Hi! I’m currently a 23 y/o guy living in Florida with my 22 y/o girlfriend. I’ve always been intensely fascinated with Japan, namely the culture, geography, food, language, etc.
I realize that Japan isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, but it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to move there one day. I have a bachelor’s of science in interdisciplinary social sciences, and plan to get several years of experience in medical sales / research & development here in the states. Many of the companies available to work for here also have positions available in Japan, so I’m now realizing that my dream could be feasible after 5+ years working here. My starting salary would likely be around 60-80k before commission, and has a lot of room to grow over the years. My gf also has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, but may not need to work if my salary could allow us to live comfortably.
I’m currently a beginner with learning the language, but plan to stick with it daily & hope to reach N1 / N0 within the decade (conservatively). My girlfriend is not learning it yet, but has a knack for language and would likely pick it up quickly if she’d like to learn.
We plan to eventually have kids (or adopt), though likely not for several more years.
My main question is – what would life be like for us, assuming I’d support us with a decent salary working for a western company in Japan? It might be a short-term or long-term move, depending on how we like it when we can begin making trips there.
I’m mainly interested in: how housing is for renting / buying in either Tokyo or Osaka, lower & upper schooling system for children, general cost of living for a couple / family, and overall quality of life for two white Americans living in a major Japanese city.
This is my dream, but I’d want to make sure my gf (future wife) would be happy & comfortable as well. I’m unfamiliar with how foreigners are treated, how our social lives could grow, etc.
I would greatly appreciate any tips or info, not exactly looking for specifics on moving but rather the feasibility of living there for an extended period of time. I’ve done quite a bit of research but would like to hear realistic scenarios.
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Considering a move to Japan in several years, how feasible is it for a family?**
Hi! I’m currently a 23 y/o guy living in Florida with my 22 y/o girlfriend. I’ve always been intensely fascinated with Japan, namely the culture, geography, food, language, etc.
I realize that Japan isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, but it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to move there one day. I have a bachelor’s of science in interdisciplinary social sciences, and plan to get several years of experience in medical sales / research & development here in the states. Many of the companies available to work for here also have positions available in Japan, so I’m now realizing that my dream could be feasible after 5+ years working here. My starting salary would likely be around 60-80k before commission, and has a lot of room to grow over the years. My gf also has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, but may not need to work if my salary could allow us to live comfortably.
I’m currently a beginner with learning the language, but plan to stick with it daily & hope to reach N1 / N0 within the decade (conservatively). My girlfriend is not learning it yet, but has a knack for language and would likely pick it up quickly if she’d like to learn.
We plan to eventually have kids (or adopt), though likely not for several more years.
My main question is – what would life be like for us, assuming I’d support us with a decent salary working for a western company in Japan? It might be a short-term or long-term move, depending on how we like it when we can begin making trips there.
I’m mainly interested in: how housing is for renting / buying in either Tokyo or Osaka, lower & upper schooling system for children, general cost of living for a couple / family, and overall quality of life for two white Americans living in a major Japanese city.
This is my dream, but I’d want to make sure my gf (future wife) would be happy & comfortable as well. I’m unfamiliar with how foreigners are treated, how our social lives could grow, etc.
I would greatly appreciate any tips or info, not exactly looking for specifics on moving but rather the feasibility of living there for an extended period of time. I’ve done quite a bit of research but would like to hear realistic scenarios.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> Assuming I’d support us with a decent salary working for a western company in Japan?
Assuming your low-end of 60,000 USD, roughly to yen it’s about 8million which is a fairly decent salary (at least compared to the average) in Japan. It’s enough to provide for you and a partner who isn’t working in Tokyo or Osaka, granted your lifestyles aren’t ridiculously lavish.
> I’m mainly interested in: how housing is for renting / buying in either Tokyo or Osaka
You can google this for prices. But sometimes people find it hard to be accepted by landlords because you’re foreigners, it can be a pain for some people.
