一晃三年，我们在日本租的房子已快到期，需要续租合同了。提前2个多月，我们联系了中介。中介挺高兴的，说续租没问题。但是，3个多星期过去了，每次问中介，开始说房主还在审核，然后就是房主同意，但还在处理文件，让我们耐心等候。按理说我们也是用不着着急的，但是三年前的租房经历，让我们还是有些紧张。

Three years have passed in a blink of an eye, and the house we rented in Japan is about to expire, so we need to renew the lease contract. We contacted our real estate agent more than two months in advance. The agent was happy and said that there was no problem. However, more than three weeks have passed, and every time we ask the agent, she start by saying that the homeowner is still reviewing, and then the homeowner agrees but is still processing the documents... In theory, we don't need to worry, but our rental experience three years ago still made us a bit nervous.

我们所在的筑波市，离东京50多公里，是个比较新的科技城，起身科学工业园区，只有40多年的历史。城市很小，常驻人口有二十多万，其中有一万左右的外国人，多数是来工作的。因为离东京比较近，通勤方便，人口流动比较多，不知是不是租房不易的原因之一。

Tsukuba, the city we are living, located more than 50 kilometers from Tokyo, is a relatively new technology city with a history of only over 40 years. The city is very small, with a resident population of more than 200,000, of which about 10,000 are foreigners, most of whom come to work. Due to its proximity to Tokyo, convenient commuting, and high population mobility, I think that maybe this is one of the reasons why house renting is difficult.

三年前的9月1日到达筑波市，因为新冠政策，我们先在酒店隔离两周，在此期间，一誠商事（中介），应该是筑波这边最大的一家房屋经纪公司，就开始帮助我们物色合适的房屋。听说日本公寓邻里都要求比较安静，声音大了会被投诉。我们喜欢在家里看电影，又想邀请国内的家人来常住，所以主要以一户建为租房目标。就价格来说，感觉同面积公寓和一户建差不多。

Three years ago on September 1st, we arrived in Tsukuba City and were quarantined in a hotel for two weeks in accordance with the COVID-19 policy of Japaness government. During this period, ISSEI , which should be the largest real estate agency in Tsukuba, was looking for the independent house for us. I heard that neighbors in Japanese apartments like quiet and would like to complain about the noise. We enjoy watching movies at home and would like to invite family members from China to live a while with us, so our main goal is to rent a single house. In terms of price, I feel that it's nearly same for the similar area of an apartment and a single house.

日本的一户建，也就是我们说的独栋，非常普及。网上查看，日本大概有一半的住房是一户建，一家一户。普通的一户建，大概70-120平方米，这是实际使用面积。另外，一户建一般有1-2个车位和一个小院子。这种一户建之间的间距很小，邻里低头不见抬头见。

Single family house is very common in Japan. According to my online research, about half of the housing in Japan is single family house. A regular one household building, approximately 70-120 square meters, which is the actual usable area. In addition, a household usually has 1-2 parking spaces and a small yard. The distance between two houses is very small.

一过隔离期，我们先去办理了在留卡，就是在日本工作的外国人的身份证明。中介为我们安排了会说中文的杨-San为我们提供服务。小杨来日本很多年了，日文说的很好，工作也很认真。第一天上午带我们去看了三家一户建，前两户的位置都比较偏，而且社区很小，就是孤孤零零的几座房子。第三户让我们眼前一亮。社区又大又新，离地铁商业中心都近，主要是房子是3年前建的，除了很新还很有科技感。虽然租金不菲，我们立刻让小杨帮我们确定这个一户建。联系后，小杨告诉我们，已经有人申请租这套房子了，我们排在第二位。看我们不明白什么意思，小杨解释说，第一个申请人先要提交相关资料，由中介公司预审后，发给房主确认，房主同意了，才能开始租房相关手续。申请不过，就轮到我们申请了。这套房子120多平方米的面积，租金一个月9,000多元人民币，估计排第一的申请人，也应该是来这里工作的外国管理人员，我们感觉没戏了。

We applied Resedence Card firstly after the isolation. The ISSEI arranged Yang-San, who can speak Chinese, to serve for us. Ms. Yang has been in Japan for many years, speaks Japanese very well, and works very hard. On the first morning, she took us to see three single houses. The first two households were located in relatively remote areas, and the community was very small, with only a few houses. The third household impressed us a lot. The community is big and new, close to the subway and commercial center. The houses were built three years ago, and besides being very new, it also has a sense of new technology. Although the rent is more expensive, we immediately asked Ms. Yang to confirm the rental matter of this one.  After contacting, Yang told us that someone had already applied to rent this house, they were the 1st to apply and we were the 2nd. We don't understand what it means, Yang explained that the first applicant needs to submit relevant documents, which will be reviewed by the agency firstly and sent to the house owner for confirmation. The renting procedure starts only after the confirmation from the owner. If the application of the 1st applicant is rejected, then it's our turn. This house has an area of over 120 square meters and a monthly rent of more than USD 1,300. We guessed that the 1st applicant must be the similar situation as ours. We had no chance to apply.

