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Housing

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.

📖Apartment Search Guidebook (for foreigners looking for homes in Japan)

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.)

Apartment Search Guidebook