Hi!

So I got the MEXT scholarship (yay!) and will be moving to Kyoto in late-September / early October. I've lived in Japan before, but at that time my company fixed everything for me. This time I'm on my own.
I contacted Kyoto University and they told me I could stay at おうばく分館, a big dorm for international students. The rent is low, but that's the only good thing about the place. It's one hour by train to the main campus and there are no Japanese people staying there, so I guess it's like this exchange student bubble. I might be wrong though..
So, I've decided to look for a place to stay on my own. I want a place as close to Kyoto Uni as possible and I don't mind paying a little extra for it either. I'd prefer an apartment (doesn't have to be big or anything), but I can handle dorms / shared houses as well.
Is it possible to find a place to live on the internet, or do I have to stay at a hotel for a couple of days / weeks at first while searching for a place to stay?
I found these: http://room.free-d.jp/html/international.html
They look pretty nice and the location is really good. I like that the place is furnished, because it's gonna be a pain if I have to buy furniture, refrigerator etc. on my own without a car etc.
I also read through this site: http://roombank.jp/
However, I don't think I can arrange anything with these guys through e-mail etc. You have to do everything in person.

Do you guys have any tips on what to do?
I don't want to settle for a bad located international dorm, but I'm a bit worried about moving to Japan without having a place to stay. :S

Thank you guys so much for your help!
Z

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Search for apartments using "house network" or "elitz" and contact them through mail. If kyoto university can be a guarantor than it shouldnt be much of a problem. Rent a room in a hostel for a week so you can look at the apartments - and it takes a couple of days usually for the paper work. If you find a room you like, make sure to compare it with other sites since often photos are completely wrong sometimes.

I wouldnt put an emphasis on trying to get japanese neighbors. You probably wont even see them more than a few times a year.

The cheapest decent apartment I have seen in that area is around 33,000 a month minus utilities. 6 mat plus small bath and toilet, gas stove. Some apartments here dont have a shower or bath, especially on the cheaper end. There are sento in the area so even without a shower or bath you can live fine, but I wouldnt want to do it. Expect to pay around 1200-3500 for electric, 1500-3000 for gas, 2000 for water, 4000 for internet, 2000 for phone per month unless some of it is covered by the apartment. 2000 for health insurance too, if on a 1 year or longer visa.

Thank you guys for the info. I'm probably just going to book a hostel or something and start looking for a place to stay when I get here. I tried contacting some of the companies by mail, but either I don't get answers or they just say I have to see them in person. Sigh...

Zorlee Wrote:Thank you guys for the info. I'm probably just going to book a hostel or something and start looking for a place to stay when I get here. I tried contacting some of the companies by mail, but either I don't get answers or they just say I have to see them in person. Sigh...

As far as hostels go K's house in Kyoto is really good. It's the only one I've been to but everybody says it's the best and I am not surprised.

Zorlee Wrote:Thank you guys for the info. I'm probably just going to book a hostel or something and start looking for a place to stay when I get here. I tried contacting some of the companies by mail, but either I don't get answers or they just say I have to see them in person. Sigh...

(I'm not sure how well known this is, but I didn't know it and was surprised when I found out about it...)

When you finally find a place you like, make sure you visit the apartment/area at least once at night. Kyoto (like everywhere in Japan) seemed to be very safe on the whole. However, there is at least one small piece of the town near 祇園 that turns into the Kyoto version of Tokyo's 歌舞伎町.

My pick for a hostel (just in case you need one, which you probably don't since I seem to recall you lived in Kyoto before): I stayed in Uno House http://unohouse.fte.jp/english/ and found it nice, cheap (and I suspect even negotiable for slightly longer stays) and friendly. It is a little shabby, but clean and central. I stayed there in June a couple of years ago and almost everyone there was Japanese.

lardycake Wrote:As far as hostels go K's house in Kyoto is really good. It's the only one I've been to but everybody says it's the best and I am not surprised.

Agreed, as far as hostels go K's house in Kyoto is excellent. Rooms are simple but clean, service is great, common area/kitchen is awesome for socializing and bar is full of interesting beverages

partner55083777 Wrote:When you finally find a place you like, make sure you visit the apartment/area at least once at night. Kyoto (like everywhere in Japan) seemed to be very safe on the whole. However, there is at least one small piece of the town near 祇園 that turns into the Kyoto version of Tokyo's 歌舞伎町.

Haha, I don't think he has to worry about that, there isn't a lot of housing near there. And actually, despite that little area of prostitution the land-value near 祇園 is high enough that I doubt he would live anywhere closeby.

There's also a street with lots of sketchiness and prostitution between Kiyamachi and Kawaramachi, near Shijo. But again, there aren't really any apartments there.

