What's really really cool today is that we're going to go now
to look at a traditional Kyo Machiya
So if you want to talk about how will your experience
differ from where it would say in North America
or perhaps in Europe there is nowhere that you're going to find a house like this
For a lot of people just the mere mention of going apartment hunting
runs chills down their spine.
They hate it it's a pain they don't want to do it.
And then there's a group that really really enjoys it
i'm in the latter group and i'm about to do it here in japan
Usually you're going through a company or at least finding a listing online
to see where it is that you're going to tour and then you sign through a company
I'm going to show you guys specifically what companies I would use
and we'll go over that a little bit later in the video
So we're going to give you guys a glimpse into exactly what is it like to go apartment hunting
And to find a new home in japan
Drew the silent protagonist behind the camera has
actually been looking at a number of properties around kyoto lately
and so has a good relationship with one of the local realtors
They were kind enough to show us a number of different properties
ranging from old to new big to small
The first of which was high in a tower building
All right guys so we made it up to the
10th floor
That is the first apartment that we're looking at here. RENT: 53,000yen =500USD
So yeah i've never actually had tatami before
that's kind of cool
Also absolutely essential you'll need this in every single home
But having the air conditioner obviously that's huge
And then you're going to want to have enough space for all your clothing as well
And then if you're a person who really really loves to cook considerations are given in the kitchen as well
And you actually get...
WOW it is a wild view from out here
That's incredible
And that's actually really cool
You can see the train down on that side
We're gonna show you guys looking over the other way
That is where I've been previous or you will see after in the video
The beautiful garden that kind of sits in one of the major sections in Kyoto
Heading over to the kitchen
We have the obviously we got the vent here
Which is great
You got something about there
That's actually a pretty medium-sized sink
As far as i've seen when i've gone around
And then in this corner here,
we would set up our refrigerator
And then depending on the size of your workstation,
you could probably put it right here
In the bathroom that you're gonna find here there's something that's unique to Japan
This is only in japan i've never seen this back in Canada
Not my personal preference
And it happens where they'll put the the toilet actually in the same room as the shower
but if you're on a budget it can be a way that you're actually going to save some money
because that often drops the price of your rent when you're looking at places
Okay guys so we're heading to the the second location now
And this one is more significant
I believe it's a 2DK. RENT: 95,000yen=900USD
That's what we're looking at here
This will give you a great sense so if you're going to go a little bigger
What you can expect and lo and behold
It's significant so the kitchen is much larger
There is a gas range stove over here that you've got
Interesting that it comes with this. that's not something you should always expect when
I moved into different apartments you've often had to get your own
What are these called Drew?
KONRO
thank you
You have to get those yourself and your washing machine
but if you purchase them then you're saving money when you move to the next location
You can bring yours in
Under my feet now is something I rarely find in japan which is carpet
It's always wood flooring or it's the TATAMI
but i never ever usually find carpet so that's kind of like
This is a weird nostalgic feel
This reminds me of being back on Vancouver Island
So this would be your your kitchen
Then you've got perhaps a master bedroom there
And then if your baller deluxe
This could either be your second bedroom or if you wanted to turn this into an office
would be a great space for office
And what is really cool here,
is that we'll maybe perhaps do a little tour around the outside
that we have a connected balcony
so you can come out here
I can't MOON WALK but i can try
And you've got both rooms connected by the balcony which is awesome!
And we'll take the camera off of me for one moment
Drew fast pan over there!
We've got Kyoto tower!
so that's really really cool
Obviously the most important thing you're searching for is a house
but second importance to that is the resources that are available
So you can find the best house for you
There's a couple of online web portals that you can go to
There's homes.co.jp
There's Suumo. 2 Us, mo dot jp
and then there's ABLE (エイブル）
And these are useful for a number of different services
So first and foremost you can narrow down location
You could look for example whether by station or you could look by address
and you can figure out where you want to live
Following that you can then search on these sites by preference of things that you want in your home
And the additional service on top of that is that from these portals you can book your viewing of the apartment
welcome welcome hello
So this is especially cool to be in here guys
This is the inside track because of Drew
This building is being renovated right now
so most of the time you can't come in and look at a place like this
because they want to finish the renovations before you get to see anything else in here
but Drew's the man,
He spoke with the realtor he was like "Sure we can get you the key, because Drew's awesome "
So let's take you guys on a tour
This is really really well designed
For my preferences personally
So we got here the island kitchen
And the island kitchen lets you make what you want to make
and also be social with people while you're hanging out with them
To give you guys a few critical stats,
this is after like building management fee it's about 68 000 yen=620USD
and the initial costs which are involved with like guarantor fees brokerage fees all that stuff
IF you wanted to have something like a workspace, I was thinking if i were set up my workspace
You would set it up here
and that would be one place for you to be
As i said make sure you always bring a tape measure
We measured that out everything works
and then you come into the master bedroom
We have wall-to-wall here so you can see you're gonna have great light in this room
The closet which we were looking into as well i was talking about the bar
We already got that pre-installed in this place it's getting check marks all over the place
We got a fantastic balcony out here so
You can see Japan for whatever reason often doesn't have drying machines
So you can see there's a contraction outside here
Here you would put a bar across
and this bar here would allow you to hang your clothes and take care of your laundry
And then you got a view straight through to the mountains
And i'd like to show you on the other side of the building
Incredible view looking over to the river
You can't quite see the river but you can see the mountains on the other side
There's a lot in the location of this one
which is exceptional
Which i really really really like
So this is the laundry room/shower room
You set your laundry up here
we were talking about how maybe you need a gas stove
I actually already have purchased my laundry machine so i'm just going to move mine in
I got to bring it up the stairs or whatever in the elevator
But that's where you put this
And then i'm just going to let drew peek in to the shower here
I don't need to stand in there but just so you guys can see it
That is the shower and this is one where you have the hand basin as well in the shower
which sometimes that's a separate unit sometimes it's together
but really really importantly for me again we're talking about preferences I have
First place or one of the places that we looked at today
They had the toilet in the shower
Which is pure caveman to me but if you want to save a few bucks that's something you can do
This one... let Drew just take you guys into it
They've again separated it so if that's a concern you have and it's a concern that i have
This place has it as well
Okay guys so talking about an experience in Japan uniquely that you're going to have when you go looking for apartments
What's really really cool today is that we're going to go now to look at a traditional KYO MACHIYA
So if you want to talk about how will your experience differ
from where it would say in North America or perhaps in Europe
There is nowhere that you're going to find a house like this
Allow me now to spirit you away
This is the inside of the MACHIYA style location
First thing that i get really really excited about
Coming into the kitchen area,
is this characteristic of Japanese homes that i could talk for hours about
This is the the interior garden that you'll find in the MACHIYA
and in this location we have...I'm not sure the type of tree that it is
but the way that this connects to you even welts in your home to the seasons and the way that they change
And your connection with that is awesome
You're coming into this area now where they've got the the washroom right here
We have the "OTE-ARAI" right here
That's you know just a polite way to say the bathroom
We have the the sink behind me here where you could brush your teeth and everything like that
And i'm gonna let Drew go into this room here
What's cool about it is the linoleum style reminds me of "SENTOs"
"SENTOs" being more the kind of salt of the earth location if you want to go to an Onsen(hot spring)
where a lot of them say for example will have rules about tattoos
and that you can't have them in an Onsen
but at many SENTOs they will allow you to
So anyone can go there
Let you guys get a glimpse of thisi
It's some cool character
It's got some real depth to it too
It goes right down
I like that a lot
Great look right?
yeah yeah yeah very cool
yes yes
The stairs. So if i could level one criticism at every MACHIYA that i go into,
It's usually that these stairs are so steep,
This is a drawback characteristic that they're really dangerous
There was some movie recently on Netflix that was showing how somebody when they went up the stairs they slipped and fell and
I don't know if I could. Could I go as far as to say it's common Drew?
or is this something that happens?
Oh yeah
Okay thank you
So let's head up guys
Let's check out the rooms
Super steep! You can see the angle
"The incline", That's the word.
I remembered the word
Okay, so I get really really excited for this
I can just imagine if i were better at calligraphy,
Being in this room as it were spring and the first leaves were starting to grow from the tree
and you would be next to that and you could mark your experience in life
And then we have.... perhaps actually no.... definitely the larger of the two bedrooms
and this then a very much a community thing
You're having to be considerate
This would be a quiet neighborhood
You're not going to have too many raucous parties because you can see
literally across into your neighbor's porch on the other side
well there you have it what it's like to search for an apartment to go house hunting in japan
i leave for kyoto tomorrow
i did find a place
Very very excited to move in there
and what a huge change this will be
I've actually lived in the countryside the entire time that i've lived in japan
Thanks so much for watching guys.
I hope you tune in for the many more videos to come
but that is all for now
The clock has run out
Catch you in the next one