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11. Moving to Tokyo

Tokyo at a Glance

Moving to Tokyo

This airplane takes you to the world's largest urban economy.

Moving to Tokyo, you won’t be surprised why its official Japanese name is Tōkyō-to (the metropolis of Tokyo). Nobody would guess that Japan’s largest metropolitan region has its origins in a sleepy village near the mouth of the Sumida River.

Edo (‘bay entrance’ or ‘estuary’), as it was called, did not have any political or cultural importance until a 15^th-century nobleman built Edo Castle. Today this is part of the country’s Imperial Palace grounds, a sight that attracts countless visitors and expats moving to Tokyo.

Around 1600, this castle became the seat of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan’s first military dictator. Suddenly, the country’s political power players and the upper classes started moving to Tokyo. Due to the influx of Tokugawa retainers moving to Tokyo – still known as Edo – it became the world’s largest city, with a million inhabitants by the mid-1700s.

Moving to Tokyo: The Great East Japan Earthquake

Occasionally, earthquakes take place in the Greater Tokyo Area and all over Japan. Most of them are quite harmless. Unfortunately, in March 2011 a major earthquake of 9.0 on the Richter scale shook the ground of Japan’s east coast, which caused a devastating flood wave. The tsunami destroyed many towns along the east coast and resulted in up to 20,000 of lives being lost.

Furthermore, a nuclear power plant near Fukushima was heavily damaged. A considerable amount of radiation was set free. The government eventually declared an area with a radius of 20-30 km around Fukushima a prohibited zone. Neither local residents nor expats moving to Tokyo may enter this area. The long-term results of this disaster on both the environment of northeast Japan and the Japanese economy are yet to be determined. However, foreigners moving to Tokyo from abroad will be relieved to hear that life in the capital is back to normal by now.

Move to Tokyo: Tokyo in the 21^st Century

By population of its administrative area, contemporary Tokyo is only the 14^th biggest city around the globe. However, the Greater Tokyo Area – with commuters moving to the city and back to the suburbs on a daily basis – ranks first on every worldwide comparison list. Moving to Tokyo can thus be a confusing and overwhelming experience!

Moving to Tokyo on an expatriate assignment, you might find yourself moving to a mega-city divided into 23 wards (ku). Each ward forms a town of its own. Or you could move to Tokyo prefecture, which includes 39 municipalities and two archipelagos off the coast. Moving to Tokyo’s metropolitan region could mean settling even beyond where moving to Tokyo prefecture would take you. It reaches far into adjacent prefectures, including the cities of Chiba, Saitama, and Yokohama.

Moving to Tokyo: The Metropolis

However, moving to Tokyo certainly means not only moving to a world of commuters and suburbia, as depicted in William Gibson’s cult novel Neuromancer. Moving to Tokyo will introduce you to expatriate life in a global hot media capital – one of the world’s largest urban economies.

This ultra-dynamic city offers plenty of tourist attractions foreigners moving to Tokyo should not miss. After moving to Tokyo, you never know when, in between hypermodern architecture, you will stumble upon a sight reminiscent of old Edo.

Move to Tokyo: Expat Neighborhoods

Among the over 400,000 foreign residents who completed moving to Tokyo, there are many British, Chinese, Filipino, French, Korean, and US American gaijin (‘foreigners’). Some nationalities are living in foreign-dominated neighborhoods, such as the Korean quarter near Shin-Ōkubo station, but most expats moving to Tokyo choose their home according to practical considerations.

These very considerations – proximity to work, international schools, public transport, shopping facilities, etc. – do make some wards and districts more popular than others. While it’s, of course, impossible to introduce all 23 ku, we can highlight some areas where expatriates moving to Tokyo choose to live.

Everything within the circumference of the Yamanote Line is centrally located, attractive for foreign residents, and even more expensive than is usual for Tokyo. Nonetheless, quite a few expatriates settle within the eight most central wards, especially in Meguro, Minato, Shinjuku, and Shibuya.