move to japan vlog | shared house tour, apt hunting as a foreigner, travel + first few days in tokyo

we landed. my mom had the premium economy seat and still complained about the flight. first meal in japan and we were too hungry to film it. then straight to the station to meet my landlord in the freezing cold.

the share house was cute but tiny. i'd only brought two of my six suitcases and the room was already cramped. the guy who checked us in said if i couldn't find a place they had apartments, but those were furnished and around 100,000 yen. i was looking for 60 or 70 because i knew i'd have to furnish it. it just didn't feel like home.

first real estate appointment: filled out all the paperwork, then the agent basically said unless i had someone who could speak japanese with me, they couldn't help. first rejection. and i couldn't even apply anywhere yet because you can't get a phone number without a residence card and you can't get an apartment without a phone number.

so our first weekday in tokyo was the ward office. registered my residence card, got the whole packet of official documents plus instructions on how to take out the trash and be a good civilian. by the afternoon i had a japanese phone number.

then the apartments. the first one was a 2k, 40 square meters, and i was in shock walking in because it was so big. separate bath and toilet, a long balcony connecting both rooms, and a tatami room that smelled amazing with so much storage. i've been obsessed since we walked out. the second one was a 1dk, newer, five minutes from the station, blue kitchen, but all i could think about was the first one.

i'm a foreigner and i'd already been rejected by two companies. thankfully my agent wong speaks english. we just needed an emergency contact so i could apply.