A serviced office in central Tokyo is quoted as one monthly figure, and that figure covers very different things depending on which of three products you are buying. Before comparing numbers, it is worth separating them — most confusing quotes are really a comparison between two different tiers.
The three tiers
A registered business address is the entry product: a postal address you may use for company registration, mail handling, and usually a few hours of meeting-room credit. No desk. Our Tokyo catalogue lists virtual and business-address products across 200 buildings, and entries in the catalogue as a whole start from ¥40,000 a month.
A coworking desk adds somewhere to sit — either a hot desk in a shared room or a fixed desk that stays yours. Across Tokyo we list 170 coworking options in 170 buildings. This is the tier most people mean by "serviced office" when they are a team of one to three.
A private serviced room is a lockable office inside a managed centre, billed per room or per seat. Our Tokyo catalogue carries 459 private office listings. This is where the cost spreads widest, because the room size, the floor and the building's address all move the number.
What sits inside the monthly figure
In a serviced centre the monthly fee normally bundles rent, building management fees, electricity, internet, reception staffing, cleaning and use of the shared kitchen and lounge. That bundling is the reason serviced space compares favourably with a conventional lease once the extras on a conventional lease are added up — common area charges, your own fit-out, your own internet contract and your own furniture.
What is billed on top
Expect these outside the headline figure: meeting rooms beyond the included credit, printing, dedicated phone lines, parking, and any signage or fit-out you request. Most centres also charge a one-off setup or registration fee, and many ask for a deposit — smaller than a conventional lease deposit, but not zero.
What moves the number in central Tokyo
Four things, in roughly this order. Ward: Chiyoda (40 buildings in our catalogue) and Minato (63) carry the addresses that command the premium; Shinjuku (14) and Shibuya (26) sit close behind. Station distance: a building one minute from a major interchange prices differently from one eight minutes away. Floor and light: high floors with a view are priced as a product, not a rounding error. Term: monthly rolling contracts cost more per month than a twelve-month commitment, and that difference is usually negotiable.
Getting a real quote
Published figures are entry points — the smallest room, the lowest floor, the longest term. For a number you can budget against, give the operator three things: headcount at peak, the term you can commit to, and whether you need the room to be lockable and branded. Then compare on a like-for-like basis across all 1,251 Tokyo listings, or narrow to the operators directly — Regus centres and WeWork both run multiple buildings across the central wards.