Favourite (and least favourite) cities to live in Japan?

[Maciamo]

This is a question for those of you who have already lived in Japan and travelled extensively around the country. If you had to choose the best Japanese cities to live in, which one would you choose? Is there any place that you wouldn't want to live?

Personally I've lived for 5 years in Tokyo in the early 2000s and travelled to all regions of Japan (35 of the 47 prefectures). I have just come back from a 3 weeks trip to Western Japan, all the way to Kagoshima.

Tokyo is the best city in my opinion, but I found that I quite Hiroshima as well, which is like a compact version of central Tokyo with modern streets, tall buildings, lots of shopping centres and department stores and a nice atmosphere. Besides it's located in one of Japan's sunniest regions with virtually no earthquakes. It's next to the sea and mountains and close to Miyajima.

Another place I really like is central Kurashiki with its historic white houses in the canal area. Kurashiki itself has half a million inhabitants and is part of the greater Okayama (1.5 million people), but the beautiful historical neighborhood is just a few streets.

I was pleasantly surprised by Kagoshima. I thought that the city would be unremarkable, but it has nice arcaded shopping streets and buildings from the Meiji period , including a department store built in stone, which is probably the only one in the country with the much smaller Wako department store in Ginza. Kagoshima also has the view on the Sakurajima volcano, which is second only to Mount Fuji, as well as one of the best gardens in Japan (Sengan-en). Kagoshima also has great weather and nearby mountains for hiking - in addition to possible excursions to the famed Yakushima island.

Then of course there is Kanazawa, which has one of the best preserved traditional neighbourhoods and one of the best gardens in Japan (Kenroku-en). The main drawback to live there is the weather, which is much rainier and gets colder in winter.

You may be surprised not to find Kyoto in the list of my favourite cities to live. There is a good reason for this. It's become much too touristy and overcrowded. Besides Kyotoites tend to be less friendly than other Japanese. And once you have seen the sights the city itself is not the most pleasant place to live in, with it's heavy traffic, air pollution (much worse than in Tokyo), numerous noisy motorbikes and scooters, and poor network of public transport (6 different companies, all with their own tickets).

Cities that didn't leave me with a very good impression are Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.

 

[thomas]

The older I get, the more I'd like to escape big cities. Based on my journeys, the Japanese cities (or towns) I would like to live in are

• Matsumoto (Nagano)
• Kanazawa (Ishikawa)
• Aizu-Wakamatsu (Fukushima)
• Morioka (Iwate)
• Matsue (Shimane)
• Hiroshima

This is by no means a ranking.

 

[johnnyG]

Dragging my attention away from my wife's control of the TV (kohaku)... Yes, winter in Kanazawa is wet (it's raining now), much wetter than the supposed summer 'rainy season' (which isn't very wet at all), with occasional snow (that is generally wet and heavy when shoveling). But on the other hand, it's 寒ぶり season.

One of our kids went to uni in Osaka, really liked it. Except for the water.

I've heard Matsue is nice.

 

[Maciamo]

I could also have added Nara to the list of most liveable cities. I like the fact that it's relatively laid back but with lots of restaurants as it's touristic enough (without the crowds of Kyoto) with very nice temples and shrines and a big park with the friendly shika deer. Real estate is also cheaper than in larger cities.

 

[thomas]

For me, it boils down to

1. Nature and cultural spots (places not overrun by suitcase-pushing tourists like Takayama, a city I love but that's mentioned in too many guidebooks and blogs)
2. Real estate prices
3. Infrastructure

 

[Fearabhata]

This is a question for those of you who have already lived in Japan and travelled extensively around the country. If you had to choose the best Japanese cities to live in, which one would you choose? Is there any place that you wouldn't want to live?

Personally I've lived for 5 years in Tokyo in the early 2000s and travelled to all regions of Japan (35 of the 47 prefectures). I have just come back from a 3 weeks trip to Western Japan, all the way to Kagoshima.

Tokyo is the best city in my opinion, but I found that I quite Hiroshima as well, which is like a compact version of central Tokyo with modern streets, tall buildings, lots of shopping centres and department stores and a nice atmosphere. Besides it's located in one of Japan's sunniest regions with virtually no earthquakes. It's next to the sea and mountains and close to Miyajima.

