Moving to Minami / Ookayama, Tokyo

Hello,

Myself, daughter and wife are moving to Tokyo for 6 months on a digital nomad visa, and wanted some opinions on a place we are thinking of renting.

https://www.weekly-mansion.com/sp/detail/?bukken_no=62336

It's in Meguro-ku, specifically Minami/Ookayama area. We need to be a relatively short commute from Shirokanedai for our daughters school, and this is one of the few places within our budget that has 2 separate rooms, furnished and short term rent.

Firstly, is this area good for living with a family? Will the road noise be overly bad, being next to a fairly large road (apartment block was built in 2017).

Also, the letting agent (Livemax) are running a promotion that makes the rent significantly cheaper than if they weren't, but as part of that, they want all 6 months of the rent paid upfront. Is that fairly standard for monthly mansion type furnished short term rentals? As some other agents request the same. It's a pretty big commitment to pay all of that up front, so wanted some other opinions if this looks ok or not - as most of the features/location etc ticks our boxes.

Just don't want to pay upfront and find this isn't as good as we thought it could be.

Many thanks in advance!

In Meguro Ward, such measures are set up on Loop Road No. 7.
https://www.city.meguro.tokyo.jp/toshiseibi/shigoto/machidukuri/kannan...
Impressions of those who lived along Loop Road No. 7
https://note.com/fumiken/n/na1cc29fbe382
I have lived in a property where the train tracks are under the window. (I thought it was convenient because I'm not good at getting up in the morning)
I thought the train would be fine because there was a last train, but I learned after living there that there would be construction work in the middle of the night.
At first, I couldn't sleep soundly even if I closed the shutters outside the windows.
I lived there for eight years because it was expensive to move and it was a lot of work, but by then I could sleep soundly even with construction work at night.
In the case of the road, there are cars passing 24 hours a day (especially in the middle of the night, there are many large trucks carrying luggage to convenience stores, etc.), so the sound will not be interrupted.
If I were you, I might choose a place a little further from the main road.
By the way, there are usage districts, and in the case of Meguro Ward, the places where tall buildings can be built are limited to places along the main road, etc.
It is said that the sound echoes from the bottom to the top during the daytime.
https://libgraphy.co.jp/blog/2020/05/13/%E6%98%BC%E3%81%A8%E5%A4%9C%E3...

I agree this sounds like a very noisy place. You might consider a place that has easy subway access to the school.

Live max is a reputable company so if you can afford it paying upfront is fine

WOW ,your mentioned apartment is too expensive.when i went tokyo ,i stay in 1980 yen hotel.so it is too cheap.you can stay here for first few days

I would say that the one good thing about it is that it's not right in front of a traffic signal and that it's far enough from any railroad track.

I (Japanese born in Tokyo) used to attend high school from a building in the middle of nowhere, but it was sandwiched between a train yard and a traffic signal. The train noise has already been explained by another poster. When trucks stopped at the signal in the middle of the night, man, it made noise for 10th-floor residents. I hated it, but I survived there for three years and gained school friends who turned out to be great people much later in my life. My mom loved living there.

So, compared to that, I guess your option is pretty doable for half a year. The whole neighborhood of your option itself has always been known for many decades to be a good one for residents with school children.

And I don't know how old your daughter is, but teens would hate anything provided to them. So the best thing you can do is to think that that's how it's going to be, or to let the teen choose. You can get a better view on Google Street View.