Mar 5, 2018
The good, the bad, and the snowy: Living in Niigata Prefecture
I'm convinced that it doesn't matter where you live, you'll have things you love and things you hate about it. I've lived in three places so far in Japan. One was a fancy Tokyo apartment right amongst all the fun things to do and see, but our neighbors were super loud and inconsiderate (think "piano sandwich" or "elephants at a rave" and you're on the right track). The next was at a military air base, which gave me the best of both Japan and America in the one spot - but was constantly noisy and required me to have an ID card to get on and off base. Misplace the card, you've got to jump through hoops to get back home! Now, I'm living in the Japanese countryside out in Niigata Prefecture, and there are both pros and cons to living here too. I'm going to try and provide the three biggest pros, and the three biggest cons in my eyes to living out here.
Pros
It's heaven for nature lovers
I love being out of the house. I love cycling, hiking, just appreciating nature in general. When I lived in Tokyo, this was something that I struggled with - I enjoyed trips to places like Mt. Takao or Mt. Mitake, but sometimes the city would just feel like it stretched on, and on, and on… it had a tendency to feel suffocating.
That’s not a problem out here though. I’ve got nature at my doorstep. Rice fields are literally at the vacant blocks at the end of my street (granted, they’re covered in snow right now) and whenever the weather permits it I’m always out walking or cycling with my little family. There’s plenty of amazing spots nearby to go skiing or snowboarding if winter activities are your thing, there’s a river that runs through our town for water activities or fishing - it’s just blissful not having to make a special trip to enjoy nature like we’d do when living in Tokyo.
It's a super safe place to raise your kids
I think this can be said about Japan in general - I remember the first time I saw kids alone on the train and my immediate thought was “oh lord, they’re lost - where are their parents?!” but soon came to realize that’s just the done thing here.
Out in the Niigata countryside though, my comment about it being a safe spot to raise your kids pertains to the lack of traffic in general. As I mentioned in my last point, we’re an outdoorsy family - we like getting out and enjoying what nature has to offer. My daughter is three, and she has a balance bike that she’s currently learning how to manoeuvre. We’re able to take her out and let her cruise around and practice in the streets around our house, and we’re lucky to encounter one or two cars within an hour. Obviously, I’m not saying that you should leave your kids unattended (we’re still out alongside her watching like hawks!) but there’s something pretty reassuring about the limited traffic. Even when cars do pass by, they give you such a wide berth, slow down to a crawl, and even bow to seemingly indicate they’re sorry for getting in your way. Another pro for living in the sticks - people here are just awesome. Slower pace of life, maybe, but people are on the whole more patient, especially when it comes to families with kids.
Quiet. Peace and quiet.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever been a natural city dweller. Some people thrive with the bright lights, noise, and constant go go go that a city provides, but I like to think I’m an old soul at heart that appreciates the peace and quiet that the countryside brings. No traffic noise. No aircraft noise like we had at the military base. No piano keys being plonked that invade my space and my thoughts. Just pure silence for the most part. Sure, for some people that silence might be deafening, but for me it’s heavenly.
Cons
It snows. A lot.
Every time I tell someone I’m from Niigata, their first reaction tends to be “oh - how do you like that snow?”. And it’s a valid point. They don’t call it snow country (or yukiguni) out here just for fun - it’s meters and meters of snow, for months on end. We’ve had snow since November, and it’s finally easing off now that we’ve hit March - but it can be painfully isolating. I’m a stay at home parent right now, and if there are days when I can’t get out for a walk because it’s just bucketing down, I feel like I’m under house arrest. I always tell people “snow’s fun, until you have to live with it for months”.
If you want certain shops, you're gonna have to travel
Don’t get me wrong, it’s no big deal for certain things. We’ve got a supermarket, multiple convenience stores, a couple of hardware stores, a giant drugstore, a great family restaurant - so for the most part we’re pretty much sorted. However, when it comes to things like clothes, I like shopping at places like H&M, Uniqlo or Zara, because I feel like they’re just more my style than some other Japanese stores. My nearest H&M is in Niigata City, which is still a solid hour on the shinkansen, plus the added expense that comes with catching that kind of train. If you’re a shopaholic, you might find living out here in the sticks can be a little challenging (there’s always online options though, right?!)
