Global Courant 2023-05-11 05:55:00
By 2008, the last year the survey was conducted, the rate had fallen to 2.8 percent and is believed to have continued to fall ever since.
While rents for houses without bathrooms are low and therefore accommodate people with financial difficulties, more and more young people live voluntarily in such places.
According to real estate agency Balleggs in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, it used to be mainly the elderly who were looking for such properties.
However, in the past three to four years, questions from company employees aged between 20 and 30 have become increasingly common.
The monthly rent for a room with six tatami mats and a bathroom in a condominium in Meguro Ward is about 90,000 yen, but drops to 30,000 yen to 40,000 yen for a room without a bathroom.
“People who want to live in a very favorable neighborhood and at the same time want to keep their rent low seem to choose this option,” says real estate agent Arata Sato.
The housing information website Tokyo Sento Fudo-san lists about 50 non-bathroom properties, mostly in Tokyo’s 23 wards, along with their distances from Sento public bathhouses.
Some properties are located in the heart of Tokyo, such as in the Shibuya or Shinjuku neighborhoods, and the site receives about 150 applications a year, mostly from the younger generation, according to website operator Natsuko Kashima.
Less materialistic?
Some choose to live in even smaller homes.
In the basic housing and living plan of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 25 m², including kitchen and bathroom, is considered the minimum living space for single people.
In recent years, however, buildings of about half the size have appeared.
A 22-year-old hairdresser lives in an apartment in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, which is 9 square meters in size, including bathroom and kitchen, and has an attic.
