Frequently asked questions
| JAPAN |
| Will living in Japan be more expensive? Umm... can I afford to do this? Does Heart pay for airplane tickets? Will I be picked up at the airport? Who pays for transportation from the airport to Mito? Do I need to speak Japanese to live in Japan? What is the best way to pay for things in Japan? How much are taxes in Japan? |
| IBARAKI / MITO |
| What/Where is Ibaraki? What is interesting about Ibaraki? What/Where is Mito? What is interesting about Mito? |
| WORK |
What do I need to qualify for work at Heart? |
| VISA |
| What type of Visa will I need to work in Japan? Does Heart English School sponsor Work Visa(s)? What is the Visa process for a Work Visa? |
| VEHICLE |
| Does the company provide a vehicle? Don’t I need a License? |
| HOUSING |
Does the company provide free housing? |
| JAPAN |
| Will living in Japan be more expensive? |
| Usually. However this depends on where
you are comparing Japan's cost of living. If you live near
or in a big city, or in a place like California, the US,
you probably won't be too surprised by Japan's prices. For example, an ALT moved from California, Los Angeles, to a rural town in Tochigi, and found that she was paying about half of what she was paying in LA for the same sized apartment. In most situations, though, Japan will probably be at least a little more expensive. Some foods like fruits can be quite a bit more expensive because they have to be imported, but items indigenous to Japan are usually much more affordable. Japanese grocery stores also emphasize quality over quantity, which often explains the higher prices. Gasoline is more expensive than in, say, America, but chances are you won't need or want to drive much due to Japan's excellent public transportation system. Overall, if you're trying to maximize your savings, you'll want to do some research while here, because what was inexpensive in your country might be expensive in Japan, and vice versa. Some examples of expensive/inexpensive items in Japan: Expensive: Apples, Oranges, Peaches Gasoline Road Tolls Cheese (especially cheddar) Bread Costs similar to western countries: Fast food Noodles, Pasta Premade Lunches, Breakfast items, etc. Inexpensive: (Really good) Ramen and Soba Daikon Radishes Shiitake Mushrooms High quality rice Short train rides |
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| Umm... can I afford to do this? |
| Generally speaking also yes. Japanese
companies pay once a month. This is not a problem except
in your first 6 weeks (or so) in Japan. It can seem a very
long time to that first paycheck. This is why we stock our
company apartments with enough basic “goods and chattels”
to help until that 1st paycheck (see HOUSING for more info).
The Japanese government recommends 3000 US dollars to help
cover the expenses of moving and setting up in your new life
in Japan So, if you can make that first paycheck, things should be fine. Our salaries are sufficient for any single person to live on, and save up some money OR to go out spending on some weekends, but not always both. It will be difficult to rely only on our smaller contracts, to save money and enjoy life. IF you have dependants, debts, or other economic commitments, you may want to re-examine the feasibility of international travel and living. Our ALTs are allowed to supplement their income with side work, but finding such work cannot be guaranteed. |
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| Does Heart pay for airplane tickets? |
| The language industry has learned the hard way not to invest too much money up front in people who can change their minds and leave the country with few repercussions. Some of them arrive Japan but instead of directly going to their employers, they look for other jobs. Also, there are those who don’t contact their employers after receiving their plane tickets. Because of this, like most language companies, we do not pay for tickets. |
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| Will I be picked up at the airport? Who pays for transportation from the airport to Mito? |
| Since we are about 2 hours from the airport,
new ALTs who arrive here in Japan take a bus from the airport
to Mito. It takes about 2 hours and costs 3,000 yen. The
bus goes directly from the airport to the Mito train station,
so there has never been a situation where a new ALT got lost
on the way to Mito. You will be responsible for your own transportation costs to Mito where the training will be held. |
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| Do I need to speak Japanese to live in Japan? |
| No. But it does help a lot. Our company is
