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Would you rather live in America or Japan?

United States of America or Greater Nippon?

  • Total voters
    323
I also think it would be difficult to make good living by following the beaten path up the Japanese corporate ladder. The pay is not good in general compared to the foreign employers in Japan. So, I don't even consider working for the traditional Japanese corporations especially I am not a fresh graduate from college anymore. I just could not see how 5 or 6 million yen annual salary for the average Japanese salaryman in his 30s will support a family.
Finding good jobs will also depend on your legal status in that country. Typically, the visa situation will significantly restrict your freedom to choose your own choice of career.
 
JerseyBoy said:
I just could not see how 5 or 6 million yen annual salary for the average Japanese salaryman in his 30s will support a family.
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But that is the norm here. Average salary not including bonus is pretty much that figure.

Then add the bonuses into it. It adds up

Plus, some salarimen live with their parents and therefore save money on rent. I'm not suggesting that you do this; I'm just trying to explain what I thought you already knew about the culture.

Finding good jobs will also depend on your legal status in that country.
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What are you trying to say here? Qualifications (education and experience and contacts) are what are needed for the "good jobs". After you get those, then you apply for the proper visa, not vice versa.

Typically, the visa situation will significantly restrict your freedom to choose your own choice of career.
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The visa category you choose to work in is the restriction, yes. If you are an engineer with an engineer's work visa, you are not permitted to do teaching, for example. But as for restrictions on one's career, I have to fall back on what I wrote just above this paragraph. Restrictions on "freedom to choose" are imposed solely by your qualifications, not a visa you hold. Visas can be changed easily enough, you know.
 
Glenski said:
But that is the norm here. Average salary not including bonus is pretty much that figure.
Then add the bonuses into it. It adds up
Plus, some salarimen live with their parents and therefore save money on rent.
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I am not sure if it is a wide spread norm for a grown man to live with the parents. Since I don't have any statistics to back this up, I will make no further comment.
Typically, foreigners need the sponsorship for visas. I am not sure how the visa situation works in Japan. If the basic concept is similar to USA, potential employers would rather not go through those legal hassle to sponsor visa as long as they can find candidates who do not require such sponsorship. If you (assuming this person needs visa sponsorship) are competing for a position with some local person who does not need the visa sponsorship and posses the similar qualifications, I bet the other candidate will get picked. Also, visa restrictions will give you extra hurdles especially when you are planning for a career change to a different field. These comments are based on the assumption the visa situations in Japan is similar to the ones in USA in a general term (as specifics will be totally different).
 
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im going to japan this summer and get to go to a hot spring resort!!!
 
It depends. If your into programming and other IT jobs with a degree. Stay in America you can find as good as a job in America then Japan. But, the other side to that is if your into network security or C++ and know Japanese, going to Japan would be a very smart idea.
The world OTHER then America has network security jobs that pay a lot. Example, in the Australian market, a network security administrator can make 90-120K, AUS. Which would be about 75-100K USD depending on your experience is the range in that. In America for a similar job you won't find it or you will only get 50K USD.
So, there are jobs you can make more money out there vs America. You just gotta find it
 
I would love to here in Japan... I'm only here for another week. But i have found the people(except one) to be very friendly and very helpful. I'm an american... I love my Giant SUV,My boat, My Jetski,and my camper... Not to mention a house back in the states Loaded with more firearms than most Japanese have seen since the war. Would i give it up? Thats a tough question.. assuming that i had a great job and a decent command of the language and the customs..(according to my friends so far i would have been stuck in a low paying job because i did not pour for everybody first then me- but i know better now)
I know that for now i have to go back, but i will be coming back to visit in the wintertime
Maybe if a special someone.. would ask me to come here... Izumi you know who you are-then i might!
I wish i could have offered a better answer.
 
I love Japan. I love how, to me, it's so different from home. I love being surrounded by it's cities, people and culture.
But, when it boils down to it, I would miss my home.
I could never really call Japan my home. I could live there for a while, sure...but my heart belongs to my home, in Southern California.

Even though it is great to broaden your horizons, never forget where you came from.
 
japan has so much in common with my own back round when it comes to culture......so i would like to live in japan the poeple whom i think i would be more familiar with
plus i am obssessed about every thing japanese
 
Besides very very good pay there is nothing good for me in japan.
The food the people the beaches everything is better in Hawaii.
 


If you have a CISSP you can get more in the range of 100K here in the US, but it really depends on what state your in.
 
I'd honestly have to say I'd rather live in Canada at the moment just because I feel safer with regards to food quality over the long term. I understand Japan imports nearly all their produce from China where there are few if any regulations against harmfull pesticides and the like. I'm a little spoiled, Ontario has excellent home-grown produce and stricter regulations.

However if I lived in a more rural area where there was a lot of domestically grown food available then I'd almost certainly prefer Japan because it's be more peaceful and I'd lead a less lazy lifestyle. (Up with the sun, down with the sun, more walking, less driving, etc.) Life in Canada, although its a peaceful country, stresses me out considerably because contrary to our international image people in Toronto are pr*cks. Pardon my French. I was much more content when I was in Japan; the patience and calmness of the Japanese people, even in Tokyo, is pleasantly infectious.