Yamashina can be a bit sketchy, and I've heard that Gojo-Kawaramachi can be a bit sketchy (though I've never noticed when I've been there), but neither one to the point where you have to worry. (Actually, Yamashina is very convenient train-wise, but with low property value, more due to bad schools than crime, so it's actually probably good bang for your buck. Lots of pretty cherry trees near the canal too.)

I've also got into Kyoto Uni and am trying to decide where to live in Kyoto.
I'm considering renting an apartment in Shijo-Kawaramachi, Teramachi-dori to be specific. After living in a remote area of Osaka for a year I thought I'd like to live in the most buzzing section of Kyoto. Can anyone give me some reasons for doing/ not doing this? Is there a good reason to live as close to Kyoto Uni as possible? (Demachiyanagi, for example).

I just checked Suumo (http://suumo.jp/chintai/kyoto/) and there seem to be ok priced places around KyoUni, but whether the landlord will take you is a different issue

thecite Wrote:I've also got into Kyoto Uni and am trying to decide where to live in Kyoto.
I'm considering renting an apartment in Shijo-Kawaramachi, Teramachi-dori to be specific. After living in a remote area of Osaka for a year I thought I'd like to live in the most buzzing section of Kyoto. Can anyone give me some reasons for doing/ not doing this? Is there a good reason to live as close to Kyoto Uni as possible? (Demachiyanagi, for example).

Well, as for Shijo-Kawaramachi, it's loud, it's crowded, there's lots of drunk people, it's mostly fashion shops, there's no cheap Japanese restaurants (that area is mostly foreign food or expensive Japanese restaurants), a lot of the cafes or cheap places to eat are too crowded to enjoy, most people will think you're a tourist (they won't if you live in an area with few tourists), there aren't many good family run izakaya...

And so on. I don't know why you would want to live in that area. If I were you I would live near Demachiyanagi or Imadegawa station (and get a bike).

It's easy to spot who's a tourist by the way they dress and act in public though, and I don't think a lone individual looks like a tourist, but I don't see why it matters anyway.

I like living near Kawaramachi/Teramachi since I can walk to the shops whenever I want but admittedly I live on the Nijou side.

Aside: I've never heard of a cheap restaurant in Kyoto except for gyudonya/nakau fare, even if you go out to say Yamashina... visiting Tokyo I was amazed by how cheap it was in comparison. Regardless it's best to cook for oneself except for labour/skill intensive things.

dizmox Wrote:Aside: I've never heard of a cheap restaurant in Kyoto except for gyudonya/nakau fare, even if you go out to say Yamashina... visiting Tokyo I was amazed by how cheap it was in comparison.

Hmm? Kyoto has family-run little izakaya, udon/soba places, 食堂-ish lunch places, 定食 places, cheap おばんざい places, okonomiyaki places, 串カツ, and a million others where you can get Japanese meals for less than 1000 yen. But besides crappy chains and okonomiyaki, those places barely exist at all downtown.

I live near Nijo Castle (off of Marutamachi), and there's plenty of that stuff here. Oh, and good cafes to study at that aren't crowded ! Another thing that's not so good downtown.

Tzadeck Wrote:And so on. I don't know why you would want to live in that area. If I were you I would live near Demachiyanagi or Imadegawa station (and get a bike).

Hmm, you make it sound pretty unappealing.

I've got an idea of how busy Shijo-Kawaramachi is, I've been there 4 or 5 times now, and I didn't think it was *that* crowded. Also, the fact that there are people around is exactly what attracts me. I want to live in a busy place. When I went to Demachiyanagi, it seemed pretty lonely (so did 西院). What are the good points (besides restaurants and cafes) of Demachiyanagi? 'Quiet and peaceful' doesn't cut it for me. I'm going to check out an apartment on Teramachi-dori sometime soon, so I'll see how loud it is from the inside.

I don't eat out very often, but for when I do, I think Kawaramachi would probably have what I'm looking for (Teramachi, Kiyamachi etc have heaps of places). Also, I like crowded cafes (although I imagine that there are certainly ones that aren't too crowded, even Umeda's cafes aren't that crowded).
Does it really matter whether I'm thought to be a tourist or a student by random strangers? Either way, it's not as if they're going to enthusiastically come up to me and ask to be friends or anything. But for meeting people, Shijo-Kawaramachi seems the better option (wrong?). Also, I'll be going to Kyodai 3 or 4 times a week, so I'll have a life away from home.

Isn't it advantageous to live in a central spot where lots of things happen, you can have a good time, and it's easy to meet up with people wherever they're from in Kyoto? Or perhaps I'm just a young person yearning for an exciting life?

