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Spring relocations in Japan can drain your budget faster than expected, and garbage disposal fees are the biggest surprise.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n For many people when they think of spring in Japan, the first thing that comes to mind is rows of cherry blossom trees in full bloom lining the riverbanks of the country\u2019s towns and cities. However, for the working residents of Japan, spring also heralds a procession of cardboard boxes.<\/p>\n From late February through early April<\/strong>, the country enters into moving mode<\/strong> as new jobs and school terms begin in April, with moving companies and real estate agents working in overdrive to support the many changing households. Naturally, this often sees their prices hiked up in response to the higher demand, but for people who have yet to undergo their first move in Japan, moving house comes along with several fees they may not have been expecting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n A survey of 500 people<\/strong> who have moved house at least once was conducted by Japanese real estate information site AlbaLink and listed many things that people were surprised at when they moved house. Yet, the biggest surprise fee<\/strong>, for 30 percent of the respondents, was not the key money or the moving truck, but oversized garbage disposal fees they had to pay for large items that they weren\u2019t taking with them to their new place<\/strong>.<\/p>\n These fees were ranked as a bigger shock in the survey than furniture purchases, <\/strong>(29 percent) appliance purchases<\/strong> (14.4 percent), moving company fees <\/strong>(11.0 percent), or the cost of new curtains<\/strong> (7.8 percent) for windows that are inevitably too large for your current ones.<\/p>\n \u25bc Can we please standardize window sizes?<\/p>\n Oversized garbage disposal in Japan is serious business, so if you think you can just set all your no-longer-needed large items out on the street on the next garbage pick-up day and call it a job well done, you\u2019re in for a big surprise.<\/p>\n Oversized garbage items<\/strong>, referred to as sodai gomi<\/em> in Japanese, generally require:<\/p>\n Fees vary by municipality, and they can add up quickly with the more stuff you have.\u00a0What can be even worse, though, is that sometimes there are items that you don\u2019t think are oversized<\/strong> that are classified as such, like umbrellas<\/strong> and small suitcases<\/strong>, depending on where you\u2019re located.\u00a0Or if you\u2019re seeking to dispose of some household appliances<\/strong>, such as refrigerators<\/strong>, washing machines<\/strong>, televisions<\/strong>, and air conditioners<\/strong>, then Japan\u2019s recycling laws kick in, needing a recycling fee<\/strong> to be paid to be properly thrown away.<\/p>\n Disposal stickers for even small pieces of furniture or compact appliances can costs thousands of yen (equivalent to dozens of dollars) each, and since stickers need to be purchased for each individual item, the fees can quickly add up, particularly if you are combining households. If you haven\u2019t budgeted for oversized garbage disposal on top of all of the other moving costs, it\u2019s going to feel like a gut punch when your money is already pouring out of your wallet.<\/p>\n Other standard costs when signing a contract for a new place include:<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s also the guarantor system<\/strong> to have to deal with, as most contracts often require a guarantor, who is legally responsible if you fail to pay the rent, and needs to be a person in Japan. An alternative, used by many foreign residents\u00a0who don\u2019t happen to know anyone who can act as their guarantor, is to use a guarantor company, which comes with an additional initial fee usually equal to 50 to 100 percent of one month\u2019s rent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So, you\u2019re already looking at four to six months\u2019 worth of rent<\/strong> to be paid before you\u2019ve even stepped foot in your new home, Don\u2019t forget that the moving company is also going to take a hefty chunk of your funds to get you on your way, and once you add in oversized garbage disposal fees, all those costs can really throw a wrench in an otherwise well-planned budget.<\/p>\n If you can save money, then you should absolutely do so, and the same survey highlighted some of the common places people tend to cut costs<\/strong>. 40.6 percent of respondents recommend carrying as many of your belongings as you can by yourself<\/strong>, as every extra object crammed into your suitcase or car is a little more money saved. Of course, you could always try to reduce your amount of belongings<\/strong> where possible (37.6 percent). You could sell items in good condition to second-hand stores, sell them online, or pass them on to friends who might want them.<\/p>\n Other answers included looking for a cheaper moving company<\/strong> (11.0 percent), because it\u2019s perfectly acceptable to get multiple quotes before deciding one despite how much they push you for an answer, avoid moving during the peak season <\/strong>(4.8 percent), or to avoid the full-packing service some companies offer and do your packing yourself <\/strong>(4.4 percent).<\/p>\n However, at a time when you\u2019re focused on cutting costs, what services do people recommend as actually worth spending money on?<\/strong> A reliable moving company<\/strong> is first and foremost (38.4 percent), as you want someone you can trust to handle all of your precious belongings.<\/p>\n Pre-moving-out cleaning services<\/strong> came in second at 8.2 percent, because there are some landlords and management companies out there who will deduct money from your security deposit for anything found to be \u201cdirty\u201d on the final inspection. Because of that, some people prefer the peace of mind of asking a professional to clean for them, which usually ends up cheaper than what they would otherwise be charged.<\/p>\n \u25bc They\u2019ll clean all the places you would\u2019ve forgotten about.<\/p>\n Some people are too busy with work or family life, so actually find the moving company\u2019s packings services<\/strong> very useful (7.4 percent), whereas others need a hand installing their appliances<\/strong> (5.8 percent), such as the air conditioners, and some people invest in the unwanted item collection services <\/strong>(5.0 percent) to not have to deal with their municipality\u2019s convoluted garbage rules.<\/p>\n Moving in Japan can feel overwhelming and complicated initially, but it\u2019s manageable with enough preparation. Be sure to budget a little extra beyond what you think you might need, book early if it\u2019s spring, measure the windows before buying curtains, and double-check what counts as oversized trash.<\/p>\n Source: PR Times<\/a> Spring relocations in Japan can drain your budget faster than expected, and garbage disposal fees are the biggest surprise. For many people when they think of spring in Japan, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/akiIMG_6487_TP_V4.jpg?w=640\")
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