Furniture Size

Checking new accommodation in Japan

Even in the apartments designed for expats, size of the furniture is sometimes problem.
It is recommended to confirm following of the house or apartment before shipping your furniture from your country.

1. Check the cargo size of the elevator. Height of the elevator cargo shall be larger than the width of your sofa and the length of your bed.
   





2. Check the entrance door. The inner width of the door shall be larger than the depth of sofa.
   
   
   
   
3. Check the hall and the room doors. Sometimes if the hall width is narrow, large sofas and beds are not able to go through from the hall to the bedroom door.
   
   
   
   

People who brings big sized furniture sometimes has to pay additional cost to use crane vehicle or storage cost to keep it at a warehouse until going back to the home country.

  Typical Japanese furniture size

1. Sofa
   Japanese domestic sofa’s width is around 180 - 200cm (70”-78”), which is smaller than western sofa’s width. Seat height is around 38 - 42 cm (12.5” – 16.5”), which is much lower than western seat height. Seats are mostly hard. However, imported sofas with many styles with various kinds of fabric and leather are available.
   
2. Bed
   See “Useful information about beds”

• Dining Furniture
  Japanese domestic dining tables are for 2 to 6 people. Width is from 70 to 90 cm, length is 120 to 180cm, height is 68 to 70cm. Dining chairs are smaller and lower. Again, great variety of imported dining furniture is available in Japan.
  
• Coffee Tables
  Domestic coffee tables are 70 - 130 cm length, width is 50 - 90cm and the height is 28 – 38 cm. Western sized cocktail tables and end tables are also available.
  
• Cabinets
  Most of the apartments and houses for expats have plenty of storage in kitchen and bedrooms.
There are great variety of side boards, china cabinets, vanity and mirrors, TV tables and chests with many sizes, which are widely used in Japan, with the size similar to western ones. Buffets, console tables, wide chests (dressers) are less common, however you can find imported items at many shops in Japan.