For those who have lived in the country for an extended period of time, or are living there for life, does the novelty wear off? In such a way where it doesn’t feel much different from living in your home country?
I’ve been asking some people I know who live in Japan, and who have lived abroad for awhile, and from what I’ve gathered so far, it just depends… Some have said that at some point, they don’t think about the fact they’re living in another country, like how one doesn’t often think about the fact they’re living in the US, for example; Its just a part of life. Meanwhile, others have said living in Japan (or really almost any country foreign to you) always feels fresh and whatnot.
How can I expect to feel about all this if I moved to Japan for a long time – if not, for *life*?
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I’ve lived in Japan for 15 years, most days are the same as every other day.
Obviously there a things that still get me, I went to National Museum for the first time and was struck by how OLD Japan is because I grew up in the Northwestern United States, so anything over a hundred years old fascinates me.
Basically, my everyday life isn’t novel to me AT ALL, but there will be things that happen that will strike me as novel from time to time.
IMO the novelty doesn’t necessarily come from living in a foreign country, but from doing novel things. Your life can feel fresh and novel if you do something new each day in the US, but most people have a daily routine they get used to. The same is true in Japan. If you follow the same daily routine every day, it won’t feel novel for very long. The reason it feels novel at first is that in a new environment everything you do is novel, but that novel decreases over time and you’ll have to actively seek out novel things to do just like at home.
Yes.
It will **always** feel different from living in their home country unless it’s very similar.
That being said, the old saying ESID applies here. How you adapt to living in a vastly different country determines how you’ll feel about it long-term. Are you planning to learn the language? What are you planning to do for work? Are you going to do most things in Japanese, or will you digest English entertainment as soon as you get home?
(Which reminds me… when is Spiderman No Way Home coming to streaming, and where? lol)
Yeah, the novelty wears off but the love remains.
I’ve lived in 6 countries.Every country you live in, the novelty wears off. Work, sleep, enjoy free time, repeat.
I’m in the “it’s just my life” camp. Having every day feel new and exciting might be other peoples’ gig, but it sounds exhausting to me. I try to get up to new things a few times a year.
If I were you, the question might be better asked as a general “how do you stay engaged in your life?” rather than specific to living abroad. Although I might be showing my age on that one; sounds kinda midlife crisis-y, lol.
Yes, the novelty certainly wears off. I first lived here for two years and I remember thinking “Huh, other than the language and a few minor things, this feels just like living in (other big city in America).”
I’m back in Japan again and my life problems are still the same, personality problems are still the same, etc. Now there’s just added difficult because of the language. But I also like the city I live in and have a great job, so I’m happy.
If you browse (but do not post!!) r/japanlife you’ll see (especially in the Weekend threads), that life is basically the same for most people as anywhere else in the world: they go to work, grocery shop, maybe hang out with friends, play video games, visit a park etc.
Yes, the novelty wears off. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After novelty comes familiarity and comfort. I don’t think of it as “doesn’t feel much different from my home country”, but a new, different country that I am also comfortable living in.
After 9 years here, the novelty is gone. But I started to feel like that around year 5 or so I think.
On the plus side, visiting my home country now feels novel.
a decision made 1000 times would become boring.
if it is boring and you did that once, move again. you dont come here for the money anyway?
If you live here long enough, of course novelty wears off and becomes the norm. On the other hand, you can then start to enjoy the novelty when you visit your original country.
Every time I’m in the US I’m like, “ah, free refills of my soft drink!” or “wow so many parking spaces in this lot, and it’s free” or “my lunch had so much food that I now have dinner and breakfast tomorrow covered!” etc.
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Every day something weird happens
Yeah, but the best way to feel that novelty again is to have family members visit and show them
Stuff they don’t know. You’ll absorb their emotion and feel happy to show them
Thingsz
I’ve been here 9 years and it’s definitely not novel. Visiting the US has actually become novel and interesting. But I kind of prefer that. Japan is just my home now, I can relax. If I want a novel experience, I can visit a new prefecture or something, but in general I don’t need to get worked up over a trip to the convenience store.
