Moving from Tohoku to Shizuoka

My name is Ryan, and I’ve been living in Japan as an ALT for about a year and a half. I’ve recently made quite a significant move after having found a new job opportunity, prompting me to move from Sendai to Shizuoka. I should state that I was not living specifically in Sendai city, but a small town south of Sendai known as Oogawara in Miyagi prefecture. My new job has taken me to the big bustling city of Shizuoka, homonymously named Shizuoka prefecture. It’s quite the change going from near-countryside to the big city, as well as the sheer distance between the two places which determined a number of my decisions. In this article, I’m going to break down and cover all the things necessary that I’ve done in order to make the move as well as my impressions of it all.

Finding an Apartment

Apartments in Japan

Of course, the most integral and possibly stressful part of moving is finding a new place to call home. I received several recommendations on how to navigate the maze of finding an apartment. For English options, someone recommended the apartment search on gaijinpot.com. While there are some options there, and the convenience of having it displayed in English was wonderful, sadly the options were quite slim. I found my way through another recommended website called Suumo. Unlike Gaijinpot, the options were endless, and in most cases, better suited to my needs. However, note that this site is purely in Japanese and traversing it via the tools available is its own challenge.

I relied on Google’s auto-translating feature in Chrome. Images and certain buttons aren’t translated but the relevant bits are, and that’s all I needed. I used their “Search by area” function to find apartments within Shizuoka. Using google maps, I was able to copy and paste the Kanji for specific areas to narrow the search as well. Any remaining information I needed was copied and pasted into google translate for further clarification.

I picked out a number of apartments I liked and was able to also see if they were near a train station which was fundamental in my search as I would have to rely on public transportation to get to work every day. One other thing that was pivotal in my search was that on each apartment page, they provide the address of the apartment under the “location” section.

Once I reverted the page back to the original Japanese version, I was able to copy and paste the addresses in their Kanji characters, and paste them into google maps to see more specifically where they were within the city. With these methods employed, I found the apartment I liked the most. It was the closest of all to a train station and as it turns out, it was close to both the main JR line, as well as the local Shizutetsu train station. I was also able to take a close-up look once I knew the exact location via Google’s street-view and see it for myself as if I were there.

With the search having been narrowed, I inquired through the website and was quickly, and I mean really quickly, contacted by the real estate agency. They emailed me within an hour, but of course in Japanese. At this point, it was no great challenge. Google translate to the rescue. I know that Google translate gets a lot of flack for being inaccurate and making strange translations, but it truly is a savior. I can only imagine the hurdles my fellow foreigner predecessors had to endure before such conveniences were available.

Once Google was able to make an understandable translation or the gist of what was being said was comprehensible, I was able to email the agency back and forth and negotiate. They also gave me a variety of other apartment options within the area I had been searching in. The apartment I ended up choosing was actually from that list, instead of those, I found on Sumo. I gave them my top 3 choices and they requested that I have a look.

Unfortunately, due to the distance and lack of finances, I had no way to come in person. Luckily, however, I had a friend already living in the city, who gladly stepped up to take a look in my place. Once I’d had a look at the videos my friend shot of the apartments, I finalized my decision with the agency, and they sent me the final quote. Through another stroke of good luck, I also got some money taken off the bill and didn’t have to pay for the first month’s rent. I transferred the money a few days later via direct transfer at the ATM and the deal was done.

Notification of My Move

The first important thing to remember when moving in Japan is as I’m sure many will know, is to notify a number of bodies of your departure and new residence. In my case, I had to notify the following:

• City or Town office
• Utility companies (Gas, water, and electricity)
• Bank
• Post Office
• Phone company

These bodies will vary from person to person. For example, I lived in a Leopalace apartment in Ogawara which was contracted by my former employer, so they were the ones responsible for notifying Leopalace. I utilized the provided Leopalace internet service as well, so there was no need to worry about this, but those who have a separate provider such as Docomo or SoftBank would have to notify these service companies accordingly.

Knowing a bit of Japanese beforehand made this process relatively painless. I should, however, make known that my Japanese is by no means fantastic, but some bare minimum knowledge of everyday words and phrases as well as knowing some of the particular vocabulary associated with moving was a lifesaver. This was especially so, given that I had to do this all myself.

I first went in person to my local Town office and advised them that I was moving. All they needed to know was my current address, the date I was to move, and my new address. About 10 minutes of waiting later, they handed me some documents and I was on my way. The documents provided are very important as they’re used by the destination town office to confirm and register your new residence.

