Worst Place to Live in Japan

i don't think i can ever live in japan. i like japanese things but i like more variety.

Right now, I would consider inflation to be the worst. Prices keep going up, but wages do not. It now takes two incomes just to make ends meet in America, so living alone is not an option unless you are paid very well or live well below the national standard of living (no heat, for example).
I guess that's more of a national problem than a localized one, though.

Of those two, I guess I'd pick Tokyo, but I'm told I should try get to Aichi as it's the cheapest place to live. :P

I voted neither. But of the two would rather live in Osaka than Tokyo. There just seems to be something about capital cities I dont like. Of course If someone were to offer me the chance to move to Tokyo now I'd go ^_^

I liked Osaka when I visited (very, very briefly)-- we stayed in a hostel at Nagai Kouen, which was a really neat park. We really enjoyed the people who hung around...kids on field trips, guys doing bike tricks, etc.

But if I was going to pick a place to live in? I'd be really tempted to live in Kanazawa, which was outright gorgeous. Not terribly convenient to Tokyo via train, but it just seemed like a really nice city.

No option for 2D land? ^^;

I do think that each city has it's own attractive and turn-offs. Probably in Singapore, the turn-offs would be fines, road taxes (Electronic Road Pricing), decrease in the train intervals and national service (For those with dolphins).

The attractiveness is probably the food. I miss a good load of food back at home every time I travel overseas.

Never really though where I would like to live in Japan but I guess Tokyo would be a nice place as it gives out a mysterious vibe during the evenings. Would like to try the other prefectures as well!

I chose neither as well. I don't care for big cities, or little cities for that matter. I prefer the country as long as it has high speed internet ;)
Japanese country is just gorgeous, its my second dream to live in Japan, provided I can learn the language. My first dream would be to live somewhere near the Mediterranean, guess thats the Italian blood speaking.
To be honest though I love living in southern Oregon, granted there are no big cities, but its hard to beat the really mild climate year round.

I'd go with Tokyo on this one if what they say here is true. Is it just me or Osaka always being made out to be the "Dirty South" or "ghetto" of Japan? Is it because Kansai-ben sounds a lot tougher than the regular Japanese? Perhaps the involvement of the Yakuza and its ties with the places entertainment industry is to blame.

I would pick Tokyo out of those, I really want to move to Japan and have heard great things about Tokyo, but I haven't heard much of anything about Osaka. I would also consider Kyoto, how does that place compare to Tokyo and Osaka?

@Windbell

You're right, every place has its own turn offs and ons, in case of my village, the turn offs are:

1. Internet sucks - 384/64 kbps at most and very pricey.
2. No otaku-related stores
3. (For Chinese only) A little bit of racism.
4. Yearly flooding - last flood covered 80 - 90% of the town, there were human casualties and great material losses.
5. Black-outs are not infrequent.
6. Be careful if you buy foods in the traditional market, some traders sell rotten meats disguised as fresh meats by drenching the meats in fresh blood and coating the meats with formalin.

While the turn ons are:

1. Everything is dirt cheap.
2. Air is still unpolluted.
3. Everything is close as the village is quite small.
4. Lots of open spaces.
5. No risk of downloading anime. The hands of odex still haven't reached this remote village. ^^

Gahahah.. More turn offs than turn ons. >_<

I guess I can consider I live in a rough neighborhood then.

Osaka could be much better than this place, or maybe even Hackney? ^^

I wouldn't want to live in either of those cities. Tokyo is overcrowded and pricey, and from what I saw of Osaka on Anothony Bourdain: No Reservations, it's all about wasting money on food (but I haven't been so I can't say). I would like to see the giant clown and crab though. =D

Between the two I would probably pick Osaka, because I'm sure it's crime rate and stuff is nothing compared to Boston, and I think Boston is fine.

Tokyo I guess, but I would really like to live in Sapporo.

Well, I'm a big city guy, so it would have to be Tokyo over Osaka anyday. However, I've been to Tokyo and luv'd my time there, but could I see the rest of my life there the rest of my days? Probably not.

Would luv to work, play, and spend my money there, but in 10 years I'd see myself somewhere else more familiar. Especially if I had children I'd raise them elsewhere.

I voted neither, I would like to live in Kyoto.

I would choose Tokyo. Japanese is hard to understand as it is, and Kansai-ben is harder, to me, at least.

