The other side of Japan

I think it’s easy to have a halo effect of Japan from just visiting Japan as a tourist. But since starting to think about living abroad semi-permanently, my wife and I had started to imagine and talk about how it might be like living in the foreign city long term when we’re traveling there.

Wanted to jot this down in case I forget and the halo effect cognitive bias takes over again, from the small to the big:

• Judging from the number of times locals spoke to us in full-on Japanese, the upside is we can pass off as Japanese enough. The downside is if you don’t speak the language, it’s super hard to get anything important done or feel like you belong.
• Socialising (especially for children) will be harder due to language barriers.
• Education opportunities will be limited.
• Homogeneity can be boring. Ramen and sushi during the week you’re there - delicious. But for months and years? Hmmm.
• No thrash bins anywhere. We always end up carrying thrash in our hands for forever before finding a bin. How do they even keep public spaces so clean?!
• Polite, but conflict-avoidant. It can mean sometimes problems/issues get swept under the carpet. We had an unpleasant moment at an amusement park, and despite reporting it and getting an immediate response from the staff, we felt the reply was lacking, despite the politeness and staff expressing they are very sorry.
• MSG in the food everywhere. Even though we hydrate ourselves well, we return home feeling parched and dry in mouth. Usually for me that means MSG.
• Too far away from home base. This makes grandparents visiting tiring, difficult and expensive.
• Costs of living can be high in some baskets. Rent, transport, school are high even with a favourable exchange rate now.

To be clear, even with these negative points, Japan’s still awesome in my books. I’d still love to stay there some time. But to stay long term, we need to think through if any of these points are dealbreakers.