Considering moving to Japan with my husband and dog this fall. Here's a little information about me:
– Have Japanese/US dual citizenship and speak/read/write Japanese with native proficiency. Have not lived in Japan since age 5 but have traveled there frequently in my adult life.
– Currently work remotely for large US company and will be keeping my job. I make decent money so don't think husband has to work unless he wants to. He is a total gaijin, speaks a tiny bit of Japanese.
– Parents live in Kamakura. Would like to be able to see them frequently, thus would like to be near the Shinkansen to Tokyo.
– Plan on buying a car to go to/from the mountains.
Our priorities are: good skiing, easy to get to Kamakura, convenient day-to-day living. Our budget is flexible – would like to spend under $2k USD / month which looks very doable. Right now I'm looking at Nagano city. Here are my questions:
– Is it possible to base in Nagano and ski in Nozawa/myoko/hakuba etc? What is traffic like? Should I look to live closer to one ski area?
– Right now I'm using Suumo to look at housing options. Is there another place I could be looking?
– is there another place that would fit the bill, maybe in Niigata or Gunma or elsewhere in Nagano? We love to ski powder, trees. Powdery trees. Uncrowded would be awesome.
– If we live in Nagano city, what are some of the best areas to live to have proximity to shopping/eateries? Would love to live somewhere walkable that has a old-school vibe, near a park where we can walk our dog.
– Are there a lot of gaijin in Nagano? I see the likelihood of us making friends with other gaijin or mixed gaijin-japanese couples that are also into skiing.
Throwaway account because this has so much personally identifiable information in it.
by Various_Artists_1994