Q Shoe Guy

Oh please, it is kind of like buying an Aston Martin to drive around Urawa !! I love Inaka, I lived it for 16 years.....but the stuff outside the interesting inner ring is just deadly!

mjm

Pickles is full of furballs sometimes, particularly when he goes on about Mexican food. Really has no clue in that department.

But in this instance I believe he is spot on. Outside the Yamanote Line, heck outside the central 3 wards.

Shoto is nice albeit adjacent to an area that makes me feel like grandparent and potential mass strangler simultaneously, Shibuya. Not as bad as Shinjuku, but not far behind in interest. A home in Shoto would be fantastic so long as one was prepared to drive ir take a train anywhere.

"The Bluff" really? And spend weekends at YCAC? Um, no thanks. Yokohama is a nice place to fly over on the way to Korea or China. Live there, not on a bet.

I am partial to the Juban area, love Aoyama too. If I can walk to shopping, restaurants, and other cultural activities, and the office I am going to like that spot.

5khours

Shoto = Boondocks

RichardInSF

That Walled City in Kawasaki sounds great, hope I remember to check it out next time I'm there.

Another major attraction in Kawasaki:

One open 7 days a week

Pickles

Yamate? If I was working in Yokohama, I can see the logic. Otherwise, why bother? As for Shoto, not a bad place, if you like having Thierry Porte and a bunch of old-school harrumphy rich oyaji as your neighbors. Best part is how their drivers will idle their Toyota Crown Royal Blue Labels (or whatever those doily-covered cars are called) at all times of day and night for your breathing and listening pleasure.

LapLap

Thanks for the sympathy. At least I had a good long "honeymoon phase" with regards to Tokyo and milked it for all it was worth.
The looming spectre of August visits is already shading out plans to revisit places for which I have fond memories. Which brings me to...

My nomination for a place within jib san's parameters that is not undifferentiated crud is Jūjō. Had great misgivings when I was advised to go there for a haircut due to its proximity to Ickybukuro but was completely charmed by it. Given the opportunity, and given my own priorities and peculiarities, I'd come and live here in a heartbeat.

Pickles

But I thought our esteemed colleague across the aisle gnatget did not take public transportation. You, know, there are other people using these conveyances. The problem with public transportation is that you have to deal with the public, and the public sometimes smells.

He can always drive everywhere in his Aston Martin. I'm sure he's careful making sure he doesn't run into too many Toyota Crown Royal Blue Labels parked around his double-wide driveway.

Maybe Shoto has 60 Hz electricity? That way his state-of-the-art Bangladeshi-made alarm clock doesn't run slow?

5khours

Honestly, I don't know why anyone would want to live in Shoto unless you were 16 years old and spent all your time hanging out in Shibuya or had a deviant uncle living in Yoyogi Park that you needed to take care of.

gnaget

I guess you are all a bunch of old farts who can't keep up with the pace of Shibuya.

It's the best of both worlds. A quiet residential area that is 800 meters from the premier nightspot and all your shopping needs both upscale and downscale. Furthermore, it offers the privacy and comfort of single family housing rather than having to live in apartment buildings.

I think it's a much better location than Hiroo, for example. Parts of Minato-ku are sterile concrete wasteland. Kind of like living in downtown in an American city like Dallas that shuts down at night. Thinking of Mita, Shibakoen, Kamiyacho.

The only decent spot over there is Azabu-juban. But you are stuck in an apartment and it doesn't quite compare.

As for Yamate that is a fantastic neighborhood adjacent to (above) Motomachi with all your shopping needs. And you could nearly walk downtown Yokohama, which is an extremely pleasant place. Chukagai is close by if you like that sort of thing. Really nice place for driving as well. Never found it congested. I realize that it is not optimal for wage slaves in Otemachi, but if you clip coupons and want a pleasant place to live then I think it is optimal.

Pickles

This is what you get when you mix old farts and Shibuya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R77I8cn1m8

ksandness

A friend once remarked about Yokohama: "It's a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit there."

That sums up my attitude.

jib71

Kamakura for the tourism, Yokohama for the livin'

[But both are outside my circle of crud]

LapLap

Just watched an NHK Workd (Tokyo Eye) presentation on the Setagaya line (which covers a 5km track Westwards of Sangenjaya).
This restaurant looked delightful:
http://eight-8.co.jp/cms/shops/tokyo...i/konamon.html

Couldn't get the Konamon website to work, here's an alternative:
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g342611/lang/en/photo

5khours

You're on the far edge of Shibuya, and a lot farther from Aoyama, Ginza, Roppongi, Ebisu, Omote Sando, etc. If you spend all your time in Shibuya, it's fine, but it really puts you at an inconvenient distance from a lot of other places. Also to my way of thinking a nice apartment gives you better views, more privacy, better outdoor space, better lighting, etc. IMHO, it's really a stretch trying to get a house to work in an urban area.

BuildingMyBento

Has anyone visited Gujo Hachiman in Gifu? That city is the main source of Japan's ubiquitous "fake food."