Which City Fits Me?
Answer four questions and we rank the top three of the eight core cities — scoring uses only the public fields of the city database.
Your best-fit cities
Next steps
The score is a P2J weighted ranking over public data fields, not advice; open the city pages before deciding.
How this works: you weight what matters to you — cost, salary, English-friendly jobs, family fit — and each city is scored on those factors from our city dataset. The result is a ranking, not a verdict; use it to shortlist, then compare the details.
Choosing a city in Japan — common questions
Which city in Japan is best for foreigners?
There is no single answer — it depends on whether you weight low cost, higher salaries, English-friendly work, or family life. The matcher ranks cities against your own priorities instead of giving one blanket recommendation.
Is it cheaper to live outside Tokyo?
Usually yes, mainly because rent is lower; salaries are often lower too, so the matcher weighs both. A regional city can leave more to save even at a smaller salary.
I do not speak Japanese — where should I go?
Weight “English-friendly jobs” highly in the matcher. Big cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka have more roles that do not require Japanese, though options widen a lot once you reach conversational level.