After watching this I feel a little bit ungrateful. I lived there for a while and had a permanent position, which is really coveted. I left after a year and hal

After watching this I feel a little bit ungrateful. I lived there for a while and had a permanent position, which is really coveted. I left after a year and half because I just hated the working culture so much. Because I speak English I was able to leave. Japan is largely monolingual, and the English education for children stresses test performance over communication. Japan has always had a powerful enough economy that monolingualism worked okay for the country as a whole. But for the miserable individuals who believe they have no opportunities, monolingualism is a trap that keeps them in the system where they do not find the opportunities. Meanwhile I speak English and can therefore work in dozens of countries if I so choose, though as a linguist I actually savor opportunities to study new languages).