There’s more to Japan than Tokyo and its Kanto region! Would you consider living and working in Kansai instead?
The Kansai region of Japan most famously encompasses the prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara—Osaka being Japan’s second-largest city after Tokyo, and Kyoto and Nara having both served as prior national capitals. The area also includes the prefectures Wakayama, Hyogo, and Shiga, and even, by some definitions, Mie, Fukui, Tokushima, and Tottori.
As a whole, the Kansai area is distinguished by its dialects, which differ noticeably from Tokyo’s speech patterns. While it’s difficult to assign a culture to an entire region, people from Kansai are often seen as more easygoing, louder, more direct, and funnier than their Kanto counterparts, thanks to a long history of mercantilism and comedy. Individual prefectures and cities, however, boast their own highly distinct specialties and reputations. Nara is known for its “bowing deer,” Wakayama for its fresh tuna, Kyoto for its passive-aggression, etc.
To get the real scoop on living in Kansai, TokyoDev asked three developers working in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefecture to share their experiences and advice. Our biggest takeaway: while stereotypes about this region abound, they rarely match the facts.
Working in Kansai
Osaka
What’s it like working for a company in Kansai?
“Before I answer,” said Ben Johnson, an American developer in Osaka, “I’d like to provide a bit of context about my company and my job position.
“I work at Cosmic Lab, a small multimedia and live visual entertainment development company in Osaka. We specialize in creating and installing live video and lighting systems for international and domestic concert events and physical installations, utilizing real-time graphics engines such as Unreal Engine, Unity, and TouchDesigner.
“A few of our public installations include the new 360-degree LED visual contents system at Zepp Shinjuku, the Conan Skate video game at the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory, and even the giant 2025 Osaka World Expo Fist statue in Dotonbori street.”
In other words, Johnson’s company probably wouldn’t be considered typical anywhere. That said, it’s not as unusual in Osaka as one might think.
Osaka companies do seem much more willing to embrace new and creative ideas at times. I think this is probably due to Osaka’s history in different creative fields like comedy and art.
That’s a key difference from the atmosphere in Tokyo, according to Johnson. “Overall, people here are very laid back and there is a very strong underground art culture in Osaka. This culture makes it much easier to work with a lot of people and I think that has been the key to my company getting to work with many different bands in Japan, both big and small, like GLAY, BUCK-TICK, flumpool, 7ORDER, JP THE WAVY, and more.”
In other respects, though, working in Osaka is _exactly _like Tokyo. “There are still many of the same downsides you will experience in most companies in Japan. For example, people always seem to like to talk around issues and never say exactly what they want, they will regularly change their minds up until the last minute, or they will give you a high priority task at the last minute or end of the day.
“I don’t think there is really any way around these work culture issues . . . but that being said, I think the fun and exciting work environment of an Osakan company makes these problems a bit more bearable.”
What about long-term career prospects? “Overall,” Johnson answered, “I think working in Osaka has been a positive experience for me, despite some challenges. While my programming career development may have slowed slightly, I feel like I have experienced rapid growth from when I first joined Cosmic Lab. Since joining, I became immediately responsible for designing new live visual entertainment systems using experimental and custom hardware.”
Fewer developers in Osaka means less competition, which means more opportunity for growth roles and cross-skilling. The primary downside? The lack of English speakers and resources.
I feel like the language barrier between Japanese and English may have hindered my ability to talk to other developers, and could be potentially limiting the rate in which I grow as a developer.
The language issue causes difficulties networking as well. “Unfortunately, I can’t say I know too much about co-working and networking in Osaka. Personally I’ve always worked in the office as I feel that is better for a person’s wellbeing, and networking is a bit difficult with my level of Japanese.” In Johnson’s opinion, a certain level of Japanese ability is by definition required for effective outreach.
Osaka also isn’t the hub of developer events that Tokyo is. “I have tried a few developer meetups such as Ichi Pixel (which unfortunately shut down during Covid) but I haven’t really found any events that seemed particularly interesting to me as a developer.”
But,” Johnson added, “since Osaka is a pretty big city, there is a lot of opportunity for these kinds of things.” It’s possible another developer might stumble upon events he’s unaware of; if they’re ambitious, they might even have an opportunity to establish a network of their own.
Kyoto
Alexander Chen didn’t technically work for a company in Kyoto; instead, he worked remotely for Mercari, which is based in Tokyo. Post-pandemic, remote options are becoming increasingly common, so this is a likely set-up for any developer who’s interested in exploring options outside of Tokyo.
Chen had already been working at the Mercari offices in Tokyo for about a year and a half. As soon as the business offered remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic, though, Chen straightaway moved to Kyoto. “I studied abroad here ten years ago and I loved the city, so I always wanted to come back.”
Live in Kyoto, that was the dream—and it came true.