社区内路面上看不到电线杆，是我们喜欢这个小区的另一个原因。作为对比下面是另一个我们看过的小区，电线杆太多了。

Another reason why we like this community is that we can't see power poles on the road. As a comparison, here is another community we have seen where there are too many power poles.

没想到事隔三天，小杨告诉我们第一申请者被拒了，让我们赶快去中介办公室提交资料。具体排第一的申请人为什么被拒，她也不知道，因为是另一家中介代为申请的。我们立刻前去提交各种资料，包括建军公司出具的保证信，我们在美国租房经历介绍等文件。当时感觉信心满满。没想到，文件提交到房主那儿，我们也很快被拒了。从小杨那儿了解到，原来房主不愿意租给外国人。第一个申请人也是外国人。很气人是吧，如果你不愿意租给外国人，从一开始说明不就行了。过了很长一段时间后，我理解房主应该是不愿意租给不会说日语，也没有在日本居住经历的人。

Unexpectedly, three days later, Yang-san told us that the first applicant had been rejected and asked us to quickly go to the agency office to submit the documents. She didn't know why the first applicant was rejected, as it was another real estate agnecy represented the 1st applicant. We immediately went to submit various documents, including a guarantee letter issued by Frank's Company and an introduction to our rental experience in the United States. At that time, we felt full of confidence. However, we were also quickly rejected. Yang-San learned that the owner of the house was unwilling to rent it to foreigners. The first applicant was also a foreigner. It's very annoying, right? If you are not willing to rent it to foreigners, just explain it from the beginning. After a long period of time, I understand that the landlord may not be willing to rent to someone who does not speak Japanese and has no living experience in Japan.

在小杨继续为我们找合适的房子同时，我们自己也在网上找，看到喜欢的就告诉小杨。我们找的可能不是他们公司代理的房子，需要小杨帮助去联系带我们看房。很快，一个月快过去了，我们看上的其他中介公司代理的房子，也有因为我们是外国人，而被拒绝租住的。有些周边环境差些，没有社区的房子，我们不敢也不愿意租。终于，我在网上又看到一个一户建，房子虽然有30多年房龄，但是感觉很方正，保养得也不错，主要是周边有个大公园，如果家里老同志们来住时，方便遛弯。小杨说这是一套刚出的房子，是他们公司代理的，她没有告诉我们，是因为入住时间是11月中，上一家租户还没有搬出。虽然不喜欢长时间住在酒店，但我们还是想找个喜欢的房子入住。 小杨非常努力帮助，带我们先看了社区和这个房子外观。我们很满意，虽然小区不在商业和交通便利的区域，社区也不大，但是看上去很成熟很好看。旁边的公园在筑波市很有名，自然生态环境保护的很好。在没有看到室内实际样子时，我们就和小杨确定想租这套房子。

While Yang-San continueed to search for suitable houses for us, we also searched online by ourselves. Some houses I found may not represented by ISSEI. Yang-San would assisted us to contact and show us the house. Soon, a month had passed, we still not found a satisfying house to rent. Some of reasons because of that the owners didn't like to rent to the foreigners while some of them the surrounding environments were poor. Finally, I saw a listed house for rental online. Although the house was over 30 years old, it looked very square and well maintained. Specially, there is a large park nearby, which is convenient for our family members to take a walk when they come to live. Yang-San said that this house was represented by ISSEI. She didn't tell us because the previous tenant had not moved out and the earlist time for rental would be in in mid of November. Although we didn't like staying in hotels for a long time, we still want to find a house we like to stay in. Yang-San worked very hard. She took us to see the community and the appearance of this house first. We were very satisfied. Although the community is not located in areas with convenient commercial and transportation, and it is not large, it looks mature and beautiful. The Doho park next to it is very famous in Tsukuba City, and the natural ecological environment is well protected. ALthough we didn't see the actual appearance of the interior, we confirmed with Yang-San that we wanted to rent this house.

