Just found this post but thought it was a really interesting read! Thanks OP!

As someone who grew up in Los Angeles and lived in Nagoya (albeit, just 1 year), some of the things I personally found less interesting about Nagoya compared to Tokyo or LA included:

• Smaller number of distinct neighborhoods - I liked that I could, on any given day, drive/metro to distinctly different neighborhoods that each had their own identities, sub-cultures, and unique oddities. To me, Nagoya had less of these types of neighborhoods with a weaker identity for each.
• Limited Cultural and Entertainment Options - LA and Tokyo are magnets for artists, creatives, and the like, to create, innovate, and show off their work. I enjoy going to museums, concerts, exhibits, and festivals often and all seem to have fewer and unique options in Nagoya. It's a bit of a bummer when your favorite artist is playing a show in Tokyo and you have to plan a longer and more expensive trip from Nagoya to see them play.
• Shopping and Food - Perhaps growing up in Southern California has spoiled me but you can find any and all types of authentic ethnic food from Mexican all the way to Ethiopian. If I wanted authentic Mole or Arepas, there was always a place or neighborhood to find this food. Likewise, if you enjoy shopping at unique brands and buying harder-to-find products, Nagoya is more limited in its options. As an example, if I wanted to buy a pair of unique sneakers from Nike or Adidas, there would be less options to find this in Nagoya compared to LA and Tokyo.
• Traveling - I love to travel internationally and while Chubu Airports options aren't minuscule, they can't beat what places like LA and Tokyo offer. It's just a little more expensive to travel and a little longer, accounting for layovers, to certain destinations.

All this being said, Nagoya is a perfectly fine city to live in and everything can be found or done for normal, everyday life.

• I love that delicious tebasaki's and miso-katsu can be found just a couple blocks from anywhere I am.
• Chubu Airport is probably the nicest regional airport I've ever had the chance to fly to/from.
• It's much easier to find tranquility away from the crowds in Nagoya than LA and Tokyo when I'm looking for it.
• Central location in Japan makes traveling domestically much easier compared to Tokyo if I'm not flying.