RResidents in Japan

Foreign-friendly neighborhoods in Kansai for a young family?

  • December 4, 2025

My family and I will be moving to the Kansai area soon from Tsukuba city city and I will be working in the Keihanna region. We have a three-year-old child, and none of us speak Japanese yet. We are also thinking about possibly buying a house once we settle in.

Any recommendations for family-friendly places to live in Kansai that are also foreigner-friendly?

We are originally from South Asia, in case that helps with suggestions about community or amenities.

Thanks in advance!

by ConsistentAd6478

5 comments

  1. Figure out what school you are going to send your kid to and then go from there. If you are going with an international school there are only a few to choose from.

  2. That’s a big area. It would help to narrow that down a bit,- you don’t want suggestions that’ll give you a three hour commute. 

    Also a bit more about what you’re looking for- city life? More nature? Car-centric? Pretty much everywhere is “family friendly” and “foreigner friendly”, depending on your definitions of those terms

  3. I don’t know what “foreign-friendly” neighborhood means, as there are no foreigner ghettos in Japan, but anywhere that has a train station sounds good.

  4. Does “foreigner friendly” here mean “stuff with English support nearby” or something else?

  5. Guess it depends on what you mean with foreigner friendly. Is it about getting service in english, or just about locals being friendly towards foreigners.

    In my experience the less foreigners there are in a neighborhood the friendlier or less annoyed locals will be.

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