By the HalfKey team
Locked out of your Tokyo apartment: what to do tonight
Three lockouts look identical and cost different amounts. A key left inside is a spare-key run. A dead keypad wants a 9V battery. A lost key means a new cylinder on your bill, and a locksmith found by phone search at 11pm can cost more than all three.
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If you are locked out of a furnished Tokyo apartment tonight, call the operator's emergency number before you call anyone else. The operator (the company that runs the furnished rental) holds the spare key or the master code, and the key clause in your contract decides who pays for whatever happens next. A locksmith is the exception, not the default. The one you find by phone search at 11pm is the expensive way in.
Three lockouts look the same from the hallway: the key is lost, the key is inside, or the lock stopped responding. Each has a different first call and a different bill. Work out which one you have before you spend anything.
Call the operator first, then decide
Your check-in message or the apartment binder carries an emergency number. Use it now. Call, then send the same message by text or LINE in case the call goes to voicemail. Most operators can do one of three things: bring the spare key, send a one-time code for a keypad lock, or unlock a connected lock from their phone.
What they cannot do is fix the problem faster than you can describe it. Say which lockout you have, where you are standing, and how to reach you. The template is below.
Response times vary. Some operators run a 24-hour line. Many do not. Japan's National Consumer Affairs Center (国民生活センター, Kokumin Seikatsu Center) published a case in November 2024 where a management company told a locked-out tenant to handle it himself. He called a locksmith and paid about ¥50,000 for one auto-lock door. If you have not heard back in 20 minutes, move to the exception path below. And at your next check-in, ask the operator what their lockout procedure is. The consumer center gives tenants exactly that advice.
Which lockout is this?
| Lockout | First call | Likely cost | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key inside the apartment | Operator's spare key or code | Free to a call-out fee if the operator comes. ¥8,800–¥28,600 plus a ¥5,500 night fee on one national locksmith chain's list | You, unless the contract says otherwise |
| Key lost | Operator, then the police report | Cylinder replacement: ¥16,500–¥55,000 on that chain's list, ¥15,000–¥35,000 as a general guide | You. The government guideline puts loss on the tenant, with no discount for the lock's age |
| Lock not responding | The lock itself (9V battery), then the operator | Nothing if a battery fixes it | The operator, under the landlord's repair duty |
The keypad is probably not dead, only unpowered
Building-installed smart locks in newer furnished apartments run on batteries inside the door. When they run flat, the outdoor pad has a power port for exactly this moment. Qrio's building lock, the Qrio Lock R, wakes up when you hold a 9V alkaline battery against the port under the cylinder cover on the outside unit. Polarity does not matter. The lock works only while the battery touches it, so keep it pressed on while you enter the code. Konbini sell 9V batteries; look for 9V or 006P on the pack. Check the underside or the cover of your outdoor unit before you call anyone.
Retrofit smart locks are different. Products like SwitchBot Lock clip over the thumb-turn on the inside of the door, so the original keyhole stays. If the operator gave you a physical key alongside the app, the key opens the door with the battery flat. If they gave you only the app, message them now. Replacing a dead battery is their job, and they need to know the lock is down.
The locksmith price trap, with the numbers
The consumer center's November 2024 warning has two cases worth reading before you dial. In the first, a website showed "free estimate" and "unlocking from ¥2,000". The technician gave no price, opened the door, and asked for about ¥100,000. The customer paid from a konbini ATM because it was late and she was alone with him. In the second, the phone quote was an ¥8,000 base fee. On site, the "special auto-lock key" added about ¥40,000. An earlier case from 2022 went from "a few thousand yen" in the ad to a bill over ¥70,000.
A published price list from an honest shop looks nothing like that. One national chain's list shows front-door opening at ¥8,800 to ¥16,500 for a standard notched key, ¥8,800 to ¥27,500 for a dimple key, from ¥22,000 for electronic locks, plus ¥5,500 for any job between 9pm and 8am. It quotes the total before starting. Use those numbers as your reference. A "from ¥500" ad is not a quote.
Three rules from the consumer center, in order:
- Ask for the total before any work starts, including the 出張料 (shutchō-ryō — call-out charge) and what it costs to cancel if you say no.
- If the bill after the work is not what you agreed, do not pay on the spot. Say you will pay the agreed amount later. That sentence is the consumer center's own advice. If the technician turns threatening, it says to call the police.