> We plan to eventually have kids (or adopt)
Adopt in Japan? It’s certainly possible but extremely tough and usually requires living here for quite a long time.
> how foreigners are treated, how our social lives could grow, etc.
Foreigners are treated fine generally by people I think, people largely keep to themselves. System wisen – being a foreigner is kind of a ball-ache, you’re sometimes limited in things you can do, loans etc, there’s lots of paper work with everything.
Social lives? Unless you get shit hot at Japanese and branch out with hobbies or work, or find English speaking circles, you’ll probably end up in the usual reddit Japanese resident foreigner only close-friends.
This could be extra difficult for your girlfriend who may not be as interested as you with the culture or language. Especially if she struggles to work (or can’t for long – restrictions on dependent visa) and you support her, she might get lonely pretty quickly.
I know you’re just having a nose at options, but does your gf and ‘future wife’ even want to go? Have you had this conversation? You guys are pretty young but I’d start having that conversation now if it’s 100% your goal with or without her.
Either way, I’d suggest googling some of the things you’re interested in like housing and adoption etc. Use /r/tokyo /r/Japan or /r/japanresidents posts for examples of how peoples lives are, and for the more depressing likelihood of how you’ll turn out, check out /r/japanlife (joking)
Since you’ve both got bachelor’s degrees, that eliminates one potential problem we see in this subreddit quite often (you meet one of the basic qualifications for a work visa here). You’ve both got options and it should be possible to move to Japan and make a life there if you can set yourselves up well with some earnest preparation in the years before you move.
The first thing to make sure you are aware of: if you’re working for a Japanese company, I urge you not to expect a western salary. Most jobs won’t pay ¥8m a year unless you’re in tech or something that is of similar levels of demand, and this is especially true with less than 5 years of experience. The jobs that you seek exist, but they may be difficult to get. A combined salary of ¥8m for both of you might be doable early-on, I’m just letting you know that it might be a bit difficult to find a job offering ¥8m to start unless you’re in specific high-demand fields and are proficient in Japanese.
Starting with an American company and going to Japan via inter-company transfer is a good idea, if you can. That would be a better way to try for the type of salary you are hoping for.
Finally, I think it’s great that you’re already starting to work on your Japanese! Having been though the job hunting process in Japan as a foreigner, I want to give you a head’s up that many companies will have an internal cutoff requirement of a minimum of N2. Others will require N1 or even greater skills. There are jobs that take N3 and such, but they are few and far between, especially if you don’t want to teach English. Computer science appears to be the exception to this. I will say, though, that I somehow managed to get a job with a Japanese company with less than N2. I had relevant experience in the field though, and they needed someone who could speak English and had the contextual knowledge from my home country. Try to get to a minimum of N2 before making the move, you’ll thank yourself later. Not only will you have more job options available, you’ll make daily life in Japan easier to navigate too.
Buying a house is going to be more difficult if you don’t have permanent residency. Japan does not allow for dual citizenship so if you intend to keep your American passport, permanent residency is your next best option. Getting a home loan will be much more difficult without PR and your interest rates will be higher (even if you somehow manage to find a bank that would lend to you). Buying a home will not grant you the right to live here on its own either. Renting is going to be what is available to you in the meantime. There aren’t really any protections from discrimination for renters, especially foreigners. Just be aware of this. In major cities, there are a variety of rental options for a variety of price ranges, so you should be able to find a suitable place if you’re willing to sacrifice some things like distance/commute or size.
A vacation to Japan is going to be very different from living and working in Japan. Sure, I recommend visiting, but it still won’t give you the whole picture. Japan does not have a way to legally work remotely here for a non-Japanese company (yet) so you may not have any options for a proper trial run. There is no working holiday visa for Americans either, unfortunately. If this is the future you want, though, then I encourage you to put in the effort and fight for it. Work culture and overtime are rough here, but it’s definitely safer and less politically-fraught than the US right now. Good luck!