小杨联系后得知，房主也不愿意将房子租给外国人。这真是太让人生气难受了。但是，她说这个她有信心让同事去说服房主，并让我们也多做些功课，先学几句简单日语。 因为这个房主是他们公司的老顾客，房子常年交给他们管理。10月底上一家刚搬出，我们就去看了房子。基本和照片上看到的差不多，就是上一家住了8年，室内壁纸很糟糕。没有空调、冰箱、洗衣机等任何电器，上家租户自己安装的空调，搬家时都带走了，也没有窗帘，卫生间和厨房设施都很老旧。有个院子，和其他家比起来，挺大的，荒草从生了。

After preliminary communications, Yang-San learned that the owner was also unwilling to rent the house to foreigners. This is really infuriating. However, she said she was confident that her colleague could persuade the homeowner. And she suggested us to learn some basic Japanese sentences at first. Because this homeowner is a loyal customer of ISSEI, the house is managed by them all year round.

At the end of October, we went to see the house after the previous family just moved out. Basically, it's similar to what we see in the photo, except that the previous family lived there for 8 years and the interior wallpaper was very poor. There were no any appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerator, washing machine, etc. The previous tenant installed their own air conditioners and took them with them away when moving. There are also no curtains, and the bathroom and kitchen facilities were very old. There was a yard that was quite large compared to other homes' one, but the weeds had been growing everwhere.

我们没有提什么要求，只是在担心房子不愿租给我们。但是中介公司自己做了房屋评估，给房主列出了哪些项目是必修的。主要是全屋更新壁纸和一层榻榻米房间的席子，做全屋除菌（这是每户搬出都要做的），入住前清理一次院落。更新所有壁纸是最贵的，大概要5万元人民币，不知都多久没更换过了，主要是厨房和大厅壁纸太脏了。房主觉得太贵，但是他自己不愿意管理这些事情，也勉强同意了。我问小杨会扣上一家租户押金吗，因为实在是弄得太脏了。小杨说不会的，因为上一家租了8年了，房主自己应该修理这些。这个一户建楼上楼下共有120平米（租金6,800元人民币左右），换新壁纸需要2-3周时间，所以他们本来预定11月中再出租。我们提出11月1日就开始租，并多给房主一个月的礼金（除了押金，根据房屋情况，租房时房主会收取1-2个月的租金，作为礼金，就是白给房主的钱，感谢他租房给你，这是日本的一个文化）。小杨公司负责与这个房主联系的员工说服户主，我们的信用很好，并且在学习日语沟通，有翻译软件，入住时会与社区委员会负责人见面，了解社区要求（如何扔垃圾、打扫院落和社区服务等等）。据说，房主也联系了业主委员会，告知他们这些情况，争得了他们同意。经过各方努力，我们终于租到了这个一户建。

We didn't make any demands, we were just worried that the owner wouldn't be willing to rent it to us. But ISSEI did the house evaluation as usual and listed which items had to be updated by the owner. The main tasks iclude updating the wallpaper of the entire house and the mats in the first floor tatami room, conducting a full house sterilization (this is required after every tenant moving out), and cleaning the courtyard before the next tenant moving in. Updating all wallpapers wa the most expensive, costing about USD 7,000. I didn't know when was the last time the wallpapers were replaced. But clearly that the wallpapers in kitchen and living room were too dirty to live. The homeowner felt the quotation was too expensive, but he himself was unwilling to handle these things and reluctantly agreed. I asked Yang-San if the owner and ISSEI would deduct some money from the deposit of the previous tenant because it was too dirty. Yang-San said they wouldn't do it, because the previous tenant had been renting for 8 years, and the owner should pay all the necessary updates.

This house has a total of 120 square meters upstairs and downstairs (with a rental fee of around USD 1,000), and it would take 2-3 weeks to replace the wallpaper, so they originally planned to rent it out again in mid November. We propose to start renting the house from November 1st and give the owner an additional month's rental fee as cash gift (in addition to the deposit, depending on the status of the house, the owner will charge 1-2 months' rental fee from the tenant as cash gift, which is the money given to the owner to thank him for renting to the tenant. This is one of Japanese customs.). The colleague of Yang-San who is responsible for contacting the owner convinced him that our credit was good and we are learning Japanese communication. We have translation software and would meet with the community committee leader upon check-in to understand community requirements such as how to dispose of garbage, clean the yard, and provide community services. It is said that the homeowner also contacted the homeowners' committee, informed them of these situations. After efforts from all parties, we finally signed the rental deal.

