Moving to the Japanese Countryside: What to expect.

If you ever consider moving to a detached house in a rural city or the countryside in Japan, please read this before deciding anything.

You will SUFFER a lot due to the next points:

Insulation is quite poor both in terms of sound and temperature. You will see how the temperature outside and inside will be almost the same if only a few degrees of difference. Also you will hear people and neighbours speak. A large part of the problem comes from the bad window quality, that are basically old style aluminium frames with thin glass. If you rent or buy a modern detached house, expect a building made of premade pannels and bad insulation.

If you live in a cold area such as Hokkaido or northern regions of Japan, be prepared to spend an arm and a leg in energy for heating. Due to the poor insulation, during winter and during summer you will be running air conditioner or heating almost all day and night long. If you don't use heating, you will see the interior of your house might literally be cooler than the inside of your fridge!

If you live in a warm area (Okinawa or south-west Japan), be prepared to spend an arm and a leg in electricity from June to late September. Your house will be poorly insulated and the weather will be incredibly humid and hot. You literally need to run air conditioner 24/7 otherwise you cannot sleep or do anything. You might find a monthly electricity bill of 400 USD or more, easily, during the aforementioned months.

Rural areas do not generaly have city gas, so you have to rely on propane gas tanks. Although propane gas is more energetic than city gas and your stove and cooktop will heat things faster, still be prepared to sped 150% to 200% more on your gas bill. If you run a gas heater for about 12 to 20 hours per day during winter, do not be surprised if your gas bill reaches the 250s to 500s US Dollars. If you rely on electric power for heating or cooling, this amount might go even higher!

Some rural areas might have a higer price on tap water, that could easily be 150% more expensive than cities, or even more.

Garbage disposal cannot be done at any time any day. There is a very strict regulation on garbage disposal days and types. For example, you might find that organic or burnable garbage (such as paper) can be disposed, for example, only on Mondays and Thrusdays and only from 5:00 am to 8:30 am, while plastics only twice per month and only before 9:00am. Every type of grabage is strictly regulated, and this includes, glass, tins, big objects, wood, cardboard, plastic, PET bottles, organic, etc. You cannot throw away your tins and bottles outside the designated day and timeframe. Some places might be a bit more flexible and allow you to thrown the garbage one or two days prior. Some other places might be as strict as telling you that disposal of garbage outside of dedicated time and hour will result in you being reported to the authorities! Crazy, isn't it?

You cannot easily dispose of large items. You have to call a specialized company or service so they can come and pick up your item. This will cost you money that depends on the type and size of the item. Do not even think about abandoning your broken microwave somewhere in a field. Or do it only under your own responsibility.

Public transport is very low on frequency. Trains might come once every 30 minutes, and buses maybe 3 or 4 times per day.

Trains are old and noisy. Sure they are charming, beautiful and well preserved, but if you live close to the station or railway, you will not enjoy the charm of that noisy machine every 30 minutes. You won't be able to sleep if you live next to the station or railway. When I say old, I mean as old as from the 70s or 80s.

Old trains do not offer any kind of indication on what is the route you are taking or what is the next station. Forget about LED screens or pannels. You need to pay attention to the train driver when they announce by speaker the next station. Also you might be missing any information about the route inside the train. If you take the wrong train, you will only notice once you reach a station you are not supposed to be. No problem, get off that train, and wait for the opposite train that might take another 30 minutes or even more, depending on the time. Non-commuting time might make trains come only once per hour!

Detached houses will 99% of the time lack any sense of security. Only a thin glass door or window sepparates your belongings from the outside. Break-ins rarely happen, but sometimes they do. If you are from a western country, you might feel really uneasy sleeping in a house where windows are flimsy, glass is paper thin, and the location is literally like a desert at night. Some houses have a metallic window "blind" of some sort that covers the entire window or door, so that is better than nothing. Do not always count on this window blind though. In general, there is no security measure to avoid a break in.

Door-to-door salesmen are sometimes more numerous in rural areas. This includes not only goods vendors, but also religious cults, donations and various other services that they want you to join. Depending on the area, if it is close to a larger city, you might find each week one or two of these people will ring on your door. This most likely won't happen if you live in an appartment building.

Mobile network coverage. Some companies have less network coverage. If you are living far too deep in a rural place, you might have difficulties connecting to the rest of the world. Or you might find that your 4G is slower than usual or even only 3G is available. That is not a problem if you only need gopher or gemini.

Delivery services. Most likely you won't have any issue with parcel delivery or pick up, but Japan Post, Kuroneko Yamato or Sagawa Express, main courier services in Japan, have a list of undeliverable areas, where they don't offer any service.

Most local businesses will close much earlier. Around city areas, most shops and restaurants will be open until 8:00pm or even more. In rural areas many places will close at 5:00pm and supermarkets at 7:00pm. Except for combinience stores, that are 24hours open.

