Comment by m3at

A peculiarity of renting in Japan (not mentioned in the article): you often need to advance a substantial amount of money upon starting a lease. It varies but a rule of thumb is about 5 months of rent. Part of it is advanced rent, but some is non-recoverable (key money, brokerage fee, insurance, cleaning fee...). Contracts are often two years, and at the end of it you typically have a renewal fee as well, at around a month of rent.