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What keeps you in Japan?

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Mwktm

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I am curious - I hear a lot of stories about how people on this forum work multiple jobs etc. So what is it that keeps you in Japan? Would you not be better in your home countries amongst family and friends?

Why do many women who marry non-Japanese want to settle down in Japan? As a man do any of you feel insecure given visa issues? And how about your careers?

I am curious and very interested to understand different cultural perspectives
 
Mwktm said:
I am curious - I hear a lot of stories about how people on this forum work multiple jobs etc. So what is it that keeps you in Japan? Would you not be better in your home countries amongst family and friends?

Why do many women who marry non-Japanese want to settle down in Japan? As a man do any of you feel insecure given visa issues? And how about your careers?
Click to expand...

My Answer, Part One:
I work multiple jobs, but two of the three are my own businesses and I have a lot of fun doing it. I keep my 'real job' for the benefits and it's an engaging, yet flexible job. For whatever reason, It's much easier for me to make a decent living in Japan compared to my home country... I'm just not really sure why?! -- In addition, I spend about 2 months out of the year in my home country... that's enough. Haha!

Part Two:
Not married, yet, but I don't have visa issues to worry about. I'm self sufficient and I've paid my taxes, so no chance of just abruptly getting kicked out. Careers? See above.
 
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Japan is really fun.
I am not interested in returning to Europe. I really fell in love with Asia, there are a lot more people here so there is some action!
Missing your family and visa issues are not big deals if you arrange your stuff well and you don't have money trouble. I can visit my family every year and they can come here as well, and some distrance can be healthy for the relationship. In my opinion, Japan is super easy in giving out visa as long as you apply in the correct way and as long as you can prove them that you wont suck up their government money. A lot easier to get in than most European countries.
 
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Mwktm said:
So what is it that keeps you in Japan? Would you not be better in your home countries amongst family and friends?
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  • Wife & Kids
  • Job I love
  • Miss my family & friends at times, but wherever you go you can always make new friends

Mwktm said:
Why do many women who marry non-Japanese want to settle down in Japan?
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  • Can't speak for others, but things have panned out rather well for us in Japan. But I don't think there would have been any problem leaving if I wanted to.

Mwktm said:
As a man do any of you feel insecure given visa issues? And how about your careers?
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  • I've got PR, so Visa is no longer an issue, unless I really fuck up
 
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Money.

My salary is about 2 or 3 times higher than what I would make in my home country for the same job and apparently I can keep going as long as I want. I started working fairly late in life so money is still a concern for me even though I don't have a family and don't ever intend to start one. My social life here is crap and I have pretty much given up on finding a long-term relationship, but I got used to that and for the time being, comfort and financial security are still more important and I don't think I can find that in another country.
 
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i just like it here...
salary is a little bit better than where i come from... visa will probably always be an issue...
but in the end i dont mind... i feel at home here, got a lot of friends/acquaintances, i never get questioned/refused anything...
the question is actually difficult to answer...
sure, visa is the main issue... relationships/marriage are impossible, even though id like to have have one... it also took me about three years to get a job here (and still i work three jobs, without making real money)... no to mention that my savings are long gone, since i used them to stay in japan...
its a constant struggle and will probably always be one...
but when i hear about people who stay for wife/sex and whatever unimportant reasons, i feel very relieved...
 
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yesh, apparently it is easy for most...
i didnt have a single date in 6 years here... not even close^^ but thats just the way it is...
i dont have a real opinion on that, to be honest... from what i hear, many people just dont get along with the people they date, or dont understand them in the end... but everybody does date... that must be a miracle...
so i dont think like that because ive given up (quite the opposite), but because it is a fact to me... 11 years without a single date? that says it all...
most people here get their partners (or first partners) here after a week, or two... so it seems to be possible... the day i have been alone with a woman? i can not remember...

i wouldnt want to have it the other way round either...
 
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Interesting that many people mention salary. I thought that Japan has pretty low (starter) salaries for many jobs, especially compared to the US and Europe (better than many other asian countries of course).

For me personally it's good of course, SW has a great salary here. I could never do this well in Europe except for maybe london.
 
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im always more surprised how people can say visa is no issue... now its okay for me, but it wasnt easy to get one at all... and who knows what happens when i got to extend mine^^
 
User#8628 said:
Interesting that many people mention salary. I thought that Japan has pretty low (starter) salaries for many jobs, especially compared to the US and Europe (better than many other asian countries of course).
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It all depends what sector you're in and what part of Europe (many countries in Mediterranean/Central/Eastern Europe have lower average salaries than Japan).
 
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User#8628 said:
Interesting that many people mention salary. I thought that Japan has pretty low (starter) salaries for many jobs, especially compared to the US and Europe (better than many other asian countries of course).
Click to expand...

