Hi all, I’m curious to hear from people who have reached a point in your careers in Japan where, even in a role that looked strong on paper, they realized the lifestyle around it was no longer sustainable.
For context, I’m in a fairly senior role at a small but ambitious company. I’ve taken on a lot quickly, have significant autonomy, am involved in final-stage interviews and broader business conversations, and sit in a position where I have real visibility across the company. I have a lot of freedom, a lot of trust. In many ways, it’s the kind of role that sounds exciting from the outside.
At the same time, the reality has been much heavier than I expected. The workload is intense, there is a high turnover rate, and there have been periods where the internal structure felt shaky enough that it genuinely affected my health. Recently, after a particularly brutal stretch, I got seriously ill and ended up at the hospital for the first time in my decade here. It was one of those moments that made me step back and ask whether stress had quietly become the price of admission.
So I wanted to ask people here who’ve built careers in Japan:
What were your actual breaking points?
Not in theory, but the real moment you knew a job was no longer worth what it was taking from you.
Was it your health?
The commute?
The company culture?
High turnover around you?
The feeling that your life outside work was disappearing?
Or just a gut-level realization that something was off, even though the role itself looked impressive?
I’d especially love to hear from people who were in positions with real responsibility, freedom, status, or upward momentum, because I think that can make it harder to recognize when something still isn’t right.
Would really appreciate hearing how others have thought about this.
by Perfect_Yogurt9683