Depending on the area, people might be very narrow minded and not willing to interact with you at all. You must have to show your willingness to be part of the community over the years by participaing in events, strictly following all the social rules and of course, learning the language.

Insects everywhere. There are huge spiders, milipedes, roaches, flies, mosquitoes and other beauties who will visit you once in a while, specially at night.

Generaly speaking, your life will be more expensive: fuel, food and transportation will be slightly more expensive. Acounting for everything, your life expenses might become about 150% higher.

You must be able to drive a car. There are some exceptions, but most rural areas in Japan are uncovenient, without any nearby supermarket or any shop whatsoever. Without a car you will not be able to have a normal life because you cannot access the most basic services. Some places are exceptionally convenient, but that is just that, an exception.

It is difficult to find housing. Most people in these areas just buy or build their own house. There are so less houses on rent that you might find difficult finding a good one that fits most of your needs. A partially developed rural area might have avalable at any given time maybe 4 or 5 houses on rent, while 5 to 10 on sale, and among these, half of them might be way too far from anywhere or simply way too old, way too deteriorated, etc.

You will LOVE a lot the countryside in Japan due to the next points:

Food tastes better. As long as you stick to natural foods and ingredients, everything will be tastier and healthier. Avoid factory made items. They are full of chemicals. Restaurants will cook delicious food, miles ahead of city restaurants. Fish, vegetables and meat are incredibly good.

Everything is silent and peaceful. You will love the birds, nature and calmness of the area.

There is no dust in the air. If you lived in the big city, you will notice how everything outside is always covered in a thin layer of gray dust. That comes from various polutants from cars and etc. There is no such thing in the countryside. You can breath deeply and purify your lungs with peace of mind.

The air smells good. It smells like clean, fresh, grass and trees, flowers, river water or sea water.

Less heat during summer. Since you will have mostly nature around you, there is no Heat Island effect or concrete structures that absorb and release heat. Summers are easier, but still you might need air conditioner at certain moments depending on the area. If you have a rier or stream nearby, the summers will be quite easy in comparison with large cities.

Tap water is generally safe to drink directly from the faucet without the need of a water filter, of course, given that the piping of your house is properly maintained. Japan has mostly hard water, that is good if you have a proper diet. Unlike in the big city that the water might taste strange, in the countryside it tastes good and refreshing.

People give a shit about trends and fashions. Everyone will dress just with random clothes and nobody cares if you are wearing the latest jeans or some high brand sneakers. If you are a woman, you will be free from wearing makeup. Rarely people wear makeup in the countryside, if at most some shop clerks and maybe teenagers. You could go out with some pijama around that people might not even care or notice.

Everything seems slower and less stressful. There is some sort of atmosphere that screams peace and calmness. Even if you are in a hurry, you will feel easier and at peace.

There is little amount of street lights in comparison with the big city. You will enjoy the clear night sky full of stars. Some streets or parts of the village might be totally in the absolute darkness. Don't be afraid, you can enjoy night skies and amazing moments in silence, background breeze, a nearby stream, some crow, bird or cicada in the distance.

You will enjoy listening to the nature rather than traffic, trucks and firefighters.

You will feel as if you are living in a different world. Outside problems will feel far away and meaningless to you. You will feel as if you don't care about these things, as if everything outside your village is alien to you.

Most food will cost you the same, but you can easily find late hour sales in your local supermarket right before they close for the day. Food and perishable items can easily be found with steep discounts, even up to half their original price. If you buy mostly only discounted items, you can have a basket full of food for almost half the city price.

Some locally produced items might be cheaper than their counterpart at the big city even without discounts.

House rent will be half or less than the city. Sale price of houses and land is also much, much cheaper.

It is common to see some sort of market where local farmers sell their items. These might be higher price, but the quality is out of this world!

Restaurants that are family or small business cook totally homemade dishes. You will love repeating over and over your favourite dish.

People are friendly and welcoming. No, I am not contradicting what I said before. They are the best once you manage to break that thick, huge wall of ice. It might take you many months to reach that point, but all the people are fantastic and they will be literally like your family.

The price of land and houses are generally cheaper. If you are planning to build or buy a house, the countryside prices are much cheaper.

There are many amazing houses with good built quality and size for such a low price. Unfortunately these tend to be far from the train station and any supermarket (think of 45 minutes or more away from the main area). If you have telework or you have a bicycle or car, you might not care about this too much.

Everything is less crowded. And this includes streets, roads and shops.

Your life will become cheaper. Another contradiction? Not really. If you buy from discounted items, use heating only once in a while, use bicycle, do not commute to the city etc, your life will be cheaper.

Everything tends to be bigger. Not only houses, but also your garden, food portions, roads, streets, everything is bigger.

People smile. Unlike the bigger city, pleople are always smiling. There is always good vibes in the countriside, where your neighbours can become almost like your family.