Regarding Masayuki Aihara's Nov. 23 letter, "Let tenants know what's expected": It's interesting reading that a landlord had problems with a non-Japanese tenant.
We have recently returned from the United States. My Japanese wife had leased out her house after her divorce in Japan and moved to the U.S. The renters of the house were allowed one dog under the contract. But we found out from neighbors that, at times, up to six dogs were in there. The house had beautiful cherry wood floors, which were damaged from the dogs urinating over them. A clause in the contract stated that all damage done to the house by dogs would be paid for and that the renters would not question them. Now the renters don't want to pay more than the deposit money. The estimated cost of repairs is twice that amount.
The real estate agent says they cannot enforce the contract. It seems that Japanese contracts are not worth the paper they're written on. If this is the case, then Japan has a huge problem and fixes need to be made to protect property owners who end up with bad renters.