这次经历我们了解到，在这里租房，租客和房主是不见面不联系的，无论签署新合同还是续签合同。日本的房屋中介公司生意看似比国内中介好做。在这里房子出租时，中介公司一般是拿一个月的租金作为佣金。另外，以后每个月租户还交一个管理费用，像我们这套房子，每个月交他们50-60元人民币。如果房屋出现了任何问题，就找他们。例如，我们装的空调使用了一段时间后，总是跳闸。在空调公司来确认不是空调问题，可能是电箱电力不足后，我们联系中介，中介找人来评估，要花多少钱更新电箱和线路。他们又联系房主报价，房主同意后，中介再找专业公司来更新电箱。租房合同到期，要续签合同时，房主同意后，中介再拿一个月佣金。

We learned from this experience that here in Tsukuba, the tenant and landlord do not meet or contact each other ever whenever signing a new contract or renewing it. Japanese real estate agencies seem to have easier business than domestic agencies. When renting out a house here, the agency usually takes one month's rent as commission. In addition, in the future, tenants will also pay a management fee every month. We pay ISSEI around USD 10 per month. If there are any problems with the house, we just contact ISSEI. For example, one of the air conditioners we installed always trips after using it for a period of time. After confirming with the air conditioning company that it was not a problem with the air conditioning system, they doubted that it may had been due to insufficient power in the electrical box. Then we contacted ISSEI customer service who found someone to confirm the reason of the problem and evaluate how much it would cost to update the electrical box and wiring. Then, they contacted the homeowner for his or her opinions and agreement on the quotation, and after the owner agreed, the agent found a professional company to update the electrical box. When the rental contract being renewed, ISSEI will receive another month's commission.

我们以前在美国和国内租房时，都是首次签合同由中介牵线，中介收取一次性佣金后，就是房主和租户自己联系了。如果合同到期后，需要续签，双方可以自行商量并续签合同，无需中介介入了。

We had experience in house rental in the United States and China seperately before also. The real estate agencies only took one-month's commission in the contract being signed at the first time.  After that, the owner and tenant contacted each other by ourselves. If the contract needs renewed, both sides may discuss and renew the contract without the real estate agency.

到日本2个月后，11月1日我们终于搬入了这栋一户建。新换的壁纸把房子的档次提高了。

After two months arriving in Japan, we finally moved into this house on November 1st. The new wallpaper made the house look more superb.

室内玄关 - 右手是淋浴房和卫生间，两个完全独立的房间。

Indoor foyer - on the right hand are the shower room and toilet room, two completely independent rooms.

连着客厅，有一间榻榻米房。一般一户建一层都有一间榻榻米房间。二层的房间都是“洋”房。

The tatami room is adjacent to the liveing room. Usually there is a tatami room in the 1st floor. All other rooms are called "Yang" room, means western style room.

榻榻米房间的窗户纸都换过了。这是一个6席的榻榻米，在过去代表可以睡的下6个人。

The window paper in the tatami room has been replaced. This is a 6-mat tatami room which in the past represented sleeping space for up to 6 people.

33年前的老式厨房，红色箭头处是一个 0.6*0.6*0.4 米左右的储藏室，很小，能放几袋5公斤的米。

An old-fashioned kitchen built 33 years ago, the red arrow indicated a storage room of about 0.6 * 0.6 * 0.4 meters, which is very small and can hold several 5 kg bags of rice.

这是客厅的一个窗户，不大，但都是落地的，通向后院。紧挨着落地窗户的是折叠铁防护窗。现代新建的房子，一层窗外防护窗都是电动遥控控制的了。按着邻居建议，我们每晚都将折叠铁防护窗拉上。

This is a window in the living room, no big but nearly from ceiling to the floor, leading to the backyard. Next to the floor window is the folding iron security window. Nowadays the security windows outside the windows in the 1st floor usually controlled remotelly. Following our neighbor's suggestion, we close the security windows every night.

消毒清理过的卫生间。我们喜欢这个房子的另一个原因是，楼上楼下各有一个卫生间。我们看过的大多数一户建，只在楼下有一个卫生间。

Disinfected and cleaned to toilet room.. Another reason we like this house is that there are two toilet rooms.  Most of the single family house we have seen only have one toilet room.

小院的杂草都清理了，但也没有补种新草坪。从下面这张图片，可以看清折叠铁防护窗。

The weeds in the backyard have been cleared, but no new grass has been replanted. From the picture below, you can see the folding iron security window clearly.

这是北侧邻居家的房子和小区的样子。

This is the appearance of the neighbor's houses and residential area on the north side.

参考：

日本人最想住什么样的房子——公寓还是一户建？https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_20309756#:~:text=%E7%9B%AE%E5%89%8D%E5%85%A8%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%B8%80%E6%88%B7%E5%BB%BA,%E5%B0%B1%E5%8F%AA%E6%9C%893%E6%88%90%E4%BA%86%E3%80%82