2 years ago, I decided to move my family out of Hong Kong. The reason shall be for another very long story. Now we have lived happily in Fukuoka, West Japan, for 1.5 years. In my previous lives, I have lived in Tokyo for a few years, so I know Tokyo very well. This time, I am very glad that I have chosen Fukuoka instead of Tokyo. This video below explains why, with some visuals. (English transcript below):
Transcript
It’s already more than a year since we moved to Fukuoka, Japan
A lot of people have asked me,
Why did you choose to moved to Fukuoka, not Tokyo?
Actually, I have lived in Tokyo for many years, in several occasions
I have worked and lived in Tokyo.
I have many friends in Tokyo.
I know Tokyo very well.
Why I did I choose to immigrate to Fukuoka, where I have zero friends?
I have thought of 6 to 7 reasons, to share with you today
of course they are just personal preferences
Things I like, maybe you don’t like,
so, just sharing my experience.
Before I explain my personal reasons, there are actually public rankings.
Interviewing Japanese people, asking them which city they would like to live in
Fukuoka ranked number one.
The main reason for the respondents is the low living cost of Fukuoka.
And then, Fukuoka people are nice.
№3 is that Fukuoka is very kids and family friendly, with good facilities.
Suitable for families.
For young Japanese people who grew up in rural areas,
their aspiration would be to move to big cities like Tokyo or Osaka.
But for those who don’t have to work in Tokyo,
then, living in other parts of Japan gives you different taste of Japan.
The first reason to choose Fukuoka when moving (migrating) to Japan,
instead of Tokyo or Osaka, is :
the superb geographical location of Fukuoka City.
Looking at the map, you will see that,
Fukuoka City is a perfect center point for East Asia.
Flight time from Hong Kong to Fukuoka is just over 2 hours.
And if you have been to Fukuoka City before,
You will remember that, Fukuoka Airport is very close to the City Center.
It’s a short and low cost taxi ride to the City Center.
You can easily go to Hakata or Tenjin for shopping or gourmet food, straight from the airport.
Underground train from the airport is also easy.
If you have been to Tokyo, you will know the difference.
If you have landed at Narita Airport,
it would be a huge pain.
Too many people at the airport,
and then it is more than 1 hour to the city.
It is so inefficient that, for my business trips in the past,
if I only had one meeting, the trip would take 3 days.
One day for getting to Tokyo,
Work the second day,
after you meetings, you won’t meet able to catch the last evening flight back to Hong Kong
so you would leave on the third day.
Sure, in recent years there are more international flight landing at Haneda Airport
Narita Airport is way to far out.
in my experience, Haneda flights are way more expensive, and often fully-booked.
For company-paid trips, I would surely choose Haneda Airport.
But when flights are fully-booked, no choice but to go to Narita.
Fukuoka Airport being close to the city is a crucial advantage,
if you plan to fly around quite often.
If you have frequent business trips to Shanghai, Beijing,
Hong Kong or Taiwan,
Even Singapore, the 2-hours difference (comparing to Tokyo) is significant.
Flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong is 5+ hours,
Fukuoka to Hong Kong is 2+ hours.
if you were to go to Singapore or Thailand,
it is a significant difference.
So the location of Fukuoka (in relation to other Asian cities) is very good.
great for me, sometimes want to eat Hong Kong food, I can easily fly back.
If you are flying from Hong Kong on a morning flight, you actually can arrive in time for lunch in the city.
Fukuoka also has easy land access to other places in Kyushu.
For fun, for example, if you want visit hot springs in Beppu,
or to take a look of the Aso Volcano,
or to visit Saga Prefecture,
you can visit many nearby places by car.
In one year, we have had so many driving trips to surround areas.
Other then driving, I have also taken train trips,
during the pandemic when I was bored, I visited Kyoto to see friends.
I called my friends there and said, how about dinner tomorrow?
Then at 2pm, I took the subway to Hakata Station,
and then get on a bullet train.
You know bullet trains are very frequent, so you just hop on.
just a 2-hour train ride, read the news, you get to Kyoto
dinner with friends at 6pm, for 3 hours,
then just stay the night in a cheap hotel.
The following morning, take a slow breakfast,
get on the bullet train, I’s be back in Fukuoka to work.
So if you need to, it is a easy train ride to Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya.
The second reason why we chose to move to Fukuoka is
that rent is cheap. Housing price is low.
comparing to Hong Kong,
I think house price in Fukuoka is 1/3 to 1/4 that of Hong Kong.
Comparing like-for-like, of course.
just about 1/4 that of Hong Kong.
Since I have lived in Tokyo in several occasions,
When I was poor, having to find the cheapest accomodation,
or when I was an expat working fancy jobs, when company pays for expensive flats
so I understand rent in Tokyo is not cheap
although a bit cheaper than Hong Kong.
Comparing like to like, Fukuoka is way cheaper than Tokyo.
With the same money, you can have a much better standard of living in Fukuoka.
The next good thing about Fukuoka is eating.
Yeah, so food is good everywhere in Japan, right?
What I really want to say is…
the agricultural and fishery produce in Kyushu is very abundant.
Even just Fukuoka Prefecture — it produces a large amount of food for the whole of Japan.
Food produced here, vegetable, fruits,
for example, strawberry which was in season recently,
you can imagine the variety of produce freshly grown here.
because the farms are near, it only takes a couple of hours for the produce to be delivered to supermarkets.
The transportation cost is low, so things are inexpensive.
