After a long ordeal of dashed hopes in the quest to find a new house, we finally signed a contract for a lovely apartment adequately sized for a family of three in a charming neighborhood.
I felt bad because my wife had to organize the more complex aspects of our house-hunting project after the English-speaking realtors I contacted failed to meet my expectations. Most of the properties they offered we had already identified — and excluded — on our own. It wasn’t until we had a Japanese realtor that we made significant progress. And while my Japanese is sufficient for the essential things in life, like expressing opinions on food or praising the beauty of the seasons, I unfortunately have to let others do the talking when it comes to matters involving doctors, lawyers or realtors.
But people move all the time in Tokyo — with or without sufficient language skills — so I knew there must at least be some moving companies that could cater to the linguistically challenged like myself.