Good price for renting an apartment?

For an English teacher, About what should I pay, per month, for your typical one bedroom apartment with bathroom and aircon (in a smaller Japnese city)? What should I watch out for? What does ''key payment'' mean? If I live with my girlfriend in the room will they charge more?

I don't know where you intend to live, so I can't speak in terms of absolute amount, but they say (for first-time renters, for example, when young people start working after graduating from university) don't let the rent payment exceed one-third of your income, just as a guideline.

About living with your girlfriend; they don't charge you more, but you need to sign up both of you as occupants. And when you start looking for an apartment, it would be better if you say upfront it's for the two of you. (If she is just visiting on the weekends probably you don't have to, but if she is going to be living with you constantly, yes.) If it's a tiny "one-room" studio apartment, the landlord might not agree to two occupants.

If you mean "key money," that's about two-months' worth of rent you pay upfront to the landlord, non-refundable. Deposit is refundable at the end of your tenancy (minus any repair for damage you might have caused).

Has anyone actually ever had a 'refundable' deposit refunded??

I've often been asked for MORE on vacating accommodation, and at best had the requested addtional fee waived (very kind!?!).

Nula,

I personally never have been asked for more. I recall one place where they took only one-month rent for deposit to begin with, and on the day we vacated, a staff member came, had a look around, pointed to some areas that needed extra cleaning, and told us that they will charge 10,000 from the deposit (the rest was refunded) - this was more a monthly apartment for short-term stays. Another place refunded about half - this was a place with standard 2-year renewable contract.

The landlord is supposed to bear the "normal wear and tear" portion of the condition when the apartment is vacated, but they find some reason to keep some of the deposit money anyway :)

Could anyone compare the cost of living in these places (rent) and what it's like to live there?
Utsunomiya, Yamaguchi City, Nayoro, Yamanashi, and Gotemba. And/or is there a website that compares these places specifically?
Thanks