Tokyo recommendations

[woywoy 0]

If you HAVE to live in Tokyo, WHERE do you live and WHY?

 

I am thinking that the Yoyogi-Uehara area is a nice area to be in, close to Meiji Jingu and Yoyogi park, some nice restaurants and close enough to bike to Shinjuku, Harajuku, Ebisu and if you have to, the awful Shibuya.

 

Let me know what you think.

[Ocean11 0]

I would first question why you HAVE to live in Tokyo.

[slow 0]

Second question,

Shibuya is awful but Shinjuku isn't?

[sunrise 0]

If you have to live in Tokyo, Yoyogi Uehara is a really nice neck of the woods. I'm trying to get back there, but it's pricey. I used to enjoy walking the park circuit every morning.

[montoya 0]

I would first think about the different aspects of it:

 

*Inside the Yamanote-train line area or not

*Within the 23-ku areas or not

*Outlying districts or not

*West vs. East, North vs South

*JR vs non-JR lines vs subways

*How much you wanna spend for rent

*How much green you wanna see

*Need a parking space or not

*Like hills or not

etc etc

[boardbaka 3]

Akasaka is a nice area- there or Eibisu is happening place also

[tsondaboy 0]

I live in Yoyogi Uehara, its a really nice quiet neighbourhood. Shibuya, Shinjuku and Shimokitazawa are just 10 minutes ride on my bicycle. When do you plan to start looking around? I can help you if you need something.

[woywoy 0]

Thanks Tsondaboy. I hear there are some nice places to eat around Yoyogi-Uehara these days too. I wont be looking until mid to late next year but if you have any tips now for finding somewhere nice for a reasonable price please let me know. Cheers.

[woywoy 0]

Tsonda, how far is Ebisu/Daikanyama on a bike? What about Yoyogi park and that area? Is Yoyogi-Uehara an area with lots of old places or are there lots of new developments too?

[tsondaboy 0]

I would say half and half old/new places. I ve never been to Daikanyama on my bike, put Yoyogi koen is not more than 10 minutes on the bike.

Prices are around 7-8 man for 1k, 12-14 man for 2k. Of course timing is the most important thing, and start looking at least 1-2 months befor you wanna moove in the place. The local real estate agency has some really good ones from time to time. You should beter come and start looking here and not from the internet. There are many places that you cannot find them through the internet and are aveilable only through the local real estates.I was searching for about a month till I find something nice and "relatively" cheap.

There are some realy nice local restaurants in the area, I can sow you around if you decide to moove in Yoyogi uehara.

[woywoy 0]

12-14man for 2K does not sound too bad for that area really. I have a friend who has just moved into a brand spanking new place right near ShiroganeTakanawa station and he is paying 20man, or his company is. Amazing they can charge that much for a 2K place. It isnt where I would like to live though.

 

Anyway, thanks for the offers of help Tsonda. I might even take you up on them later next year. Do you have any real estate agents that were especially helpful or had good places on their books?

 

Also, is there much of a Foreign population in Yoyogi Uehara?

[tsondaboy 0]

Yes, I know 2 real estate agents near the station that were really helpful.

For some reason, there is relatively many foreigners living in Yoyogi-Uehara. Dont know why.

 

If his company pays for it, he just thinks that the rent is 20 man. There are many cases that the company owns the place or the real estate agency and either get a bonus from the rent, or the hall rent goes back to the company account.

[kintaro 0]

Setagaya. Setagaya doori is loaded with good ramen-ya's!! I lived there for two years. I heard several times that Beat Takeshi was living nextdoor but never saw him (and I'm very OK with that).

[damian 0]

Mate, try hard not to live in Tokyo, it becomes unpleasant. But my formula would be as follows:

 

- primarily aim to minimise your commute to work (in terms of length and sheer inhuman crowding)

- maximise your quality of neighbourhood. This will be according to a personal utility function. It depends on what turns your wheel. Food? space? old style? gaijins? alternative style?

 

Under my system you don't get to live where you want, you put a dot on your office station then pick any station that is within 5 stops of the dot. You will end up living in one of them (according to your personal utility function).

 

So what station is going to be your office stop? Know that and half the decision is made for you.

 

(ps - I did not follow my own formula and maximised quality of life at the gross expense of daily commuting in peak hour. I then made the same mistake in London and have only just corrected it. Learn from my mistakes).

[SKI 15]

I agree with Potato-san. Do what you can to not be in Tokyo before proceeding. I know you emphasised HAVE to, but...

[number9 0]

Yeah, I agree with BPC. Depending on where your office is, you will be able to minimize commute and maximize neighbourhood, though that'll probably be with a hefty rent.

[enderzero 0]

If you just want to have a fun time living in the big city then I would live somewhere in the general area of Ebisu/South Shibuya. Specifically I think Naka-Meguro is the best. Very easy transport, pretty river, and within walking distance of anywhere you might end up in that area. I could probably be pretty happy anywhere South from Yoyogi to Meguro within a 20 min walk from the Yamanote or near a stop on the upper Toyoko-sen. Of course if you think of all of Shibuya as awful and the only way you would live in Tokyo was if you HAD to - then you might want to move a bit further out (outer Toyoko-sen and Odakyu-sen are both nice).