Job Discussion Forums

[Vince]

I'm thinking seriously about going back to Japan, but I don't think I want to deal with Tokyo again. I've researched the secondary cities and have become interested in Akita. Do any of you live there? If so, what do you thnk about the:

people
population density
cost of housing
public transportation
dialect
availability of English books
nightlife
anything else you'd like to point out

Thanks.

[parrothead]

As was written in a guidebook I once read, Akita is "Japan for connoisseurs". It is about as far off the beaten path as most visitors to Japan care to venture. It is a spectacular prefecture for nature, but much less so for city life. Akita City is the largest city, about 300,000, and has enough going on in terms of nightlife, but it is still a sleepy place to be. Rent is 35,000 yen/mo to 60,000 y/mo depending on your preferences. There is an Akita-ben dialect. The people are similar to people all over Japan, but in general they meet very few foreigners. Akita is not in any way an international city. This is either good or bad depending on what you hope to get out of your experience. I have yet to find a book store with English books. The library has a few, as does the international assocoation. Public transportation consist of buses and taxis. The shinkansen terminates in Akita City.