not a tourist agency. We do provide assistance, advice, and
support with
many of the basic and fundamental things needed to live
here. But just as you won’t want to work for us in your
free time at home, the company will not want to baby-sit
you 24/7. I highly recommend finding a good cultural guidebook (not a tourist guidebook) and some Language books/CDs/programs in your home country before you come over. Read the cultural guidebook before you commit yourself (mine was “Japan as It Is”, but I am sure there are better ones). Unless you are gifted in languages, it is unlikely you will develop a working use of Japanese out-side of Japan (there just aren’t enough real life practice opportunities), but working through the 1st 10 chapters of most Japanese textbooks before arriving will give you much less of an “adventure”. |
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| What is the best way to pay for things in Japan? |
In Japan, cash is king. Major credit
cards are functional, but not always accepted. My wife,
a Japanese native, had
trouble paying for a hotel room by credit card over the
phone back in 2000, and many smaller purchase retailers
do not have credit card machines. Non-Japanese debit cards
will not work. ATM cards, if they are backed by a large
enough
monetary agency (NYSE) will work in the post office ATM
machines, though it is really not advisable to expect functional
ATM usage. Even major Travelers Checks, such as American
Express, will only be usable at the head-branch of a bank,
or branch offices that specialize in international financial
activities. |
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| How much are the taxes in Japan? |
| There is usually a city tax that varies
from town to town, and your National Medical Insurance tax,
which I believe
is around 10,000 yen per month for your 1st year of employment
in Japan. Personal income tax is based on a scale, I have grabbed some data from 2007, the numbers may have danced, and I am not including all of the possible salaries we offer, so please keep these in mind as approximations. These figures are for a single person with no dependants, they are the monthly deductions our company is supposed to take from the monthly paycheck. 177,000 per month = 3,900yen tax per month 230,000 per month = 5,770yen tax per month |
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| IBARAKI / MITO |
| What/Where is Ibaraki? |
| Ibaraki is a prefecture or “ken”(one of about
50 in Japan). In American terms, it is a little larger then
a county. Ibaraki is part of the Kanto region. The Kanto
region
includes the prefecture and the city of Tokyo. Within the
Tokyo prefecture, there is a city named Ibaraki. Be careful
not to confuse the two. We are not in Tokyo. Ibaraki prefecture
is a prefecture. It is the northern most prefecture
of the Kanto region, bordering the mountains north of the
Kanto region. Chiba is a prefecture between Ibaraki and
Tokyo. Chiba is the location of Narita airport. So we are in the country, but an easy traveling distance to both Tokyo and Narita airport. |
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| What is interesting about Ibaraki? |
| Ibaraki is a coastal prefecture. It is the
home of the Hitachi Corporation. It is also the location
of the Tsukuba Science city (a “new” city, funded by the
National government to attract international researchers
and scientist to work in a community in Japan). Between Hitachi
and Tsukuba, there is a (proportionally) good-sized international
community independent of the English teaching community.
This, combined with Ibaraki’s closeness to Tokyo prefecture,
creates both a good amount of demand for English and English
lessons, and many local area businesses that are eager and
willing to work with people whose native language is not
Japanese. Southern Ibaraki is mainly farming communities. Northern Ibaraki is foothills, rivers, and some (mostly ghost town) mining communities. The north was developed as an outdoor recreational area for Tokyo professionals, so it has many golf, fishing, and camping, areas. |
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| What/Where is Mito? |
Mito is the capital city of Ibaraki prefecture. It is also easily the largest city in the prefecture at around 260,000 people. It is located almost in the center of the prefecture. Our main offices are in Mito, though all of our client towns are made up of the villages, towns, cities, and prefectures outside the Mito city area. |
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| What is interesting about Mito? |
| Mito was home to one of the more important Shogun lines.
