIFULL HOME'S tracked Greater Tokyo listings from January 2018 to October 2025. Zero-deposit and zero-key-money properties rose across every rent band:
| Rent band | Zero deposit | Zero key money |
|---|---|---|
| Under ¥100,000 | 63.3% | not stated |
| ¥100,000 to ¥150,000 | 46.4% (from 33.8% in 2023) | 30.2% |
| ¥200,000 and above | 18.6% | 42.3% (from 31.4% in 2023) |
The pattern is odd. Cheap flats are the most likely to drop the deposit. Expensive ones are the most likely to drop key money. The middle band, ¥100,000 to ¥150,000, is the worst of both. It has had the lowest zero-key-money rate of any band since 2020.
When they are charged, both cluster at about one month. Deposits average 1.03 to 1.10 months, key money 1.02 to 1.19.
If a listing looks unusually cheap, check whether it is a zero-zero property (ゼロゼロ物件). These drop both charges. They usually win the money back through higher rent, a fixed cleaning fee, or a penalty if you leave early.
Because a good share of them would rather not, and the law does not stop them.
A government survey of property management firms found that about 60% of landlords are reluctant to rent to foreigners. Only 26% reported no reluctance at all. The better news is the trend: 44% said theirs had weakened over the past five years.
The stated reasons are rarely about you personally. In the same research, the top three worries were rent going unpaid, damage to the property, and language differences.
No Japanese law makes it illegal to refuse a tenant on nationality. Some cities have local ordinances, and the government funds guidelines urging landlords to accept foreign residents. None of it is enforceable the way an equivalent law would be in the EU or US.
That is the uncomfortable reality. The practical response is to remove every objection a landlord can reasonably raise, which is what the rest of this guide is about.
A rent guarantee company (家賃債務保証会社) promises your landlord it will cover the rent if you stop paying. It charges you a fee for that promise. Almost every lease now requires one instead of a personal guarantor.
Typical pricing, per government-collected industry data, is 50% of one month's rent at signing, then about ¥10,000 each year. Some charge 30%, some 100%, and a few charge a flat annual amount instead.
And this is where many foreign applications actually fail. Screening data collected for the ministry ranked foreign workers as the hardest applicant category to pass, below welfare recipients and below applicants in their seventies. The screening is not really about you as a person. It is a scorecard for payment risk and for how easily the firm thinks it could reach you.
What guarantor companies want to see:
Practical steps, roughly in order of how much they help.
Get your employer involved early. A letter of employment (在職証明書) stating your job title, salary and start date resolves the payment-risk concern directly. If your company has done this before, HR may have a template. Some employers will also act as your emergency contact, which is worth asking about explicitly.
Use an agency that already works with foreign tenants. Agencies differ hugely in how much friction they add. Some keep lists of foreigner-friendly landlords and will argue your case. Others quietly filter you out. If an agent seems reluctant, switch rather than trying to win them over.
Consider UR housing. UR (都市再生機構) is the public rental agency, and its properties charge no key money, no agency fee, and require no guarantor company. You need to show savings or income, typically monthly income of about four times the rent, or a lump-sum payment option. UR is one of the best routes for a new arrival with a good salary and no credit history in Japan.
Bring a Japanese speaker to the viewing. Not because you cannot manage. It kills the "communication might be hard" objection before anyone says it out loud. A colleague is fine.
Have documents ready before you view. Residence card, passport, employment contract or letter, My Number card if you have one, bank details, and your emergency contact's name and number. Applications often stall for days over one missing item, and good flats go in that window.
Widen your search past the obvious wards. Competition is worst where demand piles up, which is also where tourism pressure is highest. See where foreign visitors concentrate in Japan for how uneven that is. Our guide to Tokyo neighborhoods for expats covers the trade-offs by area.
Rejections are common, and they usually come with no explanation. A few things to check before you assume the worst:
Budget 4.5 to 6 months' rent in cash. On a ¥100,000 apartment that is about ¥450,000 to ¥600,000. It covers first month's rent, deposit, key money, agency fee, guarantor fee, fire insurance and key exchange.
Yes. Most landlords now use a rent guarantee company rather than a personal guarantor, so you do not need a Japanese individual to co-sign. You will still usually need an emergency contact in Japan, which can be a colleague or your employer.
Not necessarily, but it helps a great deal. Agencies with English-speaking staff exist in major cities. Bringing a Japanese-speaking colleague to a viewing removes a common landlord objection at no cost.
There is no national law that makes it illegal. Japan has no broad anti-discrimination law covering housing. Government guidelines urge landlords to accept foreign tenants, and some cities have local rules. None of it can be enforced the way an equivalent law would be elsewhere.
Key money (礼金) is a non-refundable payment to the landlord, historically a gift for granting the lease. You never get it back. It is distinct from the deposit (敷金), which is refundable minus damage and cleaning costs.
Rarely for a standard lease, because you need a residence card and usually a Japanese bank account and phone number. Most people use a share house, serviced apartment or company housing for the first one to three months, then sign a standard lease.
Discrimination and guarantor-difficulty figures are from the Immigration Services Agency's Basic Survey on Foreign Residents (在留外国人に対する基礎調査), FY2025 edition published May 2026, n=8,874. The 19.4% and 33.5% figures are the share reporting discriminatory treatment "when looking for housing", overall and among Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa holders respectively.
Landlord attitude figures are from a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism survey of property management companies, FY2021, 187 respondents. Guarantee-fee structures and guarantor screening outcomes by applicant attribute come from ministry-collected industry surveys conducted with the Japan Property Management Association. Those screening figures date from 2016 and are the most recent published at that level of detail, so treat them as directional.
Deposit and key money trends are from LIFULL HOME'S analysis of Greater Tokyo rental listings (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba), January 2018 to October 2025.
Cost estimates are illustrative and vary by property, agency and region. Data retrieved 9 September 2026.
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Only 6% of Coto Academy's students are on student visas. Evening and weekend Japanese classes for working professionals in Tokyo and Yokohama, from ¥20,000 a month.
