Approximately how long did it take you to reach a point where you were stable and or happy/satisfied with your life in Japan? For example, you’re satified with your job to the point where you don’t see yourself switching anytime soon, you’ve got a house/apartment you don’t intend on moving from, etc.
I’m currently living in Japan as an ALT (1.5 years ago, I’m practically a newbie, I know) which doesn’t last forever but I moved to Japan to stay here forever and was curious what everyone’s answers were. Not that I’m not happy now, I am extremely happy to finally be here, I just find myself seeing my peers in the US get a house or fancy promotions and I feel like I just started with my life, let alone my career.
edit: idk if it matters in settling in but I have some stupid credit card decisions from university that I’m still paying off so I think it’ll be a while before I can be a bit more free financially.
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About 2 years. It marks the point where I moved from a tiny 1k to a much better 2dk as well as finally got a well-paying job.
Still looking for slightly bigger in terms of real estate and I got some choice words for urban jungles and concrete hells but overall I’m satisfied with where I am at the moment.
You’re going to have a crisis at about 4 years. If you make it through that the next one is in the 12-15 range. Expect it.
I felt comfortable and stable after about 1.5-2 years. On my 5th year I left Japan because I wasn’t sure it was for me long term anymore. All that comfort and stability I had worked for I felt was gone and I didn’t want to be here anymore – in fact I hated it here. So I moved back to my home country for a few years to find out what I wanted before deciding I would come back and try again, older and wiser. I’ve now been here another 5 years on top of that and it took me about 1 year to settle properly again. No plans to leave second time around.
I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable until I make a conscious effort to be a full second language speaker. Until then it still feels like 1 foot in 1 foot out after seven years.
When I had a job that paid better than I would get back home. Then I knew I had a career and life here, and not just a job.
Hmm that’s hard to answer. Around 5-6 years but I had some really crazy things to work through. It had nothing to do with the typical life issues associated with living in a different country/Japan. I’ve always felt pretty comfortable here, have had good luck with jobs and definitely felt like it was my home after about a year. Going to move into a bigger place soon then everything is gravy
I settled in immediately and never felt home sick. I was at a language school for 1.5 years.
When I quit, i had a bit of trouble but not much. I visited home at the 2 year mark out of obligation but when i was home i realised how much i missed it and ever since i would say its being so-so upon return. Currently training for a new job.
Around year 2. That’s the point where I felt financially stable. I never had any big cultural issues.
I’ve been here 8 years so far. I did change fields 6.5 years in, but it wasn’t out of dissatisfaction with life or work, but was more about expanding my future options.
I am at 6 years, and feels like a mid life crisis
Mmm…. In my experience one does not really “settle”, but rather grow used to the everyday life you eventually adopt.
That said, Life keeps on giving and new annoying shit keeps on coming periodically.
The only thing you can do really is focusing on solving the shit as quickly/painlessly as possible and then move on but it will never be smooth sailing.
I still dislike a whole bunch of things about the “Japanese workikett” and all the dumb shit they want you to do, often for not good reason what so ever.
For example: Why do I need to fill out a god damn form of where I am going on a vacation, for what purpose and when I’ll be back???
What the hell do you need to know that for? What’s it to you??
If I can time off work, I’m freakin’ **OFF WORK**. Which means its NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!
But you know…. Just nod your head and fill out the damn form and forget it until next time.
It took me 3 years to immersed, and satisfied about being here. 1-2 first year was the worst, mid life crisis, language barrier, homesick etc.
But i’m so glad the struggle happened at the beginning.
Now i’m gonna wait and be ready for second mid life crisis to happen.
For me, feeling comfortable came pretty much immediately, but (a) I’d lived outside my home country in a few other cultures before coming to Japan and (b) my goals in coming were (i) to avoid living in my home country and (ii) to be able to make a living doing what I wanted to do.
One thing that helped, I think, was realizing that the people I grew up with were no longer my peers, so I never compared my life with those of the people I grew up with. I compared it only with the life I’d been living previously.
10 years japan.Maybe had a crisis first 6 months. But that’s it, was settle with 2 years , bad salary but tons of friends and gf at that time .
> For example, you’re satified with your job to the point where you don’t see yourself switching anytime soon
Been over 30 years, I’ll let you know if I ever get to that point. Always watching for that next increment, or the next business opportunity.
> you’ve got a house/apartment you don’t intend on moving from, etc.
Moved to a totally different region of the country a few years ago, so I’m not stable with that, either.
I don’t think a stable life is a great goal. Chase new things, new experiences. We don’t get much time on this hunk of rock, make the most of it.
>Approximately how long did it take you to reach a point where you were stable and or happy/satisfied with your life in Japan?
30 seconds maybe?
Settling for me started once I got PR. That was when I had to make the choice of committing and moving on with life here, or start getting ready to pack it up. I chose to commit, and just finished buying a house. It’s now start of year 13. My crisis was about year 7-8.
I was an ALT so I can relate. I’m going to presume you don’t want to do that forever. For me I only really started to enjoy myself (in the sense of being settled) after I moved on from that job. For reasons that should be obvious.
My advice would be focus on your career. Especially don’t let living in Japan get in the way of having a good career. It makes such a big difference when you enjoy your job and you are making enough to plan the future. If you can’t see a good pathway in Japan then bail!
3 years was the sweet spot for me. When I got my salary to a nice level, had savings, and had enough work experience that I could change jobs if I didn’t like my current company. I do think though it had nothing to do with Japan really. I probably would be the same anywhere. My opinion though is teaching english long term will not give you much growth career wise. You probably will be making the same amount as someone who just moved there 10 years down for example.
First oder of business should be to stop comparing yourself to your peers or people back at home.
Chances are you’d be still comparing yourself to your peers in the US were you there and then get bummed out over your buddy having a bigger house or faster car.
In the end it’s pointless to compare, you’re not them and they’re not you.
Be happy for them and their promotions and be glad you got your own challenges.