Ryukoku University's Fukakusa campus in Kyoto. According to the Ryukoku International Center's website, the university's goal is to become a 'Glocal (Global and Local) University seeking Symbiosis Harmony.' | VICTOR ROSENHOJ

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Student seeking Kyoto flat told: No foreigners allowed

Campus cooperative says it is powerless to prevent landlords from discriminating

by Simon Scott

After spending 2½ years living the quiet life in buttoned-down Shiga Prefecture, Ryukoku University student Victor Rosenhoj was looking forward to moving into bustling central Kyoto, where things promised to be more lively and international. First, though, he needed to find a suitable apartment, so he picked up a copy of the student magazine, Ryudaisei No Sumai, from the cooperative store on campus.

Thumbing through it, Rosenhoj, originally from Belgium, came across an attractive and affordable place just a stone’s throw from Gojo Station in the downtown area. His heart set on the apartment, he made an appointment at the student co-op on the university’s Fukakusa campus, which arranges accommodation for students in the Kyoto area.

When he pointed to the apartment he was interested in, the shop manager told him that no foreigners were allowed to rent the place.

“Well, the very first moment I was told that, I thought I had misheard something. But it soon became clear that it wasn’t a misunderstanding,” Rosenhoj said. “I felt both hurt and angry at the same time, though it took a while for those feelings to really reach the surface.”

Rosenhoj said one of the things that surprised him the most was the “matter-of-fact way” the manager informed him that the apartment was off-limits to foreigners. After Rosehoj confronted the manager about the issue, he says he was somewhat apologetic about it, but at the same time dismissive of the idea that it could be construed as racial discrimination by a foreign customer.

In his five years living in Japan, 25-year-old Rosenhoj had heard plenty of stories about discrimination in the private rental sector, but he never imagined he would have to face it at the university where he was studying.

“I couldn’t believe that something like this was happening to me at the very school I was attending.” This, said Rosenhoj, “was more psychologically damaging to me than anything else, since I thought that people working for the school and those affiliated with the school were working in the students’ interests, including its foreign students.”

Ryukoku University is one Japan’s oldest institutions of higher education and grew out of a Buddhist seminary attached to Kyoto’s Nishi-Honwanji Temple that was established in 1639. It has approximately 20,000 students, of which 500 are foreigners, hailing from 37 countries. According to the Ryukoku International Center’s website, the university’s goal is to become a “Glocal (Global and Local) University seeking Symbiosis Harmony.”

Rosenhoj says he spoke with staff at Ryukoku University’s international office about the accommodation issue. They told him there was not much that could be done about the matter, and suggested instead that he look for real estate companies specifically catering to foreign students. Ryukoku University declined to comment on Rosenhoj’s case for this story.

Takashi Shimomura, the Fukakusa campus co-op shop manager who originally dealt with Rosenhoj, says he telephoned the property management company, JSB Kyoto, to check if it was possible for the property to be rented out to Rosenhoj after the student complained.

“They told me that foreign students were not able to rent the apartment as the property’s owner had prohibited it,” he said. “Of course, we would have liked Rosenhoj to have been able to rent the place, but the management company and the owner were opposed to it, so it would not have be possible for a contract to be written up.”

Shimomura adds that after the issue of discrimination came up, he also spoke directly with the manager of JSB Kyoto, discussed the problem and said the university wants to be able to offer more apartments that foreign students can rent.

“We are currently trying to improve the situation and are consulting with a range of property management companies to find out how many have apartments that allow foreign students,” he said. “We are directly requesting that, where possible, they offer apartments that accept foreign students. Now, almost all our apartments allow foreign students.”

Shimomura was not able to confirm how many of the properties advertised by the university refuse foreign students. “It is difficult to get that information,” he said. “Ultimately, it is not the co-op’s decision, so it is difficult. We feel it is regrettable this situation occurred and are sorry.”

Ryosuke Maruya, a spokesman for JSB Kyoto, says that in the case concerning Rosehoj, JSB was not acting in the role of property manager. “We were just the go-between company in that case. Our role was only to introduce the property. The decision about whether foreign students could or could not rent the place was not made by us, but by the owner.”

Although JSB does manage a large number of student apartments in the Kyoto area, this particular landlord had opted to retain responsibility for managing the property. “In this case, the tenancy agreement would have been directly between the landlord and the tenant. JSB would not have had any part in that,” the spokesman said.

In these sorts of cases, Maruya added, it is not possible for JSB to determine what kind of tenants can live in the apartments. “With properties we manage, foreign students are almost always accepted,” he said. “If we had been the management company, he [Rosenhoj] would have been welcome.”

Maruya says he doesn’t know for sure about properties administered by other companies, but he suspects there are still a considerable number of apartments in the Kyoto region where foreign students are not welcome. “I don’t really think is due to racial discrimination on the part of the landlords,” he explained. “Many have only had Japanese people living in their apartments in the past so they are not really accustomed to dealing with foreigners. Another reason may be that they lack the confidence or ability to speak a foreign language.”

Maruya says that JSB is working hard to help foreign students who come to Japan find a suitable apartment where they can live comfortably. “We have the opportunity to give advice to the landlords and we try to encourage them to accept a wide range of people as tenants. We are trying our best to get them to understand it is OK to have foreign students living in their apartments,” he said.

Victims of racial discrimination in Japan are in murky waters when it comes to seeking legal recourse. The Japanese Constitution prohibits discrimination, yet the degree to which this can be enforced in practice remains unclear.

To quote from Article 14: “All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.”

Yet according to Doshisha University law professor Colin Jones, it is unclear whether this constitutional right to equality extends to relations between private individuals or organizations under law, and even if it does, there is a lack of sound legislation to ensure these protections are upheld.