As a result of this it has a relatively (for such a small
city) large number of temples/shrines/monuments/parks and
historical/cultural museums. One of the Shoguns also designed
and had built Kairakuen Park, one of the three most important/largest
parks in Japan. For more info on Mito, see Mito Home Page. |
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| WORK |
| What do I need to qualify for work at Heart? |
| From the perspective of certification, a BA or BS degree,
and the ability to receive an employment valid Visa is required. However, more importantly to your having a satisfactory experience, and our long-term reputation as a company, you should possess a desire to teach, an open, enthusiastic, and friendly personality, and a genuine ability to be interested in your students/customers regardless of their age, communication ability level, or social experience. Some of them are coming to you to improve these last two, and if you don’t find the process itself exciting you will crush their enthusiasm and interest. This is particularly important as an ALT. ALTs must be able to care about their students. They must also be prepared to spend every day as both a role-model for children and a cultural ambassador at their local public schools. The job itself is not very demanding nor does it require unusual skill, but still, over the years many people - JET, Direct Hire, and ALT Company alike - manage to fail at it simply by a lack of care for their students and a lack of concern for their role in the public education of the next generation of Japanese. |
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| Do I need teaching experience? |
| It is not required, though it does improve one's chances of an employment offer. To help us determine your potential as a teacher, we conduct interviews in person for people in Japan, and over the phone for overseas applicants, but our hiring priority is for people we have met in person or those who can otherwise demonstrate teaching potential or practical experience. The international language industry is staffed primarily with young people gaining experience before settling down (often just after college), so extensive experience is not expected at most companies. We provide training, advice, lesson plans, occasional observation/critiques, and a resource library to help new teachers find and develop their teaching methodology. |
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| Do I need to be a native speaker to teach a language? |
| Sometimes. This can be a requirement for some of our clients, but we do have staff from many different countries and languages. English is not the only language we teach, though it is the primary. Those who are not native speakers, must display greater qualifications for teaching English then a native speaker, and/or have met with us for personal interviews. A non-native will be scrutinized more before being employed, but once employed they are judged by their ability and their customer's satisfaction just as any other teacher is. We would rather have a non-native teacher who can inspire enthusiastic learning (and spending), than a native speaker who dulls the enthusiasm of our clients. |
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| Do I need to speak Japanese to work in Japan? |
| Our entire office staff is (at least) Bi-lingual. And it is Heart School philosophy that the student is served best by full immersion lessons where the language studied is the only language used (except English Test lessons, such as TOEIC/TOEFL). That said, the more Japanese you possess, the better, as it is the native language of the country. |
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| What type of work is there? |
| We conduct classes, group and private, adult and
children here at our main office. We also send teachers
to corporations to teach their staff- business English,
conversational English, English tests (TOEIC, TOEFL, STEP),
and specialized communication lessons (such as presentations).
We also place teachers with client towns to work in the
public school systems as ALTs; this is the largest part
of our employment, so I will cover it in detail further
below. We have 3 basic types of employment for teachers. A) Full Time. This is a teacher who works a full time position and is considered to be fully part of the company. They teach the full range of our offered services, and when not teaching they are often tasked with company responsibilities such as lesson/program development and research. B) Part Time. These are teachers who are only responsible for their actual lessons. They are used in our Heart School lessons and in corporate lessons. They are given a higher per/hour pay then our other teachers, but work significantly fewer hours and are expected to prepare for their lessons and complete their lesson records in their free time. We cannot sponsor the Visa of a Part-Time employee. C) Semi-Full Time. This category is reserved for ALTs. It is based on the ALTs 6-8 hour work day, 5 days a week, balanced by the large number of holidays and days off throughout the calendar year (160-215 days of work). |
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| What is an ALT? |
Assistant Language Teacher. These are teachers working
in the public school systems. There are 3 basic types of
ALTs. C) High School. This is the least common position Like elementary school, ALTs may take charge, but within the guidelines of an assigned text book.
