When it was time for me to leave Tsukuba, the city I'd lived in for about five years, I had a little bit of money in reserve to take care of key money and the first month’s rent at a decent apartment. However, I was trying to do my modeling thing at the time and I tried to get an apartment through a great company called Flat, Inc.

Unfortunately, modeling and acting doesn’t make guarantor companies jump to vouch for you. In this particular situation, I also wasn’t allowed to have friends be guarantors. It had to be a family member living in Japan and I couldn’t bring myself to ask a friend to do that for me. As my moving day approached, I really started to panic when my Japanese apartment applications were rejected. Just where the hell was I gonna live?!

I asked my friend who suggested trying a share-house. Truth be told, I had never heard the term before. I did hear that guest houses like Leo Palace are quite popular, but I also heard that these rooms could be quite tiny. So I looked into this share-house concept. It was definitely the arrangement I needed at the time! It got me out of a real bind and could help you as well if you are hard-pressed to find an easier, more inexpensive style of housing in Japan.

For more information, and even a helpful list of share-house companies to try, visit The Japan Guy below!