If I had to choose between Singapore and Japan, though... I'm rather torn between the two, honestly. Going to Japan would be going by myself, with no contacts or anything, while staying in Singapore would be relatively dull. So, I'm torn.

Tokyo, for a while, not permanently though, since I haven't even been there before. As for Peterborough, where I'm from, I guess the only problem would be that we have nasty winter for half the year and we don't have any specialized anime/manga/figure stores (my ambition, however, is to open the first one in my town, after I make some money making video games). The only bad place to live in around here is Toronto, which gets bashed by every other city in Canada for being the worst place to live.

Danny, you write the darnest things :P (esp the last paragraph)

I used to live in the Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.

The neighborhood SUCKS! For being a minority (Chinese)... I get bullied and picked on at my middle school where the student body is near 100% hispanics. I can walk down the block and there would be kids from their apartment window throwing stuff at me (water balloons, rocks, random objects). Petty shoplifting galore. vandalism galore. apartments are full of roaches and almost run-down and smelly. bleh... The only nice thing is that it's NYC and it's great to take the subway to Chinatown and Manhattan for some good city time and that's it.

Now I live in Oregon... almost polar opposites...

even if osaka is rated last, i'm sure its still much much much safer than some of the other cities around the world. i mean japan has one of the lowest crime and homicide rates in the world if you compare it to cities like toronto or new york. if given the choice, i would choose to stay in tokyo because a) i can get lots of gunpla down at akiba b) more gaijins around i assume c) more gunpla and figures. i'm sure osaka has its own charms, and i would also love to visit kyoto and okinawa one of these days. it just seems to be obligatory to visit those places as they're always mentioned in animes.

To be honest i wouldn't care were i live in Japan as long as i can get there someday (danny has proven you can live your dream if you try hard enough), anywhere in Japan is better than were i currently live.

Osaka all the way.
I'd mostly want to live in either Osaka or somewhere in Hokkaido. Also seriously what I plan for my future.

Not that I wouldn't live anywhere else in Japan if I don't have a choice... I can see profession forcing me to have to live in Tokyo just because of the convenience. However I'm not too fond of that idea...

Wait... So they expect him to fix Cancer?

Wat?

I'm always amazed at some of the weird things that citizens brings up as problems...

Lived in Osaka for a year (like 6 years ago) and apart from a begrudged man stabbing kids at a school I didn't find much not to like about it. I totally prefer Osaka to Tokyo probably because of that "lived there" bias. I'm probably just optimistic that the place hasn't fallen to crap in such a short time.
Still, I can't say I've lived in really dangerous places in the past, but Osaka was never a gigantic concern for me compared to where I've lived before.

Hmm, hearing that.. I'm a little put off. I've always admired eastern culture, so anywhere eastern would do, normally at least. In my country, it's not as safe(not to forget the lack of proper Otaku merchandise) and I wouldn't want to go overseas to live in that same type of environment. The Kansai-ben has always intrigued me too..

Oh well, guess I can live in another area of Japan XD

@npc

Though I hate winter weather Sapporo is one of the places I'd like to live in Japan as well.

Quite sad and frightening to hear...
I'd choose Tokyo in a heartbeat, but I'd instantly be stopped in my tracks because I know almost no Japanese (except for some colloquial words and other terms I learned from anime ^^).

I currently live in Birmingham U.K and i must say i've never been in a more hostile place.....

No body looks at each other, no body smiles and if you try and make conversation people run off thinking your gonna mug them. I have visited most major cities in the UK and Birmingham is in my opinion one of the worst :S.

I'm moving out of here the first chance i get!

I enjoyed the environment when I was in Hokkaido, very slow pace and peaceful. However if I would choose a place to live in, it still got to be Tokyo for its convenience, and because Akiba is there! But if I were to retire, I'll definitely go back to Hokkaido, maybe Hakodate or Sapporo.

Looks like McDonalds is the same all over Japan then!

I'd like to move to New Zealand. I've heard and read NZ has the most transparent government.

When I first came to America, I lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, now popular for the devastation from hurricane Catrina. That place pretty bad place to live and dangerous as well.

I've been to Osaka few times but did feel that the place was all that bad. I've only stayed for few weeks so I can't say much but I guess maybe there are some sides of the city that I missed.

In every country there are always rough places to live mostly due to social problems, since where I live is pretty calm and peaceful I recommend it to anyone although there aren't many things here so you have to pick your car or the bus and go to the neighboring cities.

I used to live in a pretty rough place before I got to high school. Most of the people who lived in my neighborhood were friendly to me, but I never participated in their afterschool "activities," like smoking, drugs, fighting etc. It's considered one of the "ghettos" in my city.

Im OK in my current city. If only Kuala Lumpur can be as clean as our neighbor Singapore ;__;

i definately see myself living in japan within the next 3-4 years. there are still some precautions to be done. and even though this thought maybe a bit naive since i haven't even visited japan so far, i don't think that'll change. the grass on the other side is always greener, no? :P

having read danny's article about living in japan ('specially tokyo) i don't think i'll see myself living IN one of those cities, since the rent would cost me all my income(based on my current income). think it will be someplace nearby my workplace.
then again, it's a long way until then, which is sad :/

The crime rate here isn't that high I think... Just becareful when walking in alleyways in Geylang LOL~

Oh, come on! It may look a little depraved in the south (I got lost, strolled away from Tennoji in the wrong direction and saw rather run-down houses with children playing with chickens on the street), but worst for child abuse deaths? Did Osaka get both of them this year or something? The only downside to this place is that the JR lines here don't have the catchy melodies that they do in Tokyo.

And to the guy who's in Birmingham has obviously never been to Liverpool or Manchester, where in some places the police are too scared to go out onto the streets. Admittedly, they really should get someone to clean the buses in Birmingham, though!

The place i live in is crime central as far as i am concerned. My grandma(who lives near my house) had her house broken into along with four of the nearby houses in the space of a month!!

I'd pick Tokyo since that's where msot events seems to be happening. ^^

I didn't know Takakazu Abe is Glico's mascot?

I was originally from Newport in South Wales, One of the worst places in Europe!! (yes, it was statistically shown).

Luckily, I was raised in one of the better parts, but I still had a very strong desire to get out when I could. I left to go to university in London, and I'm still there now.

As for Osaka, I went in '98 for 3 weeks as part of a school exchange and I didn't see any signs of problems during my time there. No obvious problems like you can see in some of the rougher areas of the UK. But I may have been moved to look away from such trouble spots...

Tokyo sounds sexy just say it

I'm lucky to live in one of the safest housing estate round' here. My area is largely populated by middle to high income folks, so there are plenty of nice looking houses around. Best of all, there are no illegal settlements erected by immigrants who tend to contribute to social problems. In terms of crime, it's somewhere between zero to one cases of break-ins every year. Another plus is the proximity to commercial/business area: 10 minutes of walking will get you to a supermarket, a couple of bakeries, a bunch of nice restaurants, and Coffee Bean.

i've been to osaka last year. i do agree with u that they drive differently. they just ignore the traffic lights if there is no car. its weird. but there's a lot of attractions there. maybe its becoz of the old rivalry between tokyo and osaka(one hears) that the tokyo media bash them a lot. :P

well, another reason to give the gods offering that i was born in singapore. but really, when it comes to traffic-related incidents, it's not much different from osaka, with last year having a series of nasty road rage incidents. road rage in singapore... and all for pressing your car horn at the slowpoke in front. the way i've seen some of my fellow countrymen drive scares and sickens me quite a bit.

How the hell did you not move out of Hackney earlier Danny? Any other place in London would have been just fine. Although Hackney has improved a lot apparently.

I live in Chiswick, clean friendly place~ I would LOVE to move somewhere near Camden Lock though.

Having gone to malaysia, hong kong and china, then off to osaka and tokyo in the last month, i can say without thinking too much about it, that japan easily had the best living standards. other than random people spitting on the floor in tokyo. nothing else seemed to phase me. i didnt even feel intimidated when i went to a concert and i was one of the few that looked underdressed. ie. pants did not sit under my butt and thighs.

and out of the two places, id choose osaka, just because it was easy to get around and how laid back it was compared to tokyo.

5 star megastore was awesome too.

I think my town belongs to the bad places in Germany. It's rather calm in the part I live in (But it gets worse every day) but be prepared to get attacked or at least insulted when you go to the city in the evening. The crime rate is pretty high and the police is scared to go to different places so they rather scare away the poor homeless... The first thing I'm going to do when I finish school is getting out of here. I hope my 6 months in New Zealand will be confirmed.

As a traveller, Osaka is safe place. However, Osaka has lots of social problems.
First of all, The municipal financial status is so bad/critical.

If a new elected governor/Mr. Hashimoto is a man of ability. He won't be able to change the current situation easily.

