Post: #1

Anyone know of a fully furnished bachelor pad in Shanghai and Tokyo for short-term rent (at a reasonable price)?

It doesn't have to be lifestyles of the rich & famous, but something suitably impressive/luxurious in a charming neighborhood (I'm thinking stylish in the sense of a SoHo loft or a spacious Greenwich Village flat rather than a Trump Tower high-rise penthouse) is what I'm looking for.

Post: #2

Here's a website: http://www.tokyoapartments.jp/ you should also watch Craigslist.

I have thought about keeping an apartment in Tokyo for years. I've looked into it quite a bit, and it's never been a good idea, money wise. One of the things I found was that most apartments in all areas of Tokyo aren't looking for long term leasers. Most place you will find are cool with the month-to-month people or 3 month deals.

When Aloha Airlines was still in business, I could get flights from Honolulu to Tokyo for $300 r/t. Those days are gone.

I used to have a mini-girlfriend that had a place here in Hawaii, and one in Tokyo. Her place was near Shibuya Station, and it was really nice and loft-like, but on a smaller scale. There are a lot of Hawaii realtors that cater to Japanese that will also probably be able to help you out. I had an apartment near Yokosuka that was month to month, and I set that up through a guy in Hawaii, but he's retired. You should google them.

As far as the Greenwich Village type neighborhood goes, you really aren't going to find that in Tokyo. Things are smaller over there, and the architecture is completely different. An old-school stylish building is going to be more like The Ilikai, in Waikiki. Although you don't like the Trump Tower idea, in Tokyo that's what most nicer places will look like. Just imagine more like Trump Waikiki, not New York. Lots of big buildings in Hawaii were put up by Japanese developers, so their extremely similar to Tokyo.

If you do find something like a loft, be ready to drop some serious Yen.

Also remember most pre-1942 buildings in Tokyo got bombed.

Aloha!

Post: #3

Thanks! Great site and intel.

Some of these prices are jaw-dropping though! $2500 - $4000 per WEEK for a lot of these 2 bedroom apartments.

Man, that's way higher than I'm used to.

Post: #4

Let me know what you find, I'm curious about this as well.