- If you already paid, the door-to-door sales rules in 特定商取引法 (Tokutei Shōtorihiki-hō — Act on Specified Commercial Transactions) may give you a cooling-off right when the bill differs badly from the advertised price. Call 188, the national consumer hotline, the next morning.
Pick the shop from the member search of 日本ロックセキュリティ協同組合 (Nihon Lock Security Kyōdō Kumiai — the Japan Lock Security Cooperative, a national body approved by the Prime Minister and supervised by the National Police Agency), not from the top of a search page. Its own advice to consumers is to compare quotes calmly rather than let a shop use your panic. Expect a legitimate locksmith to ask for ID and something that ties you to the address before opening the door.
The message to send the operator
In English:
Locked out of [building name, room number]. My key is [lost / inside the apartment / the keypad is not responding]. I am at the front door now. Can you bring the spare key or send a code? Phone: [number].
In Japanese, if the line is Japanese-only:
[物件名・部屋番号]に締め出されています。鍵を[紛失しました／室内に置き忘れました／キーパッドが反応しません]。今、玄関前にいます。スペアキーの持参または解錠コードの送付をお願いできますか。電話：[番号]
Send it by whatever channel the operator answered fastest during check-in. If you reach voicemail, leave the same four facts and text them too.
Lost key: file the police report tonight
A lost key goes to the police as a 遺失届 (ishitsu-todoke — lost property report). You can file at any 交番 (kōban — police box) or police station. The Metropolitan Police Department says the form is at every police office. You can also file online through the department's procedures site as long as the lost item held less than ¥1,000,000 in cash, which covers a key ring. Give a Japanese phone number. The police say plainly that they do not make international calls when an item turns up.
Two reasons to do this the same night. Keys handed in at stations and konbini get matched against reports, and a key with a tag or a fob is easier to return than most wallets. And the report's receipt number is what some operators and insurance policies ask for before they decide how to bill the replacement. Ask your operator whether they want it.
Do not call 110 for a lockout. The police say 110 is for crimes and accidents where an officer needs to come now. Worries with no crime behind them go to #9110, the police consultation line, and even that line will point you back to the operator or a locksmith. A lockout with nobody in danger is not a 110 call.
Who pays, by cause
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省, MLIT) publishes the guideline Japanese landlords and tenants argue from, 原状回復をめぐるトラブルとガイドライン (the restoration-cost guideline). It puts key replacement with no loss or damage on the landlord's side, and replacement caused by loss or damage on the tenant's side. It adds one line that matters for your bill: for a lost key, the lock's age is not considered, so you pay the full replacement rather than a depreciated share. The guideline is not law, but most contracts follow it, and the public housing corporation UR applies the same rule: lose the key, pay for the cylinder.
A lock that failed on its own is the other direction. Article 606 of the Civil Code (民法, Minpō) makes the landlord responsible for repairs needed to use the property, unless the tenant caused the need. A flat battery, a jammed cylinder, or a keypad that died in the rain is the operator's repair. Keep the receipt for any battery you bought and tell them the same night.
The middle case, a key left inside, is decided by your contract and the operator's policy. Some operators bring the spare free the first time. Some charge a call-out fee after hours. Some tell you to call a locksmith, as the consumer center's case shows. If the answer is not in your contract, ask before you need it, ideally in the email you send before booking. A lockout fee that never appears on the listing page belongs in the same written answer as the six fees to get in writing before you sign.
If nobody answers tonight
Take a business hotel or a capsule hotel near the nearest terminal station, keep the receipt, and stop spending. You get the night back only when the failure was the operator's: their lock broke, or their key did not work. A lost key or a key inside is your cost, however the night ends. It is the same logic as Article 606. Whoever caused the problem pays for it.
In the morning, send the operator one email with the timeline, the photos, and the receipts. If the operator never answered an emergency line they gave you, say so in writing. The emergencies guide covers the other after-hours numbers a furnished apartment needs.
Tonight, in this order
- Look at the outdoor keypad for a power port and try a 9V battery from the konbini before you call anyone.
- Message the operator's emergency line with the template above. Call if there is no reply in ten minutes.
- Lost key: file the 遺失届 online or at the nearest kōban tonight, with a Japanese phone number.
- Locksmith only after that. Pick a Japan Lock Security Cooperative member, get the total including call-out and night fees before work starts, and refuse an on-the-spot bill you did not agree to.
- Keep every receipt and screenshot, and email the operator the whole timeline in the morning.