Would guess that most of those people are hired as ex-pats. Japan is, or at least used to be, considered to be a difficult country to live in and especially if you have language skills them many foreign companies were happy to pay good salary. Mostly this would of course be valid for people in their mid-career or higher.

As you said if you compare a typical salary for a newly graduated person then Western Europe pays quite much more than a normal company in Japan.
 
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vondoom said:
yesh, apparently it is easy for most...
i didnt have a single date in 6 years here... not even close^^ but thats just the way it is...
i dont have a real opinion on that, to be honest... from what i hear, many people just dont get along with the people they date, or dont understand them in the end... but everybody does date... that must be a miracle...
so i dont think like that because ive given up (quite the opposite), but because it is a fact to me... 11 years without a single date? that says it all...
most people here get their partners (or first partners) here after a week, or two... so it seems to be possible... the day i have been alone with a woman? i can not remember...
Click to expand...

Better no dates than boring ones. I have given up because I realised that dating meant giving up on a lot of the things I truly enjoy doing in order to make time for the dull, uninteresting, mentally ill or simply disrespectful women who are the only ones who would agree to see me here.
 
MikeH said:
As you said if you compare a typical salary for a newly graduated person then Western Europe pays quite much more than a normal company in Japan.
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Are you aware of the unemployment rate for young people in countries like Spain or France? They have people with master's degrees working as cashiers for less than the minimum wage there.
 
I have been in Japan for 6 years. I had spent the last 10 trying to get here (no college degree means no visa until 10 years experience or marry a Japanese national (not as easy as you think)).

Anyway, I'm here and the first 3 years were very rock rollercoaster-ish. After being here 6 months my best friend from childhood died. 6 months later my younger brother died. Also the craziness of the great quake. Not being able to find work in my field the first 2 years I was here because of language barriers. Before this going home and being with friends and family was never something I thought about. I could always visit. Then these 2 things happened and I find myself often longing for home. Not for the place, but for the people. With my current situation that is not in the cards not anytime soon anyway. I've currently been renewed for 5 years on my visa, so I have no worries about that.
 
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impish said:
I have been in Japan for 6 years. I had spent the last 10 trying to get here (no college degree means no visa until 10 years experience or marry a Japanese national (not as easy as you think)).

Anyway, I'm here and the first 3 years were very rock rollercoaster-ish. After being here 6 months my best friend from childhood died. 6 months later my younger brother died. Also the craziness of the great quake. Not being able to find work in my field the first 2 years I was here because of language barriers. Before this going home and being with friends and family was never something I thought about. I could always visit. Then these 2 things happened and I find myself often longing for home. Not for the place, but for the people. With my current situation that is not in the cards not anytime soon anyway. I've currently been renewed for 5 years on my visa, so I have no worries about that.
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Sorry, if I may ask then, especially to everyone who struggled to get a job, what draws you to stay in Japan and how did you keep yourself motivated when you might well be from a well developed country where you would find it easier to get your career going?

For me it's quite straight forward - I am from a developing country and I wouldn't have got anywhere with my education (how I fared I.e. Grades not the degree I got). Working in an international financial centre is a no brainer. However, would I go to Japan and struggle to get an equivalent job, probably need some extra motivating factor, none of which comes to mind as I write this...

Thanks for all the responses so far, keep 'me coming!
 
Des Esseintes said:
Are you aware of the unemployment rate for young people in countries like Spain or France? They have people with master's degrees working as cashiers for less than the minimum wage there.
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Wrong! In France master's degree young people find a good job if they want really work! but the problem is that they want high treatment from the beginning...
Spain you cant compare to France! Just because this country is by far lower in economic health term, for example to buy a house there is at least 5x cheaper, i dont understand why so often France is compare with south Europe countries?
You never went in Europe may be, so its explain, France is not Greece, Portugal or even Italy, France is not a "Mediterannean" and not a South Eu country.
 
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Sometimes I'm not sure :p mainly because of education but also because I like Japan. It does feel like a second home for me. On the other hand, living in Japan on your own gives you great benefits in being independent. I learned a lot here and I would never trade this experience with something else. Living in a foreign country so different from your own cultural background is exciting and challenging at the same time.
 
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Mwktm said:
Sorry, if I may ask then, especially to everyone who struggled to get a job, what draws you to stay in Japan and how did you keep yourself motivated when you might well be from a well developed country where you would find it easier to get your career going?
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Because life is too short to live life on the easy road. Moving away from friends, family, security is risk and with risk comes something you don't experience when you sit back in your home country where you know you can get a job, where you know you can get by. It's about the adventure of being somewhere other than what you're familiar with....

I was ready for the financial risk, but not the risk of loss.
 
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