What IS an Average Japanese Apartment Like? | Tokyo
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So, what IS an average Japanese apartment like? My daughter and I created a video tour of our apartment (https://youtu.be/P_-QJO802Yc ) and I was surprised at the number of comments saying that the place was big (thrown in with a mix of contradictory comments saying it was small). Was I misleading the world? Is my family living it up and I didn't even realize it? What is the average income of people in Japan? You can follow the links below to see: - Distribution of Yearly Household Incomes in Japan 2013 - http://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Distribution_of_Yearly_Household_Incomes_in_Japan_2013 - Annual Salary by Age - http://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Annual_Salary_by__Age - Annual Salary by Occupation - http://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Annual_Salary_by_Occupation - Annual Salary by Prefecture - http://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Annual_Salary_by_Prefecture What exactly is the size of our apartment? It's 70 square metres (753 square feet). It's a 3LDK, which means 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, and a kitchen. It also has one bathing room, a sink/laundry room, and a toilet room. For a 3LDK this may be on the large side. I've found units that are from 10 square metres smaller to 10 square metres bigger. If you're not living in the core of Tokyo, I don't think the size of the 3LDK is especially large, but I think it's fair to say that it's larger than 3LDK units found closer to the centre of Tokyo. If you want to search for apartment rentals in Japan, it's very easy to do so online. What you will find, is that expat (read: English) sites are generally more expensive and are focused on the core of Tokyo. I did find one English site that seemed to have more "regular" person listings though. If you head on over to a Japanese site, you'll find much more options at much better prices. Here's the links to the places I found in the video, which may or not be working depending on when you view this: - http://www.tokyoapartment.com/en/rent/view/336081 - http://www.tokyoapartment.com/en/rent/view/341893 - http://www.tokyoapartment.com/en/rent/view/249482 - Tokyo Apartments (expat site) - http://www.tokyoapartments.jp/ - Japanese apartments site - http://www.homes.co.jp/chintai/tokyo/23ku/map/ - Special family rent stabilization / subsidy program (Japanese) - http://www.to-kousya.or.jp/%3B/chintai/tomin_top/index.html Where I think some commenters and I may have been tripped up a bit, is in the use of the word apartment. In Canada, the term "apartment" is generally used for any place that was designed to be rented. The term "condo" is generally used for apartment buildings that are meant to be owned. Of course there are condo units that are actually townhouses and there are also condos that are rented out like apartments. In Japan, the term "アパート"(Apāto) is an abbreviation of apartment. The term "マンシオン" (manshon) is from the English term mansion, but it usually describe a condo unit or a rental unit that is made from concrete and is at least three stories tall. There's not a solid definition forマンシオン, but it's generally of higher quality than anアパート. We live in a マンシオン. I didn't want to confuse any English speaking viewers by saying mansion, so we used the word apartment, as that's what you'd call a rental unit in Canada. So, depending on whether you're talking to an English speaker or a Japanese speaker, terminology can get mixed up. Here's something I found in Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_Japan "A one-room mansion (wan rūmu manshon ワンルームマンション) is a Japanese apartment style in which there is only one small room (10 m2 or 3.0 tsubo or 110 sq ft in many cases) and usually a compact bathroom. It is the functional equivalent of the Western-style studio apartment. These units are most often rented by single individuals due to their extremely small size; it is hard for more than one person to reside in them. Most of Japan's city apartment blocks have rooms such as these although family units (around 60 to 90 m2 or 18 to 27 tsubo or 650 to 970 sq ft in size) are more common, especially in the suburbs." I hope this clarifies things a bit about what an average Japanese apartment is like. tldr; Japanese apartments designed for individuals are really small, while family units are bigger. Apartments get larger in size the farther they are from the centre of Tokyo. Blog post at http://www.lifewhereimfrom.com/lwif-x-ep4-what-is-an-average-japanese-apartment-like/ If you'd like to support our mini-documentaries, we have a Patreon account https://www.patreon.com/lifewhereimfrom Website: http://www.lifewhereimfrom.com Main Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lifewhereimfrom Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifewhereimfrom Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifewhereimfrom Twitter: https://twitter.com/lifewhereimfrom
Comments
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i just picked up you consistently drops the 'g's on words like living and its so funny😂
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I pay $1,230 for a small 1 bedroom in Brooklyn so yes you are very lucky but yet very humble. Good luck with your YouTube channels.
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great! very good apartment, I want to have one
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What happens when you don't have your kids or wife with you to talk Japanese and read money
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Hahaha Greg I really liked the little "Big pimpin zone" thrown in there, I had to double take. Love the videos, wish you and your family well. Looking forward to more videos.
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Maybe you are not aware that you are above average : )
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your rent is half of indian prime ministers salary. he would not be able to afford your apartment ha ha
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i'm guessing the people/commentators that said about japanese apartments are supposed to be smaller (which is true years ago. they make apartments bigger now due to demand) got their knowledge from anime/manga/internet. :3
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What is the single person's apartments look like?
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The price for the unit you live in is cheap in my opinion. I live in a town of 90k people, and an apartment that size would actually be more expensive here. There would be more space in the livingroom and kitchen, but the bedroom sizes would be almost the same for a 3 bedroom, and would cost around $1500-1800 a month USD. And we are considered to be in a rural part of our state, not on the outskirts of a metro area at all.
Very informative video! Thank you so much. I actually like this series more than the normal channel :) -
I think y'alls apartment is great. It's really nice and your family appreciates it and enjoys it. That's what really matters. My husband and I live in a 900sqft house on blocks that's from the late 1960s. I agree that the amount of furniture, size of everything, and how you store it makes a big difference in how big or small a room looks. I'm looking forward to this channel since it's more adult stuff, to see a new side of things. And everyone seems to have an opinion these days, just remember that your families and yours are the only ones that really matter. 😊 Have a great weekend!
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I live in a 1200 sq ft condo with my husband in Texas. It was built in the early 70s and when his grandma moved in her mortgage was $300 a month. She passed but we pay $300 a month and people are so surprised (that's dirt cheap even for texas). We will be tripling payments at $900 just to pay it off quick.
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I live in coastal central New Jersey in a 2 story condo apartments with one big bedroom- double closet; full bath, kitchen dining room, and big living room and sliding doors balcony apartment $1200. But moving back to Puerto Rico in the country mountain side of the island as far away from the city into 3.5 acre property, cement house I built. I will grow my food as well.
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Are you half Japanese because you don't look full Japanese.
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I really did not care whether your apartment was average or not - I just loved seeing how a japanese apartment looks! Its so fun to see bits and pieces of a foreign culture!! :)
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Wow. $1000! That's great. You get a hallway for $1000 in NYC or perhaps a studio basement, 300-400 sq ft lol 😂
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Just discovered your channel!
I live in Tokyo too (approx 45mins to Shinjuku) and I have to say, your home IS pretty spacious! ;) We live in 2DK with no room for a sofa. No hate tho. Keep up the great videos, your daughter is a fantastic host. -
Thank you very much for sharing your way of life. It's a great idea ! Good Job.
I'm impressed by how your daugther speak english <3 -
im nodding along the whole video till u say you are mid 30s! XD you look younger than your age. i would easily believe if u had said u were 25! good genes! haha =)