My daughter and I are intending to move to Japan with my job in June or July. I’d mainly be working from home but would need to travel to both Tokyo and Osaka once or twice a month, so I’m considering basing us in Nagoya since it’s in between them. We don’t want to live in Tokyo as we prefer smaller cities, and we like the sound of one of the schools in Nagoya better than any in Osaka. Neither of us speak Japanese yet, but we’ll start learning before we go so we’ll know the basics, and we’ll continue learning it once we arrive.
I’ve already researched Nagoya as a place to live, both on this sub and on other expat groups, but there are some things I haven’t been able to find out. Everything I’ve read assumes that people would be living in central Nagoya, when we’d probably try to live close to the school which is right on the outskirts, and most people commenting are uni students or people in their 20s going to Japan with things like the JET programme. I’m hoping to get some responses from people who are in a more similar situation to us, and answers to questions I haven’t been able to get answered so far.
I’m mainly wondering what life would be like for a parent and 16 year old girl living in the northeast outskirts of Nagoya, near to Nagoya International School. Is there much to do around there? Would it be safe/easy for my daughter to do things by herself, and to travel into central Nagoya alone or with friends? What sort of housing is available in that area? Would I need to get a car, or can you get to most places by public transport? I also haven’t seen many comments from parents about this school, so if anyone has anything they want to share about it, that would be really useful. Thank you in advance!