Job Discussion Forums

[Generasian X]

Have any tips?

What's your experience?

[azarashi sushi]

Why Chiba?

[homersimpson]

You'll have to provide more specifics. Chiba varies according to location. For instance, the concrete jungle of the Western Chiba corridor in to Tokyo, to the sticks on the southern tip, to Choshi - which seemingly takes days to get anywhere from. (Run-on sentence, I know). In any event, it depends largely on what type of environment you want, access to other places, etc.

[TokyoLiz]

I live right in Chiba City's Hanamigawa Ward. The good things about living in Hanamigawa Ward are

1. It's slightly less ugly than neighbouring cities! There is much less concrete than in neighbouring wards. The parks are gorgeous and the Hanami River is mostly wild with 80% less concrete than the other rivers.

2. Three train lines run through it - the Keiyo borders it on the south, Keisei in the middle and JR Sobu on the north side.

3. It's a mere 10 minute ride to Chiba Station in Chiba's Central Ward, and a 15 minute trip to Tsudanuma in Narashino City where there is decent and cheap shopping, bookstores, Internet cafes and half-decent drinking establishments, some of which are cluttered with foreigners.

4. Kaihin Makuhari is on the Tokyo Bay side, in Maihama Ward, only a few minutes away from the JR line and served by the Keiyo line. Kaihin Makuhari has great shopping - Costco, Carre Four, theatres and a quiet little cafe scene that is just starting to grow.

5. It's only an hour and a bit to Shinjuku station on the Sobu Line.

6. It's not Tokyo!

7. Chiba is a large city and each ward of the city is very different from the others. Some wards are very rural.

8. Chiba City boasts great parks - Aoba Mori, Showa no Mori are gorgeous parks in any season.

9. There are really wonderful scenic bike routes which are well-marked if you read Japanese.

10. Chiba City has an awesome international office which is a 2-minute walk from Chiba Station. You can get free Japanese language tutorials there. The office hosts all kinds of events for foreigners.

The only thing I don't like about Chiba Prefecture is the equisitely ugly landscape between my station and the Edo River. It's incredibly dense, ugly, covered in billboards and virtually treeless. It's hideous.

[Generasian X]

TokyoLiz,
Thanks so much for you response!
Hmm... I'm sure areas in Chiba city are SO blah,
like MOST other Japanese cities, but your tips
are really appreciated!

B.T.W., I just got an email from a Japanese friend who is staying in Montana for a year. MONTANA... I know! But, I got SO jealous when he wrote me about his trips to Chicago, Madison, and San Fran. He was so amazed how different each city is, and in his words, "EVERY CITY IN JAPAN LOOKS THE SAME, UGLY..."

[TokyoLiz]

Uh, huh. I did say *slightly* less ugly...All Kanto heya, imho, is b u t t ugly. I really miss the beauty of Shikoku. It`s not exactly unspoiled nature there, but there are lots of places where there are no vending machines, concrete retaining walls, and even sometimes no gaijin

[azarashi sushi]

I guess if you're a country person, you're a country person...

But I think that Chiba is the problem... I'm curious why the OP has chosen Chiba as a place to live? Presumably it's because he or she has work there, in which case it's best to live in a place conveniently located to work...

But otherwise Chibaraki along with Dasaitama are "famous" in Japan as really "blah" places to live... It has neither unspoilt nature, nor interesting urban landscapes.

GenX... Why do you want to live in Chiba?

[TokyoLiz]

Azarashi sushi,

Yep, there's no dispute, Chiba, Ibaraki and Saitama are dead boring and ugly places to live. In the whole world, only Stoke-on-Trent is nearly as ugly as, say, Ichikawa City in Chiba Prefecture. Or maybe suburban Kathmandu.

But if you have to be close to Tokyo, or if you have a compelling reason to be in the Kanto Plain, then Chiba City is a good bet.

Generasian X, why do you wanna live here, anyway?

[Generasian X]

I saw a few schools like MIL and ECC that seem to have quite a few locations there. Their offers seemed interesting, but wanted to know more about the ken...cities... atmosphere... know what I mean...

[azarashi sushi]

From what I understand, MIL is only in Chiba but ECC have branches all over the country. If you're going to be working for ECC then you could easily find a much more interesting location than Chibaraki.

[TokyoLiz]

Ditto Azarashi