Looking for an Apartment Close to Ritsumeikan?

So far this semester (which equals approximately one month) I have been living in a small village called Haradani in the northern part of Kyoto. It is a little bit far from school, about thirty minutes of walking, and to be honest I didn't like it too much. Considering both the location and the distance to school I found that the price for the apartment was a bit high. And walking home in the dark wasn't too fun either (except one night when I actually saw a big boar with two piglets on the way home from school.. It wouldn't have been that fun if it weren't for the fence though.. Haha)..

Haradani is situated in a valley north of Kyoto, and it gets really cold there during winter. I would wake up in the middle of the night freezing, even with three layers of clothing on. As a result me and my new neighbor Jamilah ended up using a lot of electricity and gas to keep us warm, and we ended up with a really expensive utility bill despite both of us feeling like we were freezing to death. Long story short: I wouldn't recommend living in Haradani that easily..

Picture of the entrance to Interco, taken from their web-page

I have to admit that it was quite rash, but there are many apartment stores close to school, so I just went to check one of them out last week. The company I went to called Interco, and it is situated really close to Ritsumeikan's east gate (just walk towards the post office and you'll see it on your left side). The staff was really helpful, and found me an apartment nearby school which was even closer and cheaper than I'd expected. The landlord turned out to be a really nice person too, so over the weekend I had found myself a new place to live. I feel the staff at Interco really went out of their way to help both me and Jamilah in search for a new place to live, despite some misunderstandings from our parts on the way. Because of this I decided to give the company my best recommendations through this blog. Thanks to them I'll no longer have to walk 30 minutes to get to my home in the middel of nowhere. v(^.^)


The necessary documents you need for an apartment are:
-Passport
-Alien registration card
-Student card
-Payment in cash for the first month, + other fees depending on the apartment
-Contract fees
-Housing insurance

-For some apartments they require the ability to speak Japanese. Either way, you can contact Interco directly and they'll help you find a company that suits your needs.
For more information, check out their web page.

PS! If you introduce a friend then both you and your friend will get a discount on the apartment contract.! (Introducer gets 10% off, and the introduced person gets 5%)

Map to Interco, where you can get help finding an apartment

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.