I am from a mid-size mediterranean city (Valencia, Spain) but also a highly active programmer [1]. I recently got the chance to move long-term to San Francisco,

I am from a mid-size mediterranean city (Valencia, Spain) but also a highly active programmer [1]. I recently got the chance to move long-term to San Francisco, which would have made sense career-wise. But I've been digging through blogs and comments and I had a pretty similar idea that it's like what the author describes here about the current situation. Instead I'm living in Tokyo, which is a very interesting case. Personal life is pretty much awesome, the city is safe, things just work around there and everyone is great. Even though Japanese food is awesome, I missed Spanish food so I just started cooking and learning [2], and now I throw a lunch/dinner every other week with friends. I don't even consider myself an "otaku", so it is probably even more awesome for those. The only issue is work because they don't pay well, work hours are very long AND tech/culture is quite old fashioned. But there are still some great companies if you dig a bit. You'll never get as much money as in the US, but there are things more important than money. [1] https://github.com/franciscop/ https://github.com/franciscop/ [2] https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpj33JKDPhx/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpj33JKDPhx/