Since we’re on the subject…Tokyo or San Francisco if you had to choose and why…please. ;-)
We know nothing about Tokyo, and have never been, so should we decide to take a trip there, what can we expect, and what should we avoid. Of course, since this is a real estate blog, we’d also love to know what our money can(not) buy.
–San Francisco or New York City, if you had to choose [theFrontSteps, Battle Royale]
–San Francisco or Los Angeles, if you had to choose [theFrontSteps, Battle Royale]
Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world. Used to go there a lot during the dotcom era when I was dealing with Docomo and other wireless carriers there. Even now I try to make it there twice a year to say hi to friends.
There are a lot of great things about tokyo I like more than SF. The food is incredible. The people are very polite and friendly. It’s very safe — walking around at night anywhere is no big deal. Public transportation kicks ass 24×7 and if the train is late by a minute the conductor APOLOGIZES to the public. There is a great emphasis on (and appreciation for) quality of products, and services, no matter what it is. It’s a 24 hour city that as long as you are willing to keep going, it will be there for you.
Real estate wise though, I’d rather own in SF than in Tokyo. Migration into tokyo seems primarily from within Japan. Migration into SF are driven not only from within US, but also internationally, given the dual-pull of bio-sciences and high tech with the promise of above average incomes. As the silicon valley becomes a center for alternative energy research, SF will again be a very attractive place to live while you toil with solar cells and wind turbines.
Tokyo, on the other hand, has lost its crown as the financial center of asia to Shanghai. Shanghai will also catch up in the fashion industry one day, too. There does not seem to be much ‘growth’ to be had there for new industries. Also, there are already 12 million people living there and it’s hard to grow any bigger, where as SF has less than 1 million and there is considerable room to grow.
But as I told my co-workers in Tokyo: please keep making excuses to invite me over on business trips. I will be there in a second.
i have one story to tell you all you need to know about tokyo. $460.00 for a town car from the grand hyatt to the airport. a 45 minute drive.
i kid you not!
Yeah. Doesn’t surprise me.
I once went to somebody’s birthday party at a ‘tex mex’ restaurant in Tokyo. A pitcher of strawberry Herradura silver margarita was $75. But I have to say it was the best strawberry margarita I have never had — mainly because the strawberry was the real strawberry…
I think there are two kinds of Tokyo – one is the “I am on an expense account” Tokyo, the other is the “I am a salary man” Tokyo. You’ll have to wander around in the subway noodle stalls to find the latter!
i’ve never been to either of those cities.
For me tokyo and san franscisco are the same even though tokyo population is 13 million compare to San franscisco that only has less than a million people but in comparison they are concrete jungles both have earthquakes and etc