4-2-141 Kannonji-machi, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan, 804-0043

福岡県北九州市戸畑区観音寺町４番２－１４１号  804-0043

The apartment that you are being offered by the school is in a teachers’ “jutaku” building, and is owned by the school, meaning no key money is needed (key money is a one time payment for new owners, usually equivalent to several months rent, but you need not worry about it).  The building itself is very old, but we have found the apartment to be comfortable.  The building has 16 apartments, on four floors.  Your apartment is the one seen in the upper left corner of the picture above, on the fourth floor.  There is no elevator to the apartment, but that is not normally a factor (unless you have just visited Koichi-San, but that is a different topic).

The rent for the place is fairly cheap, but it will be rising due to circumstances beyond our control.  When I arrived the rent was ¥8300, but is now up to ¥11700/month, which you pay at school on the 21st of each month.  On top of rent is the monthly cleaning fee.  Once a month all the tenants get together to clean the area around the building.  This is usually early on a Sunday and lasts for one hour.  If you participate your cleaning fee is ¥600, if not it is ¥1200.  A small envelope will be left in your mailbox, simply put the money in it and return it to apartment 143 (labeled on the envelope).  A notice is posted in the stairwell to let you know when cleaning will be (see the pictures section below).

All of the other bills associated with the apartment will be set up with your supervisor, and can be paid by bank withdrawal, or you can pay at the convenience store.  They include gas, electricity and water.  I have set up a table here to show you the expenses associated with the apartment, keep in mind there were two of us.

The only other thing to worry about would be garbage day, which is every Monday and Thursday.  Kitakyushu requires all garbage to be in special bags, purchased anywhere.  The garbage must be out front of the building before 8:30 am, but not over night.  Recycling is done on Wednesdays, around the corner, alternating cans and bottles every other week.  The info can be found here.

The apartment itself consists of six rooms and a hallway.  There are three tatami rooms, two are approximately 9’ x 9’ and the other is 9’ x 12’ (this does not include the closets).  There is also a kitchen, 7’ x 10’, a shower room and a toilet room.  The picture below shows the layout of the apartment.

In the apartment there is no hot water.  For any cooking or cleaning you must boil water.  For showering there is a heater set up that will heat the water as you shower.  Most apartments do not have a shower, but luckily for you the old heater broke and the new one came with a shower attachment.  The toilet is a western style toilet, which is very good news.

There is a lot of closet space, both for clothes and storage.  Each of the rooms is separated by sliding, removable doors.

The temperature and humidity in Japan have been found to cause a lot of problems with moisture in the apartment.  Our clothes feel damp when we take them from the closet, there is mold that will grow on the walls, and it is difficult to dry things.  To help protect your clothing and blankets I would recommend buying de-moisturizers (the name I made up for them because I have no idea what the Japanese says).  These things are fairly cheap and last about 50 days.  Basically they suck the moisture out of the air, instead of it getting into your clothes.  They may be purchased in most stores, such as the pharmacy, grocery store or Alpha.

There is no temperature control in the apartment, which is a huge issue.  We were lucky because Kokura-Minami moved the AC/Heating unit from their apartment to ours, this will be gone when you arrive.  The apartment without this unit is absolutely blazing hot in summer, and below freezing in winter.

The front tatami room has a window looking out to the street and the two other tatami rooms have sliding glass doors onto a balcony overlooking the "park" in the back of the building.

Outside of the building is a shed, it is large enough for us to store two bikes, I would guess about 3' x 7'.

The school owns a few things that will be in the apartment when you arrive.  If it is not listed below, then anything you see in the photos are things that my wife and I have purchased, and are most likely for sale.