Honey. Living, and not holidaying, ALONE, can make the novelty wear off. Corona has made the novelty wear off. So many things can make it wear off. But so what? Literally what does it matter?
I work a regular office job. I’ve been in Tokyo for 3.5 years and still feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of what Tokyo has to offer, let alone the rest of Japan. For example, Tokyo has some absolutely insane cocktail bars (like top 50 in the world level) that I want to try. I want to go to a jazz club sometime; Tokyo has a thriving jazz culture. I want to gather some friends and go play some pub trivia once IRL events start happening more, because I’ve never done it before. I want to see giant fields of flowers, like at Hitachi Seaside Park. I still feel really lucky to be able to live in Tokyo, and I think it’s an incredible place. A while ago, a friend and I were at Miyashita Park in Shibuya to have dinner, overlooking the view, and we went “damn…this city is so beautiful”.
On the other hand, I have friends who do nothing but work and play video games. So I imagine life would feel more monotonous for them.
So it depends on how motivated you personally are to seek out novelty, I think. There will be plenty of it if you’re living in a city. Having a group of friends who are equally motivated to go out and do fun stuff definitely helps.
After several years in Osaka, I had family ask if I was still loving it, and I’d reply “yes, but some days, I have to clean my bathroom.”
You’ll still love things and get excited from time to time, but it becomes your life, not an extended holiday.
due to work and covid I rarely travel. if I were single and has remote job I would try to stay in each prefecture every year.
It will be whether or not there is curiosity. If you live in Japan or any other country for a long period of time without curiosity, you may become bored.
Japan has a diverse and wide-ranging culture. If you have curiosity, it will be enough to satisfy your life.
7 years in, still novel to me
I agree with others that for everyone it really depends. I had been thinking about moving to Japan for many years before I did so by time I moved to Japan the novelty wore off within a year. However I still have moments where I realize I’m in Japan and not the US and it makes me excited. On the other hand I also have moments where I think things would be much easier in the US. The more I go out and explore the more exciting it is (usually). For some people there isn’t as many exciting things. It can also depend on where you live, what kind of money you have to do things and what kind of time you have to do them.
While Japan is cool af in many ways the music at the store gets irritating and people can be hit or miss
I’ve lived in 3 countries so far, including the one I was born in.
The novelty wears off, but I’ve never wanted to come to Japan because off that, I just wanted to move out of this inconvenient, annoying and ugly place where I lived in when I was a teenager.
Moving to Germany was great, I finally felt comfortable, people are different, the landscapes are much better, the cities feel cozy and the while country itself is very politely organized and comfortable to live in.
With Japan though.. it’s just the same but an even greater degree, this is exactly what I’ve dreamed about for 7 years, here I feel at home, I feel so comfortable and I don’t mind going to work for 8/9 hours in front of a PC because I never. feel. uncomfortable.
Some people say we’re all better suited to be somewhere else, maybe that’s my case, it’s hard to explain why but the streets, the people, the food, the houses, the forests, the festivals and everything that Japan offers me makes feel more at home than I’ve ever felt and I love it, I’m currently living my dream, because I’ve never dreamed of fairy tales, this is exactly the reality I’ve wanted, it’s perfect.
Ps: Especially if you check r/japanlife you’ll see that most of the posts are ranting/complaining and not many are about how good one feels about living in Japan, it makes it look like people didn’t even choose to go there in the first place. That’s because the people who actually enjoy their lives in Japan are too busy having fun and have no need to brag on Reddit, so don’t ever let yourself be discouraged by what you see there.
It has not worn off for me. Japan has so many fascinating layers and when you think you understand things, something else comes up that’s surprising and fascinating.
I think it will be bore, unless you start something new each day it will be struck you right away no matter where you live