Continuing my recent real-estate kick…
One thing that surprised me when I first came to Japan as an exchange student was the extraordinarily low rate of apartment or house sharing among college students and other young, single people. Having just come from such an arrangement myself, I would have assumed that students in Japan would be similarly into sharing had I actually even stopped to think about it at any point. While I did meet a handful of Japanese students at Ritsumeikan who lived with friends, they were mostly (although not exclusively) in the group that had studied abroad, or were at least highly social with the foreign and international crowd.
But this is not to say that Japanese people never have roommates, only that it’s relatively rare. For example, after coming to Kyoto University last year, I met quite a lot of Japanese students living in share arrangements, which I believe to be directly related to Kyoto University’s higher rate of “bohemian” type culture, as well as the fact that unlike Ritsumeikan, Kyoto University actually has a few dormitories open to Japanese students (as opposed to the “International Houses” that many Japanese universities provide for exchange students, and shorter term foreign students), many of whom become accustomed to group living and decide to continue after moving out of the dorm.
How might one find a room to sublet, or a subletter to live in one’s spare room in Japan? It has been pointed out that “there is no culture for classifieds in Japan, which means an instant success for a “Japanese Craigslist” is next to impossible to achieve.” This is indeed true, but the sister-sites Roomshare.jp and Roomate.jp seem to be off to start, albeit in a specific arena.
While all sorts of arrangements exist, and the range of normality is probably not so drastically different from other countries I’d like to leave with one particularly unique “share mate” (as the term goes in Japanese) recruitment ad.
Hello.
I run a counseling business that I started. However, due to the poor economy I’ve had trouble getting clients. Well, that’s just how it is. However, now I am looking for someone who seriously wants to do a job in mental care.
Rent (with space for sleeping, internet, phone, everything needed for normal life) is free!
However, there are the following conditions.
- A woman with the appearance (mood of) of a counselor.
- A warm personality
- 20~35 years old.
- Someone who really wants to study ‘mental’ topics.
(It’s fine if you don’t have any other job.)
I have not posted this as a joke.
Anyone interested should please get in touch.
The poster does not say anything else about themselves, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a middle-aged guy with some sort of odd therapy fetish. It definitely seems like a setup for a movie though. Is this the start of a quirky romantic comedy, or a psycho-thriller?
BTW, thanks to Benjamin for pointing out this ad to me (and thanks to me for telling him about the site!)