アメリカ留学時代に仲の良かった韓国人の友人から久しぶりに連絡がありました。なんと、現在アメリカで勤務している彼（と奥さん）が秋から日本で働き始めるとのこと。

ただし、住居探しなどは会社ではなく自力で行わないといけないらしく、日本での住居探しについて①米国→日本への引越しを行う日系の業者、②日本における住まい探しのイロハ、③日本での一般的な住居探しサイト、などについて助言を求められました。

外国人の住居探しは、保証人などの問題や、そもそも賃貸業者とのやり取り、契約書の理解など言語・文化の違いでとても大変だと聞きました。同じような境遇で、困っている外国人の方もいるかもしれないので、友人へ送った内容を(ちょっと修正して)ブログにも記載することにしました。

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HOW TO SEARCH FOR AN APARTMENT/A ROOM IN JAPAN

Dear Visitors,

Hi there. Welcome to my blog. For those who are moving in Japan from overseas and looking for housing here, I would like to introduce (1) major moving company operating overseas and in Japan, (2) Basic guidance/knowledge regarding housing in Japan, (3) major web portal for room searching/finding in Japan.

Hope this helps!

Moving Company in Japan

Here is the four moving companies I recommend. Yamato and Nippon Express are two biggest Japanese moving companies. Generally shipment by air takes 2 weeks from door to door and shipment by sea takes 2 months. All of four companies offer the comprehensive moving service so you can use the combination of air and sea logistics depending on your moving goods.

Yamato Transportation

• https://www.yamatoamerica.com/en/moving/index.aspx
• They are reliable company and offer both air and sea shipment. If the price meets your budget, I recommend their “rakuraku pack (full service moving)”. Free estimate (quotation) is available on their website.

Nippon Express

• http://www.nittsu.com/hikkoshi/BranchServiceDisplay.aspx?branchServiceID=104 (Japanese site)
• http://nipponexpressusa.com/services/moving-service/
• I guess they also offer both air and sea shipment.

Economove Japan

• http://www.economovejapan.com/index.htm
• Middle-class moving company I found online. Free inquiry is available on their website.

Green Liner

• http://www.greenliner.com/#!internationalmoving/citr
• I found them on the Internet. They are small local company located in CA and offer both air-shipment and sea-shipment. It seems they are specialized in the moving from USA to Japan. You can make an inquiry from the website.

Basic Guidance for Housing in Japan

Apartment Search Guidebook by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

• http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000990504.pdf (Korean)
• http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000990502.pdf (English)

Searching for Rentals in Japan; Beginner’s Guide by Suumo

• https://suumo.jp/tokushu/foreigner/korean/ (Korean)
• https://suumo.jp/tokushu/foreigner/english/ (English)

Housing search website

Although using directly agents are recommendable, I also want to give you some room searching website.

Suumo

• https://suumo.jp/tokushu/foreigner/korean/
• Suumo is one of the most famous website for room finding.

GTN (Global Trust Networks)

• http://www.gtn.co.jp/kr/tenant/
• Famous housing agent. Korean/English is available for housing search.

Agharta Inc.

• http://agharta-japan.biz/
• Only English is available.

Gaijinpot

• http://apartments.gaijinpot.com/en/rent/listing

For your info…

• Other than Suumo, I guess they are the 4 big room searching web portal sites. It seems they are available only in Japanese though.
• Apaman Shop
• HOME’S
• At Home
• CHINTAI net

Useful words

Also, newly-built high rise condominium is generally called タワーマンション (or タワマン in short) in Japanese.  Tower mansion or Tawaman in short.

=EOD=