Hello everyone, hoping all is well this Sunday.
My visa just got approved for Japan (I am currently staying in Tokyo on a tourist visa) and I’m trying to find a place to buy a house, that’s a little out of Tokyo.. for 2 main reasons.
1. I’m more productive when I’m around less friends, and I can focus on my work.
2. You get more bang for your buck being out of the city.
So with those points in question I am looking to buy a small house outside (or greater) Tokyo, and then driving in a couple of days a week to see friends, socialise, whatever.
My requirements are
– somewhere 45-70 mins drive from central Tokyo (shinjuku for example).
– somewhere not too remote, with some resteraunts, general stores, konbini, supermarket etc.
– not looking for friends, clubbing, bars, izakaya.
– nature would be a plus, forests, hikes, reservoirs, lakes, beaches etc.
– doesn’t HAVE to be connected to a trainline but I suppose if friends from Tokyo could visit me once every few months it would be nice.
With that in question, I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions of places near-ish to Tokyo that I could start looking into. Much thanks for reading and please don’t castrate me if I made a mistake. I have spent months looking at property websites but it’s very hard to gauge what an area is like as I mostly spend time in Tokyo and Osaka when I’m in Japan.
10 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Best place to live, near Tokyo.**
Hello everyone, hoping all is well this Sunday.
My visa just got approved for Japan (I am currently staying in Tokyo on a tourist visa) and I’m trying to find a place to buy a house, that’s a little out of Tokyo.. for 2 main reasons.
1. I’m more productive when I’m around less friends, and I can focus on my work.
2. You get more bang for your buck being out of the city.
So with those points in question I am looking to buy a small house outside (or greater) Tokyo, and then driving in a couple of days a week to see friends, socialise, whatever.
My requirements are
– somewhere 45-70 mins drive from central Tokyo (shinjuku for example).
– somewhere not too remote, with some resteraunts, general stores, konbini, supermarket etc.
– not looking for friends, clubbing, bars, izakaya.
– nature would be a plus, forests, hikes, reservoirs, lakes, beaches etc.
– doesn’t HAVE to be connected to a trainline but I suppose if friends from Tokyo could visit me once every few months it would be nice.
With that in question, I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions of places near-ish to Tokyo that I could start looking into. Much thanks for reading and please don’t castrate me if I made a mistake. I have spent months looking at property websites but it’s very hard to gauge what an area is like as I mostly spend time in Tokyo and Osaka when I’m in Japan.
When I posted this in the Japan thread the first reply was about my boss not being happy with me commuting to Tokyo, I don’t have a boss and didn’t ask to discuss anything BUT nice places to live near Tokyo (using shinjuku as an example for distance) would really appreciate people staying on topic, thanks.
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>I am looking to buy a small house outside (or greater) Tokyo
Are you prepared to buy said house for cash? Because you’re not going to be getting a mortgage.
**EDIT:** It is more or less impossible to get a mortgage as a freshly arrived foreigner. Or any loan, really. Look at it from the bank’s perspective: Why would they loan money to someone who just arrived in the country, has no credit history, and may well end up leaving the country before they finish paying off the loan?
The only way to get a mortgage is to be a Permanent Resident. Or to have lived here for 10+ years.
This is not “Reddit being contrarian”, this is an issue that is *directly related to your plans*.
Shonan.
Hachioji, Tokyo prefecture is 60 mins or less from Tokyo , has decent transportation services, loaded with parks, close to shopping and dining.
I really, really strongly advise against driving to central Tokyo if you can avoid it. You will either pay out the nose for parking or spend hours looking for cheaper parking with vacancies. Central Tokyo has excellent public transportation for a reason.
People who try to buy a property by searching online tend to never actually buy a property. Japan is not really favorable to pajama warriors.
What you should do is visit a real estate agent, get direct recommendations for neighborhoods, then view actual properties with him or her. Real estate agents are professionals who have walked every corner of the city and beyond. They have a lot of recommendations for great neighborhoods that they won’t publish online.
It looks great thank you, tonnes of nature, lakes I can possibly swim in, lots of amenities, and houses are super cheap, only an hour from Tokyo! I’m going to view some places when I arrive 🙂
You’re going to find it difficult to buy a house, outright, cash. Unless you got a half mill in cash, average price for a used home is around 3500万 — and that’s like in Kansai, out in the suburbs for something old. Then there’s property tax, which according to my relative is 60% of the value of the purchase price of the land… Could be wrong but its just a nightmare.
Why don’t you just a rent a place instead? There’s more empty houses out for rent for around 120,000+ a month in areas like Takao, Hachioiji, and anywhere near Western Tokyo.
Maybe somewhere in Hadano, you’ll have nice surroundings and the train line. Just search for pictures 🙂
Atami is awesome but the distance from Tokyo is around 100km :/
You might want to rent an apartment before buying your own place so you’ll see if you’re comfortable over there or not.
I don’t recommend driving in Tokyo, it sucks, you’ll get there faster and easier by train.
I see you got a visa but what kind? Buying a house won’t let you live here, so make sure you will have a visa for long enough to make buying a place worth it