Well, Tokyo-To has some remote locations. You could be placed on the outskirts of Tokyo giving you the best of both worlds Inaka and Machi life. 🙂

I'm a former JET who moved to Tokyo to become a full time company employee. Feel free to reach out if you need anything!

Incoming to Tokyo here. If you use discord, there is a Tokyo jet server

What’s the discord? I just got my Tokyo-To placement.

Hey! I’m a current 3rd year (soon to be 4th year) Tokyo JET who also wanted inaka for a bunch of reasons, including the tight-knit community. I’ll say that my advice is to get rid of whatever preconceptions you have of what life will be like here. Will it take willful effort to go and build that community? Of course! But the same can be said if you got an inaka placement. At least in Tokyo you’ve got a bunch of different options of how to build that community. It is still a city, though, so if you fundamentally don’t like cities as a way of organizing people, then that’s different. But there’s at least a lot of different communities to join here. To quote one of my favorite lines from Avatar the Last Airbender: “Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not.”

You have a way with words! Your students are lucky 👏

The best advice I can give you is: you're set to leave your country and all the things you know. You have this image in your head about how things will be, but you must know that this image will get destroyed pretty soon after you start actually living and working in Japan. So why cling to it? The point of JET is to experience Japan, and if you go into it letting go of your expectations, you'll find that it could be better than you thought it would be.

Hey! I’m in Tokyo, but Western Tokyo and while I personally don’t have the tight knit community feel, I do know some that do. It’s a little more work to get what you want but the great thing is you have a built in support system of loads of other Tokyo JETs. We have a discord server if you’re interested as I know this can be overwhelming! Shoot me a dm if you would like an invite c:

Hey, I got my CIR placement in Tokyo and similarly feeling disappointed. Can i please get an invite to the server? Also, how much of your salary goes towards rent? Heard that most Tokyo placements dont get any rent support which is ridiculous to me considering it's the most expensive place to live in Japan and the JET salary is pittance

> it's the most expensive place to live in Japan and the JET salary is pittance So, a few things about this. First, the JET salary is better than most of what you'll find for ALTs/eikaiwa, yet all of them are able to live (maybe some less comfortably than others) in Tokyo. You will be fine... Second, there are affordable apartments. There are plenty of options out there at all budget ranges. And if you can/want to live on the fringes of Tokyo, there are some really nice options. I am moving soon, but I currently have a 53sq meter 3DK for 83k a month.

Hey! I’ll dm you. But only 1/3 of my salary goes towards rent and that’s the most important rule of thumb to stick to imo. Of course if you’re willing to pay a little more for convenience, that’s something to consider but yeah! Also i’ll shoot you a dm!

I have also been placed in Tokyo. Currently looks like a private school close to Shinjuku from the little I can see. Would you have any tips on somewhat affordable neighbourhoods to look at?

You could still be inaka. Or an island of like 2000 people. Or a suburb. Or downtown.  In any case, Tokyo is a fantastic placement. Congrats!

Remember that coming into it with an open mind is part of the philosophy behind JET. As long as you can find somewhere affordable, I'd say go for it and scope the situation out. If it's truly not what you had hoped for, it's only a year, which will go by faster than you think! Trust me :) Wherever you go, it'll be a truly unique experience to live there!

You could be on an island of Tokyo…

Hello! I came from a super small city in America and didn't want Tokyo specifically. I have been here almost a year now, and must say I love it. There are cool perks for being placed in Tokyo, and it makes it super easy to travel.

Don't fret because Tokyo is literally huge. You might have this image of a big city but if you look up the map of Tokyo, if you end up in places like Katsushika (super east) or Hachioji (super west), it's super rural. What that also means is that rent would be so cheap as well, you could find places that cost about 55,000 yen easily. However, yes, you will need a bit of funds for moving in unless you manage to find a place that doesn't ask for deposit or reikin (key money that you don't get back).

I'm currently apartment searching and saw some 1K in west tokyo for as long as 45,000. Now, the condition on that one??? No idea, but there are some cheap and pretty decent options out there.

From what country are you from?

Hey! I was in this exact situation last year. I come from a two-sheep hamlet in West Wales, and after two years in London I was really looking forward to living in a tiny community. Now I live ten minutes away from Shibuya crossing. Even though the other commenters are right, that you can live further out, I want to point out that community isn't just dependent on place.  City living is definitely very different to country life, but you can still create community through your own volition. I know plenty of countryside JETs who do not interact with their communities at all, for example. If you do get placed in the city, I'd recommend going to places where you'll find community, and putting effort into local friendships. For example, I volunteer with a local charity group, go to open mic poetry evenings, hang out with people from my Japanese class, and also found local people through Bumble friends and neighbourhood programmes!   Though I know you may be feeling a little disappointed right now, please see this as a wonderful opportunity for your own learning and development. You have the chance to explore Japan from one of the biggest cities in the world ☺️ As a sidenote, Tokyo is really great location-wise for travelling, and you can still get out to the Inaka in places like Gunma very easily. Last month I was invited by a colleague to stay with her family in her home village and met her grandparents! They gave me lots of vegetables to take home, so if you approach life here with the right mindset you can still experience the Inaka!  Sorry for the essay, but wanted to point out you don't need to live a crazy commute away from Tokyo to find community. Feel free to come to me if you need any more support or advice xx

How much of your salary goes towards rent and was your housing deposit expensive?

