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What keeps you in Japan?

Anna Summer said:
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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impish said:
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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This sounds so inspiring.. I love it.

I've relocated a few times for work but never too far and never "permanently" without my agreement. Always to where English is spoken.

I will say though, in my most recent trip to Tokyo, despite it being December, the weather for the most part was quite nice during the day.. I was walking from the train station through beautiful idyllic streets, lovely green trees and peaceful surroundings to go to a work meeting about a topic I enjoy with people that I think highly of and appreciate my expertise.. I got to have a very nice lunch at a gorgeous sushi restaurant in an upscale business area in Japan and it only cost ¥1100 ..And I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could spend a year or two in Japan! :cool:
 
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I'm still a visitor but I'm moving to Tokyo next year. Been going there since 2006, for long period of times and short ones as well. Main reason I haven't moved already is women. Really difficult to meet one and actually going into a relationship. For me the process is too time consuming from what I'm used to.

For me going/living in Japan is the feeling. I feel so free being there. I feel no stress what so ever. I can live life to the fullest when I'm there. For some reason I feel like I belong there more than in my own country. I sometimes get the feeling that I've lived there before. Sounds weird but that's how I feel :)
 
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Exnocomment said:
I got to have a very nice lunch at a gorgeous sushi restaurant in an upscale business area in Japan and it only cost ¥1100 ..And I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could spend a year or two in Japan! :cool:
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I sooooo envy you. I would feel super hungry the rest of the day with only 3 or 4 nigiri for lunch :D
 
RandomTokyoGuy said:
Haha, I know. The only thing I doubt about this story is that it was an upscale (by my definition) sushi place. In Japan you get amazing sushi at amazing prices. That alone is reason to stay ;)
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That's fair - both the doubts and the reason to stay.. :p

To give you context I frequent both hole in the wall/street side stands.. As well as Michelin star restaurants in London, Paris, NYC and Tokyo. And while definitely not at the level of the latter, it was a perfectly good business lunch place, not out of place in the other aforementioned cities.

Clearly, it was a cheap lunch option being offered where quality ingredients were paired with expediency and not finesse. It wasn't kaiten sushi though. And it wasn't a chain like Ganko (which I utterly despise).
 
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Exnocomment said:
Clearly, it was a cheap lunch option being offered where quality ingredients were paired with expediency and not finesse. It wasn't kaiten sushi though. And it wasn't a chain like Ganko (which I utterly despise).
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That's a marketing strategy of small traditional sushi restaurants, some of which are indeed upscale. They offer lunch options at bargain price to lure potential clients into expensive dinner courses. They know some of their lunch clients will come back for dinner and spend lavishly on expenses.
 
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stringen said:
I'm still a visitor but I'm moving to Tokyo next year. Been going there since 2006, for long period of times and short ones as well. Main reason I haven't moved already is women. Really difficult to meet one and actually going into a relationship. For me the process is too time consuming from what I'm used to.

For me going/living in Japan is the feeling. I feel so free being there. I feel no stress what so ever. I can live life to the fullest when I'm there. For some reason I feel like I belong there more than in my own country. I sometimes get the feeling that I've lived there before. Sounds weird but that's how I feel :)
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I understand where you're coming from, and hate to be a party pooper, but like any country visiting and living are two different things. There'll be a honeymoon period, but at some point you'll have to start dealing with banal everyday stuff just like anywhere else.

Having said that, I like it here, have been involved with the place since the early 90s and resident for about a decade. To be honest I've always been a bit of a wanderer and my "home country" (currently engaged in an act of collective self-immolation) is somewhere I was glad to have left, and have lived in/been involved with a couple of other countries previously. Fortunately I was able to learn Japanese at a relatively early age so don't suffer from linguistic barriers. Careerwise I've been lucky enough to mainly work for non-Japanese employers and am happy to let others deal with the commuting thing. I could probably double my salary in somewhere like the US west coast, but then I'd probably have to pay $silly money to live and drive a car and worry about health insurance and people with guns and tipping and learn fahrenheit. Overall, not a bad place to be. For me at least.
 
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bergmann said:
I understand where you're coming from, and hate to be a party pooper, but like any country visiting and living are two different things. There'll be a honeymoon period, but at some point you'll have to start dealing with banal everyday stuff just like anywhere else.

Having said that, I like it here, have been involved with the place since the early 90s and resident for about a decade. To be honest I've always been a bit of a wanderer and my "home country" (currently engaged in an act of collective self-immolation) is somewhere I was glad to have left, and have lived in/been involved with a couple of other countries previously. Fortunately I was able to learn Japanese at a relatively early age so don't suffer from linguistic barriers. Careerwise I've been lucky enough to mainly work for non-Japanese employers and am happy to let others deal with the commuting thing. I could probably double my salary in somewhere like the US west coast, but then I'd probably have to pay $silly money to live and drive a car and worry about health insurance and people with guns and tipping and learn fahrenheit. Overall, not a bad place to be. For me at least.
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Agree but in my case japanese women are not suitable for me. Have dated a few but I really prefer european ladies. I love Japan, everything about it, but I'm not one of those western guys who will be settling down with a japanese girl. Realized that pretty quick during my early years there.
 
stringen said:
Agree but in my case japanese women are not suitable for me. Have dated a few but I really prefer european ladies. I love Japan, everything about it, but I'm not one of those western guys who will be settling down with a japanese girl. Realized that pretty quick during my early years there.
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Last I checked, being involved with a Japanese woman is not an essential requirement for living in Japan.

