Do you regret moving to Japan?

28 comments

1. I’ve lived in Japan 9 years this year. I love it. Either you like it or you don’t. A lot of people seem to think that visiting as a tourist is the same as living here, and that’s just completely stupid lol.

2. I love it, it’s my permanent home. But it’s not for everyone.

   People who stay after 5 years tend to stay permanently, in my experience.

3. Not in the slightest. If I was an English teacher still at this point in my life, I’d probably say yes. But I’m doing well in Tokyo, have my own family, properly saving for retirement, etc. I’m doing infinitely better than I was/would be back home. IMO the only people who really regret it are the ones who are stuck in low paying jobs with little to no prospects for improvement. Do I think everything is better in Japan? No, but everywhere is gonna have pros and cons and for me, the pros easily outweigh the cons compared to back home. So I really have zero reason to regret moving to Japan.

4. I love it here, and can’t imagine retiring anywhere else.

5. I suppose it depends on what you’re doing here and who you’re doing it with. Japan is a place like any other. There are good points. There are bad points. Its up to you to make the value call regarding whether the good points outweigh the bad points.

   For reference, I have a wife, two kids, good job and a mortgage. I’ve been here for the overwhelming majority of my adult life. I’m sure that I’ll retire here, but whether or not I’ll die here really depends on my health and my kids.

6. I think it depends what kind of person you are, i believe and from my experience people from the US have the most trouble (cultural differences, maybe?). Moving to Japan requires a lot of dedication, learning the language customs and in general accepting that society here works communally so even though there is a space for your individuality its still limited. I am an introvert, who likes instructions and like things in a particular order, also learned jp while studying Asian studies 20 yeard ago back in bachelor so I’d say it wasn’t hard.

7. >I’ve just been loving my experience as a tourist and can definitely imagine a life here

   I generally very much like living here and have felt similarly for the majority of my decade here, but I cannot stress enough that visiting here as a tourist (hell even semester abroad student) is so thoroughly incomparable to actually living here. You simply cannot imagine what it’s like to live here on a day-to-day basis after a three week trip. That’s not a judgement of your character or anything, but just the fact of the matter.

   When I moved here (to the countryside) I spent several years simultaneously self-teaching myself the language before spending a year at Japanese language school while preparing for grad school (also in Japan). I now work (in Tokyo) at a good company and can speak and read the language virtually unimpeded, but if you’re not willing to put in this kind of work and/or do things “the Japanese way,” then most people generally a) run out of steam to keep living here and move back home/somewhere else, or b) can’t bring themselves to leave but also, having hit the limit on what they’ll be able to achieve here, find themselves stuck with a chip on their shoulder about it.

8. Don’t regret moving here.

   Love it here. No desire to return back home.

   But I’m retired.

   If I HAD to work again in Japan and all that entails for example low pay, meetings and monotonous days I’d probably not thrive.

9. Moved a bit over a year ago, Tokyo area, from the US.

   I don’t regret it at all, I really enjoy my life and it was a major improvement for me.

   I love the ease of traveling (domestically), I like how different everything is to the US, there are a ton of new experiences. I like the food, there are delicious new recipes/flavors everywhere. I like the lifestyle in Tokyo, it’s nice to get exercise by walking places instead of driving everywhere, plus it’s good to actually see people rather than just 100 cars around you. It’s convenient to be able to get anywhere I want relatively cheaply, plus I can use the time on the train to chill rather than being stressed by the behavior of other drivers, traffic, etc.

   It’s really, really nice. The only downsides I would say are it’s difficult to make deep relationships with locals (though I’m also not really putting in a large effort, so take it with a grain of salt) and the language barrier can make some things a bit tricky. These aren’t a big deal, for me at least, so it’s a massive net positive IME.

10. Once I get that Japanese citizenship, it will be a sad goodbye to the USA, but a heartwarming hello to Japan…

11. no, its for my spouse and me.

    tourist is different from actually living.

    kinda gets lonely since people have their own world, but i have a spouse so, also i used to be from a 3rd world so that helps comparing it to a shitter place.

12. Liked it more before the huge tourist influx. Prefer it over the U.S. most of the time. First went to Japan to live in 2015. Now average 6 months a year in Japan and 6 in the US.