“The traditional view of a constitution is that it protects an individual against the government, but it doesn’t necessarily extend to discrimination by private individuals,” he said. “You have to do some fairly complicated legal gymnastics to get Article 14 to the point where it applies to private conduct.”

One way to do this would be by invoking Article 90 of the Civil Code, which states that a juristic act with any purpose that is against public policy is void, Jones said. “Then you could argue that if the Constitution is an expression of public policy, then it applies.”

This is a far cry from the situation in some other countries, where it is explicitly spelled out in legislation that discrimination is illegal, said Jones. “In the United States there are the federal fair housing laws, which basically say you may not discriminate against people based on a long list of categories, and there are statutory remedies if that happens. Whereas in Japan, it is more just the idea of discrimination being bad, with not a lot of protections in place.”

Jones believes the lack of a statutory regime to enforce constitutional principles means Japan takes only a soft line when it comes to discouraging discrimination. “There is certainly an effort by the government to encourage people not to discriminate — it is almost badgering people and saying ‘discrimination is bad’ — but it has no teeth. There is no formal mechanism for challenging discrimination.

“While it may be possible to challenge a particular incident through the courts or by bringing a complaint with a human rights committee, neither may lead to a concrete result in terms of remedies.”

Send comments on this issue and story ideas to community@japantimes.co.jp.

  • montaigne1

    When I was looking for an apartment, I first went to a small local real estate agent in the area I wanted to live. I was told flat out that they had no apartments for foreigners, even though I went there with my soon-to-be Japanese wife and we were going to be living together. My wish is that people like this experience discrimination themselves to see how it feels.

  • http://www.facebook.com/teampanthaka Frank Thornton

    The scary thing that’s not mentioned above is that people are discriminated also by looks, not only nationality. Even if you are Japanese, but you “look” foreign, you fall into this “gaijin” category and are a possible target of discrimination. I’ve been living in Japan for over 25 years and I know for a fact, It’s going to take a loooong time to change.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Sheldon/735897671 Andrew Sheldon

    The secret is to attend with a Japanese person, then all of a sudden the gates open, and you smell like roses. You need someone to hold your hand to do anything official in Japan.

    • http://www.thevisionmachine.com/ Conrad Brean

      that does not make it right. It just adds to the grey zone of injustice

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Sheldon/735897671 Andrew Sheldon

        Nope, it’s not right, but we are not going to achieve ‘right’ in my lifetime, and I can’t even find that in any Western nation. Its also not right that foreigners get treated more generously because we are foreigners in a foreign land; nor is it not fair that I was able to buy a foreclosed property in Japan so cheaply because I was raised in a society which tends to ensure a higher level of financial literacy. It is particularly unfair that I’m able to travel around Japan cheaply on a Japan Rail pass, and ‘in effect’ off-peak because I’m not expected to live by their values. My advice is – buy a foreclosed property and enjoy the benefits of your new found freedom. When you are financially secure, then take your fight to city hall. Maybe then you will care a little less for moral rectitude. But you’re right….its not right. I empathise with you. Its half a glass of water.

    • Tako

      Not true, actually, I went apartment hunting (for myself only because I had to live alone in Tokyo for 6 months) with my Japanese husband and although even I spoke fluent Japanese, the real estate agency said they couldn’t help me because the landlords in that area wouldn’t let a foreigner live in their apartments. Nobody cared that I was a permanent resident and had a husband and his Japanese family, all born and bred in Japan, sign as my guarantors.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Sheldon/735897671 Andrew Sheldon

        Perhaps the agent was projecting a caution which did not actually reflect the concerns of the landlords, who would be assessing you out of any context…Did the landlords meet you? Your example is therefore inconclusive as evidence. A person detached from process is more apprehensive. I can’t say you are wrong though. Maybe you have more evidence to support your view.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mnss0403 Steven Schroeder

    I just love how excuses are made for the landlord. “Many have only had Japanese people living in their apartments in the past so they are not really accustomed to dealing with foreigners. Another reason may be that they lack the confidence or ability to speak a foreign language.”

    In America it is just presumed you’re a bigoted redneck.

    • Kelly Shiohira

      Yes, that was my FAVORITE part of the article. Let me translate:
      “It’s not racism, it’s only PART OF THE DEFINITION of racism…”

      You know, I lived in Japan for five years, in the countryside, and I don’t know if I’m just oblivious or what, but I never had any racial issues whatsoever. Plenty of micro-aggression, but honestly I felt like a lot of that was part of the process of acceptance…and after 5 years, no one blinked when I used chopsticks correctly or could speak Japanese.
      It’s insane to me that these problems are more often encountered in the cities than the countryside. You would think that the situation would improve with exposure.

      • Gordon James

        There may also be reasons that are valid in the minds of many landlords.

        1. Westerners may come from a culture where confrontation is normal between tenant and landlord.
        2. Foreign tenants may move far away and may not have a history of leaving the unit in good shape.
        3. Language and cultural barriers may make the landlord uncomfortable.
        4. This public exposure in a culture that values privacy may prove again that foreign tenants are bad news.

        Why take the chance of renting to a tenant who will bring grief.

        I’m not sure laws should force a landlord to rent to a person they do not feel comfortable working with.

        • Tako

          I wasn’t allowed to rent and the only reason was that I “looked foreign” (white). I spoke and read Japanese and my husband was Japanese. Because of his job he had to leave Tokyo for a half year and I looked for a place, but so many simply said “no foreigners” regardless of our Japanese fluency or cultural assimilation.
          Do you think that guilt by association is an appropriate way to deal with people? If you had negative experiences with, let’s say, people from Osaka, should you ban all Osakans from your apartment building, restaurant, shop?

