The core idea: count the rooms, then measure the kitchen
Read a code such as 1LDK in two parts. The number counts the kyoshitsu (居室), literally rooms where you stay: rooms with a door and a window. The letters describe the rest, above all how big the kitchen area is. A small kitchen is K. Make it big enough for a table and it becomes DK, a dining-kitchen. Bigger again, with room for a sofa too, and it becomes LDK.
The one code outside this pattern is 1R, wan-rūmu, one room, where no wall or door separates the kitchen from the room. Everything else follows from the split: 2LDK is two rooms plus a large shared space; 1K is one room with a kitchen strip by the entrance.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 間取りはワンルームです。 | Madori wa wan-rūmu desu. | The layout is a one-room studio. |
| こちらは1Kのお部屋です。 | Kochira wa wan-kē no oheya desu. | This is a 1K flat. |
| 1DKで、DKは6畳です。 | Wan-dī-kē de, dī-kē wa rokujō desu. | It's a 1DK, and the dining-kitchen is six jō. |
| 2LDKを探しています。 | Nī-eru-dī-kē o sagashite imasu. | I'm looking for a 2LDK. |
| 1LDK以上がいいです。 | Wan-eru-dī-kē ijō ga ii desu. | I'd like a 1LDK or bigger. |
L, D, K and S: what the letters stand for
The letters are initials of English words: K for kitchin, D for dainingu, the dining area, L for ribingu, the living area. S is sābisu rūmu, service room, a room that may not be advertised as a bedroom; the older word is nando (納戸), literally put-away door.
Why would a real room not count? Japanese building law requires a room people live in to have windows of a set size for light and ventilation. A room that falls short must be labelled S however large it is, giving codes such as 2SLDK or 2LDK+S.
Nor is K, DK or LDK a matter of taste: the property industry's advertising guidelines set minimum sizes, shown in the table.
| Code | Reading | Rooms | Kitchen area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1R | wan-rūmu | 1 | Inside the room, no partition |
| 1K | wan-kē | 1 | K behind a door, usually under 4.5 jō |
| 1DK | wan-dī-kē | 1 | DK of at least 4.5 jō |
| 1LDK | wan-eru-dī-kē | 1 | LDK of at least 8 jō |
| 2DK | nī-dī-kē | 2 | DK of at least 6 jō |
| 2LDK | nī-eru-dī-kē | 2 | LDK of at least 10 jō |
| 2SLDK | nī-esu-eru-dī-kē | 2 plus a service room | LDK of at least 10 jō |
The minimum rises with the number of rooms, on the reasoning that more residents share the space. And it is only a minimum: an 8-jō LDK with a door on every wall has less usable floor than the number suggests.
Jō: rooms measured in tatami mats
Room sizes are given in jō, the counter for tatami mats, so rokujō (6畳) means six mats. A second character with the same reading (帖) is used mainly for rooms with wooden or vinyl floors. On a plan, yō 6.0 (洋6.0) means a yōshitsu, a Western-style room, of 6.0 jō.
The catch is that tatami have never had one size. Mats in western Japan are traditionally larger than those around Tokyo, and housing-estate mats smaller still. Kyōma (京間), literally capital size, is named after Kyoto; danchima (団地間), literally housing-estate size, after the apartment blocks.
Listings settle the matter with their own rule: one jō means at least 1.62 square metres, measured to the centre of the walls, so a six-jō room is at least 9.72 square metres.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| この洋室は何畳ですか。 | Kono yōshitsu wa nanjō desu ka. | How many jō is this Western-style room? |
| 6畳って、何平米くらいですか。 | Rokujō tte, nan-heibei kurai desu ka. | About how many square metres is six jō? |
| だいたい10平米ですね。 | Daitai jū-heibei desu ne. | Roughly ten square metres. |
| 専有面積は何平米ですか。 | Sen'yū menseki wa nan-heibei desu ka. | What's the total floor area? |
| Mat size | Reading | Dimensions | Traditional region or use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 京間 | kyōma | About 191 × 95.5 cm | Kyoto and western Japan |
| 中京間 | chūkyōma | About 182 × 91 cm | The Nagoya area |
| 江戸間 | edoma | About 176 × 88 cm | Tokyo and eastern Japan |
| 団地間 | danchima | About 170 × 85 cm | Public housing, many flats |
| 広告の1畳 | kōkoku no ichijō | 1.62 m² or more | All property listings |
Reading the drawing: a 1LDK plan, mark by mark
A madori-zu is drawn from above. Walls are thick lines, a quarter circle shows which way a door swings, and a double line on an outside wall is a window. Start at the genkan (玄関), the entrance a step below the floor, and walk the plan as you would the flat.
| On the plan | Reading | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 玄関 | genkan | Entrance area, a step below the rooms |
| 洋室 | yōshitsu | Western-style room with a wooden or vinyl floor |
| UB | yunitto basu | Unit bath, a factory-made bathroom fitted whole |
| 洗面所 | senmenjo | Washroom with the basin, often also the changing area |
| 洗 | sentakuki okiba | Space and drain for your own washing machine |
| 冷 | reizōko okiba | Space and socket for your own fridge |
| CL | kurōzetto | Closet with a hanging rail |
| 押入 | oshiire | Deep cupboard with a shelf, made for futons |
| バルコニー | barukonī | Balcony |
Why mark spaces for a washing machine and a fridge? Because an unfurnished Japanese flat usually comes without them, and the squares show where your own will go.
