Five things that actually cause problems

1. Sleeping and working in the same place

This is the big one. Put a desk next to the bed in a 1K and your brain never switches off when work ends — so rest doesn't restore anything.

The fix is separating the rooms. Moving from 1K to 1DK/1LDK adds ¥10,000–20,000 a month, but you're already saving a commuter pass and daily lunches, so the real burden is smaller than the sticker.

See Reading Japanese Floor Plans for what the notation means.

2. Household noise on your calls

In a timber-frame apartment, your neighbours and the street will end up on your microphone.

• Choose RC or SRC construction (reinforced concrete). The difference against timber is stark
• Corner units have fewer shared walls
• Ground floor and top floor cut the footstep risk to one direction
• Check whether it faces an arterial road, railway, school or nursery — view it on a weekday, during the day

You can filter for RC/SRC under structure in the left panel.

3. Slow internet, or installation that doesn't arrive in time

Confirm before signing whether fibre is already installed in the building.

• If it isn't, installation can take one to two months
• "Free internet" units usually share one line across the whole building and can slow to a crawl in the evening. Ask what the line actually is
• Can you install your own? Some landlords don't allow it

For remote work this is existential, yet it's one of the most commonly forgotten questions at a viewing.

4. Utility bills when you're home all day

Summer and winter are brutal.

• Insulation is what matters: newer buildings, RC construction, double glazing
• An old timber unit where the air conditioning can't keep up can swing your electricity bill by ¥5,000–10,000 a month
• South-facing helps in winter, but the western afternoon sun is the enemy. Avoid large west-facing windows

5. Going a whole day without speaking to anyone

Easy to dismiss, but it accumulates. Whether there's a café or library within walking distance changes how easily you can reset.

Choosing where to live

If you're mostly remote, the station isn't your reference point. The reference point is what's within walking distance of your door.

Steps

1. Open the Sumu Machi homepage
2. Enter an area you're considering
3. Add what remote life actually uses under spots:
   • cafe — somewhere to work with a change of scene
   • supermarket — daily shopping
   • park — somewhere to walk at lunch (this one matters more than it sounds)
   • library
   • gym — against the inevitable lack of movement
4. Set the search circle to 800m (about a 10-minute walk)

An area with a café and a park in walking distance changes a remote worker's quality of life substantially. That's a condition "5 minutes from the station" can never express.

Try it: search with a café and park in walking distance

And moving away from the station buys you one more room at the same rent. For a remote worker, that's a better trade than transit convenience.

For the station-distance judgement itself, see Is a 15-Minute Walk Really Too Far?.