There were practical advantages as well. “As I started my life here, I was a brand-new junior level engineer, with no real experience. Working from Kyoto was obviously nice, with all the remote aspects. I can do the same job, while living in a lower-cost area. Because it was cheaper here, I was able to afford a much nicer home and make a really comfortable remote work set up . . . I couldn’t do that in Tokyo, because I could only afford a shoebox.”
That being said, Chen stressed that remote work outside of Tokyo can be great, but only if you’re doing so with the right people and the right support. “Your team and your company culture will probably make or break your experience as a remote engineer,” he said.
Chen’s personal recommendation is a lightly-hybrid arrangement, in which a developer travels to the main office in Tokyo (or wherever it might be located) around once a month. “Thankfully my company was willing to pay for the shinkansen ticket up to a certain amount,” he said, “if I wanted to go to the office.”
This sort of once-a-month check-in is very possible from Kyoto, if not always simple.
It was harder [to commute] than it seems, I will say that. It sounds easy on paper, cause you’re like, oh, you just go to Kyoto station, hop on the shinkansen, and boom! Two hours later I’m in Tokyo.
“But in reality, it’s more like three and a half hours door-to-door. It’s a bit tiring, spending three to four hours in the morning in transit, and that’s time I spend not working, which makes me feel unproductive. So sometimes I try to work on the shinkansen, but that doesn’t really work out for me, because the Internet cuts out every few minutes. I get motion sickness fairly easily, so that also didn’t work out too well.
“What I’d usually do was try to go the night before and stay at a hotel, and then go to work the next day, although that would come out of my own wallet—the company would pay for my train ticket but not the hotel. That also discouraged me from going more frequently.”
When he remains in Kyoto, Chen usually goes to a coworking space or cafe two to three times a week—or, at least, he tries to. “In reality, because I’m not being forced to leave my house, a lot of days I’ll plan to go, but before I realize it, it’s still two p.m. and I’m in my pajamas.”
“There are surprisingly quite a few [coworking spaces] in Kyoto,” Chen said. In particular, he noted that Space Kante, .andWork, and Impact Hub are quite popular. But while these may be good places to get work done, they’re not so good for networking in the developer community—although, Chen clarified, some of that might have come down to bad timing.
“To be fair, most of [my experience] was in 2022, so it was still kind of during Covid times. Border restrictions were still a thing, so there weren’t a whole lot of other people at the spaces, and it didn’t feel like such a social environment. I think if it was not Covid [times], those spaces would have been holding social events.”
In general, though, Kyoto is just not a developer hub.
I don’t know anybody else in the city who is also a developer. Nearly all of my friends here work non-technical jobs or have non-traditional lifestyles.
“Tokyo has a ridiculously strong developer community, so that’s a big plus if that’s important to you. But outside of Tokyo, it’s pretty sparse I would say.”
In this, Chen echoed the experience of other non-Tokyoite developers, almost all of whom said that their cities lacked the extensive networking opportunities and developer events Tokyo offers.
Shiga
Interestingly, it’s the developer from Shiga Prefecture who seems to know the most about networking in Kyoto and Osaka.
“I have attended a meetup in Kyoto that was very informative and very fun,” Mitchell Fernandez explained. “They are probably the closest and most often running meetup [group], running monthly in both Osaka and Kyoto.”
I highly recommend them: Osaka/Kyoto Web Designers and Developers Meetup.
Part of the reason Fernandez is familiar with the group is that, in his own words, “I have not found any networking opportunities in Shiga.”
“Shiga is a very quiet prefecture,” he said, “with lots of factories, but I would say not many technology-focused companies.”
Like Chen, Fernandez works remotely, in the small rural town of Ryuuou-chou. The similarity ends there, however. Rather than being employed by a major company based in Tokyo, Fernandez is working his way up in a small travel company.
“As this is my first job in the IT industry, I am an IT admin,” he explained. “I do development at a junior level for the company’s website, etc.”
“I am the only IT person in my company,” he went on, “so it is very much learning-on-the-job for me after I completed my coding bootcamp.”
Just because it’s a small business, however, doesn’t mean there isn’t a good chance for career development; Fernandez is slated to become the company’s lead developer as the business expands. In the meantime, “I like it here,” Fernandez said. “It is a good company, with a small team that allows us to work from home.”
The job is fully remote, as the team is divided between Japan and Australia. Though there is a company office in Hakuba—in Nagano, north of the Kanto region—the team is never required to attend meetings there.
This suits Fernandez, who favors remote work specifically for family reasons. “[They] are very flexible with our work hours and appointments, children getting sick, etc.”
The chief downside of working in Shiga, according to Fernandez, is the salary.
For my position, and the cost of living being much cheaper, I feel comfortable with my salary and living in the countryside.
But, he admits, “I would say the salary is lower than that of Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka.”
