{"id":129,"date":"2026-10-02T19:57:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=129"},"modified":"2026-10-08T07:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:47:54","slug":"room-hunting-then-and-now-prologue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=129","title":{"rendered":"Could You Find a Room Without a Smartphone? | Room Hunting, Then and Now: Prologue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-00-title-en-768x960.jpg\" alt=\"Could you find a room without a smartphone? Title image with two people in kimono looking at a smartphone\" class=\"wp-image-126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-00-title-en-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-00-title-en-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-00-title-en-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-00-title-en.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This is the English edition of our Japanese series \u300c\u304a\u90e8\u5c4b\u63a2\u3057\u4eca\u3080\u304b\u3057\u300d (Room Hunting, Then and Now). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=97\">\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u7248\u306f\u3053\u3061\u3089<\/a> \uff0f <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?page_id=136\">All English articles<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How do you look for a place to live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Japan, a quarter of a century ago, printed listing magazines were the standard way. Today they are a rare sight. In 2026 it is websites, Instagram, TikTok\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lying on the couch. On the commute. Over coffee. Even while waiting at a crosswalk (on foot, of course). We can search anytime, anywhere. In exchange, searching without a smartphone has become close to impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what did people do in the days before smartphones, before even the magazines?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They walked. And walked. It was less a room hunt than a treasure hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I had just finished writing a series of tips on room hunting today when I started to wonder since when all this convenience has been acting as if it had always been here. Over the next month or so, I will slowly trace how room hunting in Japan has changed, from the Edo period (1603\u20131868) to today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meet the \u201ckashiya-fuda\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <em>kashiya-fuda<\/em> is a slip of paper pasted on an empty house to say \u201cThis one is for rent.\u201d A Japanese dictionary notes that it was \u201coften pasted at an angle,\u201d and it appears in a puppet play from the Edo period. As for why at an angle, I have no idea yet. I am adding it to my homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No photos. No floor plans. The clues seem to have been mainly this slip and word of mouth. In today\u2019s terms, it is like walking into a restaurant with no reviews and no photos, judging only by the sign outside. People did that with houses. That takes nerve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From a paper slip to a smartphone: 300 years, long and short<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the milestones from Edo to today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1718: A \u201ckashiya\u201d slip appears in a puppet play (<em>j\u014druri<\/em>)<\/li>\n\n<li>1921: The House Lease Act (<em>Shakuya-h\u014d<\/em>) is enacted. The rules between landlords and tenants become law<\/li>\n\n<li>1924: After the Great Kant\u014d Earthquake, the D\u014djunkai foundation is set up to build reinforced-concrete apartments<\/li>\n\n<li>1952: The Real Estate Brokerage Act is enacted. The rules that real estate agencies must follow are set<\/li>\n\n<li>1955: The Japan Housing Corporation is established. The age of <em>danchi<\/em> housing complexes begins<\/li>\n\n<li>1976: Housing listing magazines are born in the Tokyo area<\/li>\n\n<li>1997: Websites for searching listings appear<\/li>\n\n<li>2022: Contract documents can be delivered electronically, to a phone or a computer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Listing websites only arrived in the late 1990s. More recent than you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Buildings are not the only thing that changed with the times. The way information reaches us changed just as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, having more information and being able to choose a good home are two different things. Back then there was too little; now there is so much we nearly drown in it. In any era, picking a winner seems to be hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I can drive, but I can\u2019t tell you the history of the car<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A confession. The lease contracts and the \u201cexplanation of important matters\u201d documents I see every day at work: I know how to use them. I did not know where they came from. I can drive, but I can\u2019t tell you the history of the car. That is where I stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(In Japan, before you sign a lease, a licensed real estate specialist must explain the key terms of the property and the contract to you. That is the \u201cexplanation of important matters.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So this series is not a lecture. It is a record of me looking things up, being surprised, and now and then feeling a little ashamed. Stories particular to Sapporo and Hokkaido will go in whenever I find them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A ban on \u201cthat\u2019s how it has always been\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ask people in the industry why tenants hand over a security deposit, or why we sit through that long explanation before signing, and quite often the answer is \u201cthat\u2019s how it has always been.\u201d I have given that answer myself. In this series, that answer is banned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every one of today\u2019s \u201cnormals\u201d was born for a reason. If you know the reason, you won\u2019t just go with the flow when you compare conditions. Being able to choose a home without visiting it in person is not sudden magic either. It is the result of 300 years of small steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-00-walking-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"A woman seen from behind, walking along a sidewalk in a residential area in autumn\" class=\"wp-image-101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-00-walking-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-00-walking-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-00-walking-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-00-walking-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-00-walking.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image for illustration (AI-generated).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next time: Edo. We put the phone down and start by walking. How many houses would you look at before deciding?<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=128\">Next: Why Is the \u201cFor Rent\u201d Sign Crooked? (Edo \u2460)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Looking for a home in Sapporo?<\/strong><br>Message us on LINE: <a href=\"https:\/\/line.me\/ti\/p\/u2qP4VZ5ZU\">https:\/\/line.me\/ti\/p\/u2qP4VZ5ZU<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please note:<\/strong> Lease contracts and the legally required explanation of important matters (<em>j\u016by\u014d jik\u014d setsumei<\/em>) are provided in Japanese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before smartphones, how did people in Japan find a place to live? The prologue to our series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}