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azarashi sushi · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 562 Location: Shinjuku

Favourite place?

Shinjuku 2 chome.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Kyoto
I never get tired of Kyoto.
Hiroshima was surprisingly a nice city too, well laid out and wide boulevards like many modern cities.

cornishmuppet · Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 642 Location: Nagano, Japan

I live in Nagano. I've been to Kanazawa twice, and its my second place outside of here after Karuizawa, about half way between Nagano and Tokyo. I'd choose Kanazawa to live in though, if I had to move, because its a real city whereas Karuizawa is basically a haunt for rich people. Its dead pretty though.

Nagano is great, I've been here almost two years and I'm looking at a couple more. Loads of mountains around and the city is pretty, especially around the temple. The nightlife is a bit lame but I've found it all lame in Japan outside Tokyo or Osaka. Lots of tiny little bars with three or four people in them. Locationwise its only two hours to Tokyo, three hours to Nagoya. There are more trees in Kanazawa, but I think I'd choose Nagano because of its proximity to Tokyo.

chris

AndyH · Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 417

Eastern Hokkaido. I spent my first year in Japan there, and didn't want to leave.
Honorable mention would also have to go to Takayama, in Gifu Ken, and the Kiso Valley, in southern Nagano Ken.
My favorite places close to where I live now (Kanto) are Asakusa-Ueno-Yanaka in Tokyo, Kamakura, Nokogiriyama in the south of the Boso peninsula (Chiba Prefecture), and the town of Narita.
And of course, one could write endlessly about Kyoto, but I'll leave that to others.....

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

A secret outdoor onsen at the foot of Mount Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture on a winter night, the Milky Way twinkling in a clear sky...

The mountainside orange groves full of fragrant blossoms, above Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture on a spring evening, best enjoyed on a bicycle...

Back of Beyond Nagarayama City, Chiba Prefecture, rice paddies and shrines on an old pilgrim route....

Kawagoe City, Saitama City, the kurashiki street - old Edo era merchants houses.

TK4Lakers · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 159

I went to Shirahama (Shimoda-shi) in the Izu peninsula (Shizuoka-ken) for Golden Week. Excellent landscape. Beautiful beaches. Plenty of greenery. Great, delicious food: both BBQ and seafood. Nice waves too.

I wouldn't know what it's like to live there, but it was like a tropical resort when visiting.

seanmcginty · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 203

I lived in Himeji for 5 years and fell in love with the place. Beautiful castle of course but its also a really good city to live in, perfect size (about half a million), right close to kobe and kyoto if you want to go on day trips or whatever. Lots of mountains around for nice hiking.

I never lived there but Nara would be my number 2 pick for a city to live in. Good size, tons of great sites to see. Endless possibilities for day trips.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about Kanazawa but have never been. I've been to Hiroshima a few times and it seemed like a quite liveable city too.

Mark · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 500 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Wow, I'm surprised so many folks have picked Kanazawa. It's not a place that I've heard much about and I've never considered going there. Hmm, methinks I'll do a bit of research.

For the folks who've lived in Kanazawa (or Nagano for that matter), how did you find the locals? I'm curious whether those two cities are suffering from an outmigration of young people. How's the economy in Kanazawa? I assume Nagano's is based on the ski trade.

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

I've lived:
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Ozu, Ehime
Oyama, Tochigi
Inuyama, Aichi

I've visited many areas in Japan. And my husband is from Tokyo.

One of the best places was Mikawa-mura in Ehime. I'm not much of a hiker, but it was the most breath taking hike ever. Full of waterfalls and real forests. I felt like I was in another world because I was a way from the crowds, pachinko and other noisy things from urban Japan.

I also swam in the river, which was cold, clean and so refreshing. I felt like superwoman. And to top if off I spent the evening in a lovely onsen and ate fresh fresh fish.