I know this decision is ultimately up to me and despite reading everything I can, I still can't lean in either one direction. A little bit of background, I am 27 with my associates and work in IT. I plan on getting my bachelor's over the next 2/3 years while also naturally getting closer to 10 years of experience and continuing my Japanese study which I have been at for about a year. I visited several months ago and plan to go back in the next two years to further my thoughts.
Pro's
Public Transportation (I really enjoy not having to worry about a car)
Food (Self explanatory, plus I found plenty of fast food options if I ever really got sick of Asian)
Safety (Not in an unsafe area now but it pales in comparison to Japan)
City Life (I know it can get to people eventually, but growing up in the sticks I really enjoyed being near everything when I was there)
Plenty of Jobs in my field (As far as I can tell and the salaries seem good for someone who would be mid career such as myself even if I am taking a pay cut compared to US salaries)
The chance to do something out there (I really have nothing legally holding me back so why not try)
Plenty to do (America has it too, but I've seen this stuff my whole life)
Cons
Public Transportation (Sometimes people can be a bit much, especially somewhere crowded like Tokyo Also having a car does have pros to it)
Leaving my family/friends behind (Pretty much all of my friends are online, but we would still be 12 hours apart so chatting would almost never happen. I am not super close with my family but I wonder how this distance would affect me with my parents specifically)
Moving my possessions (I don't need to bring much, but what I would bring would be a pain)
Work Culture (I have heard it is changing and have read plenty of stories on people with good work/life balance in Tokyo but you never know right?)
Pay (A pay cut is still a pay cut. I haven't done the exact math on how much I could be missing out on.)
Less Space (At this point in time, I don't care for material things so I don't really need much of any space at all. That could all change however)
Always being a foreigner (I don't really know how this will affect me. If I can find a few good people to be around, then I think I'll be OK. The government treating me differently is a different story)
Everything is still done on paper (That sounds like a nightmare)
Please let me know your thoughts on this and any additional Pros or Cons I have not thought of. Writing it out makes it seem like the cons outweigh the pros, but I still just don't know. As I mentioned before, I have not acquired my Bachelors yet which I plan on doing regardless of moving, but this at least gives me more time to think and reflect. I'll only be say 32 when all of this becomes more possible so why not try right?
by Doodleboop_1