Small world...I know that neighborhood fairly well...

I`ve been there fairly recently, and yes - things have not changed. It`s sort of the place to live if you can`t afford Tokyo. So instead of being a worthwhile place on it`s own, it is just a (often crappy) place to sleep at night sort of deal. A whole area like that. Instead of being or trying to be a good place on it`s own, it sort of relies on Tokyo to make up for the fact that it lacks anything worthwhile.

you obviously avoided kahin-makuhari and the surrounding cities...which is hardly "crappy" or "lacking anything worthwhile" its quite nice and growing a lot. bay town especially, where it takes A LOT of money to live hardly "a place to live if you can't afford Tokyo". Much of which has grown a lot over the past 5 years. Any of the cities on the keiyo line from kaihin to tokyo are worthwhile destinations (including tokyo disney).

but yes, most of the inaka of chiba is the same as the inaka everywhere else...it's just chiba has more inaka than most places.

25-30mins on express:mtongue: and as said above, the cities from tokyo/shin-kiba to kaihin on the keiyo line are very VERY nice, hardly inaka. bay town apartments rival those in tokyo, price wise. he'll its where boby valentine lives so :mtongue:

It was simply the impression I had of Saitama...I knew there would be other opinions.

Holy shit! Kaihim Makuhari!! I went to school at 神田外語大学 so I know that area very well.

hah, Bobby Valentine. I forgot that he was the manager of the Marines. How's he doing for that team? I don't really pay attention to Japanese baseball that much because I find that the talent is lacking compared to MLB. Being at a Japanese baseball game is so much fun though, reminds me of a college football game.

The ratio of drunk fans to non-drunk fans is about the same.

I`ve never been to Chiba. I was talking specifically about Saitama. I guess as the original subject was Saitama, I sort of read the message I replied to as referring to the same place. My mistake.

My experience with Saitama was that it appeared to be a place that was booming in growth mainly because people could find much cheaper housing there than in Tokyo. In fact, I know a bunch of people who live in Saitama for exactly those reasons. It seems like every big company here has a chunk of apartments in Saitama that they toss employees into when they send them to work in Tokyo. Everywhere I`ve stayed in Saitama (short of the one time I stayed in my friend`s house) has been surrounded by crappy hostess bars. It seems like every station is sinking in a sea of them.
Of course, I assume that there are great and beautiful areas... But you`re not going to be living in them if you`re sent there with JET.

:ywave: :ywave: :ywave: just defending my turf :mtongue: