Hi everyone!
I hope someone can give me a bit of advice. We are a couple of software engineers from Ukraine, and we currently live in London, and we are considering moving to Japan to settle down. We’re approaching the stage in our life when we want to have kids and some more stability, and we genuinely want to go back home, but since the war began it’s unclear when or if that will be possible at all. We have a fairly high income for the UK and are generally happy with the country and our life here to be honest, but the cost of childcare and the fact that I want to go back to full-time education makes it a bit infeasible more long-term.
For context, my wife is more or less fluent in Japanese (she has N1) and studied there as an exchange student. I’ve been looking over some job postings, and I got impression that there are quite a few companies interested in hiring foreigners without Japanese knowledge offering around 11-12m per year (like indeed, woven planet etc.). I realise that career prospects and education are better in London, but at the end of the day it comes down to what we can realistically achieve.
Ultimately, I can sum up what makes Japan attractive to us as follows:
– my wife has a lot of experience living there and still has friends she stays in touch with so we would not feel completely isolated (although we do have more friends in London)
– nice public transport and a lot of opportunities to travel around the country; the UK certainly has a lot to offer here, but train connections are nowhere near the level Japan offers, and most British people tend to travel to Europe rather than domestically in my experience
– good prospects of actually settling down (I think?); I looked up the point system the government uses to determine who’s eligible for permanent residence, and it looks like we would both qualify for it after just a year, and in the UK we are years away from permanent residence
– eating out is cheaper, and we tend to eat out or buy fresh ready meals rather than cook at home
– childcare and rent seem way more reasonable compared to the level of income we could expect; parental leave and benefits for children also seem much more generous
There are multiple pros and cons we are trying to weigh, but here are the main issues I am worried about:
1. If I go back to full-time education and my wife had a salary of about 12-13M yen per year, would that be a reasonable amount to cover living expenses? From what I can tell, it should be possible to find a two-bedroom or three-bedroom flat in some of the outer wards or in Yokohama/Saitama for around 200k + around 30-40k on utilities, and food expenses for a family of three should be around 110-120k if we eat out a few times a month and buy seasonal fruits/veg etc. Does this sound like a realistic estimate?
2. Does anyone have experience working in more modern tech companies in Japan? How competitive is it compared to the US/UK? We are concerned about the work culture and crazy overtimes people do. Do people in these companies also rarely use their holiday? I’ve heard that it’s improved in the last 10 years or so, but still.
3. We are a bit concerned about the idea of our kids growing up in a completely Japanese environment. I am cautious about some stuff in the Japanese culture, and I don’t want my kids growing up being bullied or have them feel constantly stressed because of the pressure the school puts on them. If anyone could share their experience bringing up kids in Japan, that would be really helpful!
Appreciate your help <3
by No-Comb-5129