Best Place to Live in Japan

[Bushiman]

Nagano (one of the smaller towns, not the city itself), because of the weather and views, plus fresh fruit and veg.

BINGO!
Nagano really is fantastic...
I live in a small picturesque town up in the hills 10mins from a decent sized city...
The views are pretty much 360 mountains. It is cool(er) in summer, and not bonkers cold in winter...
I have local ski hills within 20mins drive, and Olympic class resorts within 40mins... Lakes and rivers to swim, kayak, SUP, picnic at...
Lot's of great MTB trails, and more being built at the ski hills... World class rock-climbing & bouldering within an hour away...
If I get on the highway I can be on the west coast within an hour, and east coast more like 2~3hrs... The Shinkansen runs through my neighbouring city so I can be in Tokyo within 90mins...
The food is great. People are chill. I can walk out my door with the kids and wander off around farms and rice paddies or up into the hills to look for wildlife...
So lucky to have landed where I did.

[mighty58]

I really think climate change/natural disasters are going to be a big factor going forward. So Okinawa/Kyushu seem a bit dicey, as does anywhere directly on the coast, near volcanoes, flood plains, landslide prone slopes, etc.

Think you just described most of Japan there, or at least every big city.

[RetireJapan]

I really think climate change/natural disasters are going to be a big factor going forward. So Okinawa/Kyushu seem a bit dicey, as does anywhere directly on the coast, near volcanoes, flood plains, landslide prone slopes, etc.

Think you just described most of Japan there, or at least every big city.

Ha, ha, indeed. But within the cities you'll have safer and less safe areas. Local governments publish hazard maps, so it's probably worth checking those for potential or current homes. Probably have a huge effect on land value/resale value of buildings too.

[captainspoke]

The best place to live?

Sometimes when out cycling I go under one bridge or another, and look at them with an eye for how much shelter they would provide, how much competition there might be for the space, how far various conveniences are, overhead traffic noise, that kind of thing...

[kuma]

Hokkaido

[TJKansai]

Hokkaido

Hokkaido is my second choice, after Nagano. Bit too isolated and cold to take up the top spot.

[Tokyo]

Answer: Tokyo. What this retiree especially likes about his Tokyo home is that although it’s in a residential area there’s a Mini Stop directly across the street, our spunky doctor is less than a minute away, and in under 10 minutes we can stroll to 4 train stations, 5 supermarkets and literally hundreds of restaurants. It’s just a 15 minute subway ride to Tokyo station, and a 25 minute taxi ride gets us to Haneda, ready to fly anywhere in the world.

I also really appreciate that we are surrounded by thousands of gigantic trees, owe no rent or mortgage and have family living nearby. It also seems that (through luck more than by meticulous research) our area is safe from floods, liquefaction and is geologically stable, having suffered very little damage during the Great Kanto Earthquake. Unfortunately, we always need to be vigilant as you never know when Godzilla will attack next. ヤバイ！

[Ax6isB]

Answer: Tokyo.
I also really appreciate that we are surrounded by thousands of gigantic trees, owe no rent or mortgage and have family living nearby. It also seems that (through luck more than by meticulous research) our area is safe from floods, liquefaction and is geologically stable, having suffered very little damage during the Great Kanto Earthquake. Unfortunately, we always need to be vigilant as you never know when Godzilla will attack next. ヤバイ！

Is that you Naruhito-sama? Your palace does seem to have all that.

My place in Tokyo has a nice view of the immigration office, the Shinkansen, the monorail, trucks, it’s reclaimed land so we’ll probably sink but being 19 floors up….we won’t sink that much will we?

I do know that “Tokyo” is quite expansive and does have some truly wonderful geography in the area that I’m looking to get into at some point in the future. It really does have just about everything.

[MajesticSoup]

Late to this thread--100% without a doubt Sendai.

I've lived in 4 cities in Japan (Aomori, Hachinohe, Beppu, Sendai) and Sendai has been the most comfortable for doing adult things. If I was in my early 20's I'd probably have chosen Fukuoka, but Sendai is pretty hard to beat for settling.

[mighty58]

I'm partial to both Yokohama and Kobe. Both are big and yet relatively laid back, are well connected and close enough (to Tokyo/Osaka) to easily access everything without needing to be right in the middle of the urban jungles, both have nice waterfront districts (reminds me of home), plenty of green space, well situated for a variety of weekend getaways, and I also feel there's something intangibly appealing about places that celebrate their foreigner-related history.