Quote:
Originally Posted by biginjapan
Why don't you visit before deciding to live there? I can't understand this idea of wanting to move somewhere you've never been.
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Because once you've been to a place for any length of time it begins to lose it's magic. You start to realize that it is just a place where people live and work, not so much unlike the place you live and work now.
Why Japan? For the most part, I can understand someone really wanting to visit here, but it's not so easy to understand why someone would want to live here.
So many people think of Japan as a place to escape to. People who are unhappy with school, family, or life in general, and somehow think that going to a place where they aren't familiar with the food, culture, or language will somehow make them happy. I'm sorry to say, but "Happiness" isn't a place you can find on a map.
Japan is not like anime or manga. Why do you think such things are popular here? Because they provide an escape from everyday Japanese life. You'll see middle-aged salarymen reading comic books on the train after a 12 hour workday. If you told one of them that you wanted to move to Japan from America, Australia, or Europe, they would probably tell you that you were crazy to want to move from such wonderful places to come here.
I moved to Japan after taking three long vacations here. I've been to other places where I don't speak the language or understand the culture, so Japan was not a shock to me. Moving to Japan wasn't an escape for me, it was merely a move.
For all that, I enjoy the culture and the history of Japan. I take weekend trips each week to see and experience different places, but I took such trips when I lived in America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle-East. Get out and see what your own country has to offer before leaving it for another.