So, I am planning to study abroad in Japan for a full academic year from Fall 2025 to Spring 2026. I’m majoring in Fashion Design in Japanese. I’m currently looking at exchange programs to apply to and many of the universities from those programs are located in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.
I’ve done a bit of research but want advice more specific that applies to the different lifestyles in each city.
I just started currently taking Japanese classes and hope to be at a basic level by the time I arrive in Japan. I plan on working whatever part time job I can find but am also curious about what type of jobs foreigners with basic Japanese can work as well.
I believe all three cities will most likely have some sort of art or cultural aspect I can look into and enjoy. I am very much into traditional and modern Japanese art and fashion.
I just want to know what type of daily activities or common things people enjoy and do in each city to know what would suit me best.
I would say I want to immerse myself in the culture by trying to go out often to eat, shop, and attend events. From what I’ve seen, I was thinking Tokyo might suit me best, but I am not sure.
Anyone’s input on what their experience studying abroad or living in one of those three cities would be helpful, thank you.
by Timely-Conflict-1001
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Studying Abroad in Kyoto vs Osaka vs Tokyo**
So, I am planning to study abroad in Japan for a full academic year from Fall 2025 to Spring 2026. I’m majoring in Fashion Design in Japanese. I’m currently looking at exchange programs to apply to and many of the universities from those programs are located in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.
I’ve done a bit of research but want advice more specific that applies to the different lifestyles in each city.
I just started currently taking Japanese classes and hope to be at a basic level by the time I arrive in Japan. I plan on working whatever part time job I can find but am also curious about what type of jobs foreigners with basic Japanese can work as well.
I believe all three cities will most likely have some sort of art or cultural aspect I can look into and enjoy. I am very much into traditional and modern Japanese art and fashion.
I just want to know what type of daily activities or common things people enjoy and do in each city to know what would suit me best.
I would say I want to immerse myself in the culture by trying to go out often to eat, shop, and attend events. From what I’ve seen, I was thinking Tokyo might suit me best, but I am not sure.
Anyone’s input on what their experience studying abroad or living in one of those three cities would be helpful, thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> I just want to know what type of daily activities or common things people enjoy and do in each city to know what would suit me best.
greater tokyo metro population: 38 Million People. Greater Osaka population, 18 million people. For comparison – New York Population: 8 million people. Needless to say, there is nothing everyone does that is common. There is not a single “culture”.
>I would say I want to immerse myself in the culture by trying to go out often to eat, shop, and attend events. From what I’ve seen, I was thinking Tokyo might suit me best, but I am not sure.
Again, Osaka is also massive.
Also, Kyoto is 30 minutes away from Osaka by train.
I studied near Osaka, I would definitely recommend it if your choices are between the three, you can basically get the most out of two of them by living in Osaka since Kyoto is pretty close by train. Osaka is a totally underrated city and I found the nightlife to be superior to Tokyo.
as someone who studied in Kyoto I can highly recommend it!
lots of culture, you can always find fellow international people if you want to, really good food and you can reach other big cities easily by train (same for Osaka since those cities are close by). also a pretty active nightlife if you’re interested in that. you have some good places to shop, though I do prefer Osaka and also Tokyo in that aspect, but it obviously all comes down to personal preferences.
as for jobs, you have many opportunities there. I worked as a language teacher, cleaned hotel rooms and worked as a bartender. my fellow international friends worked in similar fields or as tour guides across Kansai region or accountants (though the last one was connected to their home country so maybe that doesn’t count). we all started those jobs with a pretty basic Japanese, so those would all be possible (guessing the jobs will be similar or the same in the other cities , but I cannot speak on that)
as I said before, Kyoto is rich on culture and also food (lots of matcha). Osaka has some really good food spots as well though (their kushikatsu is amazing and they have so many shops).
if I were to compare Kyoto and Osaka I’d say that culturally, Kyoto might offer you more while the shopping, nightlife and I’d guess also the general activities you can partake in would be more osakas strong suit. food is strong in both cities! as for the people, I’m biased towards Kyoto people since I’ve met a lot more there, but the people I did meet in Osaka were great too!
now I can only give you this much of an insight. can’t speak too much on Tokyo as I was there for only a week, but you can tell that there’s a lot more going on. this city is booked and busy every day all day and you will find probably everything you could even think of.
event wise, I’d say if we’re talking concerts or conventions, Tokyo first, then Osaka and last Kyoto, but if you’re talking about traditional events, Kyoto does have a lot to offer!(can’t speak on the other cities on traditional events)
sorry I can’t give you more on Tokyo and probably ended up just ranting over Kyoto 😬 hope it’s at least a little helpful and if you wanna know anything else, I would love to try and help^^