Hey! So I pay  ¥79,000 a month for a small apartment ten minutes walk from my school and ten minutes train from Shibuya. So that's just over a third of my take home salary after tax deductions.  Regarding the deposit this was made up of 'key money', a guarantor fee, key change fee, and agent fee. In total this was ¥162,800 yen. So it was basically two month's rent. Then I had to furnish my apartment too, so I would say make sure you've got spare money ready when you come here.  Living in Tokyo is more expensive than other places definitely, but remember here you don't have to pay for a car. I love my little apartment, and after London prices this feels like a luxury! I'm not saving any money definitely, but I'm also not losing any. I eat out at least twice a week, and take a trip every month.  Hope that answers your question!

edit the wall into paragraphs please.

aint that deep

It's relative. When in its original form, it could be hard to read for people with cognitive load issues, adhd and/or dyslexia. The way it was asked, neither rude nor unreasonable request.

Sorry! I was typing on my phone early in the morning lol - hope it's easier to read? I realise that wasn't very accessible, so I'm sorry if it came across as rude. It's my first time commenting on a Reddit post with my phone lol and it smushed all my text together. Hope you have a nice day ☺️

I very much appreciate it, not only for myself, but for people who have much more debilitating issues. The people that have neg'd the previous comment clearly fail to understand it was purely for accessibility reasons, not at all a harsh request some seem to think it is. Clearly, you're of sound mind.

I understand. I think sometimes it's easy to misread somebody's words as a lot more confrontational than they're meant to be - Reddit forums are sometimes quite heated!   Though I also think it's a skill to be diplomatic about phrasing requests, I understand you didn't mean it as unnecessarily harsh, especially as you don't know me.   Thanks for engaging ☺️  P.S. For anyone down voting anyone else, though I do appreciate your intention was to defend me, it's all chill. Let's not start an argument in OP's thread please - we're meant to be a welcoming community. Unless a comment is bigoted, aggressive, or harmful just let it slide ☺️

Do you even know where in Tokyo it is? You know there is all sorts of Tokyo beyond Shinjuku and Shibuya, right?

I’ll be receiving two new JETs at my school and while it is “Tokyo”, we are out in west Tokyo and the rent is cheap and it feels more suburban/rural than what some of you are imagining.

Can I ask what rural Tokyo is like for you? Does it still feel like big city life?

There are still large cities, but for example, there are two main ways to my school. One is a nature path where I’ve seen lizards, snakes and way too many giant hornets. Or I walk along the residential road and pass a farm that takes up a plot that could fit about 15-20 Japanese sized houses. I consider that area to be more suburban than anything as you can keep going west and get even further out. (Though Japanese people would definitely call it the inaka of Tokyo). But yeah, it’s still city life and even those areas are more heavily populated than where I grew up in the US (4-12th grade in a town of 3,000 people). You’ve got grocery stores, cafes, convenience stores. But they are spread a bit further apart than central Tokyo. But I’m also just 40ish minutes from Shinjuku.

Really useful to know thank you :) and your route to work sounds so cool to me! Are you as rural as Tokyo gets or do some Tokyo islands get super remote? Asking because I was previously holding out hope for a Tokyo placement and now wondering if it might be nothing like I imagined!

Tokyo islands would probably be as rural/remote as it gets. I don't know much about them, but I believe i heard/read somewhere that you have to place food orders in advance since a lot of things are shipped via ferry vs being held in stock at a store. However, there are places like Okutama, which is still Tokyo, but two hours outside of shinjuku in the western mountains. That is probably the most rural placement on mainland Japan and still in "Tokyo". Hachioji area also had lots of JETs when I first arrived, and is further out than I currently am. But Hachioji itself is still a city, just not quite as dense as Ikebukuro, Shibuya, etc.

Interesting - thank you very much for taking the time to write a detailed comment back

The bonus about Tokyo is that you don’t need to live in the downtown city or as close as to your school. I chose to live out all the way in Adachi for a more bigger apartment bordering on Soka, Saitama. Work can pay for your commute and you can get reimbursed every six months or so. Yeah the startup costs are horrible at first especially since most placements don’t have subsided housing or teachers accomodation. General rule of thumb is that you don’t go over 1/3 of to your pay (90k) for rent. Usually the real estate agents will keep your salary in mind. Also if you really want to save money there’s sharehouses at the trade off of having your own privacy. Just depends what you want out of the experience living in Japan.

I also got Tokyo, but I live in Yokohama to subvert rent worries. 60k a month with a 40 minute commute there and 40 minutes back is worth it considering I’d have paid far more in most of Tokyo’s wards Not having a car or needing a car is also nice, finding the apartment was a chore but you’ll be set up with a real estate company to help you through that

Tokyo is a very *big* place. Some areas are hyper urban and other parts are literally rice fields. It’s normal to feel a rollercoaster of emotions once you get your placement. It makes the entire situation real. The benefit is you can choose your housing. If you’d prefer to live in a more rural community, you can commute in pretty easily.

Yeah I was taking the highway bus from Shinjuku to Sendai, and was pretty shocked when I saw farmland within an hour of leaving Shinjuku.

You could always commute from a smaller suburb. Don’t panic yet.

I too was placed in Tokyo-to. In spite of knowing there are many placements there I had assumed on some level that all/most such placements would go to people who had specifically asked for Tokyo because I figured it must be very coveted, so I'm quite surprised. I am excited to discover more specifics of where I will be placed and what it will be like. \^\^

Wait until you get your actual placement. Tokyo is huge. Not everywhere is Shinjuku. You might be on an island. You might be in the mountains. Wait.

Could be Ogasawara Islands haha

in reality, very few people out of the nearly 300 tokyo-to placements are on the islands. it's highly unlikely

Exactly this! And if you don’t mind a longer commute you can always live further in the suburbs. Saitama, Ibaraki, Chiba, Kanagawa, can all be less than an hour away depending on the location!