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| What is the difference between working as an ALT and a Private School? |
| Unlike work in a private language school, where your
experience of Japan is limited to your free hours, energy,
and money, ALT work puts you in the middle of a cultural
experience and asks you to participate. ALTs work in the
public schools of Japan, so you will observe, and even participate
in the ceremonies, games, images, and symbols that affect
and shape the young generation of Japan. If you truly feel a calling to teach, ALT work is a far more rewarding environment than working in a Private Language School, which is a service industry where your student is your client and you always remain in a customer/sales relationship. The other side is that the Private Language Schools (with their customer/sales mentality) are able to offer a better salary then the publicly funded Public Schools. |
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| What is it like to teach in a Japanese School system? |
| It is difficult to give a 1 paragraph summary of a years experience, as there are many highs and lows throughout a year, and many cultural obstacles and rewards. If you are by nature a teacher- thoughtful, inquisitive, patient, externally aware and concerned, motivated to communicate, and enjoy challenges, new experiences, and the process of development- it can be all that you hope it will be. If you are just looking for a job, it can be a disappointing waste of your time; no advancement prospects; foreign labor relations and cultural/social attitudes, etc. |
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| What is the general size of a class? |
| There are 30 - 40 students in a class. |
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| What is a typical working day like at school for an ALT teacher? How many classes do I teach a day? |
| It usually 5-6 periods (45-50 minute lesson/period) with 10-20 minutes breaks in between lesson. ALT then joins the students to eat lunch or clean the classroom together. It depends on the school. Working hours are basically 8:30 to 16:30, but sometimes you might have 2 classes a day or on another day you might have 5 classes a day. |
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| Also are employees compensated for extra duties (camping trips, writing birthday cards, etc.), or are these activities grouped under office hours? |
| These activities are grouped under office hours. |
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| How much is the school lunch? |
| It is around 300 yen a day. |
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| I was asked to prepare for indoor shoes. What are indoor shoes? |
| You might have heard about the Japanese custom of taking off shoes when you enter a house. Even schools, students and teachers take off their shoes and change into other shoes to avoid getting the floor dirty from the mud. You can prepare for another outdoor shoes as indoor shoes. Sneaker or tennis shoes are fine. |
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| What is the dress code? |
| For men this is easy, shirt, pants (no jeans), and tie.
Colors for the shirt are fine and good. I would also buy
a pair of “indoor shoes” in your home country if you have
large feet. These are shoes that will only be worn inside
at the school (I am assuming you will bring outside shoes
as well), most Japanese teachers use tennis/walking shoes
that are easy to take on and off, though the older ones
wear comfortable dress shoes. For women this is much more difficult, as I am not much of a dresser or shopper and most women dress better than I. In general, try to match the men’s business casual style, nothing too eccentric or revealing. Remember you will be a role-model for these young children in a society that has conservative leanings. Most Japanese women wear layered clothes neck to toe, even in the summer. You won’t be expected to match this, though please bear in mind you are being tasked with the mental and moral development of the next generation of Japanese citizens. Also, you will need to have clothes that are more flexible for participation with school activities, such as planting, cleaning, and playing tag with kids at recess. |
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| How many suits do I need to bring? |
| You could possibly be working in both elementary schools and junior high schools, but even in junior high schools most ALTs do not wear a suit every day. If you are comfortable in shirt and tie, you can prepare more of those and just have one or two suits. If you find that you need more suits, they are fairly reasonable in Japan. |
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| Does Heart provide insurance? |
| Public schools subscribe to its mandatory Accident Compensation Insurance, which will cover all employees for accidents at work. However, for full-time protetion, all employees must join the National Health Insurance Scheme.The Japanese Government provides insurance, for around (initially), 5,000 yen a month. It fluctuates after that according to your previous year's salary. (That’s right, for around $50-$250, (U.S.) the government can provide universal health care coverage. This insurance includes most of your dental. Your health insurance covers 70% of your medical cost. If your cost (including prescriptions) goes above 100,000 yen in a given year, the amount that it is over 100,000 can be deducted when you file your taxes, so keep the receipts (I assume this deduction is against your years salary, which is the base for calculating your taxes, and not your actual taxes). The cost of medical treatment is also lower in Japan, thanks to a lack of Medical/Insurance/pharmaceutical industry lobbyist and the effectiveness of a large single client (the Japanese government) negotiating in bulk. For example, I went to a private doctor, spent about 20 minutes with him, he ran some tests, and I paid 2,400 yen out of pocket the rest was picked up by National Insurance, I then went to the pharmacy where I continued to get 70% off. Just chatting with a Doctor for 15 minutes has cost me as low as 400 yen ($4). |
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| Why don’t you know yet where I will be going? |
| Placement is one of the most frustrating
elements of the ALT industry for everyone involved. Our
clients (especially new clients) usually do not officially
inform us of the winner of the contract bidding process (with
other companies) until about a month before the start date.