Another place I really like is central Kurashiki with its historic white houses in the canal area. Kurashiki itself has half a million inhabitants and is part of the greater Okayama (1.5 million people), but the beautiful historical neighborhood is just a few streets.

I was pleasantly surprised by Kagoshima. I thought that the city would be unremarkable, but it has nice arcaded shopping streets and buildings from the Meiji period, including a department store built in stone, which is probably the only one in the country with the much smaller Wako department store in Ginza. Kagoshima also has the view on the Sakurajima volcano, which is second only to Mount Fuji, as well as one of the best gardens in Japan (Sengan-en). Kagoshima also has great weather and nearby mountains for hiking - in addition to possible excursions to the famed Yakushima island.

Then of course there is Kanazawa, which has one of the best preserved traditional neighbourhoods and one of the best gardens in Japan (Kenroku-en). The main drawback to live there is the weather, which is much rainier and gets colder in winter.

You may be surprised not to find Kyoto in the list of my favourite cities to live. There is a good reason for this. It's become much too touristy and overcrowded. Besides Kyotoites tend to be less friendly than other Japanese. And once you have seen the sights the city itself is not the most pleasant place to live in, with it's heavy traffic, air pollution (much worse than in Tokyo), numerous noisy motorbikes and scooters, and poor network of public transport (6 different companies, all with their own tickets).

Cities that didn't leave me with a very good impression are Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.

This is a question for those of you who have already lived in Japan and travelled extensively around the country. If you had to choose the best Japanese cities to live in, which one would you choose? Is there any place that you wouldn't want to live?

Personally I've lived for 5 years in Tokyo in the early 2000s and travelled to all regions of Japan (35 of the 47 prefectures). I have just come back from a 3 weeks trip to Western Japan, all the way to Kagoshima.

Tokyo is the best city in my opinion, but I found that I quite Hiroshima as well, which is like a compact version of central Tokyo with modern streets, tall buildings, lots of shopping centres and department stores and a nice atmosphere. Besides it's located in one of Japan's sunniest regions with virtually no earthquakes. It's next to the sea and mountains and close to Miyajima.

Another place I really like is central Kurashiki with its historic white houses in the canal area. Kurashiki itself has half a million inhabitants and is part of the greater Okayama (1.5 million people), but the beautiful historical neighborhood is just a few streets.

I was pleasantly surprised by Kagoshima. I thought that the city would be unremarkable, but it has nice arcaded shopping streets and buildings from the Meiji period, including a department store built in stone, which is probably the only one in the country with the much smaller Wako department store in Ginza. Kagoshima also has the view on the Sakurajima volcano, which is second only to Mount Fuji, as well as one of the best gardens in Japan (Sengan-en). Kagoshima also has great weather and nearby mountains for hiking - in addition to possible excursions to the famed Yakushima island.

Then of course there is Kanazawa, which has one of the best preserved traditional neighbourhoods and one of the best gardens in Japan (Kenroku-en). The main drawback to live there is the weather, which is much rainier and gets colder in winter.

You may be surprised not to find Kyoto in the list of my favourite cities to live. There is a good reason for this. It's become much too touristy and overcrowded. Besides Kyotoites tend to be less friendly than other Japanese. And once you have seen the sights the city itself is not the most pleasant place to live in, with it's heavy traffic, air pollution (much worse than in Tokyo), numerous noisy motorbikes and scooters, and poor network of public transport (6 different companies, all with their own tickets).

Cities that didn't leave me with a very good impression are Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.

Maybe the reason why Kyoto inhabitants are less friendly is just because of tourists (or the wrong ones at least) ^^
I find Kyoto to busy, also it is awful that in the inner city parts and more residential areas (in Germany we call it "Altstadt") there is just so much car traffic, it kinda ruins the atmosphere.
Wish there was some restrictions to it, outside of temple areas.

My personal favourite place in Japan to be is Aoimori, especially late summer until autumn.

Though I hope I can someday visit the Miyako Odori next spring in Kyoto
長年の夢 <3

 

[mdchachi]

For me Tokyo is home having spent almost 6 years there. I've travelled across all of Japan but didn't spend enough time in any one place to get any feelings about living there. But I agree with your list and impressions. Certainly Kyoto would be very low on the list.