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In Japan, there are privately owned homes, rental homes, and public housing. Prefectural and municipal
governments provide public housing at lower rents for people who have difficulty finding housing due to
economic and other reasons. Only those who meet certain requirements are accepted. Please contact the section
in charge at the prefectural or municipal office where you wish to live.
To buy or rent a house or apartment, you should contact a real estate broker and let them know what kind of
home you are looking for. Once you have decided on a house or apartment, you will make a contract with the
real estate broker. Rent contracts are generally for two years. Before you move out, you must inform the real
estate broker within the period specified in the contract for notification of moving.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism offers an Apartment Search Guidebook in fourteen languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Nepali, Thai, Indonesian, Burmese, Khmer, Tagalog, Mongolian. (Scroll down the Japanese page to find the information in your language.)