For in-depth information seekers, I can recommend "Osaka Minkoku". It's the best site for those who like to know the seasons.
http://www.osaka-minkoku.info/

I don't think the site design is so good(^^;, But the site has los of dark side of Osaka....

P.S.
Its English version "Oh!! Sucker! Shit!!" is also available. However, The English contens are only limited.
http://www.osaka-minkoku.info/en/index.htm

For Japaneses, maybe Osaka is one of the badest cities, but for me, it's Disney Land ! I think they don't know what it is to live in a town with social problem and criminality. ^_^

I was in Osaka during 2 weeks, and i don't understand how you can feel fear over there.

The worst in that city in osaka is the financial and the problem in every city.If the new goverment tries to resolve this problem, it will get a better city to live and stop those violence that could even destroy or to endangered the citizens...One wish,Good luck to this new governor..

Osaka is a good place to live compared to where I'm living right now... High crimes rate, lots of robbery and murders, high unemployment rates, inefficient health system, incompetent police/security system, obscenely corrupt government... I'll be frank and brief: I live in one of the worst cities in Latin America. However, I'm lucky that I live in a relatively safe zone =P Unfortunately, I've already experimented being robbed =(

Ha, Japan makes me laugh. Where I live public education (primary/secondary) is one of the worst in the country, crime is all over the place, and you always have to be careful. Since I live on Georgia Tech campus, they try to keep things relatively safe, but people still get mugged/dead bodies are found in cars randomly. People are afraid to go too far off campus after dark unless they're in a large group, and by that I mean at least 6 or 7 people. I mean, they may think Osaka is badly off, but they have no idea.

I rather be living in Okinawa in a sunny and quite beach. The rest of Japan just for tourism, never to live there.

I want to walk out my front door into the middle of Akihabara. I guess I'll have to earn myself millions upon millions of dollars so I can one day afford such delusions.

I live in Nebraska on the border between the cities of Papillion and Bellevue. Our home address is Bellevue but our services, utilities and school district are from Papillion. I believe a magazine (can't remember who) named Papillion 6th in best places to live in the United States. Most crime happens in Northern Omaha where its all lower class housing. Papillion's main crime problem is meth labs and marijuana growers; thats about it.

The one exception was the whole Van Maur shootings a couple months back. The shooter Robert Hawkins actually stayed across the highway from my house with the family that took him in.

You mentioned Osaka bashing by Tokyo's media, is there a antipathy between these two citys and if yes, why?

I would love to live anywhere in japan my dream place to live would be kyoto.

I'm so fed up with the UK where I live is bad for crime yobs have smashed up my car in the past my dads had cars stolen and no one was ever arrested.

the health system is rubish I cant even make an appiontment to see my doctor.

The employment in the area is bad. To be honest I'd live in Osaka beats living here in my tiny room in a flat.

Lived in 2 major westcoast, North American cities: San Francisco and Vancouver, British Colombia.

While all my Canadian friends would complain about how much crime and how bad Vancouver was getting (ichiban car theft capital of North America). I never felt safer!

Until I visited Japan. I was loaded with expensive camera equipment, usually some level of intoxication, wandering the alleys of each city.

The West African smut peddlers in Roppongi were a little pushy. But they'd rather get their money via my penis, than by mugging me.

Ok, so I live in Nottingham, UK. This city has the highest gun/knife/violent crime rate outside of London despite being nowhere near the size or population on London!

Common sights are kids running up your street with widescreen TVs and VCRs, trailing the cables in the road..

Where did they get them from? Probably their neighbours.

Its rough, one day I will escape this mess!

Tokyo, for sure. I like big city, much live that country and small one. And places like Shibuya and Akiha also count , jeje

I grew up in a really bad town where people "create" & sell meth, opium, cannabis, heroin/morphine, and other illegal substances.

It was hard for a growing teenager to go to school cause you always get stopped by "pushers" along the way; And some of them tend to beat (and rarely kill) the kids who don't buy merchandise from them.

Authorities were also part of the problem, as they were bribed and "in cahoots" with the drug lords, sometimes getting themselves involved with the drug trade, and were also ordered around to "take care of problematic patrons"... they ended up in rivers the next day or you'd just hear it on the 7PM news.

It was a tough life for me when I was growing up in that horrendous town, and horrifying memories still haunt me to this day.

I'm glad I don't half to live there anymore. As for living in Japan, I'm seriously considering of retiring there in my gray-hair years. To live in Tokyo City would be nice ^^; But I think I prefer the beautiful みんあじま、of もとぶ、ほっかいど.