Next was utilities. Most utility companies have options online to have this process done, however, I found it to be a bit of a maze of kanji, and not wanting to screw it up doing the wrong thing, I opted to call instead. I found the contact numbers for all the utility companies on the monthly bills provided.

I made calls to each of them and the required information and process for all were along the same lines as with the town office: my then address, intended date of departure, and my new address. The gas company however required a date to come and cut off the gas supply. I simply gave them the date of the final day that I would have been in town as I wasn’t particular about suffering through an icy cold shower before I left.

The bank, post office, and phone companies were left for last as in contrast to the other bodies, one can take care of those after having moved. However, do note ( I only knew this afterward). The post office after having been notified requires a week before mail can be redirected to the new address.

Here are some handy words and phrases to remember to get these notifications done:

• Jusho – Address
• Atarashii jusho – New address
• Watashiwa hikkoshimasu – I am moving
• Service name + tometaidesu – I want to stop my service name service (Denki – electricity, gasu – gas, mizu – water)

While these aren’t the exact words one should use to get this done, it’s all I knew at the time and register under the bare minimum one actually needs.

Shipping My Personal Items

In my case, I was very low on money so I wanted to get things done as cost-effectively as possible. I opted to only send over a handful of items to my new apartment. These included my computer chair, guitar, a large suitcase of clothes, a computer monitor, three snowboards, and two boxes of miscellaneous items.

Given that I have a Japanese driver’s license, perhaps renting a car and carrying all my items would have been the best option, however, there were two things working against me: distance, and time. I only had one day between my final working day, and the day I planned to move, and going from Miyagi to Shizuoka is already quite a large distance. Google maps estimated driving transit time of about 6 to 7 hours and that was via the expressway which would have, by my calculations, exacted tolls amounting to approximately 12,000 yen. Eliminate the tolls and the travel time goes up to about 11 hours depending on traffic conditions. In addition to that, the fee attached to returning a rental vehicle to a different location than where it was picked up increases the cost greatly, so simply driving there with a car full of my stuff and dropping it off there surprisingly worked out being the dull choice. At the time, I had neither that kind of time or money to play with, so I had to go with another option.

I decided to have my items shipped, and as for myself, I would take public transportation which in Japan, depending on your medium of choice is quite affordable. My courier service of choice was Yamato Kuroneko. They ship items based on volume and weight and while they don’t accept overly large items, they were the perfect choice for my needs. Till now I’m still thanking ‘me’ of the past for holding on to the boxes that the chair and computer monitor came in. I was able to pack the monitor back safely into its box with plenty of padding. The chair also went back into its original box, which surprisingly had a surplus of space to fit some other small items.

Kuroneko also has boxes available to purchase of which I purchased two of their largest. They aren’t massively big, but they did the trick. All in all, I brought one large suitcase, two of their largest boxes filled with some of my hard-to-part-with items, a guitar, a large box with the chair, and three snowboards. I was expecting quite a large bill, but surprisingly it all amounted to 17,000 yen. Each of the Kuroneko boxes cost only 3000 yen each, and due to it being a special service of theirs, the snowboards were packaged in special bags, two boards per bag, and cost 2000 yen each. Do the math and the remainder of the figure went toward the guitar, and the two largest items (the large suitcase and the chair).

Moving Out

Having sent these items off, I began the task of packing away the rest of my articles and cleaning up the apartment. In Japan, most apartments charge a toll called a cleaning fee. This is used to clean the apartment, dispose of any remaining items, make any repairs, and replace the lining of the walls (the last point, while new and strange to me is done normally in many cases as far as I’ve seen and heard). To keep the cost of this fee down, I had to make sure the place was mostly crisp and clear.

Old cardboard was cut apart, tied together, and disposed of and all various articles were either packed or thrown away. I also put together a number of still usable items such as kitchen wares, and laundry racks which I thought were too good to be thrown away, and donated them to a fellow foreigner to continue making use of them. It’s also the easiest way to get rid of them rather than following the strict garbage disposal rules in Japan.

I also took a few household appliances to the nearest secondhand store to get back a bit of cash for them rather than just throw them away. It turned out to not be very much in return but it was better than nothing and easier than disposing of them or finding anyone interested in buying them off of me.

