Like I said earlier, there is no right or wrong!

It solely depends on the person! If Manga was your reason to visit the country and you Love it that much, that you need to stay there.. well, then make your Dream come true!

Ahh, yes, so they VISIT first, and thy discover more... yes.. but not deciding "I want to move and live there" after reading the first page of naruto.....

that's sort of what i'm doing next month. i finally got enough money together to take a trip. i confess that anime and manga were the first things about japan i got into when i was a kid, but that's common enough i suppose.

however, i've never operated under the pretense that anime is at all reflective on actual japanese lifestyles. hell, just watching most anime should tell you right away that it is set in total fantasy and in no way could transfer over to real life.

anyway, i'm just going there to see what i can see, not trying to convince myself that i have to move there asap so i can become and EVA pilot lol.

Bobby I agree with you that in the end there is no right or wrong reason to want to live in Japan. Whatever someones reasons are if it's their dream to move here I wholeheartedly support them in trying to realise it. The thing is if you really are serious about wanting to live here then it helps to be aware of the real Japan, not just some fantasy world that many on this forum seem to believe this country to be.

For me personally I couldn't be much happier with my life here. Unfortunately after nearly 8 years I will be moving back to Australia next month. I'm not overly looking forward to it but my wife made it clear she is moving back with or without me so back we are going.

I decided to move to Japan not because I loved the culture or people or language. I've never read any manga and have seen only a few anime. I moved here because it snows a hell of a lot and skiing is my greatest passion in life. Not the most common of reasons to want to move to another country I know but Australia is not the best place to live if you really love snow sports!! I live in one of the snowiest towns on the planet in an incredibly beautiful region and that's just about all it takes for me to be happy. And happy I have definitely been. There is a fantastic mixed Japanese/foreign community here of people similar to myself who just love snow sports and the outdoors. It's been a great community to live in. I have grown to love many aspects of the culture and way of life (at least the life in this part of Japan) and have also grown to dislike many aspects but that is no different to my life back in Australia.

Japan is not a perfect culture. Life here isn't all great. This is something some on this forum don't want to hear or discuss. They have deluded fantasies about the country which have no basis in reality and don't like those fantasies to be challenged. I think it's important though for those of us who have lived here for quite some time to try and make people aware of what it's really like (at least from our own perspectives). It is the best way to help people realise their dream of living here as we have done.

Thumbs up....

Oh of course not! But thats what comes with it automatically.

There is always one reason wich stands out the most for the individual person who decides to leave towards a new country. Without that reason you wouldn't even do such a huge step in your life or even think about it in the first place.

That Manga or Anime is a very childlish reason to do so, is probably clear to 95% of the people out there.

However, it's a still a reason for some people out there, too move and in this case it's a valid reason. Not for you and not for me of course.. but for him/her it was. And the much more important parts about the culture itself, comes with it automatically. If he/she can accept also the negative parts of it, then he/she lives there dream and he/she made there life more worthwhile in comparison to 90% of the population worldwide, who just HATE there everyday life.

See, for you the reason was snow and snow Sports because your original country couldn't offer you that.

A reason which I personally would never consider when I am thinking about Japan for example. I would consider countrys like New Zealand maybe.. America, Switzerland, Austria or Canada but I would never think about snow in context with Japan.

But for you it was a legitimate reason too move, even in such an extraordinary place like Central Asia Japan.


All the other lovely and negative parts about the country itself you can only deal with when you have been there and lived there. And if you are able to master those difficulties successfully, then you found your place in Life!

If you can't then this isn't the right place for you and you have to accept that your reason to move wasn't worth it afterall.

I had spent nearly 6 months in Hokkaido though on previous holidays before deciding to try and live there. I has some idea of what I was getting myself into.

And the incredible snow in Japan is something many people don't realise about the place. They have some of the snowiest regions of the world in Japan. Hokkaido gets some of the best quality powder snow you'll find anywhere. And I have skied in many places around the world so I should know! ;)

I do! I'd love to hear more.

I will definitely try to visit those places next year! Is there a special time of the year to visit Hokkaido? Probably Winter-Season I guess ;D

Well, then why don't you tell us your reasons why you Failed^^

How exactly have I failed? I've lived in Japan and made the choice not to stay there.