Living in Kansai
Osaka
Johnson may entertain some reservations about career growth in Kansai, but when it comes to Osaka’s quality of life, he’s quite enthusiastic: “Overall, I really like life in Osaka.”
Then again . . . “I’m both pretty humble and pretty amazing, so I don’t think I am capable of hating anything,” Johnson clarified. Obviously, he’s lived long enough in Osaka to pick up the city’s notorious sense of humor!
More seriously, Johnson laid out Osaka’s advantages and disadvantages. “Osaka of course has many of the same annoying issues as the rest of Japan (no central AC so bathroom trips are hot and sweaty, you have to carry your trash home, almost every restaurant is either curry, ramen, rice bowl, or if someone is feeling particularly cheeky, sushi) but it’s a great place to live.
Everywhere feels very safe, housing is cheap, eating out is cheap, medicine is decently priced.
“Things can be difficult at times,” Johnson clarified. “There’s the occasional old guy telling us to leave Japan, or a restaurant telling us it is full when it clearly isn’t, but overall everything is great.”
Osaka is sometimes considered unsafe compared to Tokyo, but Johnson says the stereotype doesn’t reflect reality. “I think one of the best things about working in Osaka has to be the people. I know Osaka has a somewhat bad reputation on TV for crime, but I can’t say I’ve ever witnessed anything other than some minor verbal harassment and a couple random tourists in Dotonobori pinching my butt a couple times.”
Johnson is happy enough to fully commit to Osaka: he and his wife, who is also American, have recently bought a house in Shijonawate. “It was really affordable compared to US homes, and the bank (SMBC) and real-estate company (Murakumo Corporation) were both really helpful in making that happen.” In particular, Johnson recommends the Murakumo Corporation for anyone else who might be house-hunting in the area.
He also had some specific recommendations for anyone new to the area, whether they’re moving there for work or simply visiting. “Occasionally when we miss home, we like to head into the Nama area (where my company is) and swing by some of their great restaurants like Fuu’s Hotdogs (which for some reason only sells sausages), Tri Ân Quán (for good Vietnamese food), or The Hearth (a board game cafe with kangaroo burgers). . . . Or we will head over to MINT records to buy as many second-hand records as 2,000 yen can get us. I often like to swing by the Silicon House Kyoritsu in Denden to pick up parts for electronic engineering work.
“If you are in the area I recommend all of these places, plus they are close to Dotonobori and Denden, which seem to be a must stop location for all tourists in Osaka.”
In conclusion, Johnson is happy where he is, and encourages others to join him.
I highly recommend working in Osaka for foreigners that are tired of Tokyo, there is much more space and freedom overall.
“Sure, there are fewer foreign restaurants (don’t worry curry fans, India always has your back here), and it can be difficult to find stuff you are comfortable with, but I think it is much better if you really plan on committing to being in Japan long term.”
Kyoto
“Kyoto has everything in a city that I love,” said Chen.
“My first three years in Japan were on JET, and I was in Shimane Prefecture, which is generally considered ‘ultra-inaka.’ That wasn’t a great fit for me personally. A lot of people around me loved it, but for me, it was just a little too out there and lacked the excitement I wanted at the time. So I left after three years.
“So then I went straight to Tokyo, and lived there for about three years. And then it was kind of the opposite—it was fun, it was exciting, but also a bit too much.
“Then I moved to Kyoto, and it’s perfectly in-between, and it hit all the sweet spots for me personally.”
One particular sweet spot: the cost of living.
It’s so affordable. Vegetables are cheaper, homes are cheaper . . . everything’s cheaper.
Chen offered his own rental experience as an example. When he lived in a Kyoto sharehouse, he paid 54,000 yen a month for his room. After that, he rented a detached house for 85,000 yen a month. Now he shares an apartment with his partner for 100,000 yen a month; the higher price is justified, he feels, because the apartment is a 1LDK in a quite nice part of the city.
Living in a central area isn’t required, however. “The city is pretty compact,” Chen said. “You could live on the outskirts of the city, and you’re still twenty minutes away from the fun stuff.” So if you’d prefer to live in the suburbs, you’re not missing out on social opportunities. “You can have spontaneous meet-ups. It’s totally doable.”
What about public transportation? “Personally, I’ve very rarely felt inconvenienced by public transportation here,” Chen said. It’s not as extensive as in Tokyo, but “it’s more than good enough,” especially if you’re willing to walk a bit further to and from the station.
For himself, Chen prefers to cycle. “It’s such an easy city to cycle in. Whenever the weather is good, you can pretty much cycle anywhere you want to. Assuming you’re not trying to traverse from one side of the city to the other, if you’re just trying to get from your home to the downtown area or your friend’s house, it very rarely takes more than thirty minutes. More often it takes less than twenty minutes.”
