Gift for short stay apartment

Hi everyone

I hope someone can give me a bit of advice. My wife and I are travelling to Japan in 3 weeks, and are staying in a hotel in Tokyo for 4 nights before travelling down to Kyoto for the next 7 days. In Kyoto, we have booked to stay in an apartment, with a small kitchen, bathroom, living area etc and we have agreed with the owner / landlord when to meet him at the apartment to pay for it and get the keys etc.

Now I wouldn't consider taking a gift to give to anyone at the hotel in Tokyo, but for some reason I feel it would be a nice gesture to give one to the landlord of the apartment in Kyoto. I just feel like it is a little more personal, and I'd like to demonstrate that I am at least aware of the cultural differences between us. Would this is over the top, or even surprising to him, or would he expect something like that? If it ok, am I right in thinking that you don't wrap the present, and keep to fairly low value? If so, what would I get??

Thanks in advance :-)

Seems silly to worry about gifting something to someone who you are paying for a service. No difference there from US. It may make him feel awkward since you're the customer to whom he should be overly polite.

Either way, Japanese are huge on wrapping, so I would say if you do give a gift, it should be wrapped.

I see no issue with giving the landlord a gift, but that may be because, like zomboolio, I am from the UK and it's a cultural trait we share with the Japanese (ie being polite). Just because the landlord is providing you a service doesn't mean you shouldn't give them a gift, and lest we forget, when people sign up for long-term apartment rentals they usually have to pay a cash gift payment of 1-3 months rent anyway.

I know from experience of living in Japan that even small gifts are welcome. I gave some nice chocolates to the ladies at my local Japanese post office for all the help they'd given me over the year I lived there, and they were over the moon. Perhaps some UK handmade chocolates or sweets would be nice. If not, something else that you can only bring from the UK.