株式会社 AghartA — Local services in Tokyo

Renting a place in Tokyo as a foreigner with a job and Japanese language proficiency, somewhat difficult. Renting a place in Tokyo as a foreigner with a job and no Japanese, hard. Renting a place in Tokyo as a foreign language school student, effectively impossible.

Somehow Tsubasa-san made the impossible happen.

She helped me find a place closer to my school, cheaper than my sharehouse, and on a more convenient line. She killed it!

I lived in a sharehouse for two months before I attempted to find my own apartment. I found out about Agharta through different listings I saw on realestate.co.jp. Tsubasa san replied to one of my inquiries and immediately scheduled time to meet with me.

I met her the day after my email and we started looking at places on their database of listings that were around my budget. I chose maybe 30-40 different places and Tsubasa called all of them. Only 7-8 were ok with a foreign language student without a job. I was a bit disappointed at how many were cut, but Tsubasa san explained the reality of real estate in Japan.

If you are curious, the totem poll is: Japanese citizen Foreigner with a job + Japanese skills Foreign university students Foreign language school student

Even with so many potential apartments cut out Tsubasa san made sure that I saw the units that I was interested in. When I found one that I liked, she ensured that I was top priority when it came to the application and kept me updated at every step of the process. Even after the application was approved she helped configure things like gas, electricity, and water.

Finding opportunities (work, school, networking) as a foreigner in Japan seems to be quite difficult so far. People like Tsubasa-san enable us to chase opportunities that may otherwise be out of reach. I am very satisfied and thankful...

I was in contact with many other real estate agencies in Tokyo to find a good apartment. Already when contacting Agharta by E-Mail I received a lot of helpful information and an orientation guideline besides only information about the apartment, so my first impression of this company was already very good. When I met Tsubasa-san, a very kind, competent and friendly lady - real estate agent of Agharta, she showed me several apartments - considering all my personal criterias and likings and she found me a good apartment already at our first meeting. She also helped me with many other issues which were needed to rent an apartment - even took care of making the hanko (name stamp - used in Japan instead of a signature) for me, doing phone calls on my behalf and giving me lots of useful information about other administrative things. The whole process of finding and renting an apartment took me only 3 days with the help of Tsubasa-san.

I can highly recommend Agharta and especially Tsubasa-san as one of the most helpful and competent real estate agents I have met so far (compared to about 6 others of other companies, whose names I do not want to mention here). If you want to find a good apartment which fits your needs (from low to high budget) - in a secure way with most friendly and helpful service - then I can only advice you to try Agharta first. It will spare you lots...

We had looked around and made appointments with other agencies before committing to Agharta.

Of the companies we talked to, Agharta had provided us with the most (and best) options within our fairly strict limitations (foreign, couple, one student, different commute directions, a fairly tight budget, size minimums etc). With this information in mind, Tsubasa led us through a few different options in terms of areas and train lines in our price range. She was extremely helpful in narrowing down exactly what kind of neighborhood and apartment we wanted and could afford.

It was very easy to communicate what we wanted with Agharta. Tsubasa speaks English very fluently and explained the apartment application process thoroughly. When it came time to move in, she carefully translated our contracts, set up our water, gas, and electricity, and--even though we didn't need it--had moving companies available for suggestion.

The only downside to my experience in working with Agharta is the number of staff present and available.

Overall, we are very happy with our apartment and our experience...