Apartment
The apartments vary somewhat in size, location and rent, but they are all in the same category of "1K," which means one room, usually 6 tatami mats, and a kitchen and unit bath/toilet. In other words, a single-occupancy, studio apartment. There are different sizes of tatami mats, the standard being 90 cm X 180 cm. The bedroom would be about 9 square meters.
The school will furnish the apartment with a cooking stove, futon bedding set,
lighting fixtures, refrigerator, washing machine and an air conditioner.
The bedding consists of a futon set: bottom futon, top futon, sheet, pillow and pillowcase. If you want to bring additional bedding and have room in your suitcase, a blanket would be helpful.
Otherwise you can buy reasonably priced blankets here.
You can assume there would be no leftover furniture or kitchen accouterments from the previous occupant. However, in such cases, the school will assist you with shopping to the local second-hand and recycling shops and arranging for transportation and delivery. Small appliances (Japanese sized!) can be purchased at low prices. We pair you with one of the teachers, and you can communicate via e-mail about local shopping, area facilities, prices, food, clothing, entertainment, etc.
Tokyo has anything that you would find in any large city in North America or Europe for daily living.
The scale and function of Japanese appliances are smaller and different from western appliances.
Upon your arrival in Japan, you will be given a key for your apartment. Because you will only be given one key, it is very important that you ensure it isn't lost. In the case that you lose your apartment key, Mike's will have to replace the lock on your apartment. In order to cover this cost, you will be charged.
Washing Machine/Air Conditioner: Your major appliances will be labeled completely in Japanese, so it can be useful to have an English translated version. The school will provide you with a translated copy upon request to help you.
Laundry: Unlike North America, most people in Japan do not use clothes dryers. Washing is done by machine with cold water only, and hung on the line to dry. Dry cleaning is available, but it can get pricey when done each week. You might want to consider bringing clothes that launder without much effort. Should you need to use a dryer there is a laundromat near Mike's. It's located
on a side street adjacent to Kawasaki Kaido. (If you walk from OPA, down the street with the large hair salon, it will be on your left-hand side. If you see a plant store, you've gone too far.)