My wife, son and I are considering a move to Japan early next year, and we have planned a 3 week trip to Japan in May. We are planning to spend a week in Tokyo and 5 days each in Kyoto and Osaka.
We have 3 additional days of our trip that we aren’t sure what to do with. The job I would take if we choose to move is fully remote, so we can live anywhere we would like to in Japan. Other posts in this sub have given us the impression that Yokohama has a lower cost of living than Tokyo proper, and contains a large expat community, so we are considering staying there with our remaining time.
With the goal of experiencing what the non-tourist life would be like, is it useful for us to spend those extra days in Yokohama? We are not sure expat communities or foreigner services would be readily apparent just by exploring the city. We want to determine if it’s worth the extra effort to stay in Yokohama and explore potential day-to-day locations or if it’s wishful thinking to think that would really give us a sense of life in Japan.
Advice on how to use our trip time wisely, other areas we should be visiting over Yokohama, or critical feedback is much appreciated.