I don't know what I'd do about work, I don't possess any internationally desired skills (programming or business), but I'd honestly be happy as an English teacher provided it wasn't eikaiwa. Once my Japanese had improved enough if I was able to get the same administrative/office work I have here, that'd be fine. As long as the money is decent I'm happy, I have simple needs!
 
I'm living in America, but would like to see Japan and see how it's like
 
Been too busy to get back to this thread.

JerseyBoy said:
Typically, foreigners need the sponsorship for visas.
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Typically, yes, but that does not apply to working holiday visa holders or spouse visa holders or permanent resident status. Just some trivia to chew on.

I am not sure how the visa situation works in Japan. If the basic concept is similar to USA, potential employers would rather not go through those legal hassle to sponsor visa as long as they can find candidates who do not require such sponsorship.
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This is case by case. There is no real "legal hassle". You sponsor someone if you want them to work for you. That's taking the appropriate responsibility. Some employers want to avoid that responsibility, or they just don't understand what it means to be a visa sponsor. So, they either avoid hiring foreigners, or they get the ones who don't need visa sponsorship from them. It all depends.

If you (assuming this person needs visa sponsorship) are competing for a position with some local person who does not need the visa sponsorship and posses the similar qualifications, I bet the other candidate will get picked.
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Possible, but not always so. It may depend on other factors.

Also, visa restrictions will give you extra hurdles especially when you are planning for a career change to a different field.
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What hurdles? If you want to change your visa status, say from Humanities Specialist work visa to Engineering work visa, you just apply as if you were applying for the first time. Slightly different paperwork, but in the end, you still have to meet the requirements for that Engineering visa as if you were starting anew. Even locals who want to change fields need to show the appropriate experience and education. I don't understand what hurdles you mean.
 
I'd much rather live in Japan. I may end up back in America someday, for some reason, but it'd have to be someplace rural, where I can be a hermit.
 
Personally, I can stay in Japan forever. I love this country so much. But if I think about my family, I don't think that I will be able to stay for long. I know Japanese, but my kid and husband don't. That's one...well I dont want to state is as a problem, but yes that makes my staying long in Japan diffficult.
Then, I am not confident about Japanese education system also.
 
Home is where the heart is! Every place you go has its ups and downs. It all depends on your attitude on living. If you hate a place where you live, its probably because you are not happy with your own life. You are a reflection of how you live and what you prefer. So both countries are good - you just have to focus on what is good. If you think one is worse than its because you are focusing on comparing. Its totally difficult to compare. That's when you cant enjoy where you are really living.

I lived in both japan and north america and its the same - people who are all full of dreams and all on a journey. No place is better - no place is worse. I love both countries.
 
I have never really wanted to live in the states.. It would be nice to make a trip there to see some places though..
My impression of it is just way too scary and dangerous to consider living there for a protracted period of time!

Sorry..


Japan has the real appeal and living there someday has been my goal for a long time!
I did live there for a while, but I'd like to go back "for real" next time.

I don't really like the idea of just going for a short vacation trip or something. Would just get the witdrawal symptoms with no real doze!
 
I love Japan because of the culture, people and their concern on nature.

 
concern on nature?

So why is there no birds and worms in Tokyo? There is no nature in tokyo? Unless u go to a park. America is dangerous? Japan has earthquakes! Thats scarry and dangerous. Stop comparing. Thats what I was talking about before.

Have u seen so many black crows fly in the sky in the morning - they are all over Japan. How did the black crows get so big? :?

I love japan too. Ski desu! Nihongo Ichiban.
 
Lol I live in Belgium so I can't say anything. But to be honest I rather would like to live in Japan^^
 
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I would never live in USA so i choose Japan if there is no more options.
But really i don`t know if i would like to live in japan either. Live and work there sounds so stressfull and hard. And i don`t really think i`d like to spent all my life as a outsider (alien) there.
 
AkikoKawaii said:
So why is there no birds and worms in Tokyo? There is no nature in tokyo? Unless u go to a park. America is dangerous? Japan has earthquakes! Thats scarry and dangerous. Stop comparing. Thats what I was talking about before.
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lol
I was thinking in terms of crime..
A question like this does call for some comparing, don't you think?

In addition, it is pretty much the same in the states as it is here so Japan has the appeal for the exotic culture too.
 
I think that I would choose Japan. America is great, don't get me wrong, but there is really not alot of culture here. We are a melting pot and therefor we don't have a rich cultural heritage. The only people that live in America that can look at this country and see the history and culture of their ancestors are the Native Americans. For the rest of us, our ancestors are from other places. I am not of Japanese ancestory but at least Japan has a rich cultural history that is there to see everyday. This is probably true for most countries other than America but this thread only gives me two choices. I hope all this wasn't confusing and I made sense.
 
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