Inaka to Tokai (Moving Out)

[Popochi]

Hi. Thank you again for creating this site. I have learned a lot here regarding investments.

I’m not really sure if this kind of post are allowed in here. If it’s not please delete it.

I have lived for more than 4 years here in Japan but i’m in the inaka. I’m used to the slow paced life here. So around last year when the covid restrictions were taken off, my girlfriend came to Japan to work (about an hour and a half of train ride from tokyo).

Since were thinking of getting married we have talked about the place where were going to stay and build a family. So i’m thinking of moving to her city since it’s closer to tokyo and some other tourist spots like disneyland. And also, for our families when they are visiting Japan. I know that apartments and cost of living are pricier there.

I don’t want to regret my decision in the future too and move back to inaka since I made a hasty decision. Because if I quit my current company I need to pay them a lot of money because of my student loans when I came to Japan.

Any experience about building a family in tokai area you can share with me? Or any other advices you can give?

Thank you

[zeroshiki]

I lived in the (relative) countryside of Aichi when I was young and I hated it because everything was so far away. The nearest grocery store was an itoyokado 30 minutes by bike. On the flip side, I live in one of the busiest areas of Tokyo now and hate how there's a crowd of people all the time. It's always a balance between what you're looking for in life so I feel it will be hard for any of us to comment. Is your girlfriend willing to move to your inaka?

I will say though that you should make sure you can find work in Tokyo when you move here. Tokyo has the most jobs of course but depending on what you do you might have finding something as good as what you have now.

[RetireJapan]

I live in Sendai, a medium sized city of just over a million. I love it. It is the perfect size for me, not too big, not too small.

If I go to smaller cities I feel they are a bit limited, larger ones have too many people and are too crowded (especially Tokyo, where there is a line everywhere, even at 3am).

I've always lived here though, so I don't know how I would feel about living in the countryside or a larger city.

[Popochi]

Shes living in Noda which I think is a mid size city and not too crowded. I visited her for about 10days and it feels like what I’m living in right now which is Miyakonojo. Shes also willing to live in the inaka.

If were apart we rarely travel but if we’re together we travel a lot. And living in the inaka would limit our options. All we have here are parks and aquarium (nearest is kagoshima i think). And Fukuoka which is a 4 hour bus.

I also felt tokyo, shinjuku and shibuya are crowded and I wouldn’t ever think of living there.

As for jobs, we are in the same line of work which is taking care of elderly in the facilities. Her company and job site is okay (one of the reason why I don’t want her to change company). My company is not a bad company but not a good company either.

[Beaglehound]

One thought is that with your line of work you are not limited in location, assuming your visa status allows you to move job. Everywhere needs skills like yours and your girlfriend’s. So you don’t have much to lose by trying different locations before settling on a ‘permanent’ one. If you move to her place and don’t like it, you could try somewhere more inaka.

[TJKansai]

I've lived in the suburbs and a small isolated city. If there were decent jobs in the countryside I would have stayed there, but mid-sized cities can be okay. Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Fukuoka, Kobe, Nagano are all decent sized and not too crowded.

[Popochi]

Thank you for all the replies.

Sendai and Fukuoka always comes out when I search for the best cities to live. I went to fukuoka for a couple of days and have really liked it. Not too crowded and easy to get around.

As long as I engage in the same line of work I have no restrictions in where I work. So maybe ill just try and live in Chiba and if it doesn’t work then I’ll move again.

[RetireJapan]

Sendai and Fukuoka always comes out when I search for the best cities to live.

I've been all over Japan and those are my two favourites

[northSaver]

Sapporo is nice too... if you don't mind the snow. It's the second snowiest city (of over 100,000 people) in the world! The first? Aomori. There are less snowy cities in Hokkaido which are just as nice to live in. Hakodate and Obihiro, for example.

[sutebayashi]

Even Tokyo is not bad, people! I didn’t like the crowdedness when I first visited as a tourist, but the need for a job forced me here… and decades later here I still am. Living here is a different kettle of fish to visiting here. If I leave, I suspect I will be leaving Japan rather than just relocating to the countryside. I have big green trees in my neighborhood and the city is there for me when I need its conveniences. Not having to drive a car to get around the place is one thing I count as a pretty big pro, especially if one is going to one day stop driving.

Just one opinion for cutting Tokyo some slack