In Japan, tenants are responsible for activating utilities like electricity, gas, and water when they first move into a new place. It is also the tenant’s responsibility to close utility contracts at the place they are moving out of. After signing your rental contract, the real estate company will provide you with the telephone numbers for the local electricity, gas, and water companies.

If you have difficulty with Japanese, you can request your school's student office to activate the basic utilities on your behalf, or you can also ask the real estate company to help you out. Please note that the real estate company can assist you in activating the utilities, but they CANNOT close the utilities on your behalf when you leave.