Remote work · Long stays
Staying a week or a month changes what you need: a kitchen, a desk, a washing machine and a price that works by the month. These are the places in Yugawara set up for it.
Makuyama House is the one built for it. It's an old house by the Niizawa River in Kajiya, ten minutes by bus from the station, rented whole for up to six. It has desks upstairs, free wifi, a kitchen and a deck over the river, takes stays of a month or more, and starts at ¥3,000 a person a night. Pets stay free.
For one person, the Yugawara Share House, 13 minutes' walk up from the station, rents private Japanese-style rooms by the night. There's a big shared kitchen, a laundry room for longer stays and a roof terrace over the bay. Masato runs both.
Leopalace and Daito Kentaku rent furnished flats near the station by the month, from about ¥135,000 for a one-room flat four minutes' walk away. Leopalace adds about ¥70,000 in moving-in costs. They work for a solo stay of a month or more when you want your own bathroom and a quiet street.
Yugawara pays a moving grant to people who move here from Saitama, Chiba or Tokyo. It is not for people already living in Kanagawa. For five of the ten years before the move, and for the whole of the most recent year, you have to have lived in Tokyo's 23 wards, or lived in the Tokyo area and commuted into the 23 wards. One person receives ¥600,000, a household ¥1,000,000, and a household that brings a child under 18 receives ¥500,000 more, once. Telework counts when you choose the move yourself and keep working from here at least 20 hours a week. Apply within a year of moving in. This round closes on 26 February 2027. Leave within three years and you repay the grant in full. Leave between three and five years and you repay half. A foreign resident has to hold a status such as permanent resident or spouse of a Japanese national. The Digital Nomad visa is not one of those statuses, so someone on it can't claim the grant.
Ekimae no Ibasho, by the station, is also where the town holds its moving consultations, and the town's vacant-house bank lists homes for sale.
An old house by the Niizawa River in the hills behind Yugawara, rented whole: desks upstairs, wifi, a kitchen, a deck over the river and stays of a month or more, from ¥3,000 a person.
A share house on the hill above Yugawara Station, run by Matt's friend Masato: private Japanese-style rooms by the night, a big shared kitchen, and a roof terrace over the town and Sagami Bay.
The detached annex of an onsen inn two minutes from Yugawara Station, rented whole: three bedrooms, room for up to 12, and a half-open-air bath fed from the hot spring.
Makuyama House takes stays of a month or more, from ¥3,000 a person a night. Furnished monthly flats near the station start at about ¥135,000 a month.
Makuyama House has desks upstairs and free wifi. The Yugawara Share House has wifi and a big shared kitchen table.
Yes, at Makuyama House pets stay free, and the Yugawara Share House welcomes pets too.
