Why You'll HATE living in JAPAN

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My niece was always dreaming living in Japan. She learned Japanese and then moved to Osaka for her MB. After graduation she moved back to Europe and never talked about Japan again.

You can hate anything after a while. People shouldn't romanticize places.

I'm an American who has lived many years in Japan. The problem many newcomers have with Japan is that they thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. They came here looking for something better or different than what the were experiencing in their home countries. Then they find out that Japanese, like everyone else, have to work for a living. Those who come to Japan go through stages. First is the "honeymoon" stage, were everything is fun and interesting because it is so new and different. Second is the "reality" stage, in which you begin to realize that small housing, commuting on crowded trains, and spending 10 to 12 hours a day at work really isn't that fun. Then, there is the "regret" stage, when you miss the things you took for granted in your home country. If you are less lucky, you find yourself in the "trapped" stage, having lived and worked in Japan for long enough that you have grown roots (wife, kids, etc) and couldn't leave even if you wanted to. For myself, I still love it here. I enjoy the cleanliness, the lack of crime. As I have children, I am glad they go to school in Japan, were standards are still high, and where they can't get into drugs. I like the harmony and order of things in Japan, and how everything simply just works. I started my life in Japan as a salaryman working for a mid-size Japanese company. The company apartment was small, I had to commute from Chiba to Tokyo every day, arriving in the office at 7:30 in the morning, and leaving work at 9:30 every night. It sounds rough, but the work wasn't that hard, Japan has lots of national holidays, Golden Week, Silver Week, and the winter holidays. I enjoyed drinking with friends and customers in the evenings, and occasionally getting together on the weekends, life wasn't so bad. I do other things now. I started my own business several years ago, and can work from home, or anywhere else. I enjoy traveling around the country, cycling, skiing, swimming, and sightseeing. Japan can be a great place to live if you find your place in it.

Learning the language really does help. It decreases the depressing culture shock

Japan is amazing for holidays. But not for living

There's a reason why most anime's are all high school students, because once they go college or enter the work force they became robots, tied to a rat race and the never ending work-home-work lifestyle.

This is actually a very complicated topic - but it does have recognizable patterns. In my case, I moved to Japan in 1991 and ended up living there for 6 years. At first I was homesick, then I LOVED Japan, then I started not to like some things, then eventually I couldn't wait to go home.....but then....I started to miss Japan, I started to reflect and understand Japan better, I started to see the things in my own country more clearly and discovered that things were different than I used to think. I could see what things were actually the same as in Japan (because people are the same - yes they are) and the things that were different (because every country has its uniqueness based on history, geography, climate, etc). Then, after 8 years I went back to Japan - and as a tourist, I loved it again, while also feeling nostalgia for my first experiences there. Yes - I developed a lot as a person and Japan really helped with that reflection. I am now in Japan again and I really appreciate this country and my friends here all these decades later. Of course, Japan has changed a lot as well in 30 years. For example, it is far more open to foreigners now and that is a good thing.

I guess the "frustration phase" might happen with anyone that decides to move to a new country, especially if the spoken language is different, in my case, my family decided to move to Switzerland and I loved the Idea, we moved to Switzerland from Italy, but since I've had too much struggle with learning and speaking German, I've reached this "frustration phase" very quickly, but I never gave up and kept on learning the language, and now It feels like I'm still in Italy, but with German Speaking people...it's so funny 😁

So the cons are: Loneliness, Depression and Lack of Money. Well, I have these three since the day I was born, so I guess I'm prepared lol

Japan in expectations: rich, animes, cool places Japan in reality: living in your small apartment and work 72 hours per day and very depressed

Guessing the speaker moved to Japan in his early twenties. From my perspective as a 40 year(s) old guy, his presentation of cultural adjustment phases describes what each person goes through when they leave secondary school and transition to working adulthood. He just happened to grow up through that period of living in another country. Welcome to planet earth.

It's just like everything in life: stay grounded, don't idealize anything, experience what you can, know that whatever the place: the people you meet usually make the difference in good or bad.

I have a Japanese friend that moved from Japan to Sydney and he described Japan like a theater play. It’s good and entertaining when you’re the audience (tourist), but if you’re one of the workers at the backstage (locals and residents), it’s stressful.

“So. I went to Japan for some Good old Japanese Fakkin “ - abe Lincoln, 1796

I lived in Japan for just over three years. I was stationed at Fuchu Air Station, a JASDF base. Every day I had off or vacation time I had was exploring the Tokyo area. There were days I would get off the train at a station I did not know and just explored the area just to see what is there. I would come back at the end of the day and tell my Japanese friends what I saw/found. I found things they did not know were there and they took notes to go see for themselves. I wish I could have spent more time there.

I lived in Japan from 1991 to 2006. I went through all the phases of culture shock, though I feel like the frustration phase didn't last too long for me. At any rate, I reached acceptance after about 4 or 5 years. Definitely, having good friends, both foreign and Japanese, helped me a lot. So did speaking Japanese, which I'd majored in in university. For the people I knew who didn't speak Japanese, it was a harder struggle. Most of them didn't last longer than a year or two. Eventually, I returned to my home country after many years, and went through reverse-culture shock. That's a thing too!

So important to be realistic while one has this love/infatuation of Japan. Not everything is sunny and roses, no matter where you are. Thanks for the reality check!

When I moved to another country, I’ll never forget what they told us “Once you move out of your country or culture bubble, you will feel like you don’t fit in the new country because it’s not your people and the way of thinking and feeling will be different. But WHEN you come back home, you will feel like you don’t fit there anymore because your horizons have expanded, your way of thinking is gonna be WAY different from the one you used to have back home and now you will end up with your OWN bubble. Once you move away from your people, you will no longer have “people”, you’re now on your own.” That really hit hard with me and saw it everywhere. Even internally in my country with those moving from the countryside into the city and then going back. Those expat phases are no joke and you need to be really mentally and emotionally strong if you’re ever gonna move to another country.

Japan is a beautiful country. Spring is warm and cities are filled with green nature. In autumn, the leaves turn bright red, and in winter, they turn white with snow. When you are in Japan, you experience a sense of wonder. For example, when I walk down a quiet street and see birds singing and small children playing, I know peace. And then I stop crying involuntarily. I don't know why. I love that moment.