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| Above, an apartment building along the Sumida River in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Occasionally, I read different forums where people express the desire to move and live in Japan. Quite often, they decide they want to do it before even visiting it in the first place, usually with the flimsiest of reasons.
One recent post went like this:
We are considering the remote possibility of relocating to Japan. My husband and I both love the cultures, history and Anime of Japan. Our children are 4 yrs and 2 yrs old and we know if we are going to do this, the sooner the better.Naturally, neither have visited Japan before and neither is/was a Japanese national. So they don't have any idea on what they'd face there. While going over there for a visit will give one a good idea on deciding they still would want to live there, visiting does not tell people how they will function on a day-to-day basis. How will they pay their bills? Can they even read the bills? At least people who have married a Japanese national are able to function by using him/her to handle living matters.
This was clearly stated in a reply by one of my friends who lives in Japan and is married to a Japanese national:
Imagine where you are right now that you woke up one morning and couldn't understand what anybody was saying and couldn't read anything. What are you going to do when daycare/school calls and says your kid is sick? What about when any of you have to go to the hospital? Reading your bills? Finding anything whatsoever? Communications from school? The list is endless.As for the reason these people wanted to move there (loving "the cultures, history and anime of Japan"), he had this reply that came right to the point:
You'd think Japanese nuts if they wanted to move to Anaheim because they like Donald Duck cartoons. Liking Japanese cartoons isn't any better a reason to move to Japan.People really need to think long and real hard about moving to a foreign country. Visit it first, at least.
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