Beyond the basics: pairs that look alike on a plan
UB versus bath and toilet separate. UB describes how a bathroom is built, moulded in one piece, and says nothing about the toilet. In small flats the toilet and basin often sit inside the unit too, a layout called santen yunitto (3点ユニット), literally three-point unit. When the toilet has its own room, listings say basu toire betsu, bath and toilet separate, and the plan shows a WC of its own.
CL versus oshiire. A CL has a hanging rail for clothes; an oshiire, usually in a tatami room, is deep with a shelf halfway up, because it was built to swallow folded futons.
Indoor versus outdoor washing-machine space. If the washing-machine square sits inside the walls, the listing says shitsunai sentakuki okiba (室内洗濯機置き場), indoor; out on the balcony it is shitsugai, outdoor. Strictly, a barukonī has no roof and a beranda does, but agents use both words loosely.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| バス・トイレ別です。 | Basu toire betsu desu. | The bath and toilet are separate. |
| こちらは3点ユニットになります。 | Kochira wa santen yunitto ni narimasu. | This one has the bath, toilet and basin in one unit. |
| 洗濯機置き場は室内にございます。 | Sentakuki okiba wa shitsunai ni gozaimasu. | The washing-machine space is indoors. |
| 洗濯機置き場はベランダになります。 | Sentakuki okiba wa beranda ni narimasu. | The washing-machine space is on the balcony. |
| 独立洗面台付きです。 | Dokuritsu senmendai tsuki desu. | There's a separate washbasin. |
Beyond the basics: what the plan leaves out
A plan is a diagram, not a survey. It rarely shows ceiling height, sockets, beams or the width of the fridge space. Most plans do show a north arrow, which tells you where the sun comes from: minami-muki (南向き), south-facing, is the orientation Japanese renters prize.
The figure that sums the plan up is sen'yū menseki (専有面積), literally exclusively held area, the floor that is yours alone, in square metres. The balcony is excluded, being treated as part of the building's common area. The figure is measured to the centre of the walls, kabeshin (壁芯), literally wall core, so the space you can furnish is a little smaller, most noticeably where walls are thick.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冷蔵庫置き場の幅は何センチですか。 | Reizōko okiba no haba wa nan-senchi desu ka. | How wide is the fridge space in centimetres? |
| コンロは何口ですか。 | Konro wa nan-kuchi desu ka. | How many burners does the hob have? |
| このお部屋は南向きですか。 | Kono oheya wa minami-muki desu ka. | Does this flat face south? |
| 天井の高さはどのくらいですか。 | Tenjō no takasa wa dono kurai desu ka. | How high is the ceiling? |
| コンセントはいくつありますか。 | Konsento wa ikutsu arimasu ka. | How many sockets are there? |
| 間取り図をいただけますか。 | Madori-zu o itadakemasu ka. | Could I have a copy of the floor plan? |
At the viewing: holding the plan up to the room
Booking the viewing and signing the contract are covered in the post on apartment rental phrases, and everyday room names in the post on house and rooms vocabulary. Here the job is narrower: checking the drawing against reality. Agents walk you through in plan order, giving each size in polite forms such as gozaimasu; you answer with plain desu and masu.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| こちらがLDKで、10畳ございます。 | Kochira ga eru-dī-kē de, jūjō gozaimasu. | This is the LDK, which is ten jō. (agent) |
| こちらの洋室は6帖です。 | Kochira no yōshitsu wa rokujō desu. | This Western-style room is six jō. (agent) |
| 図面で見たより広いですね。 | Zumen de mita yori hiroi desu ne. | It's bigger than it looked on the plan. |
| ここにダブルベッドは入りますか。 | Koko ni daburu beddo wa hairimasu ka. | Would a double bed fit here? |
| このクローゼットは奥行きがありますね。 | Kono kurōzetto wa okuyuki ga arimasu ne. | This closet is nice and deep. |
Common mistakes when reading a Japanese floor plan
Counting the LDK as one of the rooms. English habits suggest 2LDK means two rooms in all, but the number never includes the L, D or K: 2LDK is two rooms plus the living space.
Converting jō with a textbook figure. Learners multiply by the tatami size they memorised, often the larger Kyoto mat. On a listing, use 1.62 square metres.
Reading UB as a promise about the toilet, either way. UB looks like a room name but is a construction method. Look for a separate WC on the plan or the words basu toire betsu on the listing.
Treating the S room as a spare bedroom. It can look just like the others on the plan, but it is marked S precisely because it lacks the window area a habitable room needs.
Assuming 1R and 1K are the same because both suit one person. In a 1R, cooking smells and heat go straight into the room you sleep in; in a 1K a door stops them. Look for the wall line and door arc between kitchen and room.