Question for my book! About the area's in Tokyo...?

Question:

Hello!
I'm writing a book about a girl going to Japan to visit her aunt.
Her aunt lives in Tokyo. But when I was staring at my screen I thought: and now? Tokyo is so freaking huge!! Where exactly does she live? I want my story to be as realistic as possible so I need to know... So my question is: Which area is a good place to live for a woman around the mid thirties, single and having a job as accountant (or something like that, it has to be a office job!)?
In my story she is living in a 3 room apartment (bedroom, guestroom and living-room with kitchen)
I want the place to be close to an airport but not too close if you get what I mean. (around a 2 hours drive?)

The girl that is visiting her aunt will go to a middle school (she's 15 years old). She goes to her school on a bicycle and I want the drive to school to be around 15-20 minutes. The area needs to be lively and crowded, but clean. Somewhere in a book about Japan I read that Tokyo is a confusing city. Streets with dead ends, winding roads and such seem to be common. So the girl loses her way on the first day to school. She meets a couple of people from her new school and they help her. I don't know how the road to school looks like in Tokyo, so it would help if you would tell me.

So my questions are:

- Which area is a good place to live for a woman around the mid thirties, single and having a job as accountant (or something like that, it has to be a office job!)?
- In that area how are the people? (friendly? good in English? fashionable? stuff like that)
- how does a common road to school look like?
- What can you do there for fun as a teenager? (clubs, karaoke?)

Just tell me as many things possible about the area!
Thanks!!

Answer:

1) An accountant would be about median income bracket in Japan, which means she is not going to have a 3 room apartment. More likely a two room or even one room, not counting the bathroom. There are families of 3 or more living in such arrangement, so unless her aunt is wealthy, this is more realistic.

2) Because of the very efficient mass transit system in Tokyo and all of Japan, professionals such as an accountant do not have to live near the office which is usually located in one of the business wards. Plus, the closer you live within Tokyo, the higher the rent so living further away cost less even with the longer commute. I have friends who live in Yokohama and work in Tokyo. Some even live further out. There are families who have been living in Tokyo for several generations which we call Edo-ko's and you'll find them around Tokyo. The working mans neighborhood would be such places a Shitamachi or Shibamata (Katsushika ward).

3) You need to read more about Japan. Most people do not own a car, and if they do they use it mainly for rare recreation or for emergencies. No middle income person drives to the Airport if they can help it. There many forms of public and even commerical transportation that serves the airport and Tokyo. And Narita or Haneya are both well within 2 hours of just about every part of Tokyo. You need to understand that the mass transit system is extremely efficient and well thoughtout.

4) Most students do not ride bicycles to school. They prefer to walk or take the bus or subways which makes it almost impossible to take a bicycle with them. Plus, the roads and streets in Tokyo are not really designed for a nice leisurely bike ride - it's quite hectic and walking is much easier and safer.

5) Roads and streets in Japan and especially in Tokyo are extremely well maintained and absolutely smooth. It is almost impossible to find a pot hole in Tokyo. Unless you have been to Japan, you truely do not know how bad things are in other countries.

6) You need to read more about Japan. From your questions, you do not know enough to be able to write a believeable story. For example, things are very expensive in Japan and Tokyo is the most expensive city in Japan. Food, fuel, everything is costly and teenages from middle income families do not have the money nor the time to indulge in the clubs or karaoke scene. There are sports and school related clubs, but the premary focus for a teen is getting the highest possible score on their college extrance examine so they can go to a good college and get a decent job. This is even more crucial because of the dire economic times Japan is faced with - high unemployment due to the recession that has lasted for more than 10 years. Everybody knows somebody who is hurting, and it is scary.