Now you've thrown me into complete disarray, convince me!

When I lived in Kyoto, I was the kind of person that went out frequently but I still found it very convenient to live near the Demachiyanagi station. It's very close to the school, which I found the most important. To be precise, I live by Hyakumanben (on that street behind mcdonalds) so my commute was literally 2-3 minutes by bike to school. If I wanted to go to Shijo/Sanjo area, it was an easy train ride. If I knew I was going to be out late, I would ride my bike. It kinda sucks to sprint for the shuuden on a saturday night, but a lot of your friends will be subject to that fate.

Food will definitely be cheaper if you live closer to the school, but overall I didn't find food in Kyoto to be that expensive. It also helped that I lived pretty close to a supermarket. I'm not sure how common those are in the more commercial areas. I'd assume that even if you do find some in those areas, they would be more expensive.

I'd recommend Demachiyanagi as well. I live in Kitashirakawa, and while it's close to school, it's not close to any train stations, which kinda sucks. But hey, the rent's low
Just make sure you get a bike and you'll be good!

EDIT: Sanjo and Shijo are 3-4 minutes by train from Demachiyanagi, so no problem if you wanna go out a lot. I sometimes ride my bike from Kitashirakawa to Sanjo, party till late, then ride back home. Makes a good workout as well

Tzadeck Wrote:

dizmox Wrote:Aside: I've never heard of a cheap restaurant in Kyoto except for gyudonya/nakau fare, even if you go out to say Yamashina... visiting Tokyo I was amazed by how cheap it was in comparison.

Hmm? Kyoto has family-run little izakaya, udon/soba places, 食堂-ish lunch places, 定食 places, cheap おばんざい places, okonomiyaki places, 串カツ, and a million others where you can get Japanese meals for less than 1000 yen. But besides crappy chains and okonomiyaki, those places barely exist at all downtown.

I live near Nijo Castle (off of Marutamachi), and there's plenty of that stuff here. Oh, and good cafes to study at that aren't crowded ! Another thing that's not so good downtown.

Maybe less than 1000 yen is cheap by Kyoto standards but I don't think it'd be considered cheap elsewhere... I still feel Kyoto is still somewhat expensive, since I can get a 500 yen indian curry and rice/naan in the centre of Tokyo but the cheapest I've seen in Kyoto is maybe 800 yen. Similarly I've had 1000 calorie sized 定食　lunch in the middle of Osaka for 400 yen or so, which would be hard to find here I think...

I try to keep my food bill to less than 500 yen or so for the whole day for the days I don't eat out so I guess I have a severe view on what is good value for money though.

Quote:It also helped that I lived pretty close to a supermarket. I'm not sure how common those are in the more commercial areas. I'd assume that even if you do find some in those areas, they would be more expensive.

There is one supermarket in Teramachi which is pretty reasonable I think.

dizmox Wrote:I try to keep my food bill to less than 500 yen or so for the whole day for the days I don't eat out so I guess I have a severe view on what is good value for money though.

Wow, that's low. What are some examples of your daily meals if I may ask?

thecite Wrote:

Tzadeck Wrote:And so on. I don't know why you would want to live in that area. If I were you I would live near Demachiyanagi or Imadegawa station (and get a bike).

Hmm, you make it sound pretty unappealing.

I've got an idea of how busy Shijo-Kawaramachi is, I've been there 4 or 5 times now, and I didn't think it was *that* crowded. Also, the fact that there are people around is exactly what attracts me. I want to live in a busy place. When I went to Demachiyanagi, it seemed pretty lonely (so did 西院). What are the good points (besides restaurants and cafes) of Demachiyanagi? 'Quiet and peaceful' doesn't cut it for me. I'm going to check out an apartment on Teramachi-dori sometime soon, so I'll see how loud it is from the inside.

I don't eat out very often, but for when I do, I think Kawaramachi would probably have what I'm looking for (Teramachi, Kiyamachi etc have heaps of places). Also, I like crowded cafes (although I imagine that there are certainly ones that aren't too crowded, even Umeda's cafes aren't that crowded).
Does it really matter whether I'm thought to be a tourist or a student by random strangers? Either way, it's not as if they're going to enthusiastically come up to me and ask to be friends or anything. But for meeting people, Shijo-Kawaramachi seems the better option (wrong?). Also, I'll be going to Kyodai 3 or 4 times a week, so I'll have a life away from home.

Isn't it advantageous to live in a central spot where lots of things happen, you can have a good time, and it's easy to meet up with people wherever they're from in Kyoto? Or perhaps I'm just a young person yearning for an exciting life?

Now you've thrown me into complete disarray, convince me!

