LIVING IN JAPAN
Reikin, Shikikin, Chukai: Decoding the 5 Move-In Fees That Double Your First Month
A licensed Tokyo real estate professional decodes Japan's 5 move-in fees — what each is, why it exists, and how to reduce your upfront costs as a foreign…
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TL;DR Japanese apartments charge 4–6 separate upfront fees at signing, and together they typically run 4–6 months of rent before you move in. Each fee has its own logic, its own negotiability, and its own refund rules. Knowing what you’re paying for is the difference between informed and blindsided.
The first time I walked a foreign client through a move-in cost breakdown, she went quiet for a full thirty seconds. She’d been tracking the rent — ¥110,000 a month, a fair 1LDK in Shibuya-ku. What she hadn’t tracked was the ¥560,000 due before she got the keys.
That number wasn’t a scam. Every line item was legal, standard, and disclosed. She’d just never been told what any of it meant.
Japan’s rental system evolved over decades with no central pressure to simplify it. The fees layered on top of each other like sediment. Today a typical lease signing involves five distinct payments, plus occasional extras, and each one reflects a different historical relationship between tenant, landlord, and the people in between.
What are the standard Japan apartment move-in fees?
Five main ones. In the order they usually appear on an invoice:
Reikin — “Key money” or gift money. Paid to the landlord. Non-refundable. Ranges from 0–2 months’ rent. This is the one that makes Western renters choke. No service provided. No asset held. A cultural transaction — a formal gift that originated in post-war Tokyo when apartments were scarce and tenants wanted to express gratitude. In 2025, it’s the landlord’s call whether to charge it. Many don’t anymore.
Shikikin — Security deposit. Held by the landlord against damage and unpaid rent. Usually 1–2 months. Japan’s tenant-protection rules (updated by civil code revision in 2020) clarified that landlords can only deduct for tenant-caused damage — not normal wear. In practice, getting it fully back still takes some paperwork and occasionally argument.
Chukai tesuryo — Agency commission. Paid to the real estate agency handling the deal. Legally capped at one month’s rent (plus tax). The agent’s fee for finding the property and processing your application. Some agencies charge tenants, some charge landlords, some split it. Worth asking upfront which category you’re in.
Hosho-ryo — Guarantee company fee. If you’re using a corporate guarantor (hosho gaisha), you pay them a setup fee — typically 0.5–1 month of rent, sometimes with a smaller annual renewal fee. Not optional on most Tokyo leases now. The guarantee company underwrites your rent risk; you pay them for that coverage.
Mae-yachin — Advance rent. Usually the first month, sometimes pro-rated from move-in date plus the full following month. Straightforward. But it’s cash upfront.
Why do I have to pay so many fees to rent an apartment in Japan?
Because each fee serves a different party. Reikin goes to the landlord with no strings. Shikikin sits in escrow for the landlord. Chukai pays the agency. Hosho-ryo pays a third-party insurer. Mae-yachin pays your rent before you’ve earned the landlord’s trust.
The system never got consolidated because there was no pressure to consolidate it. Landlords benefit from reikin. Agencies benefit from chukai. Guarantee companies benefit from hosho-ryo. The tenant is the only one who doesn’t benefit from any individual line item — but also the only party who needs to use all of them to get into a unit.
Recent years have seen some drift: many Tokyo landlords dropped reikin, especially in buildings targeting younger tenants. Corporate housing sometimes absorbs chukai. The full five-fee structure still appears regularly, especially in desirable areas with low vacancy.
Are any of these fees negotiable?
Reikin is the most negotiable — because it’s the most arbitrary. If you’re renting in a neighborhood with decent vacancy (vacancy rates in outer wards run around 5–8%), you can ask agents to prioritize zero-reikin listings without narrowing your choices much.
Chukai has some flex on who pays it. Landlords eager to fill a unit sometimes eat the commission. Worth asking.
Shikikin has structural logic — don’t try hard to reduce it, since it’s protecting your ability to get your own money back later.
Hosho-ryo is set by the guarantee company, not the landlord or agent. It doesn’t move.
One thing I’ve seen work: presenting a stronger-than-required application package and asking for reikin reduction in exchange for a longer lease commitment (2 years firm, renewing). Landlords who care about stability sometimes take that trade.
[OPERATOR NOTE — add your own first-hand detail here: a real deal, number, or scar.]
What happens to shikikin when I move out?
The 2020 civil code revision tightened the rules. Landlords must return shikikin minus demonstrable tenant-caused damage. Normal aging of the apartment — tatami wear, sun-faded walls, minor scuffs — cannot be charged to you.
In practice: clean the unit, take timestamped photos on move-out day, attend the inspection. Disputes over shikikin deductions are common, but the National Consumer Affairs Center fields thousands of these complaints annually. The law favors tenants more than landlords typically acknowledge.
If your agency drew up the contract, look at the move-out restoration clause (genjo kaifuku). If it includes items that the 2020 revision exempts from tenant liability, that clause is technically void — though enforcing that takes effort.
Where this goes wrong
The worst outcome I’ve seen is a foreign renter who negotiated aggressively on every fee, got a slightly hostile landlord relationship from day one, then had a problem with a neighbor that escalated because the landlord had no goodwill to spend on their behalf.
Japan’s rental relationship is long. You’ll live under this landlord’s decisions for 2 years minimum. Reikin negotiation is legitimate. Grinding on every single line until the agent looks uncomfortable sets a tone.
Pick your battles. Reikin is the real target. The rest of the fees have valid logic behind them. Understand the system, reduce what’s genuinely reducible, and then build a functional relationship with everyone involved.
FAQ
Q: Is reikin the same as key money? A: Yes. “Key money” is the English translation used in foreigner-facing listings. Same thing: reikin, non-refundable, paid to the landlord at signing.
Q: Can I get my shikikin back if I clean the apartment perfectly? A: You should recover most or all of it for normal wear-and-tear situations. Document move-in condition thoroughly (photos, video), and the same on move-out. Disputes over ¥30,000–50,000 in deductions are common. Over ¥100,000 is when you’d want to escalate.
Q: What’s a typical total move-in cost for a ¥100,000/month apartment in Tokyo? A: Rough range: around ¥400,000–¥600,000 upfront. That typically includes 1 month reikin, 2 months shikikin, 1 month chukai, 0.5 months hosho-ryo, and 1–2 months advance rent. Zero-reikin listings cut ¥100,000 from that.
Q: Does my company sometimes pay these fees? A: If you’re on a work visa with corporate housing assistance, yes. Many Japanese employers cover some or all of shikikin, chukai, and sometimes reikin. Check your relocation package — it’s often underutilized.
Q: Are there apartments with lower upfront costs? A: Yes. Share houses and monthly-contract apartments (mansuri mansion) have minimal upfront fees but higher monthly rates. Some newer buildings advertise zero shikikin and zero reikin. These exist but often have trade-offs in location or building age.
Next issue: How I helped a client pass rental tenant screening on her third try — the exact documents she added and the guarantor switch that changed the outcome.