Inside photos of Kei and Mako Komuro’s love nest apartment in a one-room apartment rented for 490,000 yen.

The Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan, New York. It is close to the Hudson River, which flows slowly, and has long been a town where the arts have flourished. The “love nest” of Kei Komuro, 31, and his wife Mako, 31, is located in a high-rise condominium more than 15 years old in a corner of the fashionable red-brick buildings in Hell’s Kitchen (……).

The area is close to Central Park and Broadway, and is a popular area with an increasing number of Japanese residents. Mr. and Mrs. Komuro have been living in this apartment since they came to the U.S. in November of the year before last.

With Mako’s support, Kei has been living here during his grueling time as a bar exam ronin, but recently the couple has been considering a move. Kei passed the bar exam last October, and was finally “registered as a lawyer” on February 27, which is believed to be the reason for the move.

There are reports that they are living a “celebrity life” in the U.S., but in fact, they currently live in a one-room apartment of only about 40 square meters. Kei works as a lawyer in New York and his annual income is said to easily exceed 20 million yen. No matter how much they love each other, I think they have outgrown the space.

This magazine obtained a photo of a room with the same layout as the one they live in from a local real estate company official. The room is a modest one-room with a dining room and kitchen, a unit bath, and a walk-in closet; it would certainly be cramped if two people’s luggage, a bed, and a dining table were to be placed in a living room of about 25 m2. A Japanese man who viewed the room said, “Prices are rising significantly in New York City.

The rent for this room is $3,600 (about 490,000 yen),” said a Japanese man living in the U.S. “Prices are rising remarkably in New York now. I would expect a high-rise apartment to have a night view of New York City, but from the couple’s room, I think they will only be able to see the apartment next door. Besides, this room is not equipped with a washing machine. They have to do their laundry at the coin-operated laundromat on each floor.”

In addition, there are security concerns. Hell’s Kitchen, once a haven for gangs, has been the scene of multiple shootings and even a fatality last year. Even though she is now a civilian, it is too late for anything to happen to Mako, who is from the Japanese imperial family.

The apartment has a sign that says, ‘Visitors must come to the reception desk’ and ‘Outsiders are not allowed in here,’ but the entrance door is not auto-locked, so it cannot be said to be high security,” said a Japanese man living in the U.S.

In New York, where prices are extremely high, the day when you can escape from a one-room apartment may soon come.

From the March 24, 2023 issue of FRIDAY