36- A Landlord, a Risk, and a Quiet Calculation
In my building, the landlord lived upstairs on the second floor.
Not a faceless company—
a real person, with whom I’d exchanged greetings for years.
I also knew something else:
this old building was not exactly popular on the rental market.
Finding new tenants for an aging unit with no elevator was getting harder and harder.
It was just the new years day, we bumped to see each other in front of the building so,I took a breath and said:
“I’d like to rent the room next to mine as well.
I’m planning to start a sushi class for overseas guests there.
Would you consider renting it to me as a second unit?”
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his face softened.
He had been worrying about that empty room.
No inquiries, no applications, just an unused space losing money month by month.
For him, I wasn’t an unknown risk.
I was a tenant he already knew—
someone who paid on time,
someone who didn’t cause trouble.
From my side, I had also done my calculation:
If a new tenant moves in, that chance is gone.
If I take it, I control the timing.
And I can negotiate from a position of mutual benefit.
Finally, he nodded.
“If it’s you, I’ll be happy to rent it.
Use it for your sushi class.”
Just like that, I suddenly had something I’d never had before:
Not just a dream of a class.
A physical space for it.
An empty, echoing room
waiting to be turned into a stage.