This is not enough time for anyone involved, and sometimes
they give us even less time. So we begin the Visa process prematurely, to take the time burden off of the legal requirements. We begin offering positions as soon as they are available to candidates that have already finished the application process and thus, whose Visa documents are being processed. Generally speaking that lets us give a months notice of employment. Some of our long time clients, have been sold on the benefits of early notification, and they give us more notice ( 2-3 even 6 months), so we do hire a small number of people early. And of course, there are those clients that do not have much of a plan or organization and give us notice only a few weeks or days in advance, and we do the best we can with those. If you are hired “unconditionally” you will have a position with one of our towns, it just may not be fixed yet which town, even after you arrive. Our clients have contracted with us to take one of our teachers, but they have also usually contracted for an interview/selection opportunity, or veto, with our employees. Our sales team spends a great deal of effort matching employees with towns and ensuring that this introductory meeting element of the process is just a formality with a single employee. However, even when a group of employees is requested to meet, but only one will be selected, the numbers balance out (eventually). By this time we have balanced our hiring, so that we have the same number of new employees as we have (signed) contracts to fill with our clients. We then shuffle through our employees with these introductory meetings until everything balances. |
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| Do you have any positions in Tokyo? |
| Yes, but part time jobs only (such as only 100 days work a year), so we don't place new ALTs in Tokyo. Our client towns are spread out throughout the Kanto region (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba, and Gunma prefectures, and the Tokyo area), which are approx. 1-4 hours out. |
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| When will I get paid? |
| As mentioned earlier, Japanese companies, as a rule, pay only once a month, sometime after the month in which you have worked. The Heart Corporation is no different. We pay all of our ALTs on the 20th of every month (including August, which is generally a holiday month), the month following the month worked. For example, if you start work in April, your first paycheck from Heart will be on May 20th (covering the calendar month of April). While this is hard for many employees in the first 6 weeks (before their first payday), the upside is that the month after you stop working for the Heart Corporation, you receive a payment. |
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| VISA |
| What type of Visa will I need to work in Japan? |
| To work full time in Japan, you will need a Spousal, Working Holiday, or Work Visa. Part time work is also available for anyone with a Dependant Visa. Although a Working Holiday Visa does allow someone to work in Japan, Heart School chooses to screen out applicants who do not meet the higher qualifications of a standard Work Visa. This requirement is a BA/BS degree. Anyone with one of these degrees (or higher) on a Working Holiday Visa, is still welcome to apply. |
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| Does Heart English School sponsor Work Visa(s)? |
| Yes. If you are not already in Japan, I strongly recommend you give some second thought to any company offering to employ you without sponsoring your Visa. More so for countries out side of Japan, but there are some fly-by-night operations out there that will take advantage of your desire to work & travel, and leave you in some difficult positions. |
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| What is the Visa process for a Work Visa? |
| The process is 2 part: Part 1) A Certificate of Eligibility. This is obtained by us, the company, here in Japan. It is required before you may apply for a Work Visa. It takes 4-6 weeks. The following documents will be needed. A) A photocopy of your passport photo and ID # page(s) B) 2 head shot photos taken on a plain, white background 4cm (down) by 3cm (across). C) Official Transcripts from each of your BA/BS or higher degrees. An official transcript will list the Type of Degree, and date awarded, and meets all requirements set by the awarding institution. D) A copy of your BA/BS diplomas E) Any additional degrees, certificates, or official records demonstrating experience, employment, or knowledge of Teaching or Japanese (language, or cultural studies) They should be sent to this address: Heart Corporation |
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| VEHICLE |
