Types of Rental Housing and Floor Plans

The Difference Between Apartments and Condos

Apartments are generally low-rise multi-family housing units made from wood or of a lightweight steel construction. These are sometimes referred to as “Heights” or “Co-ops”.
Condos are typically multi-family housing units made of a reinforced concrete construction.

Floor Plans

In Japan, floor plans are indicated in writing by 2LDK and similar descriptions.
L means living room, D means dining room, and K means kitchen. DK is a condo or apartment with a dining room and a kitchen, while an LDK has a living room, dining room and kitchen.
The 1 and 2 that appear first in 1DK and 2LDK indicate the number of separate rooms in the unit. In other words, for a 2LDK, besides the living room, dining room and kitchen, there are also two separate rooms.

Units of Measurement for Area (Jyo, Tsubo)

In addition to square meters (m²), there are two units of measurement used to indicate the area of a dwelling - jyo (帖) and tsubo (坪) - that are unique to Japan.
Jyo (帖) is equivalent to one tatami mat and has dimensions of about 180 cm x 90 cm (some tatami mats are smaller than this.) Jyo are used to indicate the area of the dwelling. Jyo is sometimes written as “畳”.
Tsubo (坪) is used to indicate the size of an area of land. One tsubo is about 3.3 m².

The Difference Between Western and Japanese Style Rooms

Japanese style rooms (washitsu) are of a traditional Japanese style, featuring tatami mat flooring.
Western style rooms (yoshitsu) have wooden flooring or carpet.