        • http://www.hard-graft.net/ Prestwick

          But then you can argue that landlords the world over shouldn’t take on foreign tennants for many of the same reasons you’ve outlined.

          British landlords find the language and cultural barriers of renting to overseas tenants from places such as Poland or Africa uncomfortable. I find this sad and wrong but thats the way it is.

          They also have no idea as to just how the tenants will leave the place once they move back home or move away.

          In Britain, those landlords are rightly castigated as being xenophobic and backward. In Japan, these landlords apparently need to be protected and if at all possible, be given a cuddle and a nice cup of tea whilst being told that those bwad naughty gwaijin won’t be pestering poor wittle you anymore.

          Explain how this isn’t condoning racism, xenophobia, or how this is simply illogical?

    • http://www.facebook.com/marian.hara Marian Hara

      And they can’t imagine that perhaps some foreign students can actually speak Japanese or have Japanese speaking friends….?????!!!!!

  • http://thehopefulmonster.wordpress.com/ Sublight

    Renting was always a mixed bag for me. The three different times I changed apartments around the Tokyo area I ended up meeting a minority of realtors who were very helpful and actually wanted my business (split evenly between locals and chains), and a smaller number who didn’t want me there at all (including one local realtor in Machida who specifically said he didn’t want foreigners moving into the neighborhood). The majority, though, were simply lazy sacks of mochi who’d toss out a few listings and say “go ahead and check these out. If you like anything, the fee for the work I just did is one month’s rent.”

    The realtors at JA (the agricultural cooperative) were exceptionally helpful and welcoming, and very professional. Since they operate throughout Japan, I’d recommend talking with them. Century 21, on the other hand, was pretty uniformly bad. Unhelpful the first two times I was apartment hunting (in Machida), and flat-out rude and obstructionist the third time (Komazawa-Daigaku branch). In that instance, they never said anything about me being a foreigner, but their helpful attitude on the phone with my Japanese then-fiancee vanished as soon as they saw me.

    Buying, however, was a completely different story. When the developers are handling their own sales, they fall over themselves trying to attract anyone they can. My not being Japanese was never an issue with any of them.

  • Lidia

    Hi. I’ve been working for 2 years at a well-known Japanese real estate agency. It has more than 1000 franchised shops in the country. My job was to find a flat for my customer (foreign person, that’s why I was the only foreigner employee in the company) , but alas looking for a flat I was terrified to find out that 20% of all the empty flats did not allow foreigners. After trying to talk to the owner, the management company (kanri gaisha), and the Human Rights offices in Osaka (both OFIX and the Human Rights court in Tanimachi) , the sad true is that there is NOTHING I or any real estate agent in this country can do to force an owner into accepting to sign a contract with and let his flat to a foreign person. If they accept foreigners, keep asking, since you must be white (although if you are a young lady with no kids you may be allowed even if you are black or indian, lucky!). That is the shit we real estate agents have to deal with every day, struggling for our customers have the same rights as any other tax payer. And if the landlord says “yes”, there is always a bunch of requirements to meet -which are not the same as for Japanese people in many cases. First, the guarantor company that the owner chooses must allow foreigners and in 40% of these companies foreign people are required to have a Japanese person as a guarantor. Secondly your contact person in case of emergency must be Japanese. In many other guarantor companies your guarantor must be a 1st blood relative and -guess what?- Japanese born!
    What does the government and Human Rights about this?
    Absolutely NOTHING.
    If you want to join me running a Human Rights campaing for a foreign friendly law who only allows to makw business as a landlord if you respect HR principles, write to me!
    lidia@i.softbank.jp

    • kyushuphil

      But they do, indeed, do something. They say “shikata ga nai.”

      One of the places keeping this “shimaguni konjo” in place is the schools, where for English teaching, they don’t teach English but parade Japanese instructors to speak Japanese primarily. English is a disease, to be avoided.

      Worse, “gai-jin” are a disease. They are too often real, human individuals, and the purpose of school is to treat individuals as nails, which need pounding down.

      Then everyone can say, happily, “shikata ga nai.”

    • Dadadavis

      I find it hard to believe that the landlord requires that you have a guarantor company, and then the guarantor company requires that you have another Japanese guarantor. Why do you need 2 guarantors? Isn’t that what you’re paying 1.5% to the guarantor company for, to be your guarantor? If you already have a Japanese guarantor then why do you need to pay a company to be your other guarantor? That’s like signing a lease for an apartment and then paying another company to make a photocopy of the lease so you can sign that too. Huh?

      • Derek

        This is not a requirement at every single apartment. It largely depends on the conditions the landlord has decided. Some landlords don’t require you to have both, while others do. But the reason why some may want this is because they want to be “completely” sure. You know, just in case the first guarantor won’t be able to pay, they could get their rent paid through the guarantor company they made you sign with. The ironic thing is though, that if the rent isn’t paid, the landlord will likely first contact the guarantor (i.e. a physical person), and only the guarantor company after that. So the guarantor company is, I would assume, in most cases, just raking in money from tenants for doing nothing.

        • http://www.facebook.com/julian.garrett Julian Garrett

          Yep. Great line of business really.

    • Lee

      Isn’t it a fact that under Japanese law any building financed with a loan from the Japanese Housing Finance Authority (Jutakukinyukoko) can not be rented or sold to a foreigner until a period of five years has passed since contruction was completed?
      I believe that this law was enacted by the US Military during the occupation of Japan after WWII in order to ‘control’ the non-Japanese residents in Japan at the time.

  • Bill

    “After Rosehoj confronted the manager about the issue, he says he was
    somewhat apologetic about it, but at the same time dismissive of the
    idea that it could be construed as racial discrimination by a foreign
    customer.”

