[nihonjon]

A bit sensationalist IMO. From my experiences costly Tokyo rentals are optional.

During college I lived in central Tokyo on a budget that was much less than what I had in the States (120,000 jpy) - working near full time mind you.

Started out by living in a few different netcafes for a month and moved into a humble flat with initial costs under 100,000 jpy.

Now with a non-Japanese wife and no guarantor, we pick places where these fees are non-existent and landlords or organizations are okay with foreigners working non-traditional jobs using guarantor companies (monthly guarantor fee of around 2600 jpy). More so than the deposits, it sucks I get discriminated against for my race.

[Paul_S]

> More so than the deposits, it sucks I get discriminated against for my race.

I used to consider Japan as a potential destination country. The xenophobia will come back to haunt them. The cost of integration is outweighed by the economical benefits of a bigger workforce pool.

[gaius]

A country with any level of unemployment, already has a bigger workforce pool than it knows what to do with.

I am not saying that xenophobia isn't bad, but it's a bit of a leap to say that Japan is in any danger of a shortage of workers.

[amyjess]

Why do you think Japan's population is in a death spiral?

Birth rates are falling across the board in the first world, but unlike the west, they have few immigrants to make up for it.

[erikb]

Where are you from? What job(s) do you do?