Living in Shin-Nakano
Shin-nakano provides a surplus of convenient aspects that make it a friendly location for both Japanese residents and foreigners. Shin-Nakano is located near to Shinjuku, putting you at the heart of Tokyo. With just a quick train ride, you can easily access the most popular entertainment venues, restaurants, and shopping.
Moreover, Shin-Nakano is perfect for living due to the convenient location it offers. Firstly, Shin-Nakano station is on Marunouchi line, which is an easily accessible subway line that runs through several busy stations such as, Shinjuku, Akasaka Mitsuke, Ginza, Tokyo, and Ikebukuro station. It only takes 5 minutes from Shin-Nakano to Shinjuku station, so it can save you extra time commuting between home and work.
Secondly, though Shin-Nakano is only 5 minutes away from Shinjuku station, the atmosphere is totally different from Shinjuku. Unlike Shinjuku, Shin-Nakano is a living area with lots of apartments, houses, supermarkets, restaurants, and all the other things you need for daily life. Overall, it's a little more calm than the ever-busy Shinjuku.
Last but not least, Shin-Nakano is an urban area where a lot of foreigners live in. Therefore, there are some multilingual services in the banks and restaurants around the area; for example, MUFJ bank on the corner of Nabeyayokocho (1 minute away from Shin-Nakano station) has provided an international ATM where you can withdraw money with your foreign bank cards.
Furthermore, there are English-speaking staff that can make your banking experience easier. There are many restaurants that are opened by immigrants in Japan such as, Chinese, Korean, Indian restaurants…etc. that makes Shin-Nakano an Urban friendly area.
Even just a few months after living in Shin-Nakano, you will grow to love the area. Let alone how convenient it is traveling to Shinjuku (a popular tourist spots that are famous for shopping and dining), Shin- Nakano has no doubt fulfilled all the needs for the daily life. Supermarkets, drug stores, laundry stores, hair salons, restaurants, and more are all easily accessible and making daily living easy.
Supermarkets
There are 5 supermarkets within 10 minutes walk from many houses in Shin-Nakano: two Nikunohanamasa, Life, Olympic…etc. It is usually expensive to buy groceries from the chain supermarkets that I just mentioned previously, however, we have some tips that you can get cheaper groceries in Shin-Nakano.
1. Check the wholesale supermarket before going to other supermarkets. A Wholesale supermarket, Nikunohanamasa (肉のハナマサ) for example, usually provides cheaper groceries especially meat. Even though Nikunohanamasa is a chain supermarket, they have provided the larger portion of food ingredients. It is cheaper compared to other supermarket sometimes.
2.Check and note down the discount days of each supermarket.You may find the groceries are usually pricy, however, most of the supermarkets have set up the discount day for different category of food. For example “The Meat Day” (nikunohi), when the meat is on sale or “The Vegetable Day” (Yasainohi) when the selected vegetables are on sale, and so on…
Getting groceries on the discount day will save you lots of money. Just note that every supermarket has its own discount day, you can compare them and get the best deal for your groceries.
3.Go to the market early in the morning or late at night then you may get good deals for your groceries. On the discount days that I mentioned above, if the supermarket doesn’t provide the details of discount time but dates only. It’s better to go in the early morning if you want to get the items that are on sale.
As for the daily discount price, it is best to go to the supermarkets after 22:00 (or one or two hours before the closing time). Supermarkets are usually trying to get rid of some prepared food or ingredients that have short expiration duration, such as seafood or raw meat. They will start changing the price tag at night and that is when you want to get cheaper groceries.
Bank
There are two banks located a minute away from Shin-Nakano station, MUFG (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ) and Mizuho bank. Both of them are good choices if you want to open a bank account in Japan and especially for people who want to do international transfers. MUFG is more recommended if you are living around Shin-Nakano area for two reasons.
1. MUFG has lower standard compared to Mizuho bank when you open the bank account. If you are new to the country with very basic Japanese skill, it may be difficult for you to open a bank account in Mizuho bank unless you have relatives who are Japanese or you can open it through the company (if you are working in a local Japanese company). On the other hand, MUFG has lower standards for opening an account supposed to my personal experience. (The result is varied depending on individual condition)
2. The MUFG bank near Shin-Nakano Station provides International ATM where you can withdraw money with your foreign bank cards. Moreover, They have staff that can speak English, making your banking experience smoother.
Restaurants
There are all kinds of assorted restaurants around Shin-Nakano area such as fast food restaurants (ie. Yayoikenやよい軒, Matsuya松屋), Japanese grill & bars (Izakaya), and international cuisine (Indian, Italian, Chinese restaurants). You are sure to find something that pleases your palate in Shin-Nakano.
Nakano Area
Shin-Nakano is within a walking distance to JR Nakano station and the Nabeyokocho, a famous local shopping district. Residents around this area are able to get cheap daily supplies as well as enjoy the entertainments.
JR Nakano station
JR Nakano station is only a stop away from JR Shinjuku station via Chuo line, and only 13-15 minutes walk away from Shin-Nakano station. It is a convenient area that has Marui department store (中野マルイ)located at the North exit and the Shopping arcade (中野サンモールShotenkai) located at the South exit.
With varieties of shops and restaurants, both the Shotengai and Marui department stores provide different things for different age groups. The shopping arcade is 240meters long, with over 100 shops along the street that fulfilled all kinds of daily needs, for example, drug stores, restaurants, and
Nabeyayokocho area
Nabeyayokocho, where is often referred as Nabeyoko by the locals. Located right beside Shin-Nakano Station. It is a local Shotenkai (shopping district) that provides cheaper groceries
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