Friendly cities for Americans

I plan on moving wtih a friend to Japan in less than a year,and was wondering which Japanese city is more ''Friendly/Accepting'' towards Americans. We can both speak and write in Japanese, and both are looking for jobs in our fields. The only thing we are a little worried about is the impression we are going to make. We don't want ourselves to look like ''Americans that don't even speak the Japanese Language,are rude, and just live off another person.''

Any Ideas?

That is probably the last consideration you need to make when planning your move to Japan.

Be more concerned with your own preferences and budget.

I don't think you'll find any cities in Japan with overt unfriendliness towards Americans (except for maybe around US military bases which probably aren't at the top of your list anyway), and I wouldn't even consider it when looking for a place to move to.

We don't want ourselves to look like Americans that don't even speak the Japanese Language,are rude, and just live off another person.

People won't initially perceive you that way unless you give them reason to. Just be yourself and you'll be fine... unless you actually are a rude, monolingual moocher ;)

That's a generalization of Americans you really don't need to worry about in many of the cities of Japan.

You really don't have to worry that greatly in Japan, there isn't any major anti-Americanism in Japan as you would find in some other countries. Even if you moved to and lived right in Hiroshima, you're really probably not going to run into any trouble.

If you don't want to look like a stereotypical foreigner, then don't act like one, then it wouldn't matter where you really lived in Japan.

If you don't want to look like the kind of American you described, then learn as much Japanese as you can before you come and don't be rude (this is mostly common sense, but it might pay to spend some time reading about modern Japanese society and etiquette).

I don't know about looking like Americans who "just live off another person"- I've never heard of that stereotype associated with Americans and don't know how it would be possible to look like that short of standing on the street with a begging bowl- not something to worry about really.

Bear in mind that there are plenty of non-Japanese (not only Americans!) in any reasonable sized Japanese city, and that foreigners aren't really a novelty to Japanese people these days- you won't be the only ones in whichever area you move to, don't worry.

Kira,

I can easily name several areas where there are more Americans than others, but if you live in those areas, people would generally see you as ''Americans that don't even speak the Japanese Language and aren't so interested in befriending the locals.''

That said, bigger cities tend to have more job opportunities and higher rent.