お部屋探し

Hello,

So...

Yesterday, I went to Tokyo to look for an apartment, and I saw a side of Japan that I did not want to see.

There was an apartment in Ikebukuro that was absolutely perfect. It was 40,000 yen, and it had a tub, a toilet, and a closet (the tub being the main reason I wanted it). It had a balcony to! It wasn't huge, but again, it had a tub! The ad said that it was available, only for male students, so I went to the real estate agency's office with Touchan (my guarantor) to schedule a seeing.

Earlier I saw two apartments, and apparently if you want to see an apartment in Japan, they take you over to the place immediately. No checking planners, or scheduling of any kind.

So we go there, and the guy was very kind, he showed us a bunch of places that they currently had listed, but the one with the tub (ha) is the one that I liked the most, so he called the landlord, and told him that a gaikokujin (foreigner) was interested in the unit... THEY WOULDN'T show it to us! CRAZY!

I was blown.

So I asked to see one of the other units they had listed (one without a tub which, if you haven't realized by now, is quite common). Again, he calls the owner, and the owner will not rent to foreigners. We did this three times, before we actually found a place to look at.

The place was EXTREMELY small. It was literally the size of the hallway in my house. It had a shower, and a toilet, but they were right next to each other, and I'd have to sit on the toilet while taking a shower (I will try to post pictures soon).

I was really taken back by that. Touchan said that it's mostly because there are a lot of people who come from nearby countries that will rent a place, trash it, and leave, and the owner won't be able to do anything about it as the tenant is not Japanese. Being a landlord myself, I can understand the trouble, but I can't understand the generalization that ALL people from ANY country are prone to do such things. I wouldn't have been insulted if they asked me to meet with the landlord, and talk with him for a little while. That would've been nice.

I did find a place though, or rather I told someone that I was interested in there place, and I will most likely hear from them tomorrow, as to whether or not I can rent the room.

I guess it was a pretty bad way to start things out in Tokyo, but I'm still VERY excited about living there. Nothing is perfect, right?