Furniture and Appliances in Japan

How are foreigners living in Japan obtaining and handling furniture and household appliances?

We here provide guidance on some options for having furniture and appliances during your life in Japan depending on duration of residence and various individual matters. The options include bringing them from your home country (difference of voltage and cycle to be considered), leasing them, living in a rental apartment with them, and living in a foreigner friendly serviced apartment with them.

To bring furniture from your home country

As the European and American furniture generally has a bigger sizes than Japanese one, it is possible that the furniture will not pass the door of the room in Japan even if you bring it from your country with much effort, or it looks too big for the size of the room even if it could have passed the room door; or size of the Japanese bedding (bedcovers) does not fit due to a different size specification.

When you want to bring furniture from your home country, we highly recommend that you check up on the dimension of the apartment rooms which you plan to live before shipping to Japan.

To bring appliances from your home country

Japan uses a 100 volt current while 100-240 volt currents are used outside of Japan.

Bringing an appliance from your home country is not recommended when considering the deterioration of performance due to the difference of voltages, the cost of transportation and the transformer.

The following options are recommended about appliances:

1. To purchase in Japan
2. To lease in Japan
3. To live in a rental or serviced apartment including appliances

To lease Furniture and Appliances in Japan

You can rent furniture and appliances from a leasing company in Japan.

Line-ups of furniture are abundant from European or American stylish ones to Japanese or Asian traditional ones. There are many lease companies providing services in English depending on the period of stay in Japan from short-term to long-term.

Rental Apartments including appliances

Many expat oriented apartments include appliances. Large-sized appliances such as refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, oven, dishwasher, etc. are generally included.

Serviced Apartments including furniture and appliances

Serviced apartments include necessary line-ups for everyday life such as furniture, appliances, table wares, beddings and linens. The rent becomes more expensive, but it is usually recommended for expats with short-time stay for less than one year.

The rent becomes more expensive, but it is usually recommended for expats with short-time stay for less than one year.