    I will never understand the denial mentality that is so prevalent here. Even with racial discrimination staring this manager in the face, he still was “dismissive of the idea that it could be construed as racial discrimination” of a non-Japanese person. Truly baffling.

  • Masa Chekov

    I would possibly agree with you if this were a problem limited to students, but it isn’t. I’m an established professional and a long-term resident and still there are many, many places that will flat-out not rent to me.

    It’s not right.

    Of course many students (and non-students) may not follow the same customs as Japanese residents, but it’s no excuse to paint everyone with the same brush. Far and away most potential renters are honest, well-behaved, and good neighbors.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Adam.harding52 Adam Harding

    Several years ago when looking for an apartment in Saitama, I was going into different estate agents. One estate agent just looked at me and said “no foreigners”. Another was more open-minded, but some of the information sheets showing properties that they represented clearly stated “no mizushobai* and no foriegners”.

    * Japanese term describing the late-night bar/lounge industry and the workers in that industry.

    Unfortunately, there is currently no regulation in Japan to prevent such discrimination. The only practical (and legal) option currently available to victims of discrimination is to walk away, find a more open-minded owner to rent from and be glad that your money isn’t going into the pocket of someone who discriminates.

    I think one of the problems is that in a lot of the cases, such attitude isn’t considered as “discrimination”. It’s just considered normal and ‘practical’ (preemptively avoiding potential difficulties stemming from culture, language, etc.). There are many possible solutions to overcoming any such problems should they arise that allow a non-Japanese person to stay in a Japanese-owned building, but until the government takes responsibility and drafts laws to protect people from discrimination, discriminatory owners will continue to take the easy option when dealing with non-Japanese people.

  • mochisuki

    Much as you would like to make believe that a property owner has total control over what is done with their property, actually they do not, because we each have obligations to society.

    No matter how much you would like to imagine that you and your own personal beliefs matter more than those of others, each human being has a right to dignity.

    The Japanese nation as a whole is deeply racist, and while you may be happy with that situation, those of us who are not would look to the example of other nations’ movements for equality to see that just silently accepting the status quo is a great way to see nothing change.

    People like you would prefer to just ignore the evils of others around them, whining “why is that person complaining about evil” simply because you feel comfortable and the evil is not directed at you personally.

    You imply that you are Japanese and that you have been turned away from places in the past. Yet you give no indication as to why. Perhaps you have a tattoo (a personal choice) or you were dead drunk (a personal action), but I doubt it was because they didn’t like your skin color, so no I don’t think you have any idea what it feels like to be discriminated against.

  • Ben

    right people will not be happy living there, and that’s the problem (the assumption that some japanese have that others are somehow less), not the apartment itself. think of wider implications.

  • antony

    It is hard to prove that the owner of the accommodation is prohibiting letting to foreigners purely on racial prejudice motives. It is not a hotel or hostel providing a public service.

  • http://thehopefulmonster.wordpress.com/ Sublight

    I think both you and Ben are overstating Debito’s impact. He won a lawsuit up in Hokkaido many years back, but other than that he’s had very little involvement in actual discrimination issues. He’s played absolutely no role in changing laws or societal attitudes on a national level, or in any major metropolis, and done nothing to reach any audience (positively or negatively) beyond a small segment of an already small subset of the foreign 1-2% of Japan’s population.

    If you were to ask any lawmaker, any activist routinely involved in fighting for the rights of minorities who face actual oppression (i.e., not white-collar westerners), or even any ultranationalist bent on ridding the island of foreign impurity, what they thought of Debito, the response would be a uniform “who?”

    • Ben

      i think you’re absolutely right and that’s why i made his name plural, as in we need many people to make a fuss about seemingly insignificant issues to force entrenched assumptions through an actual thought process.

      in my own experience a number of years ago i stayed overnight in kobe and was asked for my gaijin card at the hotel. i showed them, and they tried to take it so they could make a copy. not really sure what came over me since i’d never objected in the past, but i told them no. they said they’d been asked by the police, i told them the police should know that it’s illegal to copy an alien registration card because it was the property of the department of justice and could be used to make a forgery. after a 5 minute argument they relented. the next day i was properly embarrassed with myself but nothing came of it. some time later a friend asked for the hotel details, and it wasn’t until after he’d finished his trip that i remember the incident. no-one asked to copy his card, a look was enough.

  • Masa Chekov

    But there’s already plenty of agencies who do cater to the foreign market. Ken (for upscale places), Tokyo Apartment had thousands of listings, UR (government run) has no limits on who can rent. The foreign market isn’t all that huge in Japan.

  • GetIronic

    That guy is is a the worst kind of bigot, the angelically ignorant kind. He should be shamed, his name and the names of those with similar opinions should be exposed and made light of, so people can judge them and treat them accordingly.

    However, it is his mind, and he is not dangerous — what is dangerous is a government who can trample all over his property rights (and yours) in the name of enforcing someone else’s moral sensibilities.

    Bigots have a right to be bigots. This is a cultural problem, and should have nothing to do with government.

  • hansolo

    Your comment is disturbing. Quite frankly, you sound a bit like a loser, especially when I read your last paragraph. If you choose to APOLOGIZE to people who treat you badly, then that’s your choice. But don’t go and criticize people who try to stand up for their rights. Really, there is nothing to apologize for when you’re treated like that. It only motivates people do it again which is terrible. I think the young man in this article should be given credit for trying to do the right thing, and other foreigners in Japan who experience this should speak up more too.

    And what is this nonsense about the way he dresses? With your comment you’re implying that if he wore a suit and cut his hair, he wouldn’t have been refused. Yet nothing could be further away from the truth. He got refused simply because he’s not Japanese. I bet the landlord never even got to physically see him, but simply refused him when he or she heard he was foreign. I’m pretty sure a Japanese person who dressed exactly like him, wouldn’t have had any trouble at all. And you can’t blame him for dressing the way he does, really. He’s just a university student. Do you expect him to dress like a salary man every day he goes to school? If you visit any normal university in Japan, you will see (Japanese) students with many different attire styles. Some way more eye catching than this lad.