If you just like to be in areas where there are a lot of people walking around, then certainly the square of Oike-Kiyamachi-Teramachi-Shijo is the place to be. But I"m not sure how much beyond that it's really offering you.

You say it's a spot where a lot of things happen, but really it's the place where people go shopping and where people go to bars. Bars and shopping are kind of the default places people go when they don't have anything to do--that's not the same thing as being a spot 'where lots of things happen.' More real things happen at Kyodai, right?, one of the better universities in the world. Richard Feynman explains going to bars a lot in his twenties by saying, "When I was young I used to think that things happened in bars."

In reality, the interesting people I meet and the interesting things I do in Kyoto are pretty spread out throughout the city. For example, very few of the restaurants or cafes in Kyoto I would consider 'great' are downtown. Few of the really interesting stores in Kyoto are downtown. Now, they're not usually in Takeda or Kokusaikaikan or something. Areas like Arashiyama, Nijo, Saiin, Karasuma-Oike, Higashiyama, and so on seem to have their share of really interesting places and opportunities to meet people. An example of an obscure one: there's a barbershop on Kitaoji that has big parties every week for people to meet each other, and usually attracts a lot of musicians and artists. If you get your hair cut there and the lady likes you she'll invite you to the party.

Not to say that downtown has LESS interesting places, it's more that it has about the same number of interesting places as any of the other good parts of the city.

Anyway, as people have said, it's super easy to get from Demachiyanagi to downtown so if you lived there it's not like it would be inconvenient to go. Anywhere on the Tozai line also, is super easy. Personally, I kind of like Hyakumanben, so I wouldn't mind living there. (Although, I have a lot of friends near Imadegawa station, so I might choose there instead on a completely personal level)

So, I don't know. I think either way you'll be happy. I think the biggest thing is that in other parts of the city people are more like to treat you as an individual if you meet them or walk into their store, but downtown you're just another customer (or tourist).

dizmox Wrote:Maybe less than 1000 yen is cheap by Kyoto standards but I don't think it'd be considered cheap elsewhere... I still feel Kyoto is still somewhat expensive, since I can get a 500 yen indian curry and rice/naan in the centre of Tokyo but the cheapest I've seen in Kyoto is maybe 800 yen. Similarly I've had 1000 calorie sized 定食　lunch in the middle of Osaka for 400 yen or so, which would be hard to find here I think...

I try to keep my food bill to less than 500 yen or so for the whole day for the days I don't eat out so I guess I have a severe view on what is good value for money though.

Don't know what you're talking about. I've been to Osaka and Tokyo a million times, and Tokyo seems to be the most expensive, whereas Kyoto and Osaka seem similar.

I have been to small cities that do seem a bit cheaper though (I especially noticed in Kyushu).

Rayath Wrote:

dizmox Wrote:I try to keep my food bill to less than 500 yen or so for the whole day for the days I don't eat out so I guess I have a severe view on what is good value for money though.

Wow, that's low. What are some examples of your daily meals if I may ask?

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I'm trying to limit the amount of money I spend on food, but I'm having trouble keeping it under 1000 yen a day, and that's even if I cook all my food.

I do have some things going against me, though. I have a relatively high metabolism, I don't eat snacks, I try to cook healthy (so no cup ramen), I exercise about 3 or 4 times a week, and I don't have any cheap grocery stores around me (I live relatively close to the city).

Any tips for eating healthy cheaply?

partner55083777 Wrote:

Rayath Wrote:

dizmox Wrote:I try to keep my food bill to less than 500 yen or so for the whole day for the days I don't eat out so I guess I have a severe view on what is good value for money though.

Wow, that's low. What are some examples of your daily meals if I may ask?

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I'm trying to limit the amount of money I spend on food, but I'm having trouble keeping it under 1000 yen a day, and that's even if I cook all my food.

I do have some things going against me, though. I have a relatively high metabolism, I don't eat snacks, I try to cook healthy (so no cup ramen), I exercise about 3 or 4 times a week, and I don't have any cheap grocery stores around me (I live relatively close to the city).

Any tips for eating healthy cheaply?

Not to be offtopic here I started a new post:
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...#pid184068

Rayath Wrote:

dizmox Wrote:I try to keep my food bill to less than 500 yen or so for the whole day for the days I don't eat out so I guess I have a severe view on what is good value for money though.

Wow, that's low. What are some examples of your daily meals if I may ask?

Replied in new thread ^

Thanks everyone for the input!
After reading all of the advice here I've decided to get an apartment a short walking distance from Demachiyanagi station, probably near the Hyakumanben intersection.

There's actually a new ryugakusei dorm inside Yoshida campus opening in April which doesn't sound too bad, but I think I've had enough of dorms.