I'd like to live there with my wife, and hopefully with some of my grandchildren, if I do get any LOL.

Please excuse me ^^;

I meant おきなわ、and not ほっかいど, sorry. LOL ^^;

Even being the worst place in Japan, I'm pretty shure Osaka beats the crap out of the best city to live in Brazil.

I'd move there without a second thought, if only I knew japanese.

But my dream is living somewhere near Tokyo.. not exactly in Tokyo, but somewhere like... 1 hour commuting.

When I visited Japan in 2006, we spent 20 days in Shikki... some 30 minutes from Tokyo. Very nice place.

I am planning to go to Osaka in my Japan trip and probably spend most of my time there. It might also be the city I move to. Judging from various descriptions of conditions and folks there, It perfectly suits my personality :D

I got arseholes as neighbours, lately some construction company rented the land beside my office to build a squatter housing area for their bloody indonesian and bangladeshi workers. The day they move in, you can see flies buzzing around in your office, rats (look at their size) running around, broken-in cars, saliva spitted everywhere. I wish I got a gattling gun with me now.

Wow, I never knew that Osaka was like, the slums of Japan. I've been to Osaka once in my lifetime and I'd say it isn't that bad... at least that's what I thought. Compared to Tokyo, I'd choose Tokyo over Osaka any day just because.... its Tokyo!

and I dont mind staying anywhere in Japan as long as there are no any natural disaster like earthquake or thypoon, not to mention Godzilla rampaging around

Interesting, interesting, interesting.

From my times in Japan, I'd have to say that Osaka is WAY cooler than Tokyo.

Let me elaborate.

1. Food is MUCH better (and cheaper)

2. Rent is cheaper.

3. People are WAY more friendly.

4. It's much more liberal.

5. Clubs are better, with really thriving music scenes.

6. They still have Bosozoku.

Even if you are a "fanboy" there is loads of Manga / Anime culture. There is a decent electronics area, not quite as big as Akiba, but when are you ever going to see ALL of Akiba? It's too big for its own good. Personally, I rarely go to Akiba, just Shinjuku (SoftMap) and Nakano (Broadway).

Kansai people (Osaka, Kyoto) are much more friendly, and may even talk to you on the street! Try that in Tokyo.

Most comedians in Japan come from Osaka / Kansai. It's not a coincidence. They party PROPER (all night), not like Tokyo folks, often passing out at 1am or 2 am. It's easy to get away with smoking / holding weed in Osaka. The police dont really check people on the street (which they do in Tokyo, big time). This will suck even if you are in Japan to live out Otaku fantasies, cops will see you are foreign and ask you to empty your entire backpack onto the street (embarrassing and disrespectful).

If you go to a bar people in Osaka will start conversations with you that may last ALL NIGHT (which is great). Girls are cute too (pretty much everywhere in Japan, though), but the added factor that they will easily talk to GaiJins can be to your benefit (sex).

Kansai people think Tokyo-ites are commercial zombies, funny, because that's the whole world's pre-conception of the Japanese as a whole.

OK, OK, Tokyo is the biggest city with the "most" to offer - but who cares. Would rather cool people to talk to.

As such, my favorites Japanese city top ten would look like this:

1. Naha, Okinawa.
2. Osaka, Kansai.
3. Sapporo, Hokkaido.
4. Kyoto, Kansai
5. Nagoya
6. Hiroshima
7. Miasa
8. Fukuoka
9. Niigata
10. Tokyo

Yup, Tokyo is 10th.

Anyone else have a top ten fav. Japanese cities? Please post.

During my trip to Japan I visited quite a few places and I have to agree that Osaka was the worst. It basically felt like the dirtier parts of China, like a 2nd world country. Which is odd given how modern the rest of the country feels. Its the only place in Japan that I have no interest in ever returning to.

I think I would like to live in US or Europe.

this is complete bunk. i had to sign up just so i could post this. as a canadian ex-pat that has lived in both osaka and tokyo, long have i known of the kansai bashing from tokyo based media outlets.

osaka is safe, its clean (for a city of that many millions), the people are friendly, and the food is much tastier in kansai. bigger portions, cheaper and tastier. i'll bet that show only showed the places like 天王寺　or 十三 where yeah, it might get a little seedy at night but its nothing strange for a large city. if you're a pop culture freak, デンデンタウン may not be as big as akiba but it will suffice. its still many blocks in size.

tokyoites can tend to be standoffish and really now, aside from all touristy places and business areas like 有明 its not like tokyo is a city of gleaming streets and skyscrapers.

the best part about osaka is that its part of the 京阪神 area. the cultural heart of japan is in kansai and most sites/places are literally within an hours ride by train in any direction.

danny, if you come to osaka again, let us know. we'll point you to the right places to go.

