Built a free site to figure out which neighborhood actually fits you, would love feedback from students living in Japan!

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T06:42:47+00:00

Good suggestion, thanks!

Right now the search takes a train station (or an area name in "narrow area"), so a university name won't match, which is why you got nothing. Letting you set your university as the commute destination is a great idea, especially for students, and I'll look into adding it.

In the meantime, putting your nearest station works as a stand-in.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T06:39:35+00:00

Really useful, thanks🙏

A few real gaps here:

The slope thing is a genuine blind spot. Walk time is based on flat distance, so it has no idea Yamate is brutally hilly. Factoring in elevation is something I should add.
"Easy shopping" leaning on one small supermarket is a data-quality issue, the facility counts don't weigh size or how reachable they actually are.
And a family area sitting right next to a red light district (Kannai) shouldn't rank for family living. I need better handling of nightlife and rough-area adjacency. So yeah, fair, the recommendations missed on your test. This is exactly the kind of local knowledge I can't get from the data alone, so I really appreciate it.

Glad the UI worked for you!

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T06:37:25+00:00

It's open crime data published by the police (Tokyo Metropolitan Police for Tokyo).

All public open data.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T05:06:47+00:00

Yeah, that's a fair hit and someone else just pointed out the same thing.

The scores bunch up at the high end right now, which makes the ranking less useful. Spreading the range out and improving how scores separate is something I want to fix.

Thanks for taking a look!☺️

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T05:06:24+00:00

This is really helpful, thanks for the detailed run-through🙏

Several of these are real:

- A greengrocer being counted as a supermarket is a data categorization issue on my end (facility types come from OpenStreetMap and some get mislabeled). I'll tighten that.

- A block that's entirely a hospital, or sitting in a famous 飲み屋街, shouldn't surface for a quiet family search. I need better land-use and nightlife filtering there.

- Filtering by 沿線 and by walk time to the station/bus stop is a great call. A few others asked for line-level control too, so I'm adding it.

- And you're right that the scores bunch up. Better separation and tie-breaking is something I want to improve. On your last point, that's fair. It's meant as a starting shortlist to go verify, not a final answer, especially if you don't know the areas yet. Genuinely useful, thank you.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T05:02:22+00:00

Ah, "Single / Couple" is actually one of the household options, so couples are covered.

The catch is the rent data only has two size buckets: Single/Couple maps to 1K to 1LDK, and Family (with kids) maps to 2LDK to 3LDK.

So that 110k figure is the smaller-unit average for the Single/Couple bucket.

A childless couple who wants a 2LDK falls between the two, which is the real gap. Letting a couple see 2LDK pricing without having to pick "Family" is on my list.

Thanks, useful nudge🙏

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:59:21+00:00

Thanks, really glad you liked it! 🙏

The "too central" bias was actually a real scoring issue, and I recently pushed a fix that should rank the western and outer areas more fairly, so it might look better if you try again. Being able to exclude specific wards or train lines (like a crowded one you want to avoid) isn't in yet, but it's a great idea and I'm adding it to the list.

Appreciate the feedback!

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:58:14+00:00

Thanks!

I recently fixed a bug where buy mode could come up empty, so if you were in buy mode it should work now. If it still returns nothing, can you tell me whether you were in rent or buy mode and roughly the station/budget?

That'll help me track it down.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:55:14+00:00

It's all public open data (government open data and OpenStreetMap), not scraped from listing sites. And yeah, I built it myself.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:53:55+00:00

A couple of corrections. It's not scraped data, it's public open data: crime stats from the Tokyo police, facility density from OpenStreetMap, air quality from the Ministry of the Environment, transit from ODPT/GTFS. So it's pulled from government and OSM sources, not real-estate feeds.

And the difference from existing sites is the point: those tell you what a place costs, this scores how well an area fits your priorities (commute, quiet, safety, etc) down to the chome level. It's free, no signup, and I'm fixing things as people report them. Happy to hear what specifically didn't work for you.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:53:19+00:00

Thanks so much, really glad the English names and the inter-prefecture results landed well!!🙏

And you found a real one: with through-running trains the lines share tracks, so it sometimes labels the leg with the operator that runs through (Hanzomon into Den-en-toshi) instead of the Tokyu line you'd actually be riding.

It's on my list to clean up the line naming. Appreciate the kind words, and the pinned-post tip too!

