How to furnish a Tokyo apartment you own while living overseas

What changes when you are not in Japan

Furnishing a home you live in is a series of small decisions made on the spot. When you live overseas, each of those decisions needs a photo, a measurement or a message, and each delivery needs someone at the door. The choices are the same as for any home. The order in which you make them matters much more.

It helps to decide what the apartment is for before you choose anything. A home you visit for a few weeks a year needs fewer pieces, fabrics that cope with long empty months, and storage you can close before you leave. Leaving space around the few things you keep is what Japanese design calls ma (room to breathe), and it also makes the home easier to look after from far away.

Building rules come first

In a Japanese condominium every owner is a member of the management association (kanri kumiai). Its bylaws are the highest rules of the building and apply to owners and tenants alike. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) explains this in its English booklet for foreign unit owners, first published in March 2026, and asks owners to read their own building's bylaws carefully.

Most buildings base their bylaws on MLIT's model, the Standard Condominium Management Bylaws. Under the model, work on your unit that may affect the common parts or other units needs the board's approval in advance, with drawings, specifications and a schedule attached (Article 17). Work that does not need approval but brings contractors, materials, noise or vibration into the building still has to be notified beforehand. Detailed rules for using the building are set separately in use regulations (Article 18), so ask the management office for these as well.

Fixing furniture to the walls needs one extra check. Under the model, ceilings, floors and walls belong to your unit except for the parts that form the building's structure (Article 7). MLIT's commentary on the model lists drilling into the structural concrete or driving in anchor bolts as work that needs board approval. Ask the management office which of your walls can take screws before anyone drills.

This is general information only. For your own building, ask its management company, a licensed architect, or the relevant office.

Measuring the rooms and the delivery route

A sofa that fits the living room can still fail to reach it. Measure the route as well as the rooms: the building entrance, the elevator door and car (width, depth, height and the diagonal), the corridor and any turns, the unit's front door and the doors inside. In the rooms, note the ceiling height, the position of sockets and air-conditioning units, and where the light falls during the day.

If you cannot measure yourself, ask someone you trust or someone you hire to do it, with photos that show the tape measure in the frame and a simple plan with dimensions. The floor plan from your purchase is a useful start, though it may not show built-in cupboards or the exact position of doors.

While the measurements are being taken, send the management office a short list of questions in writing. Keep the answers with your plan.

• Do deliveries need advance notice, and how many days ahead?
• Are there set hours for deliveries and for any work inside units?
• Does the elevator need protective padding, and who arranges it?
• Where may a delivery vehicle stop?
• Which walls can take screws, and does fixing furniture need approval?

Choosing, approving and paying from abroad

Work from a short list and decide the large pieces first: the dining table, the sofa, the bed and storage. If you are working toward a Japandi interior, let the wooden pieces set the tone and let lighting and smaller craft follow.

For each piece, ask for the exact dimensions, the materials and finish, photos of the actual item or a sample where possible, the lead time, the delivery charge, and whether delivery includes carrying the item into the room and unpacking it. Made-to-order pieces can take time, so ask the maker for a delivery date.

Approve each piece in writing. An email or message that states the final specification and price gives you a clear record if anything changes later.

Pay each maker or shop directly. Ask which payment methods they accept from abroad, whether prices include consumption tax, and what they do if an item arrives damaged.

Receiving and checking on the day

Someone has to hold the key, meet each delivery and check the items before the driver leaves. This can be a relative or friend in Japan, or a property management company you hire. Some shops carry items in and set them up as part of delivery; if you use that, you still need to arrange access to the unit.

Since April 2026, owners who live outside Japan can appoint a domestic manager with an address in Japan to act for them in the management association, for example to vote at general meetings and pay management fees (MLIT booklet). That role covers the association. Keys and deliveries are a separate arrangement you make with someone you trust.

Ask whoever receives the items to unwrap and photograph each piece, note any damage on the delivery slip before signing, and send you the photos the same day. Garbage rules in Japan are set in detail by each area and each building, so agree beforehand who removes the packaging and how.

What a single point of contact does and does not do

Many owners abroad prefer to work through one contact who speaks Japanese and knows where to find makers and shops. Be clear about what that contact does. Choosing furniture, lighting and craft, arranging orders and having them shipped is one kind of work.

Design drawings for construction, supervision of works and the construction itself are regulated in Japan. Design and supervision are carried out by a registered architect office, and building work by a contractor, who needs a construction business licence above set amounts. You sign with each of them directly, and the management association's approval is applied for by you as the owner.