Housing Advice for Prospective ICS Students

Housing In or Near Tokyo

Finding housing in Tokyo can be challenging and expensive, so it is best to start making arrangements early, especially financial arrangements. An average studio apartment (a 35 sq. m. / 315 sq. ft. apartment with one room and a galley kitchen and bathroom) within a one-hour train ride of ICS can easily cost 140,000 yen per month, including deposits, heating, water, and electricity, for apartments without guarantors. Also, do not expect to live near ICS in downtown Tokyo: the average Japanese manager in Tokyo commutes 90 minutes each way to work, so plan on a minimum commute of at least 50 minutes each way to ICS if you want to live in a studio apartment in the 140,000 yen range. That said, even with expensive urban housing, ICS is still a real deal!

Housing Leads

Japanese housing often requires a guarantor, but it is sometimes possible to find accommodations that do not require one. Realtor Web sites used by ICS students in the past, but not vetted or endorsed by ICS, include the following:

Hotel Accommodations

Please plan on arriving two or three weeks before school starts to find an apartment. Budget hotels near ICS that you can stay in while searching for an apartment, such as the following, cost 4,000 - 8,000 yen per night:

Subsidized Housing

There are very limited opportunities for self-sponsored students or their families to live in subsidized student housing in Japan. Availability is unpredictable, with openings often occurring toward the end of the ICS school year in April or late Fall at the earliest. Excess demand from other campuses makes the pursuit of this housing very competitive, often resulting in a lottery. Thus, to be fair, if such housing does become available, selection will be made on the basis of financial need, as determined through an application essay and applicant bank statements, followed by a lottery. However, if at all possible, it is better to come early and find your own housing, since single students have less than a 10% chance of receiving subsidized housing, and families have less than a 5% chance. Family visas often compound this housing problem. Due to the expense and difficulty of finding family housing, along with family visa issues, it is strongly recommended not to bring families to Japan. ICS cannot provide help in finding family housing.