How to find an apartment in Kyoto (without selling a kidney)

As we leave in two days for Kyoto we have begun looking for an apartment. After reading a fellow Japan-blogger's post about the terrors of finding an apartment as a Westerner, we were a little nervous about how this would go.

Neither of us has any interest in selling our kidneys and we definitely don't have any Japanese ancestry, so the thought of having to beg people to rent to us became a real possibility. Thankfully, Kev's business partner H-san is amazing and has begun to help us find housing.

Our biggest tip when moving abroad: have amazingly nice friends in the country who will vouch for you and help convince real estate agents that you are as great as they are.

Since H-san found out we were moving, he has contacted countless agents, found apartments they would rent to us (all of which were gorgeous) and has even set up a day for us to go view apartments.

He also sent us links to the following websites, all of which are pretty user friendly, even if you don't speak Japanese (just click big buttons and anything that looks like a map). Here are two that we really like (obviously http://www.minimini-kyoto.jp is still high on the list too)

http://www.h-nw.jp

http://www.flat-a.co.jp

We will post again on this topic, after the housing-hunt late next week!

Too many bikes, too little parking

Although Japan is known for having lots of great public transit, many people choose to ride bicycles. So many in fact that apparently parking bikes has become a bit of an issue. We recently ran across this video of the Japanese solution to too many bikes and not enough parking.



From what we hear, biking is extremely popular in Kyoto. Here is a link to a website with lots of great information regarding biking in Kyoto, where to park your bike, and how to not rack up major fines for poor bicycle etiquette.

Apartment Hunting

Having had months to peruse housing advertisements for apartments in Japan, I've had a chance to get very familiar with what our future Japanese apartment might look like....

The stereotype:

  Weird stacked layouts with tiny rooms (yes those are meters squared...)

 Green tatomi mat floors. Although the green is super classy, the mats also come in natural tan as well. Also note the paper/bamboo sliding doors...Apparently a classic sign of all things Japanese.

 Oh your bathroom vanity is bigger than this kitchen? Surprising...since you likely live in a "Western" country where you have to use your kitchen two to three times a day. In Japan they apparently don't cook, use dishes, or store food. That little white square? Oh, that's the refrigerator...you know to keep your TINY Japanese food cold. There is also no baking or dish cleaning (by machine or hand) in Japan either.

 Closet space is one thing they go big on. For as tiny as Japanese housing can be, based on the pictures the closet space is killer! Although not walk-in, the apartments all seem to have multiple closets and some, like the one pictured, are very deep and wide.  

This last set of photos were a joke I think. Having looked at hundreds of apartments located in the same large neighborhood in Kyoto, I have never seen anything like the kitchen below. I swear I didn't pull this off of an American city's Craigslist either. This is a genuine (HUGE) Kyoto, lavender kitchen. 

If you just can't get enough of Japanese housing, check out our other blog post, about my (Megan) dream apartment!

Sometimes you just want it so bad

So we found out our move date has been altered a bit. Kev's company had some issues with the Certificate of Eligibility (i.e. they never turned it in...) so our date was pushed back a few days. All I can think now?

If you are unfamiliar with the certificate of eligibility process, it's surprisingly straight forward. 

   1. Fill out paperwork (forms here) 

   2. Have someone in Japan walk it through, or mail it...

   3. Wait until you here back

...I'd tell you the rest of the steps, but we haven't gotten there yet :-/