Help an Indian narrow housing options

Hello everyone,
I have finally got an opportunity to come work in Japan. I will be moving to Japan in first week of November 2022. I got an offer from Japanese company and they will be provided me a serviced apartment for 1 month initially. But, after that I will have to move into my own.

I have an offer of 6.5 Million Yen per year (before taxes) and my company is in multiple locations.
Headquarters is in Tokyo.

I can work from any location, it will depend on me. And I have to go to office once or twice a week maximum.

I am not sure if that is a good salary or not. But, I did some of my research on gaijin plot to know an estimate based oh my liking to have a basic idea of rent.

I am looking for some guidance from people living in Japan in probably narrowing down some area where I can live in that salary.

Now, I don't want to spend entire salary on rent as well. I would like to save some too.

I am a male, 26 years old Indian.
I know that I want at least 1 SLDK.
My basic requirements from a house would be:
1.) 1 living room.
2.) 1 bedroom.
3.) some proper work area where I can setup my PC. I am thinking of doing this in bedroom only. But, good to have another area for work (outside of bedroom).
4.) any station could be 15-20 minutes walking distance.
5.) not that high state tax.
6.) good to have food stores within 15-20 minutes walking distance.

That 3rd point is good to have, but not a must.

Even if I get 4,00,000 per month. I would like to spend maximum 1,20,000 yen per month on rent.

I have narrowed down these specific wards in this preference order :
1.) Yokohama
2.) Saitama
3.) Edogawa
4.) Minato-ku

I know these are prefectures and there can be lots of areas within this. I am looking for a general guidance.

Thanks

Yokohama is a city, (southwest from Tokyo), Saitama is a prefecture (to the north of Tokyo prefecture), and both Edogawa and Minato are gwardsh of central Tokyo, consisting of 23 wards (please look at a map to get a feel for this). Edogawa ward (Edogawa-ku) is in the eastern part of Tokyo, and Minato is in the very central area of Tokyo.

You might want to ask your employer where the office(s) - particularly the one you are likely to go to - are located, as well as the serviced apartment. During the initial one month, youfd get a feel for the area, so you might want to know in advance. When you know the address, you can look up which train/subway lines youfd be using to get to the office, which is important.

One thing to note that there is an Indian community in Edogawa (I believe), so if you have needs for some specific food items from your country, that area might come in handy too.

Just a guess, but with the budget of something like 120,000 yen a month, probably Minato-ku would not be a good candidate (generally expensive because of the location).

My knowledge of prices is way out of wack, but don't forget to add train ticket prices to your monthly rent costs as these can add up if it's far out.

In general, places close to the train station increases costs, so does newer buildings. I do think you should get something for around 120,000 yen a month.

A while ago when I used to live in Japan. I stayed in Urban Renewal which was well priced and had less costs related to moving in and getting refunds. Note that you need to buy everything for your apartment, even light fittings so costs can increase quickly.

You should be able to easily live on that price but also note that some private renters may not prefer foreigners as tenants. Remember that Japan is very conservative in some things as a foreigner is more likely to leave and not pay bills. Or at least, that's how it's perceived....

Thanks AK and mfedley for your detailed replies.

I am free to pick the office location. They have office located in all the areas I've mentioned. I'm not trying to live in the central area of Tokyo because that'll be very costly. That's why I was thinking of these areas I've mentioned because on gaijin plot I saw some decent properties well within that budget.

For travelling via trains, company will give us monthly pass, which is separate from salary. So that should be fine.

I am okay with food. I don't have any problem or preference. But, it's good to have a community around. I'd rather not have complete dependency.

And yes, I'm aware of the renting policies for Foreigners. I have to filter out certain areas first and then I'm planning on going around and looking for those places.

Thanks for your detailed responses

Additional comments (from what I personally know) about the different areas.

Yokohama is a big area, and you would want to pick the area that is galongh the train/subway line where your Yokohama office is located at. (In Yokohama, public transport systems are good for traveling east-west, but not quite convenient for north-south. There are train line such as Toyoko Line, JR Tokaido line, JR Shonan SHinjuku Line, etc. that run east-west connecting Tokyo and slightly different parts of Yokohama. Then there are buses that connect north-south, but timetables are less reliable compared to trains.) If you want to be near the sea, Yokohama would be a good area. A friend of mine who lives in Yokohama tells me there is nice breeze coming from the sea so that even in summer it doesnft get that awfully muggy.

