現地時間2025年8月12日（火）、午前9時半に起きた。夕方、弓道の練習をした。
来月からの引っ越しに当たって、物件の管理担当者に敷金を支払った。敷金は家賃の半額。6か月以上住み、物件に損傷を与えなければ、退去時に戻ってくるそうだ。
日本にも敷金の制度があるが、それだけではない。礼金がある。残念ながら、礼金は戻ってこない。
一般的に日本は、チップを支払う慣習がない国として知られている。ただし、礼金は一種のチップであると、個人的には思う。
On Tuesday, August 12th, 2025, I got up at 9:30 a.m. PDT and joined Japanese archery practice in the evening.
In preparation for moving into my new house this September, I paid the deposit today to the person in charge of managing the property. The deposit is half of the monthly rent and will be returned as long as I live there for more than six months without causing any damage to the property.
There is a similar system in Japan called shikikin. However, in Japan, tenants are sometimes required to pay additional expenses when moving into a new place. One such payment, called reikin in Japanese and “key money” in English, is usually the same amount as one month’s rent. Unfortunately, key money is generally non-refundable.
Generally speaking, Japan is known as a country where customers are not expected to pay tips, and I’m always grateful for this tradition. However, I personally think that the custom of key money should be recognized as a kind of tip in Japan.