Name: Pros and Cons of Life Outside Tokyo | Rural Japan
Uploaded: 2020-03-23T05:24:49.000Z
Duration: 13 min 29 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

All over the world there's movement from the countryside to the city

The imperative

I've heard about it so many times but is this really a trend?

the world is increasingly becoming urbanized

Meaning, people are moving from small villages and towns to cities

more of the world's population lived in urban areas than rural ones

In fact, all projected population growth from here on in will happen in urban areas

while growth in rural areas is set to peak soon

There is no other large developed country

that is as far along the path to urbanization as Japan,

which has 92 percent of its population living in urban areas

And this is only set to grow in the future

Works predicted that by 2050, 95 percent of Japan's population

To me, this begs the question - what happens to all these rural areas as populations decline

What's it like to live in the countryside or even the small cities of Japan?

I was on my way to Ehime, a small Prefecture on the smallest main island of Japan, Shikoku

Well, I actually landed in Okayama which is across the inland sea

In this video, I talked with - My name is Sherry and I live in Matsuyama, Ehime

Technically, she doesn't live in Matsuyama, but in a much smaller city right on the outskirts

but that's not even the most shocking thing she was hiding

こんにちは、栞（しおり）です! (Hello, my name is Shiori)

Anyways, Sherry, or Shiori was right next to Matsuyama population five hundred and sixteen thousand

But when you're comparing it to the mega city, that is Tokyo. It feels downright provincial.

I thought it was a good starting off point for this series on rural, or in Japanese, "Inaka Japan"

For starters, let's locate Matsuyama, in relation to Tokyo

Matsuyama (松山), whose name means "Pinetree Mountain", is big enough to have all the amenities of city life

But small enough where we can get to the mountains,

or an untouched beach with just a short car ride

I asked Sherry about why she chose to live in Ehime

and then asked her to tell me what she thinks are the pros and cons of life in Ehime vs Tokyo

I was raised in Ehime until 16 and I moved to America for three years

So when I decided to come back to Japan, I was like well

so I didn't really have any money so I couldn't go to just like move to Tokyo

or big cities so my initial thought was like, oh well, you know

I'm gonna go home, see my family, and spend some time

Do maybe like part-time jobs and stuff like that?

And I started my own company and it went pretty well

So I was like I'm gonna like living in Matsuyama

Um, I'm used to living Matsuyama because like this is my hometown

that's actually an important point when it comes to

the vast majority of people who choose to live in the more rural areas of Japan

Alright, so for Ehime, I guess it's quiet and fewer people of course and you have your personal space

but also like mountains, parks, and like beaches

Those are accessible for like only 30 minutes by car

so when we go to those places we have either free parking lots

Like when you like you don't feel like you want to talk to somebody when you're in Tokyo

(In a slightly amused tone) I don't know what she's talking about

These people in Tokyo look super chill and ready to chat

Like even if you get lost or something like you can easily talk to people

who are like it's like walking down the street

It's very comfortable and safe to live...

While checking out the more rural side of Japan

I only got to spend a half day in Matsuyama

but I asked Sherry to show me a few local spots as well as some local food

So this it's called Nabayaki Udon and this is one of the local food in Matsuyama

You get to learn how to eat beautiful(ly) for the videos

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Sherry also makes YouTube videos

and she does indeed eat a lot more beautiful(ly) than I

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Pros and Cons of Life Outside Tokyo | Rural Japan

stuff

decline

accessible

pitch