I'm still not sure how we did it, but we managed to get the apartment empty and clean by March 31 and will actually get back about half of the "key money" we paid when we first moved in. I thought Shiro was wasting his time by patching every rip in the cheap wallpaper and covering up a couple of stained spots with whiteout, but the guy from the real estate agency who came to check said they would only need to replace the wallpaper in one of the back rooms and the kitchen, not the whole apartment. They will charge us for the wallpaper, replacing six tatami mats and two screens and a cleaning charge. That's $1,250.
I know I read somewhere that it is illegal for landlords to charge for replacing tatami mats, and wallpaper wear and tear that occurs in the course of living, but they charge anyway. It's also illegal for them to require "gift"money, but we paid that too. So, of the $5,000 we paid to move in we'll get back about $1,300 and I'm thinking we made out well. Right.
Now we are staying at my in laws in Osaka. That's always an exercise in patience for me. But with just 5 more days left in Japan, it doesn't seem so hard to deal with.
But SARS weighs on my mind. Think I'm going to buy us all masks for the flight, just in case.