13. Not in the slightest

14. Like you, I initially came to Japan as a tourist back in 2023 and stayed for 5 weeks with my college buddies. I absolutely loved it, and wanted to come back as soon as possible. Even knowing some Japanese and knowledge about cultural etiquette, and that it would be vastly different than coming as a tourist, I came back over here in July of last year for language school to live here in the short term and see what it’s like.

    An honest assessment of my first four months or so? I lived in a cramped share house, in a pretty boring outskirt of Tokyo (btw if you can help it, don’t do Oakhouse, they’ll charge double the rate of a regular apartment for a prison cell, but I digress). I had no income because I hadn’t found a part-time job yet, and things were generally pretty “meh”. I left behind a well-paying job in America basically to restart with nothing. You also don’t realize that even the difference in goods at the grocery store gets to you, just things that are unfamiliar in general. It adds up. Not to mention being so far away from family and things.

    However, since around mid November, things have taken a turn for the better. I landed a decent part-time job thanks to a mutual connection, I moved into a regular proper apartment with privacy, and more space. At a fraction of the cost, mind you. I used a realtor I connected with through GaijinPot, and it’s in an area with a lot more to do within walking distance. I’m hoping to make some Japanese friends soon, outside of my coworkers.

    Having turned my initial situation around, I’ve found living here to be a really enjoyable and rewarding experience, not to mention safe overall. I get to travel from time to time and taste a bit of that feeling I had back in 2023. A word of advice: Those first several months *will* be hard, it may not be exactly the same as the joy you’re feeling now, but life is what you make of it. Experience it for what it’s worth, and you might find yourself surprised with the possibilities ahead.

15. I regretted moving to Japan to work for uber corporate. Trash ass company

    But besides that no. Nice country. Will stay for a few more years then leave

16. Almost 10 years and love it. Most people don’t know how to adapt and be flexible. They probably had a ton of privilege back home and can’t get out of separatist mindset

17. It was great living in Japan for me, but unless you are making really good money (expat), you better plan to be here for a long time, wages are pretty low and the yen is weak, so your savings won’t get you very far once you are done here.

18. I’ve been here for about four years and I have zero regrets moving. My wife and I are both happier living here. I’m from the US and shit only seems to be getting worse over there.

    I don’t have any major complaints. The language has been challenging for me, but that’s a me problem.

19. It’s fine.
    The hardest part of living here is the barriers caused by language and then maybe culture and or subculture you miss from growing up. But now with my own family here, it’s my home.

    In the end, it’s the same as any other place. You win some, you lose some. 

20. I love it and I plan to stay as long as possible, hopefully get PR someday. I’ve lived here on and off for 15 years (never 10 consecutively due to life circumstances) so I’m aware of the downsides, like “can’t get Ritalin for ADHD” and “hard to make friends” but that’s balanced out by upsides like “can afford my medical treatment” and “very walkable, don’t need a car” [I’m in Tokyo].

    For all the downsides, there’s just some ineffable ✨vibes✨ here that I really love and it’s worth it to put up with the other stuff.

21. I had lived there for four years, I generally enjoyed it but at least at the time the career was a dead end and I wasn’t finding it engaging. As petty as it may sound, micro-aggressions and things like random people you haven’t met talking at you in stereotypical foreigner Japanese or assuming you can’t speak Japanese can really wear on you after a while.

    I visit for a few weeks every year now and still enjoy life here when I’m here, but don’t know that I’d want to live here full time. I don’t think I could get anywhere near the same kind of salary that I do in the states or the kind of work life balance I get either.

    I’ve always felt like my ideal would be something like three-six months a year in Japan with the rest in the US each year, but at least at this stage in my life it’s still not that feasible.

22. All depends the kind of work you do.

23. A big thing to keep in mind is the rise in xenophobia. It’s a unique kind of xenophobia, as it’s mostly bureaucratic and institutional. It’s not that regular people would come up and insult you (even though they might harbor negative thoughts against you as a foreigner – 70% voted in the recent snap election for the LDP whose primary platform was essentially “foreigners are a big problem in Japan”). What this means is more stuff like: it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a place to rent as a foreigner, because many landlords plain out refuse to rent to foreigners. This is not a rare niche thing that happens – when you’re looking for apartments in Japan, this is something that you’ll likely come across a couple of time.

    It’s that visas are becoming both more expensive and restrictive. It’s permanent residency becoming harder to obtain than it already was. It’s new policies that make it possible to more easily detain foreigners under opaque reasons. This isn’t really something that’s happening today, but the current government is working towards everything that can make this a future reality. And this is not by accident, it’s by design. The current administration is hellbent on making life for foreigners in Japan harder.

