rural life in Japan - 2014 location rankings

[miyakoji]

So the thought of dropping out (of life, not school) crosses my mind from time to time (like daily). I find several locations in Japan appealing for this purpose, one being Nagano, which I mentioned no less than 3 years ago (http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/5335-bbc-article-younger-japanese-people-return-to-countryside/). Although they probably don't want to "drop out" as I have represented it (and truth be told neither do I, a slower lifestyle would be sufficient), it seems a few other people may be thinking similarly...

There exists an organization called the Furusato Kaiki Shien (Hometown Return Support) Center, their website is http://www.furusatokaiki.net/ , and suspiciously their office is in Yurakucho, Tokyo. Anyway, they publish various news bits, and amongst them, a ranking of places popular for rural living ( http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150209-00000009-wordleaf-soci.view-000 ). 2014's entries are:

1. Yamanashi
2. Nagano
3. Okayama
4. Fukushima
5. Niigata
6. Kumamoto
7. Shizuoka
8. Shimane
9. Toyama
10. Kagawa

Nagano and Okayama appear to be perennial front runners, with Yamanashi kind of coming out of nowhere in the shake up between 2012 and 2013.  The article says it was the influence of the 2011 earthquake, maybe there was just a bit of a delay.  The article also cites Nagano's "antenna shop" in Ginza.  An antenna shop is a store that sells local goods in a distant location (which I suspect is always Tokyo :().  Kumamoto and Shimane also seem like fine choices.

 

Some more stats (remember, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics): http://resemom.jp/article/img/2015/02/12/22870/94883.html .  Blue is people visiting the center or their seminars, red is phone calls.  Here's the age breakdown: http://resemom.jp/article/img/2015/02/12/22870/94868.html .

 

Nagano... I can almost taste the miso.

[bikkuri bahn]

Note that most places (except maybe Shimane) have excellent transport links to the major urban areas and/or are "satellite" prefectures to the big metroplexes.  You want country life, but every now and then (and when you need a medical specialist) you want to be in the hustle and bustle within 2 or 3 hours.  Face it, Japanese urban areas don't have the extent of blight, crime, and other negative factors that plague other places, and that serve as a "push" factor in people's decisions to move to the countryside. Also absent is the Anglo-Saxon/Judeo Christian idea of the city being a degenerate place.

[katoftw]

Do the mean prefectures? Cos Kumamoto City for example is far from rural.

[bikkuri bahn]

To many people living in Tokyo and Yokohama, anything outside of the 23 wards of Tokyo, the urban inner parts of Saitama, and the central wards of Yokohama are "rural".  Heck, my uncle has called the area near Shin-Yokohama "inaka".

[katoftw]

Haha yeah these kind of serveys rely on opinions, and opinions differ from person to person.

Edited February 21, 2015 by katoftw

[miyakoji]

Note that most places (except maybe Shimane) have excellent transport links to the major urban areas and/or are "satellite" prefectures to the big metroplexes.  You want country life, but every now and then (and when you need a medical specialist)

When I lived in Japan, I always worried about having to communicate with a doctor.  It would have been difficult.  Of course you're right about satellite prefectures, which is exactly what I thought when I saw Yamanashi at number 1.  Not that it's not a lovely place, it is.

 

As for Shimane's links to other places... 2 and a half hours on a 381 series and you're in Okayama.  What more could you ask for?  It's just another perk!

[katoftw]

Silly question, but how can Kagawa and Shizuoka be different options? Or is the Shizuoka option anywhere in Shizuoka excluding Kagawa?

Edited February 21, 2015 by katoftw

[miyakoji]

You might be thinking of Ooigawa.

[katoftw]

No. I just confused Shizuoka and Shikoku. lol @ me.

[E6系]

OMG !  I am from Yamanashi.  I went to Kofu Higashi High School.  For a teenager, Yamanashi-ken was the most boring place in the world to live.  I even got bored of the trains in those days!  I did have a great view of Fuji-san from my bedroom window, however!  I miss that part, very much!

[Sean]

I have often thought about buying a house in the countryside.  There are a few businesses that specialize in refurbishing and reselling old farmhouses to make them comfortable to live in. I like to browse what they have on offer, like this one

 

http://www.furusatokikaku.net/

 

Or these places, which just lists countryside houses and properties (mostly not reformed)

 

http://www.inakanet.jp/

http://www.folkhouse.info/knowledge/

 

On the plus side, houses are dirt cheap in the countryside, even for relatively large properties.  On the other hand, most of the really cheap places are priced like that for a reason - the cost of making them habitable is probably several times what the property itself is worth in a lot of cases.

 

Also, while everytime I take a weekend trip in the spring or fall to the countryside I always think `wow, it must be so great to live here, I have to move here someday.*

 

Then I think about what 365 days a year in those places would be like.  Need a car to get anywhere.  All the nieghbors are septegenarians and older.  Probably very nosy and bossy septegenerians at that. No convenient shopping/restaurants/services, etc etc. 

 

I think I`m more of a city person now, but a big place in the countryside would be nice...on the weekends or holidays.

[katoftw]

Dunno about noisey.  I watched a you tube vid this morning of someone walking around Bungomori station.  Even with the school kids waiting for their train.  The only thing I heard in that vid was the birds singing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3QFnzg9o7Q

 

I had to watch it twice as I fell asleep on the first attempt.

