I'm an American citizen with Japanese permanent residency. Weirdly enough I moved here via a Software Engineer job posting I saw in an HN "whos hiring". This wa

I'm an American citizen with Japanese permanent residency. Weirdly enough I moved here via a Software Engineer job posting I saw in an HN "whos hiring". This was about 5 years ago, right before covid hit. Clearly I've taken a liking to it, as I'm still here despite the potential to make way more money by being back home. For me, I was interested in learning the language and experiencing a new culture, and so it was a blast. If you're not interested in those things, you will likely not last more than a few years (though I do know a few foreigners here who've been here 10+ years without learning a lick of Japanese). The company I joined helped a lot with getting a bank account and phone number and such. Those tasks can be hard without help, although it's practically a meme at this point so I think it's easier now, as companies try to fill that gap. Another meme is that it's hard to find a place to rent as a foreigner. This might be somewhat true, but it's never happened to me and so I think it's a bit outdated. Overall it's very comfortable. Sometimes too much so I think - nobody takes risks and so nothing really changes. I do like being able to go almost anywhere without a car.