In other words, Osaka Japan is no different from Los Angeles California?

I'm used to L.A.'s flaws so living in Osaka would not be a bother to me.

Sooo.......is there a Skidrow in Osaka? Since the rate of homeless in Osaka is up.

comparing osaka to los angeles is apples to oranges. even if it is the seediest place in japan it wont compare to LA.

there is a skid row, but its not anywhere near the tourist or business areas. with all the koban around these places, the homeless are usually in the outskirts of the city.

I'm busy as #ell today, but I can't let this conversation go by without my two cents.

The longest I have spent in Osaka at one time is a month and a half. Osaka, Sakai-shi to be exact, is my fiancee's hometown. I always hear and see Osaka on a daly basis. Many others, like Sean have made good points so I will not repeat what they have said.

For those of you who asked and don't know, the media in Tokyo is bias when it comes to Osaka. Many Tokyo/Kanto people tend to look down on Osaka/Kansai people. They view them as loud, self opinionated, rude and poorly educated. Many Tokyo/Kanto see themselves as the elite of Japanese society. Mind you, I said some; you will meet many nice people in Tokyo.

So the next time you watch Japanese television and see an opinionated loud mouth with a heavy accent. You can be sure the person is suppose to be from Osaka. Especially if you detect Osaka ben (Osaka dialect).

In more direct manner, if the streets of Osaka where paved in gold and people gave out bags of money on every street corner. I'm sure the press in Tokyo would find something wrong with it.

People Osaka is a large city! It's the second largest metropolitan area behind Tokyo. Osaka is where some 9% of Japanese live.

http://www.pref.osaka.jp/en/ Look at this and some of the other links on this site. Show Osaka some love.

@Sean, What about Kobe? Haven't visit some of those places yet but it's a good list. Me: Osaka, Kobe, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Nagoya. Sure the list will change and grow in the future.

@Danny, Maybe in the future when you visit Osaka again, we can visit a few places together. I'm sure my fiancee and I can show you or suggest a few places for you and your wife to visit too. All I need to do is get married and finish up here in Michigan. All these minor details to take care of all the time. ^^;

Back to studying Kanji I go... See you on the other side.

I also had to register to give you my insight on Osaka.
Have been living here for more than a year, I previously was living in Tokyo Shibuya, but only for a short time.
It is unfortunately true that there are many homeless in Osaka. If you take a stroll at closing hours at the Akihabara of Osaka, that is Nihonbashi also known as Denden town, you can find them preparing to go to sleep.
I live in front of a temple a little north of Tennouji (天王寺) and we have our neighborhood homeless that come every few days to collect the trash. Two night ago, well actually early morning i got woken up by the usual sound of someone crushing cans. Sure enough it was a homeless man collecting the cans and then going to sell them. If you happen to be in Osaka, please cross the street in front of Bic camera, going north, just under the highway supports, you should find a homeless mand with his cart, one dog and a couple of cats, all tied with ropes.
Apart from this and surely a higher crime rate, I prefer Osaka.
It is cheaper, I can go around the city by bicycle, people are really more open, even if you sometimes get to talk to some really weird people (that sometimes really stink).
Maybe having been born in Kenya (Italian parents) and lived in Italy for quite a while I feel at home in this chaos.
Ciao

My city used to have the worst crime rate per capita in the country, dunno if it still does. Every summer there are people smoking weed or doing crack in my alley and a few bodies have been found within walking distance of my house. It's like the opposite of the stereotypical canadian city.

does the media really bash Osaka or any other Kansai city that much?

Osaka might be different from Tokyo but that doesn't mean that it is a bad place

btw, I'd choose to live both in Tokyo and in Osaka ^^

I agree with Sean. Was never able to 'seal the deal' in Tokyo. Nor, really make friends with the locals...

Had way more fun in cities like Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. Tokyoites just weren't as friendly or approachable. It was cool to visit all the shiny buildings and ultra modern clubs... but I'm at my happiest in some dive bar, buying rounds with a group of random locals I just met.

Kampai!

I agree with Sean. Was never able to 'seal the deal' in Tokyo. Nor, really make friends with the locals...