    This is really important to be aware of. You want to live in Japan for a couple of years and just enjoy the experience and have plans to return to your home country afterwards? Sure thing, I wouldn’t be concerned about that. You’re thinking to move to Japan and possibly want to stay here long term? This is something that 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. But today the trend is looking rather grim. Nobody knows what the future will bring, but the current trajectory in Japan is clearly headed towards isolationism. Not so different from the trajectory the US has been on for the last years, or what other European countries are going through right now.

24. Lived here for 16 years now. Honeymoon stage in the first few years was exciting but once I’ve settled down with family I’ve started to miss my home country (uk) . Work life isn’t great but financially fine. I try to visit the uk at least once a year with my family which helps a bit.

    Don’t know what it is, music everywhere, shiny lights and everything feels artificial in Japan. I used to complain how boring the uk was with its old architecture but now I miss it. Food is great in Japan though, can’t complain about that. I do feel the sense of being brushed to the side in some cases when talking to coworkers/wife’s friends etc. doesn’t happen when going to the shops or city hall who are always v.helpful (since they’re on the clock) but I always doubt how genuine people actually are here. I have JLPT N1, wife can’t speak English so we communicate in Japanese so language isn’t so much the issue .

25. I have and I haven’t. The work situation in my area sucks but I can at least buy a house which would likely have been impossible in my home country of Australia.

26. I will never regret it, but I will be moving on from Japan. Short term was comfortable, but I can’t see myself growing roots and thriving.

    I love that I can pay rent and go on local trips, and love that Japan have fought very hard to maintain that sort of living for its residents; I just absolutely detest the work culture. And unfortunately the international companies’ social and holiday benefits can’t compare to my home country, so it felt like a downgrade.

    Maybe if I was rich enough to buy a vacation home here that would be swell. And raising a young child here seems wonderful. I just miss not desk warming, not being on deaths door to be considered sick, and my coworkers working their contracted hours. I can’t do things the “Japanese way” and it’s not my place to try and change them.

    Will never regret it, but enjoying Japan and living in Japan are seperate things.

27. I’ve been here for 10+ years. I think something really important is making sure you can have a good career here. Really do your research, because if you think you can just transfer your current skills without becoming fluent in Japanese, you’re sorely mistaken. The people who are “rotting” probably have careers they aren’t proud of.

28. I moved here from a developing country in Asia to pursue my Master’s degree. I did not enjoy my experience, and I will be relocating to the UK for my Ph.D. beginning in Fall 2026.

    As a MEXT scholar, I received 148,000 yen per month, which is very low compared to stipends in other developed countries. It was barely enough to cover living expenses while setting aside meaningful savings. Career prospects after graduation also seem limited. Even graduates from top universities typically start at around 300,000 yen per month (= 23,348 USD/year), which I find underwhelming.

    From what I have observed, foreign students rarely achieve long-term career success here. There appears to be a strong preference for hiring and promoting Japanese nationals, even when a foreign candidate performs better. Advancing to leadership roles such as team lead seems highly unlikely. The professional ceiling for foreigners feels significantly lower than in other developed countries.

    I also feel that I have received less attention and fewer opportunities from my supervisor because I am a foreigner. The cultural norm that the boss is always right does not align well with an academic environment, where productive discussion should be two way. A supervisor who cannot consider that their view might be mistaken limits intellectual growth.

    English proficiency is limited in daily life. Given the limited career prospects and structural barriers, I did not see sufficient long-term value in investing heavily in learning Japanese. In emergencies, communication can be difficult. Many restaurants do not provide English menus. Public sentiment also seems to be becoming less welcoming toward foreigners.

    These factors, among others, contributed to my decision to leave.

    **At this stage of my career, I see little incentive to remain here. As I mentioned, my Master’s stipend was 148,000 yen per month, which amounts to roughly 11,518 USD per year. In contrast, my upcoming Ph.D. position in the UK will provide about 71,000 USD per year for essentially similar research work, with significantly fewer working hours. In addition, the working environment is English-speaking, which removes a major barrier for me. After three years, I will be eligible to apply for permanent residency, and after one year, I will qualify to apply for naturalization.** **It’s a no-brainer for me.**

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