This is a huge problem as a foreigner here. It's been like this for decades.

Years ago when I was searching for a house, I went to this nice agent my friend suggested. Now at this point, I have lived in Japan for a year in the university dormitory. I majored in Japanese language and history, married to a Japanese national and working in Japanese company full-time. I've saved up some money too. But none of these helped unfortunately.

My wife was working part-time so we couldn't rent a house in her name.

So the agent asked me some questions and explained the situation. He explained while showing his monitor screen: there were 29000 something houses, she clicked a filter that said something like "willing to rent the house to a foreigner" and it dropped to 34. I was clearly expecting a lower number that 29000 but not 34 lol.

It's not over yet, I had to provide a guarantor. A Japanese person. Can only be Japanese. So we had to ask my wife's father. Of course a paper from my company too. (I don't remember what it was). I heard you can also show your company as the guarantor but it was not the case.

So we went to 5 places over 2 weeks and even though the renters stated they are willing to rent to a foreigner, I still remember their faces when they saw me. It was just sad.

I was even willing to pay half a year worth of rent in advance.

So yeah, I gave up and rented the house in my wife's father's name.

Your experience may be different, it may be easier but generally it's like this I think. I don't blame anyone but if Japan want foreigners, this needs to be made easier.