Medium term accommodation in Japan

My wife and I are looking to travel to Japan later in the year with our 2 year old daughter. We will visit my wife's family in Fukushima. We intend to stay for 6 months. Can people suggest accommodation options for a 4-6 month stay in Japan? Frustratingly Airbnb seems to be limited in Japan. Are there any similar things? Where should I be looking to find a relatively cheap (90-120,000 (JPY) per month) apartment or house for a stay of that length? What are the options? We would look to stay in Sendai or Fukushima. thanks.

Any company dealing in monthly mansions. Popular options for foreigners in the Tokyo area are Oak House and Sakura House. Obviously this isn't Tohoku, but just to give you an idea of the type of company you may want to be looking for. There are definitely more companies happy to deal with foreigners in super big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, etc. but your wife being Japanese should put you at an advantage. I don't think finding something within your budget for 6 months should be too difficult.

You can consider renting an apartment short term or gmonthlyh.
One company that offer such options is: https://en.leopalace21.com/?_ga=2.37559654.711377350.1624811310-571414...

Their definition of monthly is: minimum of 90 days, by 30-day interval.
Their definition of short term is: minimum of 30 days, by 1-day interval.

Some (not all) of their apartment buildings were in the news about a year ago for poor construction, so I would recommend personally inspecting before signing any contract.

Search for something like ƒ}ƒ“ƒXƒŠ[ƒ}ƒ“ƒVƒ‡ƒ“@å‘ä

That brings up pages like this one:
https://www.weekly-monthly.net/sp/sendai/search/city.html?utm_source=g...‹{é&utm_campaign=S020_ƒƒCƒ“ƒ[ƒh&utm_term=ƒ}ƒ“ƒXƒŠ[ƒ}ƒ“ƒVƒ‡ƒ“%20å‘ä_e&gclid=CjwKCAjww-CGBhALEiwAQzWxOrLut_jY-fiA-FLOG6Tvu32NfcOVq9xI9ooSSIpVv12z95luea4OHxoCeq4QAvD_BwE#

The one problem you might encounter is size of the apartment. In my experience a lot of them are geared towards the glonelyh business man transferred to an other city for a short while. So they tend to be small. 20 sqm or so. I do remember seeing in Tokyo some bigger options as well. So I guess itfs all about searching.

Doing a six month lease in Sendai or Fukushima I expect you should be able to get something in your budget, and my looking at real estate as I travel around the country, is not too dissimilar to where I am currently in Tokyo (the regions are not necessarily much cheaper). A couple of points though:
- if you are lucky, you might get something semi-furnished, but certainly not equipped for a six month stay. You will have some extra costs - for example, even if they provide a bed, you need bedding.
- the size will not be large, so for three people, you will not have much space. In you budget I expect you might get a one bedroom apartment. Personally I wouldn't enjoy that for six months, but there are people in my apartment building living like that - space for one is fine, two ok, three, no thanks (~45m2).
- search for monthly apartments - something that does not require a two-year minimum lease (which is typical) and all the large up-front costs. There is a clause in the law that allows for different arrangements for short-term leases (non-renewal, six months) that works for companies like Oak House so they don't charge those huge upfront fees (in reality people do a new contract each six months). As an example http://monthly.fudousan.info/english/

We intend to stay for 6 months
Just as an observation/question, are you visiting from a country that allows you to stay six months?

thank you all for the very helpful replies.

@japancustomtours I wondered the same, it was already quite a pain to get the temporary visitor visa for 90 days, is the process to extend that one the same as it was before?

From the Uk. I will apply for spouse visa. Or I will extend visitors visa while in Japan.

I hope that a spouse visa holder visiting spouse's family or visitors visa holder from the UK will be able to enter Japan by the time you visit.

That shouldnft be a problem, itfs even listed on the exceptions on the immigrations page.

From the Uk. I will apply for spouse visa. Or I will extend visitors visa while in Japan.
As you do not intend to live in Japan you will not be granted a spouse visa for a six month visit.
As you are from the UK, an extension to the 90-day visitor permit might be possible
(Note 6) For nationals of those countries with visa exemptions permitting stays of up to 6 months under the bilateral visa exemption arrangements, those who wish to stay in Japan for more than 90 days are required to apply for an extension of the period of stay to the Ministry of Justice (Regional Immigration Bureau) before the period of permitted stay is to expire.
However, while you mention "later in the year" for your visit, it is going to be several more months before the Government of Japan will consider reinstating the visa waiver programme, and while you currently need a visa to enter Japan (UK is denied entey anyway) they are not accepting visa applications/processing.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html

Even if Japan embassy accept visa application, this length of stay is considered as living, and a visa is granted, this doesn't mean that you will be surely allowed to enter Japan. So mouthly mansion, airbnb, whatever you chose, I suggest you to check cancellation and refund policy in case your Japan visit was not realized.

Thanks guys. Will check up on everything visa related.