Job Discussion Forums

[markle]

I've visited a couple of times and liked the place and now I have an opportunity to live there so what downsides should I be aware of when actually living there.

[canuck]

Hard to find a good job.
It's really hot in the summer.

[JimDunlop2]

Not lived there, but visited a number of times...

#1 pet peeve:

- too many tourists (Japanese AND international)

therefore...

- people make assumptions about you and who (and what) you are / aren't.
- you can't park ANYWHERE (at least not for cheap or free)
- many places that are otherwise beautiful are overrun with people
- big city traffic jams
- outside of the historical sites, the modern city of Kyoto is nothing special (in comparison to any other large city)
- you can only visit a finite number of temples, shrines and historical monuments before it all becomes rather tedious

Now, having said that, let me say that I really enjoy visiting Kyoto whenever I go and it's a great place to spend a holiday. There are many undiscovered gems all over the place that the tourists don't know about (not even the Japanese) and that are amazingly beautiful and peaceful. Also, if you ride a scooter or motorcycle, you can easily avoid the parking and traffic issues.

My best visit to Kyoto was my very first. I brought my 50cc scooter inside my van... Parked the van at the hotel (for a price) and spent the next few days with a map of Kyoto in my back pocket, zooming around everywhere on my scooter, paying 0 for parking and getting past all the traffic jams!

Hope that helps.

[Gifu]

Downside? I second the tourist issue. But you'll be living with a lot of history. Kyoto is my favourite city and visited it like 10x in 1 year, and I lived like 2.5 hours away by regular JR. And since you'll be in Kyoto, you are close to Kansai! I think all the positives outweighs the negatives!!!

[sallycat]

having lived in nagasaki, osaka and kyoto, i'd say kyoto was the best place i've lived in japan. there are a lot of tourists there at peak times -- cherry-blossom season and gion matsuri are the main problems, but not that many outside that time. choose your area well. i lived on kiyamachi dori and would thoroughly recommend that area -- nice and pretty and very central. but there are also nice places near doshisha university -- places like yamashina can be butt-ugly, but you can chose not to live in those areas. the only real down-side is key-money. in kyoto you have to pay more key money everytime you re-sign your lease, which i've heard is not the case in other areas of japan. but otherwise it's fine. i don't think the job situation is that much worse than other cities in japan, and with so many major universities in kyoto, you have a good chance of getting intelligent and motivated students.

[Apsara]

In Tokyo you also have to pay a month's rent as lease renewal fee in many places- we will have been in this apartment 2 years next May and will have to cough up that amount as well as the month's rent- grrr

[JimDunlop2]

[may be going]

sorry to hijack, but could you post a link jim? couldn't find with a search. my renewal will be up soon so interested in that.

never been to kyoto sorry

[JimDunlop2]

Hmm.. I couldn't find it either. I could've sworn I had written something. No matter. I'll look into it for you.



Okay! Got it! But in order to prevent threadjacking, I've posted my answer in THIS thread: http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?p=444260#444260

Please direct any further questions/comments there as it's the more appropriate thread to do it in. Anyway, I hope that helps answer your questions.

[Zzonkmiles]

Kyoto is surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, so it is oppressively hot during the summer and bone-chillingly cold in the winter. Its location is okay though--you can get to Osaka in about 30 minutes on the fastest JR train. Getting to Kobe/Sannomiya will take about an hour. There's also a Shinkansen station.

The city itself does not have much in the way of entertainment. If you're young, this might be a big deal to you. The primary bar/entertainment district is Shijo, which may or may not be enough for your needs. Kyoto is really more of a "traditionalist's" town. Temples, shrines, and cultural icons are plentiful, as are the tourists.

Unfortunately, Kyoto is one of the most commonly requested cities for foreigners to work in, so good jobs are scarce. Even though the city itself has about 1.2 million people, it has somewhat of a small town feel.

For me, Kyoto is an okay place to visit, but I would never want to live there.

[kdynamic]

Hey Zzzonk, sorry but I have the disagree with a few points you made. If you've never lived there maybe you don't know, but I want to chime in. Of course these things are subjective but...