Living in Tokyo/Japan-The things you didn't expect.

I've lived here long enough now that I no longer really think about things which I originally found odd, they've just become "normal" to me. I don't mean the kinds of things you hear about on all the websites and blogs like trash nazis and no driers, those are all things I expected and was prepared for, I mean the things that I didn't expect. Recently i've been reading some blogs from foreign women in Japan who have been here far longer than me that brought up some of these forgotten oddities.

1) You will accumulate much more trash living here than in the states. And as you've heard everywhere, dealing with it is a constant burden. The noticeable increase in trash is due to several factors:

-Items in Japan tend to have more unnecessary packaging. Sometimes this is for the presentation of the item and sometimes it just seems totally useless. Check out this packaging for some yummy cookies. You have main outer wrapper, a plastic tray, AND individually wrapped items. IMO they should have it individually packaged without the tray or have them not individually packaged and keep them in the tray, you don't need both.

Now I know items in the states have such unnecessary packaging as well but it seems much more common in japan and Japan just LOVES to individually wrap stuff. If you go to the konbini to get meals you'll notice how much waste 1 bento produces. You have the bag it came in, the plastic wraping on the chopsticks or spoon/fork, the shink wrap on the item, the lid, and the foam or plastic tray/container. Thankfully my ward has recently started collecting foam trays as recycling, so I don't feel so bad about the waste anymore.

-You will get tons of bags for everything. Now this can be reduced by using an eco bag, which I highly recommend as it's more comfortable to carry and some stores have incentives for using them. But somehow you will still gain massive amounts of plastic bags. Store clerks will give you a bag for even a tiny mundane little item, and they even have tiny little plastic bags just for that purpose. If you go to the konbini it's even worse, not only do they have tiny plastic bags but they will separate the hot and cold items into different bags (which okay, it actually kinda is necessary but still.) And then even if you use an eco bag at the grocery you will probably end up using little plastic bags for your produce and any wet drippy items like meat so it doesnt make a mess. Also the clerk will RARELY ask you if you want a bag, they will usually just give you one. The amount of plastic bag waste I used to have was so insane I'd have 2 large trashbags at the twice weekly pickup. Now i've made an effort to refuse a bag if I already have one which the item will fit into. Also i've made an effort to save every plastic bag I get and use it as a trashcan liner (the small ones are the perfect size for bathroom trashcans), to seal up items which will rot, or any other use I have for them because I get so many here I just feel guilty to throw the bag away after one use.

-Probably the number one reason for the excessive trash is items are just packaged in smaller containers. People here have smaller homes and storage areas, plus they mostly walk to the store and need smaller items that are easier to carry home. So obviously this results in more waste than using one larger container. Also it's very difficult to find large value sized items here unless you go to a wholesaler like Costco or a specialty store.

Now before I lived here I never thought twice about my garbage, It never occurred to me that I was producing an excessive amount. This can be partially due to having to pay more attention to my trash for sorting but I think it's mostly because there is just so much more of it. I never would have reused a plastic bag or taken notice of unnecessary packaging before, but now I think about it in the back of my head every time i'm shopping.

Understanding apartment size terminology

Understanding apartment size terminology

Many of you have probably already come across this but in case you haven't, I have explained it in detail followed by very typical floor plan examples.

Apartment sizes and layout are often referred to with abbreviations, a number followed by letters, for example: 1DK. The number represents the number of main rooms the apartment has and the letters represent the layout.
Most commonly seen are:
L-living room
D-dining room
K-kitchen
R-room
S-storage
+L-loft
the bathroom is not included in this, it's just assumed there is a bathroom. (though not always in very cheap places)

So a 1R is a studio, or sometimes called a "one room" it means there is 1 main room and kitchen is in that room、it cannot be separated or closed off.
example:

A 1K is 1 room with the kitchen distinctly separated, it could be in a whole separate room or just separated by a sliding door as seen in this example. It will be very small, usually in a hallway or a space under 4.5 mats size, there is not enough room for a dining table.
example:

A 1DK is 1 room with a separated kitchen and dining area. The kitchen is usually over 5 mats and you can probably fit at least a small table.
example:

A 1K+Loft is 1 room, separate kitchen, plus a loft area. You can usually sleep in the loft area in a futon (usually not big enough for a bed) but alot of people use it for storage instead because the heat/aircon usually doesn't reach that area.
example:

A 1LDK is 1 room, separate kitchen with dining area and living room. Sometimes it will be more like 2 rooms and sometimes it will just be a large dining/kitchen that can fit a couch.
example:

A 1LDK+S is the same as above but has a small storage room. Sometimes the room will be large enough to be a bedroom but because it has no closet they call it a storage room. If the room was a bit larger though they would probably just consider it a bedroom. This layout is relatively uncommon.
example:

A 2DK is 2 bedrooms with a separate kitchen and dining area. The rooms do not have to be the same size.
Example:

The combinations are endless, but I think you get the idea.

While this is often a good indicator of the apartment size, it's not always true.
These 2 apartments are both 1K but the first one is 15sq m and the 2nd is 32sq m so although they are both a 1k, the 2nd one is over twice the size.

In addition to the abbreviation, the apartment will have a sq meter size and probably a number on the floorplan.
The sq meter size is the size of the ENTIRE apartment (including kitchen, closets, entry and bathroom) except for the balcony. And the numbers on the floorplan (usually just on the bedrooms and dining/living rooms but sometimes kitchen as well) indicate how many tatami mats fit into that space. Regardless of if it actually has tatami flooring, the rooms are always measured in tatami sizing. 4.5 mats is small, 6 mats is average for a bedroom, and over 6 mats is pretty decent, over 10 mats is very large. So the 2 example foorplans directly above show that the first apartment has an average 6 mat living space and the 2nd has a large 10 mat living space.

Apartment info intro

Recently i've been doing a several part informative blog series for Greg's unofficial TUJ info site: http://tujinfo.ning.com/ about apartment hunting in Japan. I've moved 3 times in Tokyo and done EXTENSIVE apartment research as well as helped several friends move, it's a subject I feel quite knowledgeable about and enjoy talking about. I also get tired of surroundings really quickly so i'm constantly looking at other apartments, even just for fun.

Alot of the information I will be talking about is out there all over the net. But the problem is most of it is very vague, doesn't offer any real opinions or advice and doesn't really answer the 2 biggest burning questions of "what's average?" and "how much will it cost?" And if it does answer those questions it will either be on the extravagant expat scale or the frugal english teacher scale rather than informing you of whats really out there. Also most places just offer information on what to expect, not how to deal with it. For example, most places talk about how difficult it is to get a typical japanese apartment (which I won't lie, it's not easy) and they don't give you any advice on how to handle it.

What has kind of spurred this is numerous questions which I get asked on the subject or I see posted in various forums around the internet. I also can't believe how many foreigners I see who are WAY overpaying for crap apartments because they don't know whats actually out there and what they can really afford. And well, the gaijin targeting apartment companies take complete advantage of this naiveness. Though i'm sure not many foreigners (especially men) care quite as much about their apartment besides it being functional as I do, with all of my female senses about aesthetics and interior decorating obsessions.

What i'm hoping to do with this series is give you a better idea about what to expect, and what's really out there and the market value for it.