    Seriously, you should be very ashamed of yourself.

    • Gordon James

      Hans – Your response is proof of Umi’s point.
      Umi is behaving correctly for the culture.
      Your response is the reason so many hate Americans [Assuming you are one by your response, I could be wrong :-) ]

      You want to inflict your obnoxious views and insulting words on a culture you know nothing about.

      • Derek

        When you think about it, who is really insulting who here?

        A Japanese landlord who refuses to rent an apartment to a foreign student – who the landlord has not even spoken to, thus does NOT know how well said person speaks Japanese or the efforts he has made to learn Japanese customs over the course of 5(!) years, or how many Japanese friends he has? Or that foreign student who stands up to this prejudiced treatment? Do think about it.

  • WithMalice

    “I don’t really think is due to racial discrimination on the part of the landlord”
    Well… how would it be described then?

    I can’t even imagine someone attempting this in Australia (where I hail from originally). But then… another part of me isn’t even surprised that this still occurs in Japan.

  • pdxuser

    “I hope he does not challenge it through the courts … consider it a lesson learnt.” This appears similar to “Don’t be an uppity n-gro, just know your place.”

  • Amy Bold

    I would have been more surprised if the whole real estate sector of Japan was discriminating against the foreigners. I have been racially discriminated and also being a woman didnt really help in that situation. But I think we make big deal out of discrimination. I am not saying it is good thing or harmless. What I am trying to say is that discrimination is there when you look for it. The landlord may prefer Japanese people over Foreigners. I mean come on can we blame him? so what he doesnt really like to deal with people whom he thinks are foreigners. But really it is his choice as a owner of an apartment. He makes the decisions of renting the house i think he should be allowed to choose the tenant too.
    I understand that it hurts, I have been there.
    But it is same with every choice that we have ever made. We choose the people we hang out, people we love, countries to visit, ideas to consider. I mean can anyone tell me that any of their choices were divine? we all have reasons to have and act in different way. if we think about it more discrimination is everywhere and it is within everything. What we need to understand is that we all are different and hope that next landlord will be someone who is willing to have foreign company in the house. (I mean people who prefer foreigners over Japanese are then discrimination Japanese people right. Guessing they are turning down many japanese applicants too)

  • Derek

    It was not the estate agents fault – they did all they could. And lets not forget that Japanese people ARE often discriminated against too – for example buildings with “no pets” or “no children” are very common, as are “no mizushobai”when wanting to rent an apartment. “No tattoos” when they want to enter an onsen.

    You do realize that refusing someone based on the above criteria is not the same as refusing someone because of the way they look, don’t you?

    • Colin Wilson

      When you own a property, you want to make sure your investment is cared for. When I rent one of my apartments in the U.S. I (and other landlords) often get dozens of applicants. We all make a point of looking for the best choice… good job, dressed well (will an unwashed slob care for MY apartment better than he cares for himself?), good credit, etc. This is NOT discrimination, it’s good business sense. When I started out, the first apartment I rented out was trashed by the renters. Will all of you that scream for “fairness” pay for my (or the gentleman that didn’t accept a foreigner) repairs? No, I didn’t think so. Instead of screaming “bigotry”, calm down and realize there are practical matters to be considered, as well as personal choice.

      I continually see Americans demanding that other nations embrace our culture. Really? Why would anyone be stupid enough to do that? The U.S. is top of its class for crime, murder, rape, shootings, a useless government, failing infrastructure, never-ending wars, etc. Americans that bash Japan need to clean their own “house” first before pointing fingers elsewhere.

    • ume

      Of course. But I suspect that those of Japanese origin, who don’t speak native level Japanese, have been raised abroad would be refused too.

      My point is – its his place, let him rent it to whoever he wants.

      • Derek

        We don’t know if Japanese who were raised abroad would be refused as well. That’s just speculation on your part.

        Anyway, I completely disagree with your argument. A landlord can choose who to rent to, yes. But NOT based on someone’s ethnic background, because that is called racial discrimination and is illegal in most developed countries except for Japan.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thmishler Thomas Herrera-Mishler

    We invite ANYONE to come and live in Buffalo, New York and enjoy a high quality education at any number of excellent colleges and universities AND LIVE ANYWHERE THEY LIKE AND CAN AFFORD.

  • Alikkaho

    I live in a nice area of New York as renter; what you are referring to are people that are trying to buy or rent apartments in co-op buildings. These buildings are only a minutely small percentage of the housing availabilities in NYC, fashionable and otherwise.

    The problem that appears in the article above is that it seems as though a majority of apartments in Japan are not welcome to foreigners. If most landlords are allowed to refuse foreigners, then it is impossible to “find other flat” like you suggest.

    Also, I do not believe “weak credit history,” is at all parallel to national/ethic/racial discrimination. If the Japanese landlords didn’t allow him to rent the apartment because he didn’t have a work reference and they wouldn’t rent to students, or if he had bad credit history, meaning that there was an established background of an inability to pay rent, it would be fair to turn him away, as they would also turn away any Japanese student or Japanese individual with bad credit. Refusing to rent to a foreign based on them not being Japanese, however, is unfair because it affects a minority of the population for no other reason than a stereotypical belief about the individual’s behavior.

    While it is clear there are cultural, and therefore, legal dissimilarities that excuse this behavior in Japan, I do not think it is fair to believe that (1) it is easy for a foreigner to find an apartment that will allow him if he is rejected at this apartment, because that is the point directly at question – Japanese landowners refuse to rent to foreigners as a whole; and (2) comparing it to an American process of renting and purchasing housing, which has its own issues, but has legal methods in place for protecting renters from this type of discrimination, is unfair and ignores the problem described in the article above.