Had way more fun in cities like Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. Tokyoites just weren't as friendly or approachable. It was cool to visit all the shiny buildings and ultra modern clubs... but I'm at my happiest in some dive bar, buying rounds with a group of random locals I just met.

Kampai!

@Tempest, keep up the hard work Brother, and you will be out of there in no time. I can say I have never lived in a Seedy place (until now). Not too far away is a place that has the highest Crystal Meth addiction in most of Arizona. Meth runs rampant out here, since spoiled High School kids are Mentally retarded, and .. um.... spoiled. Its odd though, they stay away from the nicer neighborhoods.. I think they dont feel comfortable over here. Well, soon enough people will buy up the land and build some newer housing on it and they will have to go somewhere else. Until then, weapons stashed all over the house.

well for me to see drivers ignoring red lights it's not really a big deal hehe why? cuz when i used to live back in Peru drivers did that sometimes they would even race between buses i was just a kid so i didn't really care a lot

Yeah Tokyo has a lot of hate for Osaka and vice versa. Most of my Osaka friends hate Tokyo because they say most people who live there are country migrants and yuppies. I would guess there is some truth to their claims because most of the people I know from Tokyo are from some country area of Japan instead of from the actual city.

My family and I are really from NYC, so I can empathize with them somewhat. Yuppies have changed New York City into a real lame place to live. I don't think most Tokyo people have any connection to the city or culture there. They are just living there because money is good (there isn't anything wrong with that, but still...)

Osaka is next to two of the best cities in Japan, Kyoto and Kobe. I have been to Yokohama and I wasn't impressed at all. It was pretty dead out there plus the military base there attracts hundreds of dead beat females. Chiba, Saitama, and Ibaraki are in the sticks. Tokyo itself is a great city, but it is too much like New York City and I didn't go to Japan to do the same thing I can do in NYC. I think that survey is very misleading and everyone should at least check out Osaka just to see how it is.

I´m lucky of being from a small city (150.000 pop. aprox), but the neighbourhood where i live is known as one of the worsts in town. I heard about it a lot, but there were only 2 mortal crimes in last 20 years (hmm..maybe 2 much). Anyway, is always better asking people who lives there about the real situation, just to know the truth.
P.S. If you come to Salamanca, try to not to go to Buenos Aires, that´s the REAL dangerous place

大阪も住めば都ですよ！（笑）

@Sean

Your post got me to consider living in Osaka when I move to Japan. ^^

All this time I've been thinking that Japan = Tokyo, but I realize now that I was wrong, thanks to you. ^^

Wow, sean's comments have totally set my japan trip plans askew. I mean i DID set aside time to visit places like Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya but not really that much, now i feel like setting aside more time for each than at Tokyo alone.

From sean's description it seems like Osaka is my type of town and it reinforces my observation that major cities all around the world are pretty much alike. My last vacation i went to New Zealand and quickly grew tired of Auckland but the time i spent at the small town of Waioru (population 1000'ish) was incredible. People were more open and fun even though it's not exactly the a shining example of a modern town.

日本の嫌なとこは、マスコミが僕らヲタへの偏見報道を一向にやめないとこですかね。

大阪は、違法駐車がひどいですねー。親戚が住んでるんですが、まぁ、運転も荒いし違法駐車への罪悪感ゼロですからねー

homeless problem is a thing in Osaka (I am pretty sure near the Osaka Zoo, there is a Homeless city).

but honestly, I am not sure how you are to solve the problem with cancer, if it is not an environmental thing.

I'll say that there might be places here that coulb be on such a list like on the pic, but I prefer not to find out....

It's so weird, the Hackney you lived in is soo very different from the Hackney I live in. I've never had any of the incidents you talk about and the bus always arrives every 15 minutes! On Osaka, while it may be true, people do have alarmist tendencies when it comes to stuff like that.

@DRAGUN:
I'll try! The first thing I need is some motivation because my everyday life here is really annoying right now and the 6 months in New Zealand should do this (I think). I hope I get the confirmation soon :O

Is there anything where Osaka ranks well? Manzai?

Thanks for supporting my comments guys, I think this is a sad and desperate attempt to dirty the name of the whole Kansai region by Tokyo based businesses and politicians. Osaka and Kyoto are much more left-leaning than Tokyo. They want a more independent Japan (independent from the USA basically). Many schools in Kyoto REFUSE to play the "Kimigayo" (something like a national anthem) in the morning at schools or even fly the Japanese flag!!

