Is it a bad idea to move to japan?

I know japan has its ups and downs and nothing is ever prefect but i would like to move to japan one day but seeing as the world is struggling with global warming and its getting more expensive to live i feel like this dream i have might have to wait considering everything.

I just worry about the future of the world and it feels like i should just pick something else instead of becoming an english teacher.

That's kind of a subjective question to ask. Living anywhere in the world could be great or bad for many different reasons. It really depends on what you'd hope to get out of Japan compared to where you live.

In regards to work culture, Japan is definitely way more stressful than compared to that of the western world.

Please do keep one thing in mind, that if you're worried about things as you mentioned like "global warming" please don't buy into that lie. It's something politicians say to make people worry. The earth will be absolutely fine as it's been for thousands and thousands of years.

with global warming and its getting more expensive to live

I didn't understand this part. Are you saying that Japan could be less warm and less expensive than where you live now? If so, where do you live now? I assume you're coming from an English-speaking country, but what part of that country are you from? It's difficult to answer your questions without knowing what exactly you have in mind.

@Tom

Please do keep one thing in mind, that if you're worried about things as you mentioned like "global warming" please don't buy into that lie. It's something politicians say to make people worry. The earth will be absolutely fine as it's been for thousands and thousands of years.

Yeah yeah, the impact of human activities in the last century sure is negligible. Lol

End of offtopic.

@Uco i live in the united states, it feels like things are getting expensive but i also come from a middle/low income background so to me things seem expensive to me.

I apoligze i should have mentioned something like that in my post.

Well, things are getting expensive here in Japan too (Tokyo resident here).

Yen is losing value versus other currencies, so that initially if you come with US dollar savings that would go a long way, but once you start drawing your salary in Yen working in Japan, that would be less value if you ever want to take any savings (if any) back to the US. So that�fs one disadvantage about working in Japan.

What is it that draws you to Japan? Global warming or economic downturn apart, please focus on what attracts you to Japan (or any other place), and plan accordingly. Best wishes.

Oh man�c when I hear the �g Just try doing some research on your own�h every inch of my body winces.

Doing some google search is NOT research.
Research is scientific research. There are millions of scientific , peer reviewed papers out there about climate change. People who do that research have studied this science for years and years. Apply scientific criteria�c Why not trust them? Why to go instead for something that someone with no scientific background that you can verify posts on the internet and proclaim that this is �gthe truth�h?

Anyway to OP, climate change is a global phenomenon but I haven�ft heard that Japan is expected to be specifically hard hit by it. If you�fd consider moving to Kiribati I�fd think twice as that island nation might be swallowed up by the sea sometime. I don�ft think that Japan is going to fare much worse than let�fs say the US.

Anyway if you should move to Japan we can�ft tell you. Maybe come to Japan as a tourist fit a few weeks first to see a bit how it is (although tourist vs resident is very different)

LoyalStudent,

Thank you for your response, but I'm still wondering what you mean by "global warming". Perhaps you come from a place where hurricanes and mountain fires are increasingly harsh. Well, Japan has always been about natural disasters. If we in Japan look any better, that's because we are precautious, and if we look any worse, that's because we're not necessarily successful.

But I agree with the idea of coming to Japan for a visit. It's liberating enough to actually travel and know that you can go to a different environment. During your visit, maybe you'll make enough friends to feel confident about living here. And if you don't, you still would be able to earn the experience of being here, which may motivate you to do something new.

I hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

Please ignore the brainless stupidity posted by Tom.
Climate change is sadly very real and accelerating, it's likely to continue accelerating due to greed and corruption everywhere meaning that we only change a fraction of what we need to.

In terms of the effect on Japan, you can already see it with the increasing number of floods, hotter summers etc. but there will be effects on the whole planet, some places like Bangladesh look to have real trouble ahead. Japan has quite a lot of extreme weather/events with typhoons and earthquakes as well so maybe not the place for you if that risk bothers you.

As others have said, everywhere can be great or not great, many have moved to Japan and settled there, many tried and it didn't work out, best thing you can do is visit the place, see how you like it and investigate the pros and cons and how important they are to you.

Japan is very beautiful, has incredible food, wonderful transport, low crime and violence and very nice people but an insane work culture, terrible life/work balance, very high language barrier of entry and is pretty backwards towards women, certain minorities etc.
It's my dream to at least partially retire there but no idea if it'll happen.

As someone who has moved abroad, lived and settled in different countries, I generally say go for it, the worst that can happen is it's a disaster and you go back to where you were before but with a load more life experience and wisdom.

I love to VISIT Japan, but not necessarily to live and work there. Know the difference.

Cost of living
Climate issues


Japan has worse cost-of-living issues than America has.Don't move away from American cos everything is costing more.

Climate issues are that same worldwide. Again escaping America won't allow you to escape these issues.

It seems all your reasons for this suggested move are actually the opposite in real life.

I understand I can�ft escape the rising cost of living and I have heard that it�fs very expensive to live in Japan

I also can�ft escape global warming and while that scares me and seeing as the weather can be rough I feel like I want to break out of my bubble and do this when I graduate college etc.

I appreciate everyone�fs thoughtful responses thank you so much :)

@H

Where die the OP state that they're American?

It's not very expensive to live in Japan these days, prices have risen like everywhere but rent, food etc. are cheaper than many Western countries.
Of course it very much depends on what you can earn, as an English teacher you won't be rich but you'd have to compare with whatever your home country career and earning potential would be.

@Denis C

Fifth response has the OP saying they are from America.

LoyalStudent,

Thank you for your response again.

Actually, why not visit while you're still in college? You'd have great advantages traveling as a young student, because (A) you get student discount at various places, (B) you'd have more time or at least flexible time than you would after graduation, (C) you're likely to have more opportunities communicating with fellow traveling students from around the world, and most of all (D) people will spoil you for the sole reason that you're young. I experienced all those things as a Japanese student traveler decades ago.

Also, as an old-timer, I can say that the environmental crisis didn't just happen today. Pollution existed for centuries, and human kind has been blowing up nukes for nearly a hundred years. When I was growing up in the '70s, Japan was among the filthiest places in the world, and that led to all the scary sci-fi fiction including Godzilla. We thought we were doomed, and the thought of not doing enough for the future was killing us.

And I'm not saying that the world is getting any better, but I do know the world can survive and that there are more positive sides to this planet than I would have imagined. I have seen those positive sides with my own eyes.

For example, posters here have expressed their thoughts on the good and bad sides of Japan, and I don't necessarily deny them, but speaking from my personal experiences, I know that those sides aren't always true. It's like looking at one region of America and saying that it represents the whole nation.

So, you're right. It's not good for you to stay in a bubble. At least it's not good to feel that you're in one. I really encourage you to travel now, whether it's to Japan or not. You're old enough to plan, and you're old enough to make money to travel. I didn't realize that until I turned 19.

I often wonder what will happen if people like OP, who consider Japan is a safe haven, would face frequent disasters in Japan such as typhoons, floods, and earthquakes, though.
Anyway, it's beneficial for you to step out of your closed bubble for a while and take a look at the rest part of the world. It may help you to realize and experience how people are living and what is happening on the other side of the world, and even to ditch a fixated opinion.

Why do you want to move to Japan?

I highly recommend you ask yourself that question again and again because as mentioned before by other psters, living and working here is very different to visiting simply for tourism. Japan has enchanted and allured me ever since I was 12 years old and it has always been my dream to live and work here; everyday I'm very thankful to have been granted the opportunity to do so, but there are days when even I get frustrated with the place. (that's when you know you've lived here for too long lol) But I just go on a short domestic trip and it's all good again.