  • Darren Campeau

    A sad statement about the collective state of mind in Japan.

  • KenjiAd

    I’m Japanese but I’ve got to say most Japanese people do not really know what the racial discrimination is. They think that, as long as they are not ‘looking down’ on someone based on his/her race, they are not discriminating. I, too, used to think that way before I went to America and spent over 25 years there.

    I suspect that there might be something in the Japanese culture (or perhaps Asian culture as a whole) that encourages the differentiation between Japanese and non Japanese – the idea that these two groups are fundamentally different. Once someone takes this position, then it’s natural for this person to start thinking that certain discrimination is justifiable, regardless of what the law says.

    Is this what’s happening? I don’t know.

    On the other hand, I do know that Japanese society is very strongly ethnocentric, judging other cultures solely by the values and standards of its own culture.

    So I agree with someone who said it’s going to take a looooong time for Japan to eradicate this type of discrimination, if ever. Public awareness campaign would be a good start.

  • Guest

    Cmon, really ? The whole issue here is actually, that previously stayed foreigners had actually damaged the property and some owners now dont allow any more foreigners. While I was looking for my apartment, sure some problems did come up, but nothing that could not be solved with a discussion with the owner! My owner right now, had a pretty bad experience earlier with a foreign resident, but now I’m living in the same apartment!!! Its not about feeling ‘discrimination’ and making an issue out of things; just talk with the person and theres always some sort of solution!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/mnss0403 Steven Schroeder

    People in America wouldn’t be given that same benefit of doubt, and that is all I really am saying. I’m not suggestion the landlord is a racist bigot.

  • Carney3

    I think a policy of preventing governments from discriminating while letting the voluntary sector (including business, charity, etc.) remain actually voluntary is the right balance. After all, the alternative is FORCING unwilling owners of private property to do business with or allow people onto their property that they don’t want. Regardless of whether you disapprove of their real or imagined motives, that’s still violating their freedom. Also, what kind of person would go running to the government to have the government FORCE someone to do business with him, or FORCE someone to let him into a place he knows he is not welcome?

  • Colin Wilson

    My points are: Japan has a very different culture than we do. Our (American) culture sucks, so who are we to put down their culture? Secondly, Mr. Rosenhoj needs to grow up and not cry every time something doesn’t go his way. He reminds me of those people who sue if you look at them cross-eyed. Thirdly, I have no problem with a Japanese landlord who wants Japanese tenants. For example, I’m very hands on with my properties and if people want to rent from me but don’t speak English, I’ll pick someone else since a lack of communication always adds to my overall problems. It’s not bigotry, it’s practicality.

    I travel to Japan regularly and often rent a property for a few weeks. There are some difficulties, but I’ve learned to deal with rental agencies that cater to foreigners, and/or have my Japanese friends help me out. If someone doesn’t wish to rent to me I don’t insult all of Japan or freak out and demand Japan changes. I simply go elsewhere. I love the Japanese and adore Japanese culture. Too many people demand that their culture changes to accommodate them (concerning this topic and many, many others). Those people should go elsewhere.

    Finally, Mr. Steelhound, Americans complain about everything. I go all over the globe, and I see Americans complaining and making demands. As I said in my first post, clean up the cesspool that is America before disparaging other nations.

  • upstairsforthinking

    I last looked for an apartment in 2008. A realtor, who was very helpful, once said my income/guarantor etc met the required standards, and all that was needed was the landlord’s final approval. I was then told that the landlord’s nephew was living in a house that had just burnt down in a fire, and so the landlord wanted his nephew to take the place. Gutted, but fair enough – or so I thought. I ended up moving into a place about 200 meters from my first pick, walked past it every day and it’s been empty ever since. Go figure…

  • AnidesAntrobus

    Well, I might as well chime in.
    The problems with renting to foreigners are not just getting people to take off their shoes in the genkan. Whatever the law says, maybe people should see it from the landlord’s point of view.
    I live in a place affected by the 3/11 earthquake, and foreigners just packed up and left without bothering to take their stuff or pay the rent. A lot of them did not even notify the landlord, so the landlord was left able to do nothing for months. No rent coming in. No idea when or if someone was returning. What a nightmare. As if they did not have enough to worry about. One landlord I know had to pack up all of the renter’s belongings and put them in storage at his own expense. He was a lucky one who got a phone call from his tenant from Malaysia.

    Japanese people did not do this.

    But it wasn’t just the earthquake. During my years in Japan, time after time I have run into situations where a foreign renter just skips on the rent. Yonige. Or they want to bargain and haggle on key money and things like that.

    Japanese people don’t do this.

    Looking at it from the landlord’s point of view, foreigners are a pain. They cost more, but you can’t charge them more. Loud parties? Problems with neighbors? Foreigners are like a box of chocolates… you never know what you are going to get. Their plans change. Their friends visit.

  • AnidesAntrobus

    Strangely enough, Ben and I agree on something.
    Debito shook things up. He fought the good fight. Japanese people don’t know much about him, but his website should be required reading for anybody who chafes at the GAIJIN epithet.

  • AnidesAntrobus

    This is a good point Yoshimi. Why does nobody complain about discrimination based on one’s employment, or what kind of car they drive, or what their income is?

    Landlords get that kind of information and can make decisions based on it. Some want only public employees. Some want only women for certain buildings that have special security measures, etc. The increased use of guarantors is one thing that landlords are doing to reduce risk. But that is costly. It amounts to economic discrimination.

    And what about “No pets!”

