Living in Kyotanabe, the countryside of Kyoto, Japan!
Hello! My name is Shouq and I am a 22-year-old girl who moved to Japan 13 months ago (This article was written 7 months after I moved here). I tried to know anything about Kyotanabe before moving here, but could not find a thing. I moved here knowing nothing about this place, so let me introduce this place to you especially if you are moving here to go to Doshisha University, Kyotanabe Campus.Where is Kyotanabe?
Kyotanabe, called 京田辺市 in Japanese, is a place located in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture which is one of the prefectures in the Kansai Region in Japan (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, n.d.). It is a very small nice city with a population of 68, 500 (Kyotanabe City, 2018) where you can see a lot of older people living around as well as younger students who go to Doshisha University. What makes Kyotanabe City a great place to live at is the fact that it is in the middle between Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara so it is very accessible and convenient to reach these big cities while still enjoying the nature and calmness of the countryside of Japan.
Where to live?
If you are coming to live in Kyotanabe, you are
Doshisha University Student
Or
English Teacher coming through the JET program
If you are a student, you can either live in a dorm or you can live in regular apartments. The main areas Doshisha Students live at are Kodo, Doshisha Mae, and Miyamaki as they are close to the university. JET program English teacher can live here too but they could live around Shintanbe too which has more things and is more convenient than the areas around Doshisha. I will write another blog post about dorms, areas, and real state agencies to guide you on how to find the best place for you.
What do we have in Kyotanabe?
We do not have anything lol I mean, we do, but the areas around the university do not have that much. We have supermarkets, restaurants, convenience stores, known as コンビニ konbini in Japanese, Daiso (the Japanese version of a dollar store), and one mall here called Alplaza. We have the post office and the City Hall around the area as well. We have Costco a couple of stops away though!
What are the supermarkets and convenience stores we have?
The supermarkets we have are
In Kodo 興戸 area
- Isokawa
In Miyamaki 三山木 area
- Sundi
- Kirindo
- Sunfresh
In Shintanabe 新田辺 area
- Alplaza Market
- Heiwado (inside Alplaza market)
- Sunfresh
And you can find another good supermarket you have to walk a longer distance
- Gyomu Super
The convenient stores we have are
- Family Mart
- Lawson
- 7-eleven
References:
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kyōtanabe, Kyoto.
Retrieved 18 May 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Dtanabe,_Kyoto
Kyotanabe City. (2018). Kyotanabe City. An Introduction to Kyotanabe. Retrieved 18 May 2020,
from http://www.kyotanabe.jp/0000000624.html