On top of farm produce,
if you like seafood — sashimi, sushi,
Even friends from Tokyo say, for the same live squid sashimi,
if you eat in Tokyo, it would cost you over 10,000 yen;
Here in Fukuoka, you can have a live squid sashimi for 3 or 4 thousand yen, fresh from the sea
Needless to say, if you are near to the source, food will be fresh and cheap.
This is perfect for us, as my wife really loves to cook,
Fukuoka has great fresh food ingredients.
After food, what is important for living? Play!
For me, Fukuoka is superb,
as I like water sports, also hiking in mountains,
From the city center, going to the ocean is really easy
you can be at the beach in 15 to 20 minutes.
The yacht harbour where we go sailing,
is less than 20 minutes drive away.
You can go out on a boat anytime you like.
And it is inexpensive to own a boat — just get a second hand
the berthing fee for a sail boat is way cheaper than in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, it is unthinkable expensive for most people.
I sailed a lot in Hong Kong, but never thought of owning a boat.
I have also sailed a lot in Tokyo — it is only for the super rich.
and it is far away from the city.
Fukuoka is water sport heaven. You can windsurf,
or water-ski,
or paddling a canoe or SUP,
the ocean is easily accessible.
or just go for a swim on the beach.
For people who prefer not to get wet, the mountain is also nearby.
The mountain is only 20 minutes drive from the city center.
In the summer, we love to go to water falls.
a little bit of hiking.
We have been to a few very good waterfalls.
Not very crowded with people, great feeling!
Very refreshing after work or on weekends.
The 5th reason: Fukuoka is great for families with kids.
Our son is now 5 — he came when he was 4
His Japanese is already very good. We are so surprised.
Kids learn fast!
He easily makes friends in parks and playgrounds.
He’s very happy here.
Public places, trains, are all very kids friendly.
Shopping centers all have kids facilities.
From family toilets to breast-feeding room, all well thought out.
Fukuoka city is doing a great job in this respect.
I heard that Fukuoka City Government is relatively rich.
It can afford those family-friendly facilities.
I also heard that Fukuoka has among the highest birth rate in Japan.
You can easily see families with kids in trains — 2 is standard.
3 kids is also not unusual.
It seems that young couples really do enjoy living in Fukuoka.
If you live in Tokyo, and have kids,
you will need to live very far away from the city where you work.
over one hour commute is standard in Tokyo.
But it is not like that in Fukuoka, because it is smaller.
Even for places near the city center, you can have a lot of space for you children.
Another thing I observe tis that
when I was having business dinner in good restaurants in Tokyo,
High-end restaurants in Tokyo do not welcome kids.
If you have kids, you have no choice other then family restaurants such as Royal Host.
But in Fukuoka, most high-end restaurants have no problem with bring kids.
People are tolerant about noisy kids.
I think people here really like kids more.
So if you have kids, Fukuoka is highly recommended.
Now the 6th reason:
If you choose to live in a city,
or you choose to live in the country side,
its completely different.
Cities have different sizes. Tokyo is over 10m people.
it’s very crowded — as you know if you have been here.
Fukuoka only has 1m+ people.
It’s much smaller, but it is big enough.
If a place is too small, then it can become inconvenient,
Say if you want to buy something special,
or occasional want some fine dinning, you won’t have it.
Historically, Fukuoka has been an important trading port in West Japan,
and Fukuoka is the biggest city in Kyushu,
Almost all big Japanese corporations have their West Japan headquaters in Fukuoka.
Because of the abundance of business travelers from Tokyo and Osaka,
a lot of gourment restaurants thrive here in Fukuoka.
We Hong Kong people love to eat.
If in a small town, we will get bore of local food quickly.
But Fukuoka City has strong business activities, so it supports a lot of good restaurants.
But of course Tokyo is even better in this respect.
For us, Fukuoka offers sufficiently modern living,
at the same time with good access to Nature.
In comparison, when I was living in Tokyo city center,
it was great, because my company paid rent in the best area,
but going to the country side during weekends, say a round of golf,
you have to get up really early in the morning, drive 2 hours to the golf course,
after playing, the return trip is even worse,
big traffic jam as everyone is going in the same direction
it’s just not enjoyable.
Tokyo is almost like Shanghai — a big flat piece of land,
tons of people going out on the weekend, coming back with big traffic
Fukuoka City also has some holiday traffic,
but it is much better with shorter distance and fewer people.
so in sum, the city scale of Fukuoka is just right.
Of course if you choose a remote place outside of Tokyo, say Hachioji,
it won’t be that much fun,
say I had a bad day, and wanted to eat better,
you won’t want to go out because things are so far away.
but in Fukuoka, you can easily to anywhere.
After 6 reason, now we come to the climate.
Fukuoka; climate is similar to other parts of Japan — but more mellow,
Not very cold, comparing to Hokkaido and the Northeast, of course,
Last winter we only had 3 or 4 days of snow.
We get so excited as soon as it starts to snow.
We would immediate drive to the mountains to see snow.
so a few times a year, its great!
But if you live in Hokkaido, it is deep snow everyday!
Shoveling snow everyday is hard work
A ski holiday is of course good,
But snow storms often shut highways and airports in Hokkaido.
Fukuoka is relatively mellow,
Summer can be really hot,
but since we are a car city,
most people have cars, cars are inexpensive,
or car rental is very easy for a day out,
even just rent for half a day.
Car life is affordable.
If you live in the center, then buses and trains are very convenient too.
I hope you now have a better understanding of Fukuoka.
Please subscribe to our channel if you also like Fukuoka!
This article first appeared in Linkin.
