[GoNative]

I never felt homesickness at all during the 7 years I lived in Japan. I only ever went back to Australia twice during those years and one of the times was for a funeral and the other for a parents' 60th birthday (otherwise I wouldn't have gone back). Because I lived in a part of Japan that had a reasonably large foreign community there wasn't a huge cultural shock and language ability wasn't a big factor in quality of life. Most of the Japanese people who I worked and played with spoke excellent english, were well travelled and had spent sometime themselves living overseas.

Now I'm in Australia I feel very homesick for Japan. It may not be my home by birthright or nationality but Japan will always be home in my heart. At least I still own a house and business there so I'll be heading back frequently enough.