On the other hand, Saitama is away from Tokyo Bay, rather gin-land.h I live in the north-west part of Tokyo, rather close to the southern end of Saitama, and find the air a bit stagnant compared to areas near the sea/Tokyo Bay, and in summer it can get very muggy. (Oh well, it gets hot everywhere nowadays though!)

Edogawa would likely be either along Metro Tozai Line (around Kasai station for example), or JR Sobu line (around Shin-Koiwa station). Metro Tozai line used to be infamous for being very crowded, but with more people doing remote working, this has changed at least a bit (for the better). I donft know exactly where your office in Edogawa-ku is, but maybe you can go a bit further east into for example Gyotoku City of Chiba prefecture, and the rent might get a bit less (if you donft have to worry about commuting expenses).

Best wishes finding the right place!

This is a good place to search to get some initial idea about costs.

https://www.homes.co.jp/smp/re/

Note that the quality of houses even in the same area varies a lot. Eg in the area in Tokyo where I live you get newly build quite expensive apartment blocks, small villas with gardens, normal family houses but also small 1 room apartments in very dilapidated stage all mixed together. Which makes a lot of the charm of Tokyo.

If you are looking for something 15-20 min walking from a train station you should be able to reduce the rent quite a lot. Most people want to live in like max 7-10 min from a station.

You should also look in UR housing. They are often a bit fare away from stations but generally good middle class apartments and with low initial costs. Generally in Japan you need to pay approximately 5 months of rent before you even can move in (agent fee, insurance, thank you money, deposit, 2 months rentc) plus youfll need to buy all furniture and electric appliances.
UR housing is cheaper in that plus they donft discriminate against foreigners.

As suggested, your employer gave you a month so that you could talk to real people, explain your preferences in detail, and walk around on your own feet to make sure it's a commutable neighborhood that suits you.

What you keep in mind in Japan are:

1. Getting enough sun in winter and enough shade in summer
(a window in the west side can be hot, while no windows on the south side may gather mold)

2. Good neighbors who don't cause you problems

3. Newcomer-friendliness in terms of language and culture

4. A train line of your preference, because each train line attracts a different tone of culture

5. No surprise noises in the middle of the night
(A housing may be quiet in the afternoon until you find out that huge trucks shake your home early in the morning. Or a neighboring grade school can be noisy on your days off.)

6. Cable TV of your preference, because cable TV networks also work as an internet/phone-connection provider

7. Not the number of rooms but how big the rooms are.
(Note that bathrooms can often be tiny in cheap housing.)

8. Reasonably-priced groceries.
(There are cheap housing even in the most expensive neighborhoods, but then you may end up shopping at expensive grocery stores.)

9. Whether your commuting route is not stressful
(Big stations provide you lots of goodies, but the crowd may cause stress. Changing trains is often stressful, but if it's just from one side to another on a certain platform, it can be easier.)

10. Whether there are hills in your neighborhood
(What can seem like a short distance on a flat map can be full of ups-and-downs. But then, a hill can sometimes give you a view, the sun and the breeze.)

11. Cheap parking, if you drive a car or ride a bike

These places exist everywhere. It doesn't necessarily depend on the city or prefecture, but like I said, it's more to do with the train line cultures, and also on how rural the area is. (There are many rural areas even within a certain city.) I hope you find a good friend and housing agent that would help you find a good home within the month.

If you want to be near the sea, Yokohama would be a good area. A friend of mine who lives in Yokohama tells me there is nice breeze coming from the sea so that even in summer it doesnft get that awfully muggy.

I've been living in Yokohama for decades, and I can't fully agree. The nice breeze can sometimes become a humid breeze or a breeze too strong, while if you live in one of the numerous valleys in Yokohama, you hardly get that breeze at home. It truly depends on the spot. And, of course, if you only have windows on south and north, you don't get the breeze coming from the east or west.

These look like very fair and valid points that I hadn't even thought about. I gather that narrowing down the areas wouldn't be the best thing. I'm definitely planning on covering this by foot and seeing how it will be.

I will keep all these points in mind. Thank you so much everyone for all the input and detailed responses. I really appreciate that you took time and put these thoughts down.

I hope these could also be handy for people who might be in the same situation.