In Japan, when moving into a new apartment, along with the deposit and the key money, you also need to pay the key-changing fee to ensure your own safety as well as the whole security of where you will live. For Japanese, security is a matter which must be taken very seriously.

After receiving the original key, it is your responsibility to keep it carefully because once you lose the key, it will become a matter for everyone, not just you. However, bad things may come at any time, so what should you do if you unfortunately lose the key?

First, you need to go to the 小番 (Koban: regional police patrol stations) and report the loss of your key. Also, you need to notify the company incharge of your building about it so that if you do not have a spare key to enter your apartment, they will send someone to help you get in and change the lock  for you.

Note: After getting a new key, you may have to pay the same amount of money as at the beginning. You can ask the insurance company if they can help you with a specific amount of money when paying another key-changing fee.

Here are some tips that will help you a lot:

After receiving the original key, please make 2 spare keys and keep the original in a secure place. With the other 2 keys you can put 1 in your pocket, 1 in your bag that you often carry around.
Take a picture of your key so that if you lose it you can provide a photo to the police.
After entering your apartment, always check to see if you leave the key outside or not. This seems simple and easy to do but there are lots of people who have lost their keys that way.