Is there any Japanese culture and/or jobs+companies in the Midlands?

ToneControl

btw, I assume you know that Telford was the new town into which people from the Black country were relocated

I'm from the black country, so this is intended for info, not a wisecrack

That area has been on my list for potential relocation
Nicest area I found for newer houses was Apley

Stuckfast

My brother was in panto in Telford in 2003. It seemed fairly grim on the basis of a couple of hours spent there.

EricTheWeary

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Shrewsbury does look nice. I think I could stomach living in a small picturesque town, at least for a year or so. Not sure the wife could/would!

About 74,000 people. Just a bit less than somewhere like Battersea maybe. Has everything you'd want day to day, it's not a tiny hamlet. 

ToneControl said:

btw, I assume you know that Telford was the new town into which people from the Black country were relocated

I'm from the black country, so this is intended for info, not a wisecrack

That area has been on my list for potential relocation
Nicest area I found for newer houses was Apley

I started as a social worker in Telford so it's a strange set of memories. As it had been a new town in the 70s people moved in from quite a few different places, to a large extent Wolverhampton and the Black Country but also a large contingent from Glasgow. The teenagers had these weird hybrid Black Country - Shropshire - Scottish accents. 
One of the towns that claims to have the most roundabouts, folk used to say cars in Telford had uneven tyre wear because they spent so much time going around roundabouts. 

ToneControl

EricTheWeary said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Shrewsbury does look nice. I think I could stomach living in a small picturesque town, at least for a year or so. Not sure the wife could/would!

About 74,000 people. Just a bit less than somewhere like Battersea maybe. Has everything you'd want day to day, it's not a tiny hamlet. 

ToneControl said:

btw, I assume you know that Telford was the new town into which people from the Black country were relocated

I'm from the black country, so this is intended for info, not a wisecrack

That area has been on my list for potential relocation
Nicest area I found for newer houses was Apley

I started as a social worker in Telford so it's a strange set of memories. As it had been a new town in the 70s people moved in from quite a few different places, to a large extent Wolverhampton and the Black Country but also a large contingent from Glasgow. The teenagers had these weird hybrid Black Country - Shropshire - Scottish accents. 
One of the towns that claims to have the most roundabouts, folk used to say cars in Telford had uneven tyre wear because they spent so much time going around roundabouts. 

another unusual fact is that the weather is the coldest in the UK
there is pretty snow everywhere for weeks every winter
until a few years ago, the record coldest ever UK temperature was from Shropshire, until some Scottish mountain beat it

ToneControl

Stuckfast said:

My brother was in panto in Telford in 2003. It seemed fairly grim on the basis of a couple of hours spent there.

the "town centre" is a fabrication, like Bracknell
However (unlike Bracknell), the shopping mall (which is all there is other than the cinema) is actually very good, and attracts people from a large radius

Wazmeister

If you’re moving from London area, there are a million beautiful places in the Midlands, Black Country etc.

But Telford ???? 

Avoid like the plague, especially nearer to the town centre (well, there isnt one - just a large shopping centre). 

Huge crime and drugs issues. It is, and always has been, a shit hole. Intitially, a lot of the undEsirables from the other Midland areas were housed there.

Some gorgeous areas in Shrops... look for them.

mudslide73

Some nice bits along the M54 corridor - Penkridge, Shifnal and the smaller places. As with all areas there are some nicer bits - Telford's a big collection of estates.

p90fool

If you're moving out of London you can easily afford to live in Shrewsbury, which is a nice town. 

Telford would be an absolute last resort even if you'd BOTH been made redundant. 

It's not particularly criminal or dangerous by large city standards, but pretty well all the crime in the whole region is in Telford, and it's pretty depressing, soulless place made up of tacky modern box houses and industrial units. 

Leaving London is a massive financial and emotional commitment, make it worth it by doing it right. 

Musicwolf

Stuckfast said:

My brother was in panto in Telford in 2003.

Oh no he wasn't.

ToneControl

mudslide73 said:

Some nice bits along the M54 corridor - Penkridge, Shifnal and the smaller places. As with all areas there are some nicer bits - Telford's a big collection of estates.

yes, there are loads of nice places
Shifnal is good

Telford town is fine for shopping, gyms, cinema, but the estates are not attractive. Probably nicer looking than much of London tbh though

EricTheWeary

Just to bring us back to the OP - my back of a fag packet calculations suggest about 10% ( 3,600) of people in the UK who identify as Japanese live in Telford and Wrekin. About 50% in London, the rest scattered around. So, in terms of the original question it does seem to be the single largest Japanese population outside of London and it is in the Midlands. 

ToneControl

I completely forgot what should have been an obvious (to me) option:

Lichfield is lovely, and you can buy a pleasant house within 10 minutes walk of a station from which commuting into Euston is possible: I investigated it myself years ago. Train takes 1h 15 mins.

In case you have work you need to do there?
season ticket is about £1k a month

Looks like Tamworth is now on the route too, not as pretty though

Where are your family based?

Stuckfast

Musicwolf said:

Stuckfast said:

My brother was in panto in Telford in 2003.

Oh no he wasn't.

Actually you're right, I think it was 2002.

RaymondLin

ToneControl said:

I completely forgot what should have been an obvious (to me) option:

Lichfield is lovely, and you can buy a pleasant house within 10 minutes walk of a station from which commuting into Euston is possible: I investigated it myself years ago. Train takes 1h 15 mins.

In case you have work you need to do there?
season ticket is about £1k a month

Looks like Tamworth is now on the route too, not as pretty though

Where are your family based?

£1k a month on trains??? I thought i was paying lots when I paid £220 a month.

Even if you can afford it, you can get a 4 bed house mortgage with that with change.

ToneControl

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

I completely forgot what should have been an obvious (to me) option:

Lichfield is lovely, and you can buy a pleasant house within 10 minutes walk of a station from which commuting into Euston is possible: I investigated it myself years ago. Train takes 1h 15 mins.

In case you have work you need to do there?
season ticket is about £1k a month

Looks like Tamworth is now on the route too, not as pretty though

Where are your family based?

£1k a month on trains??? I thought i was paying lots when I paid £220 a month.

Even if you can afford it, you can get a 4 bed house mortgage with that with change.

lots of people do it, you can get much more house for your money than anywhere near London, and can get into London in little more time than it takes from London suburbs, in far more comfort

£445k new 4 bed detached, 150m from station:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/84558898#/

Anyway: the point is it lets you live in a nice small city in the midlands, but still easily get into London when you need to

£500k 5 bed,
with double garage ready for studio conversion:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73696638#/
and
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/72764718#/

RaymondLin

Oh I know a lot of people do it, I think a friend of mine does it, or did it.  He is pretty well off and probably paid for from work.

EricTheWeary

Nothing to do with Telford...my knowledge of Japanese culture is based primarily on watching Yumi Nagashima on YouTube who is a Japanese-Canadian comedian. I can’t decide wether she’s brilliant or awful but she comes to mind when Drew talks about Japanese culture...

https://youtu.be/-hiNCDF91pc

WiresDreamDisasters

@EricTheWeary ;

I mean, I laughed.

WiresDreamDisasters

And let's get it out of the way with; she's damn cute.

EricTheWeary

I haven’t watched lots of Yumi but it’s an interesting approach with all the coyness and pausing and I’m never quite being sure how intentional some of it is. I suspect all of it really! Quite a few of the routines are about the expectations of her Japanese mother, vending machines with girl’s knickers in - playing around with stereotypes.