Hoshou-gaisha (rent guarantor company)

A hoshou-gaisha is a private company that takes on financial liability for your lease so a landlord doesn't have to chase you directly for unpaid rent. You pay an initial fee of roughly half to one month's rent, plus a smaller annual renewal, and in exchange the company covers the landlord if you default. For foreigners this is usually the only realistic path onto a lease, because almost nobody can produce the personal guarantor that the old system demanded. The catch: the company screens you too, and in hot neighborhoods landlords increasingly want both a guarantee company and a human guarantor.