One of the oft-cited downsides of Kyoto is the elaborate, perhaps passive-aggressive modes of politeness preferred by its residents. Chen, however, feels that Kyoto has gotten a bad rap.
Kyoto has a lot of stereotypes about it. To me, those are more like memes made up by Japanese people.
In general, according to Chen, people in Kyoto are actually more easy-going than their counterparts in Tokyo. “People are more laid-back here. There’s a lower concentration of your typical salarymen and office workers, not as many stressed-out people. I think people are just a bit friendlier and easier to get along with.”
On the other hand, the younger generation remains a bit intimidated by its elders, who can occasionally demonstrate what one might call the “Kyoto attitude.” “Some of my friends who were born and raised in Kyoto,” Chen explained, “they’re fantastic, they’re super-friendly, and they’re really down-to-earth. But they say things like, ‘Oh, my grandma is so scary! I don’t know what she’s thinking all the time!’ Even Kyoto people think Kyoto people are scary, but I think it’s just a generational difference.”
Which might not matter as much as you think—given that many of the people Chen met in Kyoto were not born and raised there. Almost all of his friends there are Japanese, but most hail from Osaka, Kobe, or Shiga rather than being Kyoto natives.
One reason Chen’s friends are almost entirely Japanese is that he’s more likely to meet them outside of work. In Tokyo, 99% of his friends were work friends, and so included a higher ratio of expats and English speakers. In Kyoto he doesn’t encounter many other developers, and tends to make friends with those in many different occupations.
“I don’t have any English-speaking friends here, now that I think about it,” said Chen. Which could be a downside for those who are still learning Japanese. “Fortunately,” Chen said, “I speak Japanese fairly comfortably, but if that were not the case, it would be a lot harder for me to have a healthy social life here.”
There are other stereotypes about Kyoto that Chen would like to debunk. For example, there’s the idea that Kyoto is overrun by foreigners and tourists, making it difficult for local residents. According to Chen, that’s really not the case. “As someone who just lives here, I never see them, unless I go to the Kyoto Station area.”
And while you might associate Kyoto with tea ceremonies, Chen pointed out that Kyoto has the highest rate of coffee consumption in Japan. “We also have the highest concentration of bakeries. Your average Kyoto resident freaking loves drinking coffee and eating bread. . . . There is a very strong independent coffee-roasting/coffee-brewing scene. I think because the cost of housing and running businesses is cheaper, there are so many more small, family-run or individually-run businesses here than there are in Tokyo.”
“Really, really good coffee. Really, really good bread,” Chen added with a laugh.
I asked Chen what would, ultimately, make him recommend Kyoto to others, and he had a ready answer.
My favorite part of Kyoto is the river, Kamogawa. It’s a giant river that cuts through the city, and it’s an amazing place to go and relax and go for a jog or a walk. I have a dog, I walk her there every morning.
“That’s one of the things that made me fall in love with the city,” he concluded. “If you’re in Tokyo, you’re probably surrounded by concrete most of the time. I was, at least. It takes a bit of effort to go find somewhere peaceful, to just relax. In Kyoto, it’s never far away.”
Shiga
For his part, Fernandez heartily recommends Shiga Prefecture, especially for anyone who enjoys outdoor activities.
Shiga is quiet and beautiful with Lake Biwa in the center and nice weather.
“It has everything you could ask for,” he said. “Swimming and fishing, hiking . . . and snowboarding and skiing in the winter.”
Lake Biwa is, of course, a particular draw. Fernandez especially recommends the west side of the lake, for the “great campgrounds, with swimming!”
“Also, GRANSNOW Okuibuki is a nice resort in Shiga,” he added, “with good snow, but busy on weekends!”
While it may not be a hopping urban center, Shiga isn’t entirely lacking in nightlife, either. “Kusatsu is a fun town,” said Fernandez, “with many izakaya and bars for drinking and eating.”
The best part is that you get all the benefits of Shiga, plus the upsides of Kyoto and Osaka. “It is also in close proximity to Kyoto and Osaka by train,” he pointed out—so you won’t miss out on any of the benefits described by Ben Johnson or Alexander Chen above.
But at the same time, Shiga Prefecture is “quite a safe area to live in,” which is particularly beneficial for those with children, like Fernandez.
The small town I live in has Kodomo Hiroba [free Japanese language classes], and lots of free activities for kids.
However, one of the top benefits of living in Ryuuou-chou is financial: “Residential taxes are very low in my small city.” This is due to the presence of a Daihatsu factory, Fernandez believes. “Because they pay high company taxes, ours get to be lower!”
Conclusion
Do Osaka, Kyoto, or Shiga Prefecture sound like a good fit for you? Are you interested in working in the Kansai region? Check out our job board for positions in those areas, or for fully remote roles that will let you live anywhere in Japan.
If you want to network with developers living in Kansai, you can meet some in our community.