  • AnidesAntrobus

    Colin might be saying: “Everyone complaining about how tough it is to rent should try OWNING property and see what a pain that is.” I agree with Colin that if any one of the renters posting here had an investment of a few hundred thousand dollars on the line, they would not want to rent it out to party boy and his party pals no matter what color they might be.

  • MattH

    You’re right. That only works out to roughly 26,000,000 people!

  • Wm. Edwards

    The way I see it is I am only a guest in somebody’s country. When it’s their country, it’s their rules…when it’s my country…it’s my rules.

  • http://rick.cogley.info RickCogley

    I’ve been in Japan 25 years, and have experienced a little of this sort of unpleasantness first hand, being refused for being gaijin, and so on. On the other side of it, my family owns an apartment here, and we have continual trouble with tenants not paying, not separating their trash properly, noisily partying, leaving the apartment in a total mess when they vacate, and a whole litany of little things. Thing is, our tenants are all Japanese, born and bred.

    So I think it’s a general skittishness by the landlord, about the potential tenant perhaps not being able to communicate (or vice versa) or follow the rules, or understand the culture. If even some of the Japanese can’t follow the rules as is the case with our apartment, then I can see some landlords being reluctant.

  • WatchingFromOverThere

    Feeling “discomfort” in the presence of any particular GROUP of people (as opposed to a suspicious INDIVIDUAL) is a euphemism for racism.

  • leaf

    ”being racist and being cautious is very different”. I can’t agree more. I see how the foreign student would be offended but you really can’t blame the landlord for being cautions on his behalf as well as on the behalf of his other tenants.

  • leaf

    Most likely the landlord isn’t just saying no to foreigners solely based on his own discomfort. What if his current tenants had chosen the apartment and the “no foreigners” policy had been a factor? Accepting foreign tenants means opening up a very wide window to every culture out there. Whether it’s fair or not, I think it’s all about wanting to know what to expect. It’s a big part of Japanese culture: saying the “appropriate” things at the “appropriate” time and acting an “appropriate” way. Having foreign people living with them that might not understand what’s appropriate is just scary for them and I think many people just wouldn’t know how to deal. I can’t say it’s not discrimination, but I don’t think it’s a “we’re better than you” or “we don’t like you” type of thing. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but given Japan’s cultural background it’s pretty understandable.

  • Yuki

    It is likely that the landlord was just afraid of foreigners because of the lack of comprehension about another culture, rather than ‘racism’ as a belief. This kind of horror caused by the afraidness seems common in particular among older people in Japan.

  • http://www.facebook.com/aislingnichonaill Aisling Ní Chonaill

    Pretty sure that would be against EU law.

  • http://profiles.google.com/mingusal Al O

    In this case though being racist and being “cautious” amount to the same thing. Your arguments remind me of the arguments that used to be used to keep African-Americans or Jews or people of other ethnicities or religions out of apartments and neighborhoods in the U.S. In the end, the entire reason for the landlord’s “caution” boils down to the race of the prospective tenant, since the landlord has never met the tenant and knows nothing else about him. A prospective Japanese tenant would almost certainly not be treated this same way. It’s an almost textbook definition of racism.

  • kumo

    Sorry Yoshimi, but the situations you have described are not similar in that the need for an SSN isn’t in place to stop foreigners from renting or doing other things (I did a quick search and it seems there are ways for foreign students in the US to get either SSN numbers or the equivalent), it is a requirement for all people regardless of ethnicity. You could get an SSN perhaps, but there is nothing that can change a ‘foreigner’ from being a foreigner (no matter who your boyfriend is). Your other example of an employer needing to sponsor a visa is very standard, even here in lovely Japan and in no way can be compared to a landlord openly being able to discriminate based on race.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001475141465 Peter White

    With Japan’s population in a steady decline and the present government’s intention to increase the number of foreign workers allowed into Japan, I think this problem will solve itself. Those landlords and companies who continue to discriminate will find themselves being bypassed for more forward thinking companies; and there is no motivation like falling profits to end discrimination.

    Furthermore, foreigners are not likely to sit meekly back and take this kind of treatment without comment. I think the prospect of vocal and visible demonstrations of opposition is not one that those who practice discrimination of this sort would relish, and foreigners – especially those from liberal democracies – are not exactly backward in coming forward about such things. When these companies and individuals are publicly named-and-shamed, as they will be in the future, I’m sure they will begin to change their attitudes.

  • KenjiAd

    Isn’t it annoying that many Japanese people say “Oh, you can use chopsticks!”? :-) I’m a 53-ye Japanese guy. I can tell you that many (if not most) Japanese people do believe that there
    are certain things ONLY Japanese people can understand, do, and have (like using a pair of chopsticks so skillfully).

    It is on this ground that, I think, non Japanese are often excluded from “their” community (or from renting an apartment).

    My
    suspicion is that this ethnocentric idea of “unique Japanese” has
    something to do with the “Kokugaku (National Study)” movement in the Edo
    period (read here – http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kokugaku-school/).

    This movement embraced
    the idea that there are certain intrinsically superior values in the Japanese
    society that have nothing to do with Chinese or western values – the
    idea that is still influencing the collective self-identity of Japanese people.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=754588506 Glen Douglas Brügge

      I actually studied Japanese history in Japan, and I was going to mention “Kokugaku.” It is, I believe, probably the root of it all. I don’t think it is intentional, what others perceive as a sort of purposeful racism, but rather something that has just existed for so long that it is considered truth. Although it is silly in this post “sakoku” world to think that people have not learned from the outside, that these beliefs are false. But then again, most Japanese never get to interact with foreigners on a meaningful level and realize their bias through this; especially if it is reinforced through education. All humans are biased, and it takes exposure to break these biases.

