Choosing a 1–6 month Tokyo stay: which kind to book

For a 1–6 month Tokyo stay, you have four options. Furnished apartment. Sharehouse. Hotel or aparthotel. Airbnb. Each one has a fit. The right pick depends on your visa, your budget, whether you cook, and whether you want a roommate.

This guide compares the four on what matters at booking: cost, kitchen, minimum stay, what ID you need, and the deposit. We name a default for four common reader profiles and list the questions to ask the operator before you pay.

HalfKey is in the furnished apartment business, so we're biased toward that answer. We try to name when one of the other three is the better fit anyway.

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What each option is

The four overlap on the surface. Underneath, the licence, the contract, and what you pay per night are different.

Furnished apartment. A whole unit (studio, one-bedroom, or larger) in a 賃貸マンション (chintai manshon — rental mid-rise concrete apartment) on a 短期賃貸借契約 (tanki chintaishaku keiyaku — fixed-term short lease) of 30 days to 12 months. Kitchen, washing machine, full bath. ¥165,000–¥230,000 a month for a central-Tokyo studio. ¥230,000–¥320,000 for a one-bedroom. Most of these apartments show up on the big Japanese-language property sites and on the sites aimed at foreigners.

Sharehouse or guesthouse. A private bedroom in a shared building, with shared kitchen, bath, and common room. ¥45,000–¥90,000 a month for the bedroom. The biggest sharehouse chains in Tokyo are the three most foreigners book through. Month-by-month contracts, 30 days notice.

Hotel or aparthotel. Nightly billing, daily housekeeping, no kitchen — or a hot-plate kitchenette in some of the aparthotel chains. The monthly rate after the discount usually lands at ¥240,000–¥350,000 for a single room in central Tokyo. The big global hotel-booking sites are where you'll find them.

Airbnb / 民泊 (minpaku — short-term private lodging under the 2018 Housing Accommodation Business Act). Whole apartments rented out by the owner or a small operator. Licensed Tokyo listings carry a host ID with the M- prefix and a 180-day annual cap on guest nights for that specific unit. Rates swing widely (¥6,000 to ¥30,000+ a night), and so does the quality of the operator behind the listing.

What separates them at booking

The cost columns are the room or unit only. Utilities run ¥8,000–¥18,000 a month on a furnished apartment, are flat-included on a sharehouse or hotel, and vary on Airbnb. Airbnb cleaning fees are one-time and heavy on stays under 30 nights.

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Match by who you are, not just by budget

The right pick changes with the reader, not just the price.

1. Corporate stint, 60–180 days, your employer pays. Default: a furnished apartment. You need a kitchen, a desk for video calls, somewhere to receive parcels, and an invoice the company can pay. An aparthotel works as a fallback if the stay is under 45 days, or if your employer can't process a rental invoice.

2. Working-holiday tourist, 90–180 days, paying yourself. Default: a sharehouse. Cost matters most, you're out of the room most days, and sharing a common room is part of why you'd pick this. The two biggest sharehouse chains accept working holiday visa holders directly. Pick a furnished apartment only if you're older or sharing with a partner.

3. Language school student, 3–12 months. Default: a sharehouse for stays under 6 months. A residential lease (through the school's housing office) above that. A furnished apartment costs 2–3x a sharehouse, and living alone hits hard by month two. Hotel and Airbnb don't work for stays this long.

4. Remote-working couple, 30–90 days, two incomes. Default: a furnished one-bedroom, or a vetted Airbnb. A one-bedroom gives both of you a desk, a kitchen, and proper residential utilities. An Airbnb works if three things line up. A real Tokyo M- registration number. Fast internet in the building. 50+ reviews above 4.7. Sharehouses don't work for two people — shared bath, and not enough room of your own.

ID and visa friction

Each option checks ID differently, and the hassle lands on the reader who picks the wrong one for their visa.

A furnished apartment checks your visa or residence card before key handover. Most operators take 30+ day stays on any valid visa. A few won't take 90-day tourist visa holders, so if that's your situation, confirm acceptance with the operator before booking. HalfKey is one of the operators that does accept tourist-visa stays.

Sharehouses, licensed as 寄宿舎 (kishukusha — boarding house) or under a fixed-term residential lease, check visa status at booking. Working holiday and student visas are routine. Tourist visa stays shorter than 90 days are fine at most sharehouses.

Hotels and aparthotels check passport at check-in only, under the 旅館業法 (ryokan-gyo-ho — Hotel Business Act). No visa check, no minimum-stay rule.

Airbnb checks passport at check-in and the host records it. The 180-day annual cap belongs to the building, not you. If the listing has already burned through 150 nights this calendar year, your 60-night booking won't fit.

Deposit and reikin

None of the four charge reikin (礼金, gratitude money to the landlord, non-refundable). But three of them ask for a refundable deposit.

Most furnished apartment operators charge a refundable deposit of around one month's rent. Some (HalfKey included) scale the deposit to the length of your stay instead. Either way, it's returned 30–60 days after checkout, minus any damages. Sharehouses charge ¥30,000–¥60,000, refunded after a checkout inspection. Hotels and aparthotels charge nothing beyond a card hold. Airbnb collects the full stay up front and handles damage claims through its resolution centre.

What to ask before you pay

Send these questions in writing before you pay. Keep the email thread.

For a furnished apartment:

1. What is the cancellation schedule by date for my booking?
2. Are utilities (gas, water, electricity, internet) included, capped, or metered?
3. What's the early-termination policy if I leave during the stay?
4. Will the deposit come back to my original payment method, or by JPY bank transfer?

For a sharehouse:

1. How many people share the kitchen and bath? What's the shower-to-resident ratio?
2. Is there a quiet-hours rule, and is it enforced?
3. What's the notice period to leave, and from what date does it count?

For a hotel or aparthotel:

1. What is the monthly rate after the discount, including tax?
2. Is there laundry on-site (coin laundry, valet, or none)?
3. Can I receive packages at the front desk without a per-package fee?

For an Airbnb:

1. What is your Tokyo M- registration number, and on which licence (minpaku 180-day, ryokan, or tokku)?
2. Is the building's 180-day cap on track to fit my full booked stay?
3. Does the cancellation policy default to Airbnb's monthly long-term rule (28+ nights)?

If the operator is slow, vague, or defensive on any of these, you have your answer.

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Before you book, do this

Do these in order.

1. Pick which of the four reader profiles above fits you, or name a hybrid.
2. Read the comparison-table row for the matching option.
3. Open the property portals for that option and shortlist three units that match your dates and ward.
4. Send each operator the question list above. Wait for written answers before you pay.

The wrong option costs you two moves and a lost deposit. Asking the right questions before paying costs you an afternoon.

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— HalfKey runs furnished Tokyo apartments for stays of 30 days to 12 months. Browse listings for your dates.