| Does the company provide a vehicle? |
| When the company deems it useful (and in a rural prefecture
it is usually useful), we provide a vehicle lease option,
for 18,000 yen a month. This includes basic legally required
liability insurance. The Vehicles may also be driven in the area where your school is located or in the city where you live for your personal use and needs during your free time. |
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| Don’t I need a License? |
| Yes. Of course you do. But an International Drivers license can be obtained without a test, through any national travel agency for a small fee. In the USA, AAA is around $20 with AAA membership. An International Drivers license is good for 1 year from the date of your entry to Japan (NO MATTER WHAT the license says, you only get one year from your entry to Japan). After that you would need a Japanese License, which is either easy or frustrating/expensive depending on your nationality. |
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| HOUSING |
| Does the company provide free housing? |
No. Unfortunately not. However, it does offer to subsidize housing, and provide some rather useful support for those who are coming from overseas or are in Japan for the first time. The purpose of company housing is to save time and stress for the new employee when they first arrive in Japan, and to defer the HUGE up front cost of a Japan over your year. The last time I checked the landlord demands a service fee over the regular rent that covers the realty/key money/insurance cost of about 3 months of rent. So it's economical your 1st year, but eventually you would want to move out. However, we can't provide accommodation near Tokyo, Saitama and Chiba area although we can assist ALTs in finding a guesthouse. If living in a guesthouse is not comfortable for you, you will need to find your own accommodation by yourselves, and sadly we can’t be your guarantors. |
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| What is a guesthouse? |
| In a guesthouse, you will have your own room, but you will share some facilities, such as bathroom, kitchen, living room, and so on. Living costs of cities in Japan tend to be expensive. Apartment deposit is usually one month rent, but most of guesthouses' deposit is around 30,000 yen. You can save some money by staying in a guesthouse in Japan. Guesthouse is only available near Tokyo. |
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| Do I need to live in a company provided apartment? |
| No. As long as we are confident that you can be punctual, well groomed, and in no other way jeopardizing your reputation at work, the company (from a purely business perspective) is indifferent to your living arrangements. We offer a company apartment as assistance to our employees. It is strongly recommended for people without Native Japanese support staff ( a spouse or very loyal friends), to accept company housing your first year if you are coming from overseas. You will save yourself a lot of time and stress in those critical early days, and without that support staff, you are unlikely to find a similar value. |
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| Where will I stay until the company finds an apartment for me? When will I move to an apartment? |
| You will stay at a youth hostel/hotel in Mito until the apartment is ready. After the training session, you will move into an apartment if the apartment is ready. It’s usually in 2-5 days. |
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| Will I be forced to share the apartment with a roommate? |
| No. Most of our apartments are selected for single occupancy living. The exception is at the request of the individual employee, who may request accommodations for spouse, children, significant other etc. |
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| Does the apartment come furnished or partly furnished? |
| Normally, apartments in Japan are not fully or partly furnished. However, recent trends include having some basic things like refrigerator, cooker, air-con/heater and bedding. |
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| Is there Internet and cable television in the apartment? |
| No, there is not. Mostly ADSL Services can be acquired by obtaining your landline telephone account, and satellite TV is available to subscribers. |
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| How far away is the apartment? |
| The apartment will be within bicycling distance if you can't drive, (some of our teachers cycle 7 km a day) or within a reasonable distance if driving. |
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| How big are the apartments? |
| Apartment size in Japan is measured by “Tatami” mat(s). One tatami mat is 1.8meter by .9meter. Our single person apartments tend to have a 6 or 9 tatami mat living space, a small kitchen, a toilet room and a bathing room. |
