Where should I live in Japan? Looking for location suggestions for JET application

Hey guys! I'm currently filling out the application for the JET program, and it's asking me where I would like to live. I've put my first choice as Kazo in Saitama, since that's where I went in high school and it would be awesome if I could teach at the same school I went to I'm kinda stuck on my last two choices though and I don't wanna put something ordinary like "Osaka" or "Tokyo" down (the instructions even advise you that these areas are always popular in applications).

I'm of a few (conflicted) minds about this, but here's a few of my thoughts...

• I'd like to be in a convenient location, somewhere close to Tokyo maybe, since I can see myself going to Akiba a whole lot. I've heard Japan has really great public transportation though, so I wouldn't mind living living far from Tokyo if there's something that can whisk me there in under an hour or so.
• I'd like to live somewhere that looks really nice, like Kyoto which is a very historical location.
• I'm not sure what the costs of living are in different areas, would be a bad idea to live somewhere really expensive
• I want to live somewhere that has distinct seasons. In Australia, basically the only thing that changes from spring, summer, autumn and winter in the temperature, everything looks basically the same. I want somewhere that has snow in winter, plants growing in the spring and leaves turning orange in the autumn.
• I'm not much of a fan of the heat, so I'm thinking prefectures way down south would be a bad scene, but I'm not sure how Japan's heat compares to Australia's since I was there in autumn.
• While I think it would be really nice to live somewhere rural and old, the lack of stuff like shopping centers and bad internet would probably drive me to kick a baby.
• I'm thinking somewhere in the Kansai area would be nice, if only for the tasty food and silly accents
• Somewhere that has a lot of stuff like festivals would be awesome

Any suggestions guys? Any other things I should be aware of? Like, do certain prefectures have higher instances of bear attack or something?

 

Somewhere in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto conglomeration? Maybe somewhere around the southern side of Lake Biwa if you wanted a bit more rural feel to it, but still easily accessible from Osaka and Kyoto. Seems it would fit most of the criteria, but it would still be humid as hell during the summer and not be anywhere close to Akihabara, but you could still get to Nipponbashi in Osaka, which probably has about the same number of decent retro stores these days anyway.

 

The trick is to pick somewhere relatively close. Saitama is one. Kawasaki is another. Neither are "right next door" but they're not bad. Very commutable on evenings after work and weekends. You won't want to miss the last train though.

You could pick a specific city in Tokyo but outside of the 23 wards, but in some cases these are further than Kawasaki.

What won't be in your power though is choosing where in these prefectures they will place you. For Kawasaki, if you're on the Toyoko Line you're set. You'll be no more than 30 minutes from either Shibuya or Shinjuku. For Saitama, you'd want to be on the Saikyo line (or one other that escapes me). If they put you in the corner of one of these places you might as well be in Hiroshima.

Good luck.

 

I've heard good things about osaka's version of akiba, but I dunno, it doesn't feel the same to me since it's not actually akiba

Saitama is already first on my list, not just because it's where I stayed in high school, but also since it's close to Tokyo. I'll look into Kawasaki, see what they've got there.


In terms for weather, so most places in Japan get the four seasons I mentioned? Maybe not warmer prefectures down south, but most of them?

 

Everywhere gets 4 season except Okinawa and maybe some of the barely populated smaller islands. Even Shikoku and Kyushu have a winter (and rainy season). It's just not as pronounced, and slightly shorter. Never spent too much time in Hokkaido in the summer, but from what I understand, it's a similar experience to the very North parts of the US and Canada. Gets warm, but you won't roast like in Tokyo. I would check the humidity levels above anything else though. Tokyo doesn't get as hot as Texas on paper, but it's a far more miserable (and dangerous if you exercise) experience.

 

I spent some time in Sapporo - December, January and February were months that you were lucky if it got above 0c even in the middle of the day. Hottest months were July and August - maybe highs of 25c or 26c. Summers were far nicer than Tokyo...

