Anonymous wrote:And they drive on the wrong side of the road.

Anonymous wrote:“Gaijin” means “outsider.” As PP’s have observed, Japan is an insular, xenophobic society, with highly rigid social rules, tightly controlled opportunity paths, and collective/conformist expectations that will boggle the mind of a Westerner. There is a significant incidence of suicide alongside a shame-based morality that drives people to despise themselves.

Oh, and married women need spousal consent for abortion.

Well, at least they can get an abortion.

And they drive on the wrong side of the road.

“Gaijin” means “outsider.” As PP’s have observed, Japan is an insular, xenophobic society, with highly rigid social rules, tightly controlled opportunity paths, and collective/conformist expectations that will boggle the mind of a Westerner. There is a significant incidence of suicide alongside a shame-based morality that drives people to despise themselves.

Oh, and married women need spousal consent for abortion.

Anonymous wrote:They are racist, so be prepared for that. My white family has stayed there for work, etc and they were not welcome in certain establishments.

Boo hoo. I’ll take Japan’s lower level of racism than the US’ entirely racist system. US cops murder brown people. Oh boo hoo, you got refused noodles at some backwater establishment in Tokyo. Big whoop.

Anonymous wrote:Way better quality of food

Infinitely better education

WAY BETTER public transport

virtually zero gun crime

Zero school shootings

Affordable healthcare for all

Murder rate is virtual nonexistent

Obesity rate is below 5% while US is 50%

People obey the law

Virtually zero fare evaders on the Shinkansen

High speed internet and cell phones everywhere.


I do not give a crap about toxic work culture. I’d take that little zit vs school shootings and America’s unaffordable healthcare snd obesity. Do Americans realize how much it sucks to live in america?

OP spend your time researching how to work and live there, instead of trying to win internet arguments about which country is better. I love Japan too, am of East Asian descent, and speak almost fluent Japanese. I used to be like you but the older I get the more I am able to appreciate both Japan and the US for what they are. 99% of people who have your mentality and actually manage to live in Japan for a couple of years will change their tunes. 1% stay because they married a Japanese spouse and get as close to integration as a foreign can. Give it a try and see if you can be the 1%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America is a great country. Do we have problems? Of course all nations do. And while it politically things seem dire right now, the best thing to do is stay and vote and help, not leave. Time takes time and a hundred years is just a blip on the linear course of world history. Our greatest natural resource is our young people, our children. If we can nourish that resource properly we can move to a better society.

You have made a few typos. America is the worst country with its racism, misogyny and love of guns. Anywhere else is better.

Don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out.

Anonymous wrote:So move. Take ownership of your existence and stop being such a whiny little zero. Griping to DCUM of all places about how superior you are to the rest of the US is just pathetic.

On the merits, I like Japan and it’s one of my favorite countries to visit. But no way I’d live there. It’s exceptionally conformist, and all personal interactions other than (sometimes) within a family unit are built on a weird passive-aggressive politeness ethos.

No thanks. Give me people who say what they feel and what they want. Sometimes the Tokyo office bros get closer to that after some beers and whiskey, but come morning it’s back to being dutiful cogs.

+1 It's a very insular society and outsiders would not be welcome. The passive aggressive politeness and constant jockeying for social position would be a deal breaker for me.

Plus they look down on children with special needs. The striving is constant and you're considered a loser if you can't keep up. The other moms will gleefully point out (in a very passive aggressive way) that their children are doing so much better than yours in any way that your child isn't at the top. Their society is not at all individualistic, so if someone has a learning disability, then too bad for them. Let them go be a cashier or do manual labor. China and some other Asian countries are very much the same way.

It's basically everything I hate about insular, controlling, LMC area dynamics plus a lot more negatives in my book. Go if you want, but you couldn't pay me enough to live in Japan.

Anonymous wrote:America is a great country. Do we have problems? Of course all nations do. And while it politically things seem dire right now, the best thing to do is stay and vote and help, not leave. Time takes time and a hundred years is just a blip on the linear course of world history. Our greatest natural resource is our young people, our children. If we can nourish that resource properly we can move to a better society.

You drink the America is exceptional Kool aid. For a first world country, US has massive amounts of crime and violent crime. American infrastructure is trash. The country basically stopped developing in the 1960s and 70s. Literally go to an advanced 21st century country like Japan, South Korea, etc. Their infrastructure will blow your mind. Even China is swimming laps around the US in terms of infrastructure. The US routinely scores very low on tests when compared to the rest of the world. US education stinks. And even when you do make it to university, they bankrupt you for it and kids are leaving college now with 6 figure debts. US healthcare? What a joke. People die because they can't afford insulin that costs $3 in most other countries. People in Japan and South Korea go to the doctor on average something like 9-13 times per year. Meanwhile, millions of Americans can't even see the doctor once even if they have major disease. Incarceration rates? What a joke. Guns are also everywhere in the US. The US is a diseased country, both figuratively and literally. It's funny how Americans don't realize how substandard their lives are, yet they think they're exceptional.

Anonymous wrote:America is a great country. Do we have problems? Of course all nations do. And while it politically things seem dire right now, the best thing to do is stay and vote and help, not leave. Time takes time and a hundred years is just a blip on the linear course of world history. Our greatest natural resource is our young people, our children. If we can nourish that resource properly we can move to a better society.

Our young people are being desensitized to violence, a la school shootings and the like. #1 killer of children is guns in the US. Statistically, they are safer in Japan, or any other developed world other than the US.

I just got back from South Korea. I *LOVED* it, for the same reason OP loves Japan.

I would have moved there with kids, BUT, I would've put them in a private school with the intention of sending my kids to the US or Europe for college. I don't want them to deal with hagwons and the like.

As for the office culture, it is terrible. I wouldn't want to work for a Korean company, that's for sure. If I could, I'd work for a US company, and while I know the office culture would still not be the exact same as the US offices, it wouldn't be as bad as the Korean companies.

If they could fix their office culture and stressful school environment, it would be an ideal place to raise a family. Super safe in every way.

My kids are now in college and junior year in HS, so it's too late to move now. My DC's HS had two lockdowns last year, where at least one gun was found on a student. DC was super scared when that happened. Ugh. Horrible.

My kids don't want kids here because they don't want them to have to go through school shooting lockdowns, and the insane college process that my college aged DC had to go through.

School shootings and the political shift here deeply disturb me as well. I also love visiting Japan, but I couldn't live there as a gaijin woman with a career raising a daughter. Maybe Europe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is nice, but it's super expensive and the housing is tiny, but otherwise I agree.

Actually it isn’t expensive, at all. That’s a myth left over from the 80s.

I guess it depends about the cost of where you're moving from and where in Japan you'd be moving too. Tokyo is the 3rd- 5th most expensive city in the world for expats, depending on which ranking you look at.
https://globalpayrollassociation.com/blogs/emea/japan-tokyo-is-third-on-global-list-of-most-expensive-expat-cities

that’s because expats live in overly expensive expats housing. when you compare COL and include rent, Japan is much cheaper than US.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/editorials/tokyo-housing.html

How can anyone compare Thailand and Japan in this context? Japan is (and palpably feels) safer and wealthier

Anonymous wrote:It is nice, but it's super expensive and the housing is tiny, but otherwise I agree.

housing is MUCH more expensive in the US so COL is considerably lower in Japan.