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| How much are the apartments? |
| Our apartments' rents range between 50,000 and 56,000 yen per month, depending on location and availability. Before you can be allowed to move in, we will require your 1st month`s rent and a service fee equal to 1 month`s rent. In Japan, the service fee is normally non-refundable; however, Heart Corporation covers these costs and fees if the employee completes the lease of an apartment. If an employee doesn’t complete the lease contract period, the service fee would not be refunded as this serves as the processing fee for the arrangement and reservation of the apartment.In addition, you will need to pre-pay your Gas, Water, Electricity Utilities a cost of 10,000 yen per month. Checks don’t work in Japan, and our company doesn't have a credit card machine, so cash will be required. |
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| Are there any other fees? |
| The following are utility bills the company collects
and processes (they are pre-paid each month via deduction
from your paycheck) Gas, Water, Electricity. This Utility
(for single occupancy) is 10,000 yen per month, and covers
those utilities up to 115% of valued usage. If actual usage
exceeds 115% (11,500) of the prepaid (10,000), then the
addition will be charged to you in your next pay period. All others, such as telephone, internet, food, etc. you are on your own for. |
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| Is this a good value for utilities? |
| In prior years these utilities were charged directly. Our flat rate may end up plus or minus for renters (esp. cold + hot seasons) but the benefit is not having to deal with individual (or any) bills. Ultimately it's still a fair price, compared to an independent renter. |
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| O.K. then, what does the company provide by way of housing assistance? |
| 1) Pre-arrival arrangements. Generally
speaking, you arrive in Mito and your apartment is ready
for you within a week, as long as you have your 1st month’s
rent and security available in cash. If there is a delay
in the apartment’ availability beyond a week, due to something
on our side, the company will put you up in a hotel or temporary
apartment at the same rate as your daily rent would have
been. This is more common for those employees whose apartments
are outside of Ibaraki, and who arrive in the week before
training. 2) Key money. In Japan you must gift your landlord for accepting you. It’s standard in every apartment contract. The word for this payment is translated as “key money”, and is generally equal to 1-2 months’ worth of rent. In company apartments Heart School covers the Key money as we purchase in bulk. 3) Realty Fee. For some reason the Japanese do not advertise apartments directly, they always advertise through a realtor. The realtor will collect their fee from you, this is usually 1-2 month’s worth of rent (though I have heard tales that some rental contracts require additional payments to the realtor every 2-3 years). The Heart School also absorbs the realty fee for its apartments. 4) The space within the walls of a Japanese apartment must be insured by the person living there. This insurance is usually for a 2-year period, paid up front. The company absorbs this cost as well. 5) Outside of Tokyo most realtors/landlords require guarantors for any tenant. This guarantor is not only responsible for the rent and legal obligations, but also the moral character of the tenant. For company apartments the company is the guarantor. This is a two edged sword. The company is western enough to understand western social and home based hosting habits. But, when the old lady across the street complains that you have “guests” over in the evenings (regardless of what you are actually doing, and have every right to do in the space you have paid to rent), it will be the company that the landlord calls to address the problem with you and the lady across the street. Still even with this potential for difficulty, you won’t be able to rent a place without someone filling this role as guarantor. This does not apply to anyone living in Tokyo. 6) Semi-furnishing plus a minimum of “goods and chattels”. Although the trend is changing, traditionally, Japanese apartments are never furnished. Our company apartments are furnished with a futon, a mini-fridge, a heater/AC, a gas range cooker, and sufficient misc. “goods and chattels” to get you through to your first paycheck (only by way of an example: 1 fork, 1spoon, 1 plate, 1 glass, some cleaning aides, toilet paper, blanket, pillow, etc.) |
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