If you're moving to Tokyo with a pet, you'll eventually face this question: do you search for an apartment yourself, or work with an agency? Both options work, but they come with very different trade-offs — especially if you don't read Japanese fluently.
The upside is flexibility — you can browse listing sites anytime and contact landlords directly. The downside is that most pet-friendly conditions (deposit amount, breed restrictions, number of pets allowed) are written in Japanese and often buried in the fine print. It's easy to apply for a place, get excited, and then find out your dog's breed isn't accepted, or that the pet deposit doubles your move-in cost.
An agency that specializes in foreigner-friendly, pet-friendly rentals (like Arealty Japan) pre-screens listings so you're not wasting time on properties that will reject your application. They can also explain pet-specific lease clauses in English before you commit — which matters more than it sounds, since misunderstanding a clause after signing is much harder to fix than catching it beforehand.
If you read Japanese comfortably and have time to negotiate directly with landlords, searching solo can work. If you want a faster, lower-risk process — especially with a pet involved — an agency is usually worth it.
Arealty Japan currently lists over 3,000 pet-friendly apartments across Tokyo, with no key money and English-speaking support throughout the process.
https://arealty.jp/listing/pet-friendly-apartments-tokyo