I lived in rural Shikoku (Kagawa Prefecture) for over 5 years and absolutely loved the peacefulness and connection to nature. Now that I'm thinking about having children in the next 1-2 years, I'm wondering where other foreigners have found success raising a family in Japan.
Safety and Community: While I felt incredibly safe in Kagawa. I could become close with a few Japanese families. Most weekends they invite us to party with them. Invite us to concerts of their children. They say they do consider us as their family members. I'm curious about the sense of community in bigger cities like Tokyo, and Nagoya. Did you find it easy to connect with other families with young children?
Schools and International Options: Are there better international schools or English-language programs in Cities than in rural areas? In the city I live there are only about 10 more foreigners. Most probably there will be no foreign classmates for my kids in the school. It seems teachers have almost no experience with foreign students in this area. When considering schools in large cities, are there any special courses/options for foreign students to overcome language and cultural barriers?
Cost of Living: My current annual salary is around 4.75M JPY. I got an offer from a company in Aichi for 6M JPY. My wife is currently doing part-time work only. Will the increment of living cost be larger than additional 1.25M I get from new Job?
My Priorities: Ideally, I'd like to find a place with a good balance between access to nature, community, and some international exposure for my children.
by Immediate_Owl_2990
7 comments
40 minutes outside Tokyo, even less, you can be in a rural area compete with deer, bear etc
Just supply-and-demand issues mean Tokyo will have the most options for “international” students, but everyone I know has hated figuring out school options in the city. On the other hand, if the only English exposure is at home, most kids end up being far from bilingual.
Annual 475k? You mean JPY?
For families Aichi Nagoya is a very good place. Calm, peaceful and very safe.
Depends on the children.
If they’re active, outdoor types who love sports and nature, go rural.
If they’re more into urban amenities such as shopping malls, video arcades, and stuff, go for Tokyo.
My daughter was born in small town, so it definitely had the peacefulness and connection to nature aspect, as well as the community feel. Everyone knows everyone.
It was great when she was small. Now she is in Junior High, and living in Nagoya. I can’t really imagine her being back in the countryside. As great as the nature stuff is, there are so few kids there. While she would most likely be friends with them and get along, in the city there are just more options to find other kids that have similar interests to gravitate to.
Safety is not an issue in either place. One has bears and fast flowing rivers, the other has busy roads.
Community aspect is not as nice depending on outlook. I loved the small community, but maybe she would really not like being known and not having possibility of anonymity. The difference in the community in the city and in the countryside is in the city you have to make appointments to meet your selected community, compared to in countryside where the community is just outside the door.
In terms of foreign classmates, when I lived in the countryside, I had friends with kids her age who were visiting often (to escape the city) so she had friends that were half or international as well (the always spoke Japanese), and also of course had no trouble being with the Japanese kids. Now in junior high, the existence or lack of other international kids does not seem to be an issue for her. There are other foreigners in her school, but she does not hang out with them simply because of that. She just hangs out with who she shares interest with. Nationality or race is irrelevant.
If your kids are born here and grow up here, there is no need for special courses/options for foreign students to overcome language and cultural barriers. That would only be needed if you are moving here with kids of elementary school age or up to help them adjust.
The connection to nature… I think that depends on you mostly. Even in the countryside I would not say all of the kids had a special connection to nature. The ones who took advantage (or whose parents took advantage) of the surroundings had the connection, but those that did not do “nature things” did not. In the city is takes more effort, of course, to get out and get into nature, but it is not impossible. Just like it takes more planning to meet up with “community” it takes more planning to connect with nature.
Absolutely the AVERAGE quality and availability of international school options is significantly higher in Tokyo, but if you happen to live in a rural community with only one school that meets your needs, you win.
TLDR: statistically Tokyo is “better” but it depends