The service I wish I'd had

When I first arrived in Nagoya, I was overwhelmed. There was so much to do, and no real sense of how to do any of it.

My school helped where it could, and the dorms took one big worry off my plate. The school told us what we had to do: register at city hall, open a bank account, sort out insurance… The problem: nobody explained how. So I learned the hard way. Going back to the same counters again and again over one missing document or a small mistake on a form. It cost me hours and a lot of stress I didn't need.

On top of that, I realized after I got to Japan that my dorms were isolated. Going out had become a task that required planning, which quickly made me want to find my own apartment. However, this decision brought up new obstacles: agencies, guarantors, paperwork that felt built to wear you down. At every step it felt like there was more, but after moving to the downtown area it felt like a whole new experience.

That's why I started GoWONDR. Not to hand you a list of apartments and wish you luck, but to walk the whole road with you, from your first viewing to your first two weeks fully settled. I wish someone had done this for me. So now we do it for you.