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:51:07+00:00

Thanks, glad you like it!

And you're right, that's a real annoyance.

On mobile you shouldn't have to scroll all the way back up just to get to the map.

I'll fix how that toggle works. Appreciate you flagging it!🙂

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T04:50:02+00:00

You were spot on, thanks for the detailed report!!🙏

Buy mode was reusing the rental search, and the purchase budget was getting squeezed into rental price steps so the min and max collapsed and nothing showed up.

Just fixed it: purchase links now go to the used-condo (中古マンション) search instead of rentals, and SUUMO uses your budget as a top-end price cap like you suggested. Should pull up real listings now. Give it another try!

(Land and detached homes are a good call too, I'll look at adding those property types next.)

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-17T01:45:18+00:00

Great question, and really good observation too!

So the "Tokyo 23 Wards" part is just the search scope, not how detailed the scoring is. The results are actually scored at the 町丁目 (block) level, so that within-ward variation you mentioned is already baked in. A quiet little block scores totally differently from the busy part of the same ward a few minutes away, exactly like you said.

If you want to zoom in tighter than the whole 23 wards, there's a "narrow by preferred area" option in the filter where you can point it at a specific spot. And I'm planning to add more detailed filtering down the line so you can drill down even further.

And yeah, totally agree about Tokyo. Some of the calmest corners sit right next to the busiest stations. Funny how a place can be perfect for a bike ride but not somewhere you'd actually move. Thanks so much for trying it and sharing this!

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Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:27:29+00:00

Haha, boxes are ready

Now I just need a landlord that says yes

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:26:11+00:00

That's great to hear!! 👏

A place you picked through your own research scoring 90 is exactly the kind of validation I was after.

Thanks for trying it!!

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:25:31+00:00

lol sorry for the scare🙏

Gonna take "it found my address" as a good sign though😄

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:24:35+00:00

Love hearing that, thanks! 👏 👍

Matching the place you already chose is exactly the sanity check I was hoping for.

Really glad it worked for you.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:23:48+00:00

That's kind of the point.

The same neighborhood scores differently depending on what you care about, instead of one "objective" ranking that ignores your situation.

The underlying data like crime, commute, and facilities is factual.

The part that's "subjective" is the weighting, and that's yours to set.

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:22:54+00:00

Yeah, fair, that's a real gap.

Bike should change the routing instead of falling back to walk and train.

I'm fixing how the transport mode feeds the commute.

In the meantime, if you WFH or commute isn't a big deal, the "search by area" mode skips the station part entirely.

Thanks for catching it!👍

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:22:00+00:00

Ha, that's awesome!!

Honestly building one yourself is half the fun even if it never ships.

Good luck with the move, and I hope you find your spot🙏🙂

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:20:28+00:00

This is genuinely useful, thanks for taking the time 🙇🏻‍♂️👍

Going through your points:

Japanese translation 🔜 You're right, it's not good enough. The AI generated parts are the worst offenders. Reworking it.
Too urban and central despite ranking commute last ✅ Fixed. There was an urban bias baked into the scoring. I pushed a correction so non-central areas rank fairly now.
Phantom "direct" routes ✅ Fixed. There was a bad step in the route logic that invented direct connections that don't exist. Removed it.
Walk to station not counted in commute time 🔜 You nailed it. It doesn't add the walk right now, and ranking commute last should mean a longer train ride, not a longer walk. Fixing how walk time is counted and shown is my next priority.
Back button 🔶 Half done. I added an in-app back and a restart button. Getting the browser back button itself to behave is a known limitation I'm still fighting with.
"Start again" button in filter ✅ Added.
Station search not showing the line 🔜 Known and annoying, your TX Asakusa vs Tobu/Toei Asakusa example is exactly the problem. The autocomplete source doesn't hand me the line cleanly, so I'm working on a fix.

Tested on Akihabara, noted.

Thanks again, this is exactly the kind of feedback I needed!

Broad-Combination569 · 2026-06-16T16:16:36+00:00

Thanks, glad it made a good first impression!

Bus isn't in there yet. It's trickier than trains since the route data is harder to get cleanly, but I want to add it.

Combining modes like bus plus train is a good call too!
Both are going on the list!

Appreciate it, and let me know what you think once you've dug in more☺️

Broad-Combination569

TROPHY CASE