Guides · Planning
Where to stay in Japan for a month
A week in Japan is a hotel trip. A month is different: you need a kitchen, a washing machine and somewhere to come home to. Here are the real options for one to three months, what each asks of you, and where a whole house fits.
The options
City hotels
Easy to book and fine for a week. For a month they are small and expensive. A standard double in a business hotel is often 11 to 17 square metres, with a kettle and a small fridge rather than a kitchen, and coin laundry shared between floors. Two weeks in a mid-range city double typically costs ¥140,000 to ¥210,000, and a month costs a little more than double.
Monthly apartments
Furnished apartments let by the month exist in the big cities. Most are one-room studios, which suits one person working away from home and squeezes everyone else.
Holiday rentals
Homes registered under Japan's home-sharing law can take paying guests for no more than 180 nights a year, so a month-long booking uses a sixth of a host's annual allowance. Local rules can restrict them further.
A standard Japanese lease
Ordinary Japanese rentals are built for residents. Leases usually run for two years, and moving in typically costs four to seven months' rent once the deposit, key money, agent's fee, insurance and the first month's rent are added. Almost every landlord wants a guarantor or a guarantee company, and the screening usually asks for a residence card, which visitors staying three months or less are not issued. Most of these homes are let unfurnished. There is more on this in renting a house in Japan for one to six months.
Share houses
A private bedroom with a shared kitchen and bathroom. They can work for one person on a budget. They rarely work for a couple or a family.
A whole house on a fixed-term lease
This is what Kichi does. A furnished house, let on a Japanese fixed-term residential lease of 30 days or more, with one prepayment by Wise in your own currency. No guarantor and no Japanese bank account. Utilities are arranged per house and explained before you sign, the wi-fi is tested, and an English house guide is waiting when you move in.
At a glance
| City hotel | Standard Japanese lease | Kichi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | By the night | Usually two years | 30 days or more, fixed |
| Paid before move-in | The room rate | Typically 4 to 7 months' rent | One prepayment for the term |
| Guarantor | No | Almost always | No |
| Kitchen and laundry | Kettle and fridge; shared coin laundry | Usually unfurnished | Kitchen and washing machine in every house |
Choosing a base
Decide first between one base and several. A month in one place means unpacking once and learning a neighbourhood: where the supermarket is, which bakery opens early, how the trains run. Day trips do the rest.
Then decide between city and country. Japan's trains and buses make it easy to live somewhere calm within reach of somewhere famous.
- Kichi Otsu is near Lake Biwa. Otsu Station is about ten minutes from Kyoto Station by JR. See a month near Kyoto, from Otsu.
- Kichi Itako is in the lake country of southern Ibaraki. Highway buses from Itako reach Tokyo Station in about 85 minutes, and Narita Airport is about half an hour by bus. See a month in Itako.
- Kichi Myoko is in the Myoko Kogen snow country of Niigata, about three hours from Tokyo by Shinkansen and local train, with the ski areas ten to twenty minutes away by car. It sleeps ten.
- Kichi Narao is on the Goto Islands, about an hour and a half from Nagasaki by high-speed boat.
Japanese guidance treats rentals shorter than about a month as lodging, which needs a lodging licence or a home-sharing registration. A lease of 30 days or more is a tenancy: your name on a lease, a tenant's privacy and a resident's price. That is why every Kichi has a 30-day minimum lease. The minimum applies to the lease, not to your calendar, so if you are coming for two or three weeks you book the month and use as much of it as you like.
Ready when you are
Book a Kichi for a month.
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Questions
Questions people ask
What is the best way to stay in Japan for a month?
It depends who is coming. One person on a budget can do well in a share house or a monthly studio. A couple or a family usually does better in a furnished home let by the month, which comes with a kitchen and a washing machine. For a family that would need two hotel rooms, it also costs far less.
Can I rent an apartment in Japan for just one month?
Not through a standard lease, which is built for residents and usually runs for two years. Monthly rentals and fixed-term leases are made for exactly this, and a Japanese fixed-term lease can legally run for less than a year, including one month.
Do I need a guarantor or a Japanese bank account?
For a standard lease, almost always a guarantor or a guarantee company, and the screening usually expects a residence card. For a Kichi, no: you sign one fixed-term lease and make one prepayment by Wise from your own bank account.
Can I stay in Japan for a month without a visa?
Visitors from many countries can stay up to 90 days without a visa, but the list and the limits depend on your passport. Check Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs before you book.
Is a month in a house really cheaper than a hotel?
At Kichi Itako, by a wide margin. Two weeks in a mid-range city double typically costs ¥140,000 to ¥210,000. A whole month at Kichi Itako, with utilities, wi-fi and the cleaning fee, costs ¥150,000.