Last on the list was disposing of the larger items. By which I mean big burnable items like futons, pillows, blankets, and the sort. Luckily within my town, there was a large incineration center to take those things to. It helps to have a car for this. If you’re reading this in the hopes of doing the same and are without a vehicle, I would recommend making many friends with people who have cars. They have you drive the car up onto a large scale and they weigh the car before and after you’ve thrown out the items and charge based on the weight difference. It cost me approximately 2000 yen to dispose of two futons, some pillows, and some blankets.

Once this was all done, I left the apartment, taking care to leave the keys through the mail slot and a strip of tape over the slot itself, and shutting off the electricity via the main breaker.

Making the Trip

After having taken care of the apartment, it was time for the long journey. Keeping the trend of low cost, I took the local train up to Sendai, and from there took a night bus down to Tokyo. I booked the bus through japanbusonline.com.

There are, however, other options such as Willer Express which offers several cheaper buses but given the day I was leaving, it would seem luck wasn’t on my side for the availability of those buses. Still, 6000 yen was still a far cry from the ten to eleven thousand yen it would have cost to take the bullet train.

Tokyo to Shizuoka was the final stretch. With my frantic searches at the time, I wasn’t able to find any buses from Tokyo directly to where I needed to go to Shizuoka so I turned to the train.

While it was technically possible to take a bus to somewhere nearby and then another train from there, I also had to consider the physical toll on my body given that I had been carrying two medium-sized but weighty suitcases and two backpacks, one on my back and the other in front.

I could have also taken the cheap route via the regular JR trains costing around 3000 yen and taking about 3 hours with one transfer along the route, but by then, after having only lugged my baggage from the bus stop across the street to the train station, I opted to bite the bullet and take the quick and direct Shinkansen (bullet train) straight to Shizuoka station.

This only set me back 5500 yen, being only 2500 more than the regular train. A couple of hours, a combini sandwich, and coffee later, I was bound for Shizuoka. I bought an unallocated ticket for the Shinkansen, which, while it didn’t guarantee me a seat on the train, was a bit cheaper and given that it was still in the wee hours of the morning, I felt my chances at comfort high; and I was right! I was able to snag a seat on a mostly-empty train and set aside my luggage in the allocated space.

Once I reached Shizuoka, it was time for the last piece of business. I had to meet with the realtor company at their branch office, sign the final contracts, and I was taken to the apartment in their car (THANK THE GODS). It was finally over. The long tiring journey had come to an end, with the only factor remaining unknown, being how many calories I burned carrying all that luggage.

The Final Stretch

The journey was over but the tasks weren’t quite done. I had the day’s worth of time to play with given that I got to the apartment fairly early in the morning. It was also the best opportunity of time given that the next day I started work.

The final tasks were registering my new address to the City office and all relevant services. Thankfully the City office was just a walk away. I ensured that I had the previously provided documents on hand, I registered my new address there, and had my resident’s card updated with the new address as well. The water, electricity, and gas companies’ contact information was provided to me by the realtor company and a quick call along with informing them of the address and date of moving in completed utilities.

Last but not least was the phone company, the post office, and the bank. In my case, the bank and post office are one in the same entity, so those were taken care of at my nearest branch. My phone contract is through Docomo, so I took the opportunity while there to apply for internet service as well. My new apartment, unlike my previous LeoPalace apartment, did not have ready-to-use the internet, however, it was preinstalled with a Docomo-provided fiber optic line. For all those folks who need to have internet installed, note that most providers take quite a bit of time before they can come to install the equipment. In my case, I had to wait just over 2 weeks before they installed the modem, and they charged an extra fee to have it done on the weekend.

Final Impressions

While moving within Japan comes with a number of tasks, which, to the unacquainted may seem daunting, it wasn’t terrible for me. Your journey and degree of headache may vary based on how far you intend to move, but take it from someone who’s gone a far way; it’s very much in the realm of possibility.

Having some or any degree of Japanese under your belt makes it much easier as well. If you’re not quite confident in this field, try asking a friend who can speak Japanese or a local with who you communicate. Japanese people in my experience are very helpful, and they’re probably the most capable of giving you the best advice and helping you get past those pesky processes that require speaking or knowing Japanese.

Moving can be an expensive ordeal, so I recommend saving as much as you can to make your transition as easy as possible. Had I been in such a position, I would have shipped even more of my possessions over, and taken the Shinkansen the entire way. I’m sure my back would have been thankful for that as well.