  • xexex

    Don’t really see a problem with this – I see it as the landlords responsibility to not take on tenants who he thinks might cause problems and/or disturb existing tenants. I’m always surprised how people can go to a foreign country and expect to be fully accepted/treated the same way as natives – especially an extremely homogeneous country like Japan. Such entitled behavior…

  • http://www.hard-graft.net/ Prestwick

    Japan needs a stern shock to the system similar to what the UK forced itself to go through back in the 1970s with the discrimination acts and the equality acts. Before that period it was okay to rent a room with a sign saying: “no dogs, no blacks, no Irish” which was absolutely horrible.

    Today Britain is a far fairer and more tolerant place thanks to the shock therapy forced upon itself in the 70s and 80s. It isn’t perfection but it is much better than how it used to be. Japan needs to follow the same line.

    • eiffe

      yeah, the UK is a politically correct police state. nice model for Japan!

  • savorywill

    I recommended an Australian once to the real estate agent who actually sold us the house we bought. I knew this guy from a local pub and he seemed nice enough so I introduced him to the real estate agent, who found him a nice big house to rent at a reasonable, for the size, rate. The agent mentioned about the guy needing an guarantor, but he managed to move in without ever having one. Well, after a few months, the real estate agent called my wife and I to say that the guy had not been paying the rent. It ended up that this Australian never paid the rent for two years and the owner had to take him to court to get him out of the house. The agent had been renting the house for a friend of his and actually got an ulcer from the worry of it all.

    I tried to get him to pay the rent but he wouldn’t answer the phone when I called. After this experience, I can understand why some landlords would be reticent to have foreign tenants. I certainly wouldn’t recommend anyone after this terrible experience.

  • leaf

    I find your comment very interesting…and true! It’s actually pretty strange that the Japanese go out of their way to be the same as everyone else within their own culture, but when comparing their culture to others they suddenly want theirs to be unique and special. I also agree that it’s not necessarily a superiority issue. It’s more a “reveling in the distinction” thing and maybe an affirmation of their identity.

  • http://www.facebook.com/julian.garrett Julian Garrett

    UR.

    (The name of the government run housing scheme you should try)

    -No ridiculous bribe (ie. key money)

    -No pesky Guarantor fee
    -No agency fee

    I had the case where one landlord wanted to keep half the deposit as a cleaning fee. That was like $2000 when I moved out.

    Guess how that conversation ended.

  • Familygirl

    While I disagree with the landlord’s decision on the matter of renting to foreign students, I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong. It’s not as if s/he is breaking any laws and, through the lens of the Japanese culture, this might not be a case of discrimination, but rather a result of values too deeply ingrained in the culture to separate and analyze.

    What I take issue with, however, is the university itself. Correct me if I’m wrong here but from what I can see, many companies in Japan laud their desire and willingness to bring in more foreigners, all the while knowing that many people treat foreigners differently and doing nothing to stop it. It’s the same thing with the university; there’s no way they couldn’t have known that the landlord didn’t accept foreigners. But, instead of doing the smart thing and removing the apartment from their listings, they chose to pretend nothing was wrong. A “global” university indeed…

    Speaking from the perspective of an outsider looking in, this seems to be one of the most prevalent and easily preventable problems with the Japanese society on a whole. Rather than confronting a problem, the people ignore it, as if hoping that their fairy godmothers will fix everything. Honestly, if they accepted problems and tried to identify solutions or, at the very least, alerted other people of the issues, things would run a whole lot smoother and I wouldn’t have to be reading this type of article over and over.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bradley.fried Bradley Fried

    If you have lived in Japan for any length of time, you know the first question to ask a real estate agent is if the places you are interested in are comfortable with foreigners. Get over yourself and don’t try to impose your own standards on a country that is not and will never be your own. You can still find a great place and you won’t waste your time tilting at windmills and making trouble for the rest of us.

  • Mike42

    I think Debito has done a world of good for us NJ here. There are those apologist or folks who say debito does more harmthan good. For those people, I say, ask yourself, are you doing anything to address these issues? Have you put your personal life on the line, for everybody to see/attack? Microaggressions are a very real and grinding part of life in Japan for NJ. Being denied an apartment or job simply for being NJ is a grinding and humiliating part of life here also. Until somebody else stands up to this crap, you have no room to judge Debito. There is nobody else doing it, he is doing it for us.

  • japporeactor Tokyo

    Language can be the issue if the foreigner can`t speak japanese. Language is not the issue if the foreigner speak fluently and is still discriminated. That`s fear, stereotypes, racism.

  • Jud Mag

    In Fukuoka I had no problems with renting apartments etc. Although they did require that I sign the contract with my index finger’s prints instead of a Western style signature or a Japanese inkan (custom carved as I have it). I was told that none of these are reliable. :-)))
    In Tokyo the landlord (contacted via agent) initially said it was OK for foreigners to rent his place but after signing the contract and having pushed through the paperwork at Waseda as my guarantor, the landlord retracted. Reason: he thought I was a zainichi Korean or a longtime Chinese resident in Japan. Apparently, as a European I would not be able to separate garbage or fit into the community (according to his reasoning). Now, after having spent 5 years in the country and writing my PhD dissertation in Japanese History at Waseda I am still considered an exotic monkey here…

Photos

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Barred: Belgian student Victor Rosenhoj on Ryukoku University's Fukakusa campus in Kyoto. Rosenhoj was shocked to discover that accommodation advertised on campus was not necessarily open to foreign students. | COURTESY OF VICTOR ROSENHOJ Ryukoku University's Fukakusa campus in Kyoto. According to the Ryukoku International Center's website, the university's goal is to become a 'Glocal (Global and Local) University seeking Symbiosis Harmony.' | VICTOR ROSENHOJ

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