Saitama?
 

What's the low down on Saitama?

very little to tell... it is much quieter than Tokyo with some good places to go hiking but pretty dull overall imo

Around Saitama city is pretty nice. Thirty minutes outside of Tokyo and with a little cheaper apartments, it wouldn't be a bad place to live. Other than that, Saitama looks mostly like a bunch of rice fields. There are not many mountains since it is the majority of the Kanto plain, but you can make it into Gunma's and Niigata's mountains in about 2 to 3 hours. Overall, I wouldn't mind living in Saitama since I can't be bothered with the crowded feeling of Tokyo.

I have to agree with Chachava. I have only been there once or twice...i can't even remember that much.

Hm I lived a while in Kita-Koshigaya back in '05, pretty sure that's in Saitama?

Yeah, anyways, from what I remember it was a bit more... grey than inner Tokyo :) Still though, kinda cozy and nice somehow.

I will be spending my summer there for an internship position :D

according to some sources, some red-light-district-activities have relocated to saitama after our beloved mayor of tokyo the always soft-spoken and foreigner friendly ishihara decided to get tough on such activities in tokyo.

not sure if this is the kind of info u were looking for. saitama used to have a good second-hand manga shop in kawagoe, but it was run by a really old man so both the shop and the man might not be around.

Saitama is ok for outdoors life
 

Saitama is a big place, can you be more specific. I have lived all over the place. Its the relatively poorer side of Tokyo. I really liked living out at Ogawa, Ranzen Machi area for mountain biking, on the Tobu Tojo Line.
I bought a cheap foreclosed property in Hanno, in the mountains. If you like bars, that town has a few. I go canoeing in the rivers, its close to Okutama, end of line for trains to Ikebukuro. If you like nature, outdoors, and you stick to the west-side, Saitama is good. Also lived in Nerima. That was too congested to me, but good access to Roppongi, close to Ikebukuro.

Sumiyoshi was good on the edge of Tokyo. I used to ride my bike up the river, but its a monoculture. I only stayed there a month but OK access to Shinjuku.

My uncle live in Omiya, which is in Saitama (not myself though, I live in Yokohama when I was a kid). I do visit this uncle regularly, but there really aren't much to see.

It is MUCH quieter comparing to Tokyo, lots of farms and farmland, some old traiditional housing, small corner gas station and bistro and thats about it, but it definitely feel more LOCAL than TOURIST in Saitama