outtatouch

not much info in the Far East section so thought I'd ask if anyone from here has lived in Tokyo. Currently in Dubai and have previously lived in Singapore.

flares

Would imagine it is umpteen times better than living in the Middle East.

A good mate was teacher at Brit School of Tokyo in Shibuya for 5 yrs. I visited in 2002 (World Cup) and loved the place. Korea was good too.

heartofdarkness

Hi..I did two stints in Japan late early and late 90s. First stint single, second married and two young children. Tokyo is a great city especially if single. If you have the right package it will be great. The city has a great buzz to it and there is plenty to do socially. Great golf courses, an hour bullet train out of Tokyo and you are in another world. The expat community was rather tight knit and we had a blast. Go for it.

Bahtatboy

Closest I got to living in Tokyo was Yokohama, but its virtually a suburb anyway. Clean, safe, predictable, organised. Mad, up-tight, congested, inflexible. The politest people on earth till you put them behind a steering wheel. Get a decent housing allowance and some apartments are wonderful--otherwise you'll be in a shoebox. Understand your journey to work before you decide where you'll live, otherwise you'll be asking yourself why the entire population of Tokyo has decided to descend on your platform this morning. And yes, they do employ staff with white gloves to push passengers into already-full trains (subways carry 8% fewer people per train in the winter because of the thickness of winter clothing). Best food in the world, rudest taxi drivers, most efficient trains, stickiest summers, best 100-Yen shops, weirdest youths, prolific (and tacky) love hotels, sublimest hostesses, shakiest foundations.

Ganbatte!

lionheart

Personally I've never been to Tokyo but I did enjoy that "Lost In Translation" movie.

heartofdarkness

I still have friends there..Need any other info let us know and I'll try and help out..good luck

outtatouch

thanks everyone for your insight. greatly appreciated.

heartofdarkness - if you could put me in touch with someone to chat about tokyo, please do. so many questions......

heartofdarkness

out of touch..are you married or single? I'll try and get a you a contact with the right perspective!

outtatouch

married - trailing spouse with a 14 year old daughter and 3 pugs/2 cats!

heartofdarkness

the pugs and cats are going to be tough..you may be restricted from the new condo complexes..houses should be ok..let me see what I can dig up

expatasia

I agree with a lot of that, you can live your life on automatic pilot it's so predictable (both postive and negative). I've never found taxi drivers rude, they are always happy to accept taxi coupons/tickets even from the gaijin. You'd have to be very very unlucky to perish when the Big One eventually hits, your office and residence are likely to be 'earthquake friendly'. Especially concur about the food, trains & vile sticky summers.

Housing is key, pets can be kept on the sly as in our Koudan (UR) tower.

heartofdarkness

outatouch you have a PM