Edited February 22, 2015 by katoftw

[kvp]

 

Dunno about noisey. 

I think he said nosey.  :)

 

By the way, the video is interesting, first because the station seems to be used as club rooms by the kids (or they set it up to look like this). Also it's clear that the station was much larger in the past. I've checked on google maps and in the past there was a roundhouse with a turntable there (they are still more or less there). Also i've found a rather large garden railway layout in the corner of the old station area. Is there any info about that?

[katoftw]

That is currently a line of interest I'm researching.  The garden layout look quite extensive and is on the old grounds.  Olny show up in newer saterlite views.  And I've seem some videos and pictures from 2010 and 2011 and it wasn't there then.

 

Bungomori was a massive station in it's day.  The train that is currently know as the SL Hitoyoshi was homed there during WWII.

 

The old roundhouse is becoming quite famous.  Lots of images if you google it.  There seems to be a van made to look like the Kiha 71/72s of Yufuin no Mori services inside of the house.

[katoftw]

Hey look what I found:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5loUoPf9fE

 

And:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfuaIo-BeEg

 

Drone:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzmZpwHSKjE

 

I'm pretty sure that is snow:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GszmZnT63pU

Edited February 22, 2015 by katoftw

[kvp]

Wow, thanks! The people building the garden railway really mean it, it's a huge layout that is being built there. The old roundhouse needs some urgent repairs though.

[Nick_Burman]

Heck, my uncle has called the area near Shin-Yokohama "inaka".

 

LOL!

 

 

Cheers NB

[E6系]

BTW, Yamanashi is so boring that whoever bought our old house demolished it and has left a vacant plot of land ... I hope they didn't dig up my dog, Harry.  He's buried in the backyard!!!

[Sacto1985]

Note that most places (except maybe Shimane) have excellent transport links to the major urban areas and/or are "satellite" prefectures to the big metroplexes.  

 

That's why Yamanashi, Nagano and Okayama Prefectures are #1 to #3 on that list. Yamanashi because you can ride the trains on the Chūō Main Line back to Tokyo, Nagano because of the Nagano (soon to be Hokuriku) Shinkansen service back to Tokyo and Okayama because even in a more rural town like Tsuyama, there is regular train service to Okayama and even limited express train service all the way to Himeji. Shimane Prefecture should be higher but the fact you need to ride the Yakumo limited express for nearly three hours one way from Okayama to Matsue and Izumo is an issue. I do think Toyama will be way more popular on the list once the Hokuriku Shinkansen line opens, though.

[miyakoji]

you need to ride the Yakumo limited express for nearly three hours one way from Okayama to Matsue and Izumo

 

I'm telling you... perk!

 

I guess I'm interested to know why there's been, for decades, such a draw to the few major metropolitan areas, when the regional cities are so nice.  My first address in Japan was in Okayama, what a great place.  Are there really not enough jobs, or recreational activies, or something like that?

[miyakoji]

BTW, Yamanashi is so boring that whoever bought our old house demolished it and has left a vacant plot of land

 

Seems sad, why did they do that?  Although, I think it's generally a good practice that long-term vacant buildings are demolished.  Here in the US, in the cities anyway, totally derelict buildings simply remain standing.  It looks bad, probably lowers surrounding property value, and is even a safety problem as they sometimes collapse or catch fire.

[katoftw]

I think he said nosey.  :)

 

Oops. haha

[katoftw]

Wow, thanks! The people building the garden railway really mean it, it's a huge layout that is being built there. The old roundhouse needs some urgent repairs though.

Yes it would be interesting to know some of the facts behind the layout.  It is built on JR Kyushu land.  Recently the Bungomori Roundhouse has been getting more popular for visitor to come and see.

 

So I'm curious about whether the whole thing in a joint effect by the city of Bungomori, the local modellers club, and maybe JR Kyushu themselves. 

 

I plan on visiting the area on my next trip to Japan.  Also to Sugikawachi Station to see Jion Falls (100m walk), and visit old town Hita.  Places not normally frequented by outsiders, other than passing through on their way to Yufuin.

 

Probably need a whole new throught for this Bungomori Station chatter.  Seems we are taking over this thread a little.  Mods?

Edited February 22, 2015 by katoftw

[E6系]

Seems sad, why did they do that?  Although, I think it's generally a good practice that long-term vacant buildings are demolished.  Here in the US, in the cities anyway, totally derelict buildings simply remain standing.  It looks bad, probably lowers surrounding property value, and is even a safety problem as they sometimes collapse or catch fire.

 

Hello Mr miyakoji,

 

Nobody wants to live in that area.  The purchaser may not have been able to tenant the house, I don't really know.  I remember when Google Earth was released, finding my old home was my first task.  Sadly, it had already been demolished.  Such a shame.  No one will ever enjoy the same view of Fujisan that I had.

[Atomsk]

I guess I'm interested to know why there's been, for decades, such a draw to the few major metropolitan areas, when the regional cities are so nice.  My first address in Japan was in Okayama, what a great place.  Are there really not enough jobs, or recreational activies, or something like that?

Blame the Tokugawa Shoguns.  They created the burocracy that made it necessary for Tokyo (then Edo) to grow to over 1 million residents by the early 1700s.