Presentation
The population of Machida (町田市) is estimated at 429,040 inhabitants for an area of 71.63 km2. As I said earlier this city was one of my main destination in the beginning because ot was only 2 station far from my university. Indeed, this city offers a lots of stores, shops, animation and is also a very crowded transit because of the Odakyu line which allows people to go to Shinjuku which is the biggest station and one of the most famous district of Japan.
More than a hub Machida has also a lot of people stopping there for work and like me many foreigner. Indeed, this fact is probably because two main universities are nearby : Aoyama Gakuin and J. F. Oberlin. These both university welcome (more ans more) many exchange students every semester.
My personal food recommendation
One of the place I have been the most is the Season Dining. This place is in the building when you leave the station in front of you. I discovered this place first when I was going to play soccer on the rooftop, and I noticed immediately because of for the concept. Indeed, all the floor is divided in restaurant with all having their speciality. Indian, Vietnamese (definitely my favorite), Okonomiyaki ... The choice is really big and prices are correct, even tho I would not eat there everyday.
This information leads to my conclusion of this place, except this place I have been you can of course find all the famous chains (sukiya,Mcdonald,Wendy's...), which are really affordable for a good taste. I would definitely recommend they Cheese Gyudon, as a french of course this was my favorite (チーズ牛丼)
To get a drink or enjoy a night with friends, I can give you two advice. First, the most casual one again is going to the famous chains (pictures below) like DomaDoma 土間土間, Torikizoku 鳥貴族...).
These famous places provide a good compromise between affordable price and good quality of foods drinks. But again, I advice to try them all to get a better idea or get a better understanding of each identity and offers, such that Torikizoku for the Yakitori. Famous Izakaya chain are also really good because of their english menu, so their accessibility as a foreigner will be way more simple compare to traditional restaurant.
However, don't get me wrong you will be very lucky if they have one or one of the staff actually can speak a little english. I would recommend if it's your first time in this kind of place to go with a japanese speaker in order to get a better understanding of the course plan in a Izakaya (飲み放題と食べ放題
Second, when the time has come where you finally got enough of the famous Izakaya, my second advice is to let you charm by the city. Indeed, for me one of the most important quality of the city is that the center is really small.
Every places are not too far from each other so you can try all the roads by walking and enjoy the view.
During some of my night adventures I discovered a lot of traditional places, independant restaurant, even chicha's. It's also at night that you can enjoy a different point of view and another side of the city. Like every city in Japan, girl's bar and nightclub(one) and all of the night life is very developed and active, but I never get into these places so I cannot provide any details or information about it.
To conclude all of these experiences and adventures made me fall in love with this city I hope you can visit it one day too. Feel free to check the official website of some of the restaurant I mention in this article !
