Cheap and fun places to live in Japan question

[gakido]

My little sister was approved by her university to go to Japan and teach English for a year and she picked Tokyo as the place that she wanted to teach in but she doesn't want to live in Tokyo.

For those who've lived, worked, study, etc. in Japan, is there another place where she can reside that's cheap and fun but is still somewhat close to Tokyo so that she can get to work?

Thanks in advance. <(_ _)>

 

[aquamarine]

She should check out a place called Sakura House. Lots of English teachers live there. Where will she work? At a university? Through J.E.T? If it's through J.E.T. which is sponsored by universities then they nearly always supply a place for their workers to live in.

Where does she WANT to live? Surrounding cities include Chiba, Kawasaki and Yokohama. Does she want to live in a house? Her own private apartment? Is she rich? Is she white? (If she's white, she'll be paying a LOT more for her own apartment)

 

[gakido]

Thanks for reply I'll give her the place you mentioned and let her do some research on it.

It's through J.E.T. so she'll be living with a foster family for the whole year and she's Asian (Vietnamese). She just want a less hustle and bustle area. A place where she can go out and have fun and buy some stuff (food, clothes, etc) one or twice a week without breaking the bank.

 

[aquamarine]

Ohhhhh I thought she wanted to save money on rent. Sad to say but the cost of nearly all things are close to the same across that entire area. What cost me for  お握り in Tokyo will cost me the same in Chuo Rinkan (far corner of Yokohama). The only diff will be the clubs in that they will not cost as much to enter as Shibiya or Roppongi.

Clothing wise, I suggest she bring as much from home as she can cuz it's not cheap here. Plain white t shirt for 6000¥. Tell her to consider getting a degree and then coming here alone without JET. It is a decent method to see japan but they quite often treat their workers even worse than NOVA did.

 

[gakido]

Thanks for all the help, I'll let her know.

 

[vincent_z]

The 'low' area

Look at this English-language article from DannyChoo.com. (N.B.: Lots of images - will take a while to load.)
It is a little old, but the pricing trend likely still holds. :goodmood:

 

[Rhinosaur]

Clothing wise, I suggest she bring as much from home as she can cuz it's not cheap here. Plain white t shirt for 6000¥.

Jaysus! Is that a designer plain white t-shirt? I bought surf design t-shirts for 500¥ year before last!
Damn inflation.

 

[aquamarine]

If you're shopping anywhere but Uniclo then it's fucking expensive now. I had my brother send me some of his old shirts and made a tidy profit at the second hand shop close to Yoyogi Park.

 

[Tatsurou]

Tokyo is a rather big place, so first have your sister define what "in Tokyo" means (IE like outside of the 23 wards) Also give an idea of how far she wants her apt. to be from a station and the station from her workplace. Otherwise she should be looking in Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa like every other Japanese person who works in Tokyo.

 

[xroadsempress]

Well, Tokyo living is real high end. It really is costly to live in that city, and it's indeed very difficult to cope with all the expenses. But budgeting is the key. Nevertheless, a place like that is a place worth spending for.

 

[aquamarine]

Well, Tokyo living is real high end. It really is costly to live in that city

So is living in downtown Toronto, downtown Moscow, downtown New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver and any number of other cities. What people fail to realize (especially those who have never been here in the first place and rely on CNN as their main source of news) is that living in Tokyo is no different from living in any other city.

Yes, it can be expensive if you have an expensive lifestyle and demand the highest quality food, wine, brandy, clothing, accessories, etc etc etc.

HOWEVER and I do stress the 'however' part, you will be (most likely) making more money here than you would back home unless you are a ticketed welder or tradesperson (or heck, even a CEO). You also need to realize that living here is a LOT different from visiting. Visiting is ten times more costly because you don't know where to go for good prices, you don't know where to go to do your shopping and you most likely don't even know about Yokohama's COSTCO with free next-day delivery. If you're smart, it can be very very cheap. My old apartment was 49,000 yen per month for a 2LDK. Not a bad price especially considering it was in a 'rich city' (Tama Plaza).

Living here is not that expensive because YOU will most likely NOT be living in downtown Tokyo, in the party district of Shibuya or the up-class area on the outskirts of Minatomirai. Don't fall for the hype. It CAN be more expensive if you ONLY look at the prices and not the fact that you make more money. It's cheaper for me to live in Yokohama than it is to live in smallish city in Canada. I'll put it that way.