So I am planning to move out from my current place, and after looking for various properties and possible areas to live in, I found 2 locations: Nerima, Tokyo and Kawaguchi, Saitama (we are talking about **Northern Kawaguchi** here, not the one near Arakawa). I am still not sure between those two especially the living situation, so I really open for any inputs, commentaries, and suggestions like the pros and cons and other useful info.
Some points that could be useful to take in mind for your suggestions:
– Both locations are roughly 1 hour for commute one-way, including time taken for walking, bus, train, etc. The difference is that I can literally just walk to the station for Nerima one, while for Kawaguchi it’s not that walkable and I have to take a bus to nearest station. The fare costs are a little bit different, but bearable.
– Both are roughly similar specs (facilities, living area size, etc).
– The initial costs of both properties for moving in (including stuff for sign the contracts, cleaning, key exchange, etc.) are roughly similar (well the Nerima one costs more, but the difference is relatively small that I don’t really mind).
– Both locations have necessary supporting facilities (supermarket, post office/ATM, konbini) in walkable distance.
– The monthly rent alone in Nerima is roughly 1.25x of the Kawaguchi one, which I can understand considering various current situations. But fixed costs-wise, Kawaguchi one is cheaper.
– I more or less know the living vibe of Nerima as I took a leisure walk around there, while I never visited Kawaguchi before and only relies on Google Street View to see the property’s neighbourhood.
– I usually visit my partner on the weekend (we currently live in different places, and due to various stuff we simply couldn’t just living together at the moment), and the Kawaguchi one is way way further from my partner’s place, both the distance + commute time + fare costs in significant difference. For the Nerima one, it takes roughly the same as my daily commute at most (so it could be cheaper + shorter time needed even).
Thanks in advance, r/japanlife. I hope to hear any responses from you.
17 comments
100% the location that allows you to walk to the train station. Having to board a bus to get anywhere is extremely inconvenient.
You’ve only listed out pros for the Nerima place and no pros for the Kawaguchi place, so I think it’s quite obvious which one you prefer?
The bus sells it. I lived in a place where I needed to take a bus to the station before, and never again. Many of the busses stop running shockingly early, like 8:30-9:00 PM. Work a little overtime, and you’re paying for a taxi.
I lived in both and Kawaguchi has more nightlife and foreigners (especially Asian). Nerima is better to live in in general.
Nerima.
Kawaguchi is a dump.
Everyone is talking about commuting, but what about your freetime? Do you want to eat in fancy restaurants, go shopping and visit museums? Then Tokyo is the obvious choice. But if you like hiking/cycling or other outdoor activities, then maybe Saitama is worth a look too.
Nerima is a big city, but I quite like living here. The main city gym is a huge and varied facility, the city office view is STUNNING, and if you enjoy Ikebukuro, access is excellent. As a parent, I really like the great facilities around and plenty of spots at hoikuen. It’s the quiet place you want to live in with good access to the west side of central Tokyo.
Also that Harry Potter thing if you care about that.
I used to live 1h commute away with switch. Recently moved, now I’m 15 min commute. Life quality improved gazillion%.
Go with convenience.
When you calculate how much you save by living in Dasaitama and average that across the sheer misery of the hours of commute, you’re probably paying yourself 800yen/hour for the suffering. I had to roll out there once in a while to see my dealer and the sight of mouth breathing salarymen hanging from the straps in exhaustion used to make me feel depressed.
Whilst reading though, all I could think was “you clearly want to live in nerima” haha
I can at least speak for Nerima and say that it’s a pretty chill part of Tokyo with easy access to Ikebukuro
I live in Kawaguchi, really close to Kawaguchi City actually. – it’s affordable, and not as crowded as Tokyo metro cities. Kawaguchi city is also once stop from Akabane 🍻🍻🍻which is the best 全ベル in Japan for sure.
Kawaguchi city is pretty cultural, apparently Kawaguchi has a ton of Turks (there was an article about a massive protest this year). There are also lots of Thai,Viet, and Chinese communities (especially the in Nishikawaguchi). I feel Kawaguchi city has the right size of offerings without being overly massive.
By north Kawaguchi depending on what line your close to it could be pretty dull as well. North west heads to Urawa and Omiya which is awesome!
Highashi-Kawaguchi on Saitama Rail (or east of Shinshiba River) gets you all the typical Dai-Saitama sleeper towns you always here about, Urawamisono being the best one perhaps. Then off to Koshigaya , Iwatsuki, Kasukabe🤮
I’ve heard of Nerima to be a pretty dry quiet neighborhood with trains access, being weak. I think the new WB Harry Potter exhibit is in Nerima though 🤷♂️. Nerima has access to Ikebukuro, but it’s basically a massive version of Kawaguchi I’d say (super fun, great dining options and activities)
If you chose Kawaguchi I’d recommend staying closer to the Keihin Tohoku.
Not to confuse things for you, but have you considered going a little farther north from Kawaguchi? Saitama City is a fantastic place to live. Used to live in Nerima, been in Urawa for the last six years, and they’re both great places to be.
I would choose Kawaguchi-Kawaguchi over Nerima. It always seems so hard to get in and out of Nerima. Keihin Touhoku just one station from Akabane beats Nerima.
But Kita Kawaguchi? Nope. Nothing there. Buses can be slow in peak hour and it’s basically inaka after dark. Go with Nerima.
Nishi Kawaguchi (next up after Kawaguchi on the Keihin Tohoku line) has a big red light district. You might actually mean northern Kawaguchi and not there but just in case.
Saitama is a boring commuter prefecture. I like it though. It’s not too expensive and convenient.
Nerima already seems to be the obvious favorite, but I just want to add another con for Kawaguchi: The Keihin Tohoku trains are absolutely packed during commute hours. Like, I know Tokyo commute trains are packed, but the ones in Kawaguchi always felt extra packed. I commuted to the same workplace both from Saitama and Ota in Tokyo and Ota was still packed, but so much more relaxed (both was also Keihin Tohoku line). I got on the train a couple stations before Kawaguchi and around Kawaguchi station was always the worst in terms of full trains.
Nerima. Especially if you’ll be there long enough to need the benefits the ward
office offers. Great for starting a family. In general, easy access to major transportation hubs by train and car, awesome park (hikarigaoka), and still having some local farms and produce makes it a win.