Many people in Kansai know the truth of what the Japanese army did to Okinawans during the Second World War. Their history books differ from those in Kanto areas.

More interestingly they seem simply more honest, funny and forthcoming about life. Japanese people do tend to be a little shy when meeting people, but Kansai people open up WAY faster.

Japan is basically a right wing country (no matter how it seems to Americans) that is made TO LOOK like a liberal country. There were quite a few politicians who tried to bring REAL democracy to Japan over the years, some were ignored others simply assassinated on T.V. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4KROpdUkrM

Inejiro Asanuma was one of them. I believe he was going to lead Japan in a whole other (better) direction, away from American constitutional control, etc. Rest in peace Asanuma.

Japanese democracy died on October 12, 1960.

Sorry to be so "political" on this post, but I reckon most of you reading are very interested in Japan & Japanese culture - so you might as well know some back-ground info.

Peace.

I was surprised to find many places in Tokyo quite livable. I came from Seattle which is one of the most comfortable places to live in the US so I wasn't expecting much when I moved to Tokyo, especially since I needed to stay very close to Shinjuku. I ended up in Mejiro and my neighborhood almost had a small town feel to it despite being next to Ikebukuro and only a 7 minute ride to Shinjuku station.

When I took a trip to Kyoto which I loved, I made a short stop in Osaka. The neighborhoods there didn't seem to contrast each other as much as they do in Tokyo and it had more of an old urban depressing feel to it. But the local culture was rich and unique. The nightlife was good, the food was great and the woman were very good looking. I'd like to spend more time there when I return to Japan this spring. But Kyoto is a much nicer city to live in if you choose that region. The train ride from Kyoto to Osaka wasn't any longer than the commutes people make across Tokyo.

OK osaka my have itts problems but as manny may well agree itts a Danm sight better than anywhere here in the uk.

if i had the funds and was old enough (17 on march 23rd)and had all the legal stuff sorted out id go and live there right now just to get away from this place.

i mean if it gets me away from all the stupidity in this almost currupted country than by all means send me there but larger citys may be too much for me in genral but i think id just fit in (despite being english).

annyone who has ever slagged of the UK and favoured Japan im with you!

if you live where i live would be the worst country to live in X3 ....and what do you mean by children abuse death danny ???

On Oahu, we have four main locales that aren't the safest places to be in - Kalihi (in Honolulu), Waipahu (towards the west side of the island), Ewa Beach (south of Waipahu), and Waianae (on the western coast). Kalihi, and to a lesser extent, Waipahu, are urban "rough areas." Ewa Beach and Waianae are more country type areas. Waianae is percieved by many as the worst area on the island, due to the extremely large homeless population, and a large part of the population is racist against white people.

That being said, it is actually pretty safe on the island. Most of the time, if you mind your own business, or don't act like a tourist, you won't be bothered with.

yes, im late, but i love where i am currently, DUBAI !!!

I've lived in Osaka as a gaijin for aboute a year etcetera. Best place ever. Unsafe!? No. Maybe not as stiff as Tokyo and maybe seeming a little rough in a 'blade runner'-kind of way downtown but besides from that; not unsafe anyway you put it. Osaka's really the best place ever!

I lived in Osaka, would live there again, and WILL live there again. I had no real issues living there-- and I lived in a rougher part of town, Higashi Osaka near Yaenozato station on the Kintetsu Nara line. Its a straight up working class neighborhood and filled with mostly 2nd and 3rd gen Korean-Japanese. While there were cases of teen delinquency (I'd see lots of kids that should have their asses in one of the 4 jr and sr high schools nearby instead hanging in the shotengai and station plaza areas near my apartment smoking and drinking) I never so much as had my bicycle messed with... Of course being a black guy with dredlocks walking around sometimes in half my kendo or judo gi sometimes helped...
I'm from St Louis, Missouri USA-- home of the largest homicide rate per capita in the US. I have almost been carjacked twice. I say ALMOST-both times I shot at my attackers, and ran one down with my car. I also shot and wounded a thief in my house. My father and mother also shot at them as well...We are all former military in my family and believe in 3 things--fighting, shooting, and praying. So needless to say, anyplace in Japan is like heaven to me!

Yeah, the list is very sad, but despite all that I do believe Osaka is one of the best place to life at least because of its wonderful castle and the National Bunraku Theater. I'd like to spend my romantic and sexy vacation there if only I could.