Living near Osaka/Kyoto/Nara

Hi, I'm applying to teach English and I get to request 3 places to live. When I was an exchange student in Japan, I lived in Osaka for a year. I loved the Kansai area and want to live there again, so I was going to request Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara. However people are unlikely to get requests for large cities, and I'd like to request places I have a fair chance of getting into. Furthermore, I've been warned about the high cost of living in the large cities. So I'm thinking of living in a smaller city or town in that area instead, where I can visit the larger cities easily. I remember seeing lots of small- and middle-sized towns along the Keihan line which might be OK, but I don't know much about them (I don't even remember their names). Does anyone know about them? Are there any good places to live which aren't too expensive but still pretty convenient? Thanks!

If you Google Osaka prefecture and check the Wikipedia site about it you will find a whole list of towns. Same if you Google Hyogo prefecture (for Kobe), Kyoto prefecture etc. THEN you have to find out where some of these towns are, what rail companies link them to Osaka etc. This is the same everywhere in the world...many people live in some unknown suburban town near a much better known big town. I commute 45 minutes one way daily from an unknown suburban place to the downtown area of a big city in North America.

There are five cities along Keihan line: Moriguchi, Kadoma, Neyagawa, Hirakata (Those cities are in Osaka prefecture) and Yawata (Kyoto prefecture). But these cities are suburb town of Osaka or Kyoto. I don't know living costs of those cities are much cheaper than Osaka city especially: though may be cheaper by comparison.

There are many cities in Osaka prefecture. Most of cities are located within 30 minutes from Osaka.
http://web-japan.org/region/pref/osaka.html
Roughly speaking, rent for room is cheaper in eastern area (include five cities above) and southern area by comparison. (I suppose the rents in the cities among Osaka and Kobe or Takarazuka are highest)