senseiman
先輩
- 24 Jun 2003
- 628
- 46
- 44
I've just returned to Japan after spending a month in Canada. It had been over two years since my last visit home and it was my Japanese wife's first visit. I'd forgotten how beautiful a country Canada is, and the visit so impressed my wife that we have just decided that we will be permanently moving to Canada next year. There are a few reasons for this decision and they all revolve around what we believe to be the much higher quality of life that people can attain in Canada. Here are some of our observations.
1. Housing. We did a little looking around and found that we could buy a quite sizeable house in a quiet neighborhood with a big tree filled yard for an affordable sum. In Japan it seems that even in the smaller cities everyone is crammed into tiny plastic houses in neighborhoods without trees. Quiet neighborhoods seem to be almost non existant even in the suburbs as massive freeways, pachinko parlours and factories seem to be built everywhere without any concern for how they will affect the people who have to live next to them.
2. Nature. In Canada we found tons of attractive parks and beautiful lakes and rivers that you could swim in, many of them only a short commute from the city centre. But in Japan, we live in a coastal city with two major rivers running through it in which there is not a single place where you can enjoy a swim. The seashore is covered with concrete and factories and what tiny amount of land is preserved as a beach is so covered in garbage you wouldn't want to go near it. The rivers are the same, with the additional problem that they are so polluted by industrial waste that the water will make you sick.
3. People. I would say that people in Japan and Canada are equally nice, though you are more likely to get mugged by a Canadian than a Japanese. What we noticed though was that Canadians seem to put a much higher priority on enjoying life than most Japanese do. Most Canadians work until about 4 or 5 PM and then go home and relax, pursue hobbies, spend time with the family, etc. Most Japanese work late into the evening, then have to go out drinking with their co-workers even though most of them would probably rather not. By the time they get home they are too tired to spend time with their family or to partake in any leisure activities. It sort of seemed that most Canadians are able to enjoy life much more than Japanese are.
After thinking about these things we tried to consider ways in which life in Japan is better than that in Canada and the best we could come up with is that Japan has a much better public transportation system. So we are leaving. Does anyone else have any input on the subject of the quality of life in Japan? I'd be interested to hear what people who have lived here for a really long time have to say about it.
1. Housing. We did a little looking around and found that we could buy a quite sizeable house in a quiet neighborhood with a big tree filled yard for an affordable sum. In Japan it seems that even in the smaller cities everyone is crammed into tiny plastic houses in neighborhoods without trees. Quiet neighborhoods seem to be almost non existant even in the suburbs as massive freeways, pachinko parlours and factories seem to be built everywhere without any concern for how they will affect the people who have to live next to them.
2. Nature. In Canada we found tons of attractive parks and beautiful lakes and rivers that you could swim in, many of them only a short commute from the city centre. But in Japan, we live in a coastal city with two major rivers running through it in which there is not a single place where you can enjoy a swim. The seashore is covered with concrete and factories and what tiny amount of land is preserved as a beach is so covered in garbage you wouldn't want to go near it. The rivers are the same, with the additional problem that they are so polluted by industrial waste that the water will make you sick.
3. People. I would say that people in Japan and Canada are equally nice, though you are more likely to get mugged by a Canadian than a Japanese. What we noticed though was that Canadians seem to put a much higher priority on enjoying life than most Japanese do. Most Canadians work until about 4 or 5 PM and then go home and relax, pursue hobbies, spend time with the family, etc. Most Japanese work late into the evening, then have to go out drinking with their co-workers even though most of them would probably rather not. By the time they get home they are too tired to spend time with their family or to partake in any leisure activities. It sort of seemed that most Canadians are able to enjoy life much more than Japanese are.
After thinking about these things we tried to consider ways in which life in Japan is better than that in Canada and the best we could come up with is that Japan has a much better public transportation system. So we are leaving. Does anyone else have any input on the subject of the quality of life in Japan? I'd be interested to hear what people who have lived here for a really long time have to say about it.