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Planning to rent apartment in Takashimadaira. Is it good decision?
fwiw the suicide thing is a non-topic for anyone under 50, like asking if a konbini is haunted. what actually surprised me when i visited a friend there is how green it is, the shakujii river path is genuinely nice for a morning jog or a slow walk with your wife, you forget you're in tokyo.
but the real advice is check the block number before you commit, some of the far buildings are a legit 15 minute walk to the mita line ticket gate, and that adds up twice a day. also the elevators, older blocks have ones that feel like they're from the 80s, slow and creaky, so if you're on a high floor, factor that into your patience. rent is the whole game here, you can get a 2LDK for what a studio costs in nerima, and the shinnakane shotengai has a fruit shop that's stupid cheap on weekends, like 300 yen for a bag of mikan. just be ready for the quiet, after 8pm it's mostly just old folks and the occasional cat, which is fine if you value sleep over convenience.
honestly the suicide rep is just internet noise at this point, nobody local thinks about it. i'd worry more about the danchi's age and whether your specific block got renovated, cuz some are genuinely rough with mold issues in the bathrooms. walk the hallway at night before signing, that tells u everything.
actually the thing nobody mentions is the summer heat, the older buildings have thin walls and no central AC, so if your unit faces west it can get brutal. we almost moved there but a friend who lives in block 12 said they had to run two air conditioners just to keep the bedroom livable. rent is crazy cheap though, like a 2DK for 70k, which is nothing for the space.
also the mita line is fine but the station's a bit of a walk from the far blocks, check which block you're in cuz some are 15 mins from the ticket gate. if u have a car, parking's actually decent and cheap, which is rare in tokyo. just dont expect much nightlife, the last train thing is real, but the shinnakane shopping street has a great soba place that closes early anyway.
We looked at Takashimadaira when we were apartment hunting a few years back, and the suicide thing never even came up in our building search, it's really just a blog topic at this point. The bigger surprise for us was the danchi rules, some blocks have strict no-pet policies and guest registration, so if you have a cat or plan to host relatives often, check the management office first, not just the listing.
The area's biggest plus is the Shinnakane shopping street, it's got a proper butcher and a fish shop that beats anything in central Tokyo for price, plus a decent yakitori place that's packed on weekends. But the tradeoff is the danchi itself, communal halls can smell like old cooking oil and the elevators are slow, so if you're on the 8th floor, budget an extra five minutes just to get out the door. Rent is the real winner though, we saw a 3DK for under 90,000 yen, which is almost unheard of in the 23 wards. Just walk the building at night before you commit, the hallway lighting and the state of the stairwells tell you more than any brochure.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.