In my case there's a large swathe of women who are not suitable for me (and vice versa I guess), regardless of nationality.
 
bergmann said:
Last I checked, being involved with a Japanese woman is not an essential requirement for living in Japan.

In my case there's a large swathe of women who are not suitable for me (and vice versa I guess), regardless of nationality.
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My bad for being vague. Over the years in Japan I've mostly met japanese women, none of them I'd click with. Also the most women who were not japanese already had a relationship. Had two serious relationships in my home country and neither of them wanted to move to Japan. So I used to think that I couldn't live alone over there but that's not the case now. Moving on my own now and no stress about meeting a potential girlfriend anymore :)
 
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Job, food, onsens, ladies, gardens and temples... Not always in that order (-:
 
I have an interesting, decent paying, and flexible job, and a rich and vibrant social life.

The less-than-legal areas that I prefer for the recreational aspects of my life (aka mongering!) are laxly supervised and transgressions rarely enforced.

I also have access to a range of global cuisine unmatched in pretty much any country in the world, and an incredibly rich and varied live music scene - though I'll freely admit that it's a little light on live blues. Fortunately King Biscuit in Shinjuku is still around playing a healthy selection of the canned stuff when I need that itch scratched.

I've also been here for so long that I honestly wouldn't know how to handle myself for an extended period in another country.
 
What keeps me in Japan :

1. no ugly western girls
2. almost no muslims
3. sex with young girls
4. no bigots
5. nice job
6. feels safe and clean
 
stringen said:
Agree but in my case japanese women are not suitable for me. Have dated a few but I really prefer european ladies. I love Japan, everything about it, but I'm not one of those western guys who will be settling down with a japanese girl. Realized that pretty quick during my early years there.
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I wish I had realised that earlier, that would have saved me a lot of trouble. My politically correct self kept telling me that nationality is irrelevant.

majimekun said:
What keeps me in Japan :

2. almost no muslims
4. no bigots
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Gotta love your sense of irony.
 
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majimekun said:
No irony since they are the same breed.
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Even better if you're not doing it on purpose.

Also as far as I can tell Japan is just as bigoted as any other nation in the world. Most visible is against Chinese or Korean people but they also manage the rare feat of having notorious antisemitic writers with one of the smallest Jewish communities in the world so I'm pretty sure that every single brand of bigotry that exists in the West is also represented here. And why would it be otherwise? People are people wherever they live. Could it be that your definition of bigotry is restricted to what's targeting you?
 
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About the muslims... .

I'm just going to say this and shut up about it.

I recently attended a seminar that had a portion of the presentation dedicated to improving your business model to provide muslims with services catered to their religious requirements. In particular, food service providers would have to increase their costs of having food on hand that has been specially prepared for muslims. The turnaround is that the business would make more money with a influx of muslim guests. By my calculations, the business still loses money -- if they raise their prices on muslim items, they'll lose customers for being too expensive.

Here's what I have a problem with --- We have millions of tourists and over a million foreign residents, where the majority are not even muslim. I'm willing to bet that more of the foreign population is christian, buddhist or atheist.

WHY do we need to bend over backwards for one religion just for a 'chance' to appease these visitors?!

One of my best clients is from Iran, completely muslim... and a really freaking cool guy. Nothing against them... but I'm at a loss as to why we have to make so many changes for them.

I'm done, thanks for listening to my rant.
 
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And when I was living in London they decided to stretch a rope all around my neighbourhood so that Jewish people could consider the whole area their "home" and be able to do the stuff that their religion prevents them from doing outside their home on Sabbath. The ponds in the nearby park (which was public property) were restricted to men or women based on where the water came from since men are not allowed to bathe in water if women have previously bathed in it or something along those lines.

And then aren't there places in the world - not to mention any - where women can't have access to abortion, people pee in the bathroom of their choice or children be taught evolution because of some guy who died on a cross some time ago?

Bottom line, any religion can turn into anything from a slightly ridiculous nuisance to a massive pain in the butt when given free rein.
 
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Des Esseintes said:
Bottom line, any religion can turn into anything from a slightly ridiculous nuisance to a massive pain in the butt when given free rein.
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Yup! (y)

I've had no experience with Jewish. Lots of experience with Catholic and Muslim. :eek:
 
stringen said:
I'm still a visitor but I'm moving to Tokyo next year. Been going there since 2006, for long period of times and short ones as well. Main reason I haven't moved already is women. Really difficult to meet one and actually going into a relationship. For me the process is too time consuming from what I'm used to.

For me going/living in Japan is the feeling. I feel so free being there. I feel no stress what so ever. I can live life to the fullest when I'm there. For some reason I feel like I belong there more than in my own country. I sometimes get the feeling that I've lived there before. Sounds weird but that's how I feel :)
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It doesnt sound weird to me at least, i feel exactly the same
 
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Talking of religion, when living in Germany I had occasion to visit a hospital run by a religious sect which practices symbolic cannibalism, and was slightly taken aback to see, in the main lobby, a gruesome larger-than-life carving of their main prophet being tortured to death.
 
bergmann said:
Talking of religion, when living in Germany I had occasion to visit a hospital run by a religious sect which practices symbolic cannibalism, and was slightly taken aback to see, in the main lobby, a gruesome larger-than-life carving of their main prophet being tortured to death.
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You are lucky they didn't eat your meat and two veg by the sounds of it.
 
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