NYC vs Tokyo vs London vs Seoul (city hall, broker)

[Brave New World]

Over a third of London is green space -

[OyCrumbler]

Restaurants and bars - Tokyo
High culture - Tokyo
Popular culture such as sports, music etc - London
Outdoor recreation - NYC
Economy/jobs - NYC
Education - ? Probably NYC if we're talking about university rankings; maybe Seoul and Tokyo for performance at grade school/high school
Architecture - London
Local character - Tokyo
Jobs and The Suburbs - Is this jobs in the suburbs? I have no idea

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Restaurants and bars - Tokyo
High culture - Tokyo
Popular culture such as sports, music etc - London
Outdoor recreation - NYC
Economy/jobs - NYC
Education - ? Probably NYC if we're talking about university rankings; maybe Seoul and Tokyo for performance at grade school/high school
Architecture - London
Local character - Tokyo
Jobs and The Suburbs - Is this jobs in the suburbs? I have no idea

Just suburbs 30 minutes outside the city

[tenkier7]

Restaurants and bars: Paris, Tokyo
High culture: Tokyo
Popular culture such as sports, music etc: New York, London
Outdoor recreation: Seoul, Sydney
Economy/Jobs: New York, London
Education: London, Paris
Architecture: Paris
Local character: Tokyo
Jobs and The Suburbs & Safety: Seoul, Tokyo

[SEAandATL]

Tokyo. The greatest city in the world.

[saybanana]

Restaurants and bars: NY or London. Seoul has probably the most restaurants/bars in any city but most are Korean.
High culture : Paris or London
Popular culture such as sports, music etc. Tokyo or Seoul. When I traveled Asia pop culture from these cities are huge.
Outdoor recreation: Seoul. Its local high mountains is huge with city people as well as river parks. Water too dangerous.
Economy/jobs: London or NY
Education : Paris
Architecture: New York or London. I find many of London's new highrises amazing as well as old architecture. NY has variety
Local character: London.
Jobs and The Suburbs: Seoul or Tokyo

I kind of forgot what other cities there are so I just stuck with the same 5.

[Trafalgar Law]

I have now seen all four of them (the four cities in the thread's title). I am currently in Seoul right now and heading to Busan and a few of the other major South Korean cities in the next few days.

I lived in London for 2.5 years and am now currently living in Tokyo. I was born in Singapore and have been there numerous times throughout my life. Sydney is my ultimate goal and one of the four cities I am looking into living in for the rest of my life based off one trip there as a child that left me memorized with it. Hong Kong I have been to twice and it would be my dream city if it wasn't so out of my league with regards to housing costs. I'm an American by nationality due to that being the place where I grew up and have been to New York a number of times throughout my life (I used to live in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area just 240 miles south of Gotham). I have been wanting to visit Seoul and all of South Korea's major cities for nearly 7 years now, I have been putting it off and putting it off and putting it off until I finally decided that it is something that needs to be done. I should kick myself for waiting this long to see it and kick myself even harder for wasting my vacation days, time, and money visiting cities that I have already seen before and am not really all that enthusiastic about (i.e. Los Angeles) instead of prioritizing a trip to Seoul (a city that I am enthusiastic about and have been dying to see for just short of a full decade). I figured that now that I am living as close to South Korea as I ever have in my life that if I don't see it now that I wont ever get around to it. I have also seen Paris a couple of times as well (I visited it once when I was a child with my family and then a few more times in the 2.5 years that I lived in London this decade). It's rare for me to say this in a World forum thread that features so many cities from so many corners of the world but I have legitimately seen and experienced all of the cities the OP listed and have even lived in 3 of them (with eyes for a fourth - Sydney).

A few months ago I contacted a group of my friends in the United States, close friends that usually accompany me on many of my trips and asked them if they wanted to meet me up in Seoul. Some of them couldn't as their schedules wouldn't allow for it but 3 of them signed on for it.

We had an A+ experience in Seoul, it is a lot bigger and grittier than I imagined it would be but we had the time of our lives there. It is so massive, just so much going on everywhere and the food is absolutely top shelf quality. Hard to get bad food in Seoul.

Here are some pictures that I've taken from our trip so far in Seoul.

Seoul:

[Trafalgar Law]

Seoul (continued part 2):

[Trafalgar Law]

Seoul (continued part 3):

[Trafalgar Law]

Originally Posted by BPt111

The unlimited battle of world class cities or international cities

New York City
London
Tokyo
Seoul
Paris
Hong Kong
Singapore
Sydney

Which one you will choose ?

In this exact order as places I would live in (and I have lived in Singapore, London, and Tokyo):

1. Sydney

2. Hong Kong/London/Tokyo (yes, it is a three way tie here)

3. Seoul

4. Singapore

5. New York

6. Paris

Don't get me wrong, I actually view Paris as the most invigorating visitors experience of the bunch. That city's level of dynamism, to me personally, can only be rivaled and exceeded by the likes of Rome but while it is close to the top of cities that I find to be a great vacation destination, it would be last on my list for places that I would want to live in. It is a great city and I recommend that everyone goes out and visits it at least once because it is an experience of a lifetime but as a place to live in I can also do without it.