Rent higher for Gaijin apartments

I have been looking at apartments on the web, and have finally figured out how to find the sites which cater not to foreigners, but to actual Japanese. Is it just me, or are the apartments offered on the Japanese sites much cheaper than the sites in English? I'm not talking about the luxury apartments in downtown Tokyo, but comparable apartments in comparable areas seem to be more expensive when they are marketed to gaijins. I've been looking at the Ken Corp. website, which I really like, and Chitai Homes in Japanese and a few other which aren't so easy to navigate when you can't read everything.

I think simply the terms and conditions are different.

Many "gaijin" apartments come furnished to some extent, may already have a phone line provided, neither of which is included in apartments advertised on Chintai and other local listings.

Also those advertised for non-locals may come with the "one month rent for deposit" term instead of 2 months' rent for deposit and another 2 months' rent for key money, and often without the need for a guarantor, both of which conditions are almost always required for regular apartments that locals rent. Also, local contracts run normally for two years - and still you pay the 2 months key money (deposit is partly returned, but key money is not). For "gaijin" apartments, you can rent for a shorter period.

I am Japanese, so I've lived in "local" apartments on my own, and also have lived in an "gaijin" apartment when my non-Japanese boyfriend and I returned from overseas to Japan temporarily, and yes, I noted the difference in monthly rent, but I thought that for the above reasons the difference was well justified.

AK is right- the apartments aimed at non-Japanese are often furnished, and often you don't need to pay the key money, agency fee or provide a guarantor, but the monthly rent will be slightly higher.

With normal apartments you can pay up to 8 months' rent in advance just to get into the place (my husband and I paid 6) but the rent is slightly lower.

Just different systems, not discrimination.

AK is right. Interestingly this is exactly the same situation in France. Over there "foreigners" pay higher rents than locals but only pay 1 month rent to the rental agency while locals, besides paying the rental agency, also pay 2 or 3 months rent to the landlord (non refunded), plus 1 month at least as damage deposit etc. And of course French people are expected to repaint the place, bring their own appliances, light fixtures etc. and even in many cases their own kitchen cabinets (my parents moved the same kitchen into a dozen different places). Another thing is that landlords want written references from both your workplace and your bank!

Since I can't read Japanese very well, it is a pain to look on the Japanese websites. I had a feeling the answer had to do with services provided, but I you just never know. I will probably just stick to the "gaijin" sites. Thanks again.