Making friends is a lot harder than I thought
When I lived in Tokyo, making friends was easy, even for my introverted self. There were loads of expats everywhere, and even people from Australia - so I never really felt like I wasn’t at home. Now, it’s probably a lot easier to connect with people if you speak fabulous Japanese (and kudos to you if you do!) but for me, I’ve really got to hope that someone speaks English to get a friendship up and going. My neighbors are for the most part all much older than me, and the snow that I mentioned above also makes it tough to get out and be social when you’re a stay at home parent.
Anyone else live in Niigata, or potentially moving here? What are your own personal pros and cons?
8 Comments
mam
on Mar 14
hi, we're gonna moving here in oktober with kids from another country. it would be great if u share with us ehat should we know about living here , and what kind of things we have to take. thanks. by the way my husband gonna study as magistrant over there. sorry for my english
genkidesu
on Mar 14
@mam hi there! is your husband going to study at the international university of japan? do you know yet if you plan to live on the campus or off campus? it was hard for us to find a house over here that was off campus, a lot of people live on campus but i think there are only a limited number of family units and i do think they are fairly small. one of the biggest things i would recommend is to have cold weather gear. the winters here are long and very snowy, so having footwear as well that is good for snow/rain is very important. what country are you coming from? houses here in japan are typically a lot smaller than many other countries so bear that in mind as well. we like it a lot out here and people are very friendly! please let me know if you have any other questions!
Samitha
on Sep 28
Hi genkidesu im from sri lanka. My wife got a scholership to IUJ. she is going to come there in mid October. Also i would going to join with her on January. Once i joined with her, we may reside out side campus in a rental house. Though she has the expenditure from the scholership, i need to find a job for my expenditures. as wel as im about to learn japanies language. Please let me know the possibilities of rental house, their expenditures, job scope as well as the servival possibilities with extreem cold weather. Thank you.
genkidesu
on Sep 28
@Samitha Hi Samitha! That’s exciting - IUJ has a really close knit community and there are already a number of Sri Lankan students. Off campus housing is limited and often it’s smaller than what people may be used to, but there are still options - it’s usually small apartment style accommodation. There are a number of married student apartments on campus but I do believe it’s a lottery system as to who gets those and I also think priority is given to second year students. Here is a link to the IUJ family guide - it’s got some helpful info in there: https://www.iuj.ac.jp/oss-f/living/FamilyGuide.pdf Thankfully temperature wise it’s not super super cold - colder than Tokyo, winter temperatures hover around 5 Celsius during the day. It’s at the perfect spot where we tend to get a lot of snow though (as you probably saw in my pictures!). Make sure you have a big down coat (or purchase one here). Rain boots/snowboots are also essential. They have plenty out here but if you have large feet you may want to try and source some before moving to Japan - shoe sizes here overall are quite a bit smaller than elsewhere. There are some jobs in the local community, a lot of spouses work at nearby factories doing food preparation type work, where Japanese language capability isn’t a requirement. If you know Japanese or are learning some, your options will open up more. I hope the family guide can answer some of your questions too!
Samitha
on Sep 28
Dear genkidesu Thank you for your kind reply an it gave me a great relief. Please let me know that 28hrs/week income from such a factory job is sufficient to bear the expenditures of a single person?
genkidesu
on Oct 1
@Samitha I think you would be fine! I only work part time (well under 28 hours a week) and have two young children and we manage just fine! You can also blog here on City Cost once you're in Japan, and you get paid in gift vouchers that you can use on Amazon Japan. It helps with our groceries (Amazon Pantry allows you to buy a lot of dry goods, pantry supplies etc) so it might be a good idea to bookmark this site so that you can use it too! :)
Samitha
on Oct 1
Hi, thanks dear. Thats nice to hear. Can you explain something about those jobs. I mean duty hours per day, on time and off time, leaves possible or not, how we get salaries (weekly or monthly), does the duty hours depend on extream weather, what about saturday and sundy etc..
Samitha
on Oct 26
Hi genkidesu Can you explain something about those jobs. I mean duty hours per day, on time and off time, leaves possible or not, how we get salaries (weekly or monthly), does the duty hours depend on extream weather, what about saturday and sundy etc..