KirinMan
後輩
- 23 Jan 2007
- 2,113
- 68
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Yes and no, nearly every person that I have heard of goes through a housing agency to get their apartments or houses. The agency will probably ask you what your housing allowance is and then "show" you houses or apartments that would fit that allowance.I'm a contractor with L-3 Communications. We do get a housing allowance. So you recommend renting. I see they have houses and apartments. Is there a big difference in size/price comparison between the two?
I know that doesnt answer your question yet but please bear with me a moment. Now a Japanese person could walk into the same agency ask to see the same apartment or house and ask what the rent was and most likely would be given a totally different amount. Not fair to say the least.
The housing agencies that cater to the base personell have usually much larger and better apartments and houses than the average Japanese one. I will give you an example of a friend of mine. He is married with one teenage son, and two dogs. They have a two story house with 4 bedrooms a smallish kitchen, living room and dining room and a decent sized yard. His housing allowance is roughly 400,000 yen per month and pays around 300,000 per month in rent, the balance he uses to pay for utlities, particularly electric for the a/c.
It gets a bit warm here, ok I lied, it gets down right nasty here from about rainy season in May through October. You WILL need the a/c to make life bearable, unless of course you are used to hot, humid, steamy weather.
Ok back to your question, how much room do you need? Sure there are size and price differences, houses usually cost more than apartments but there are some apartments that I have seen here that look exactly like they belong in some 5star resort hotel. Then there are ones I wouldn't let my pet cockroach sleep in if I had one that is.
There are many really nice sized apartments available, it's up to you about privacy with a house vs apartment, parking, closeness to the base, things like that.