Viewing a Tokyo apartment: what isn't included

When you view an unfurnished apartment in Tokyo, bring a tape measure and expect the room to be emptier than you may be used to. Many unfurnished rentals come without ceiling lights, curtains or a cooker, some come without an air conditioner, and the contract lists a place for a washing machine rather than the machine. The viewing is where you find out what is missing and whether the appliances you buy will fit.

Ask for the fittings list for this exact room

The national standard lease form published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (賃貸住宅標準契約書) has a fittings table on its first page. Each line is marked 有 (ari, present) or 無 (nashi, absent): a washing-machine space, a water heater, a gas, electric or induction cooker, heating and cooling, built-in lighting, a mailbox, a parcel locker. The same page records whether the gas is city gas or propane and how many amps the electricity supply allows.

Not every landlord uses this form, but the list is a good one. Ask the agent to answer each line for the room you are viewing, in writing. "Air conditioner: one unit in the living room, none in the bedroom" is the kind of answer that changes your budget. If you are comparing with a furnished rental, our furnished inclusion guide covers the other side of the same question.

Look up before you look around

Many rooms have no light fitting, only a round or square socket on the ceiling called a 引掛シーリング (hikkake shīringu — ceiling light socket). Panasonic's installation guide explains that a ceiling light attaches to one of these sockets without any electrical work; where there is no socket, fitting a light needs an electrician. Count the sockets room by room. A room without one means living with a floor lamp or asking the landlord about wiring work.

Use the socket rather than screwing a light straight into the ceiling. The standard lease's repair table says tenants pay to repair marks left by lights they attached directly to the ceiling.

Curtains are usually yours to buy. Measure the rail width and the drop to the floor or sill while you are there, because ready-made curtains are sold by those two numbers.

Measure the washing-machine pan, not just the space

Many apartments have a plastic tray called a 防水パン (bōsui pan — waterproof pan) under the washing-machine position. TOTO's explanation lists the common sizes as 640 by 640 mm, 740 by 640 mm and 800 by 640 mm, in flat and raised-edge types. The number that matters is the space inside the raised edges. Hitachi's installation FAQ says the pan size a machine needs differs by model. One of its top-loading models needs an inside width of at least 640 mm and a depth of at least 540 mm, with edges no higher than 80 mm, and the position of the drain outlet can mean buying an extra part.

Write down the inside width and depth, the height of the edges, which corner the drain is in, and the height of the tap above the pan. Photograph the route from the front door too, because a front-loading washing machine that fits the pan can still fail to get through the hallway. If the washing-machine position is on the balcony, the lease form asks the landlord to say so. Hitachi's installation page says not to install a machine outdoors where wind and rain reach it, because of the risk of electric shock and damaged electrical parts. If the only position is on the balcony, ask the agent whether it is sheltered from wind and rain before you decide on the home. A balcony machine also takes up the space where clothes would dry; our laundry guide explains bathroom drying systems and indoor racks for that situation.

The kitchen: an empty slot means you buy the cooker

Many kitchens have an empty space where a two-burner cooker sits, and the cooker is yours. Measure the slot's width and depth and the distance to the nearest wall. Then check the gas. Tokyo Gas's cooker guide says a propane cooker cannot generally be used with city gas, that using the wrong gas can cause carbon monoxide poisoning or an explosion, and that the label on the cooker body shows which gas it is for. A second-hand cooker from someone leaving Tokyo is only a bargain if it matches your building.

Do the same for the fridge: the width of its slot, the depth, and which way the door can open without hitting a wall or the cooker.

Find out which gas the building uses

If there are gas cylinders outside the building, the supply is propane, called LP gas. If the gas arrives by pipe from the street, it is city gas. Tokyo Gas Network publishes its supply area for Tokyo and six surrounding prefectures and notes that some municipalities are only partly covered, so a Tokyo address does not guarantee city gas.

This matters for the monthly bill. Propane is sold by whichever gas company the building owner has chosen. The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy describes a long-standing practice in which gas companies lent water heaters, cookers, air conditioners and Wi-Fi equipment to landlords and recovered the cost through tenants' gas bills. It notes that tenants often only learned the rate after moving in.

The rules changed. According to the agency's June 2025 briefing, since 2 July 2024 an LP gas company must give its rates to a prospective tenant who asks it directly. The rule only asks it to try to pass them on through the estate agent, so ask the gas company yourself. Since 2 April 2025, bills must show the basic charge, the usage charge and any equipment charge as separate lines. For new contracts, costs unrelated to gas, such as air conditioners and Wi-Fi equipment, cannot be put into the gas price, and for rental housing neither can gas appliances. Existing contracts only have to show the split.

Here is an invented example of what the split looks like. A bill shows a basic charge of ¥1,800, a usage charge of ¥600 per cubic metre for 8 cubic metres, which is ¥4,800, and an equipment charge of ¥500. The total is ¥7,100. If the equipment charge on the gas bill is more than zero, ask what it covers. For a gas-supply contract signed on or after 2 April 2025, it cannot include air conditioners, Wi-Fi equipment or the gas appliances inside your home. At the viewing, ask the agent for the gas company's name, then request its rates before you apply.

Heating, cooling and the breaker

Where the fittings list says no heating or cooling, look for the hole in the wall and the space on the balcony that an air conditioner would need, and ask the landlord for written permission before anyone drills. The standard lease's repair table treats the screw holes from a tenant-installed air conditioner as ordinary wear paid by the landlord. Permission to install still comes first.

Ask what the current electricity contract allows, in amps, since the lease form has a line for it. A low limit trips the breaker when the kettle, microwave and heater run together, and raising it may need the landlord's agreement.

The form also records whether the building is wooden. That affects how much you hear from neighbours and how cold the room gets in winter, so visit at the hour you would normally be home, close the door and listen. Our street-facing or rear-facing guide explains what to check when choosing between those two positions in the same building.

Walk the two routes before you decide

Walk from the room to the station and, separately, to the supermarket you would actually use, at the time of day you would use them. Look at the balcony for pole holders and whether the sun reaches the drying space, check the mailbox and parcel locker, and ask whether the bicycle parking listed as included has a free space. Our bicycle guide explains why a registered bike still needs a permitted spot.

Before you leave, photograph each ceiling socket, the pan, the cooker and fridge slots, the meter box and the gas cylinders or city-gas meter. Those photos and the written fittings list are what you will compare quotes against when you start buying appliances.