 

If you're not a fan of heat, then Saitama wouldn't be the best place to go, since it is literally placed next to one if not the hottest prefecture (gunma-ken) in Japan. The lack of mountains and the far distance to the sea keeps a lot of heat in place during hot summer days.

Four seasons and a really nice autumn are more found in the northern prefectures. and kyushu only gets the dirty air from china these days.

 

Thanks for the tip on the seasons! I actually prefer humidity over dry heat, dry heat turns my skin into sandpaper.

Again, I'm not sure how "hot" Japan gets during the summer. Australia is known for blazing hot summers, so I suspect that anything Japan can conjure up is mild by comparison

I'm liking the looks of Kanagawa Prefecture, it's close to Tokyo and has festivals and temples. It's also a sister city to the Gold Coast, which is next to Brisbane, so there's kinda a connection with me

Any there any safety issues I should know about? I know Japan is mostly a very safe country when it comes to crime, but are some prefectures worse than others? What about natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis?

 

Yeah come to kanagawa pref. and become my neighbor But then again, kanagawa pref. is quite large...
But it's a nice loc to live I guess, because depending were you are located, you will have both Tokyo and Yokohama within a short reach, and I like both of 'em.
For Family stuff, Yokohama is even more predestined.
Also you will have still some nature around here, which I kinda appreciate and would miss if living up in big big town. So you ahve a bit of everything.
And you could do some nice recycle shop cycle rides, altough digging great treasures had become really hard over the past few years.

Also you're down to few nice beaches in almost no time during summers.
For winter sport activities you'll have to travel a bit further tho.

 

Yeah, I think I'll defiantly put Kanagawa prefecture down as my second choice, seems like a nice place. I'd totally come visit you Tatsujin, maybe bring you a cake shaped like a PC Engine

Do you guys have any suggestions for my third choice?

 

I think the "hot days" are generally low 30's, but it got up to 35 a few days this past summer. Again though, you're looking at 75-80% humidity at times, and there's so much walking involved in just about every day if you have to wear a shirt and tie it will be stuck to you before you get to work (even in the morning0. That and air condition will costs you body parts if you leave it on all the time since Japan still hasn't fucking discovered insulation.

 

Pfft, low 30s. In January this year in Australia, temperatures hit an average high of 40.3 degrees! As to humidity, Brisbane averages 55-60 all year around, though it's 90 at the moment. AC isn't standard in homes here like Japan, so I think they might have the advantage here.

 

Ok, then better dress warm when coming over

 

Ha ha, don't underestimate an Australian!

Any suggestions for other prefectures? What about Yamanashi? The landscape looks quite beautiful and it's near to Tokyo.

 

You can check some yearly stats to make sure, but pretty sure from rainy season (even on days it doesn't rain) through September it's 70-80%. The difference in even 60 to 70 is make or break. 55% seems ideal, 60% tolerable, 70% where it starts to get bad, and 80% is bullshit. Ironically winter is fucking brutally dry.

 

Yeah, winters where I grew up were crazy dry too. Not so much in Brisbane.

 

For what it's worth, I spent more at Nipponbashi than Akiba when we went to Japan last year, that would be my pick if you aren't able to find some of the retro/recycle stores for some haphazard shopping. The Manga Souko (sp?) Yakumo features in Retro Core looks pretty awesome as well.

As for other areas, I liked the feel of Miitaka and Takao when we were going around Tokyo, and really enjoyed what we saw of Hiroshima (which wasn't heaps since we were in the city centre, but it was a nice change of pace compared to Tokyo and Osaka).

As for heat, the weather in Japan seems pretty bearable compared to what we get here (40+ degrees during summer is standard, often for several days in a row, gets higher than that the closer you move to the center of the country; also spent a few years in Darwin as a kid and you get used to the humidity pretty quickly). Mind, we're whingers when it comes to the cooler weather!

 

that sounds like here to be honest i'd probably be happy there lol

 

I actually prefer the cold, this winter was a total joke!

 

I commute by bicycle, and even American clothes fit me a little wonky most of the time. As such, lots of my skin is exposed, and the cold is amplified on the bike. That and of course my balls shrivel up in like 10 seconds.