[actuator]

Few questions, would be glad if anyone can answer these:

- Would you know of good companies which have a good work life balance in Japan?

- I know among the big tech, Microsoft and Google have offices there. Both seem to pay well as well. Do they have similar WLB as their US offices?

- I have heard of racism, like certain apartments being off limits for non Japanese people. Some clubs only allowing white caucasians among foreigners. How true is this in your experience?

- I have no problem in learning Japanese over time, but without it at the start, is it very difficult to get by?

- Do most people live in Tokyo/Kyoto(where Tech companies seem to be) itself or can you live a bit in outskirts(a bit of greenery) and commute using the fast public transport?

[donw]

Of course. :)

I'm not sure "work-life balance" is even the right concept in Japan.

Japanese companies are structured around the idea that you devote your life to the organization. Overtime and weekend work are common. In exchange, the company will take care of you: you will never be fired, you will be provided with access to a broad social network, a group of friends, a spouse should you desire, and enough salary for your station in life until you reach retirement.

If you are satisfied with that contract, you will be happy. If not, you won't.

Working for a big US-based tech company here, you get the best-ish of both worlds. Salaries are much higher -- although not on par with the US -- and your working environment will be much more familiar.

The downside is that you are very insulated from Japanese society as a whole. The "Gaijin Bubble" is a thing, and it's incredibly hard to break out of.

One of my buddies -- who "happens to be black" as George Carlin would say -- describes Japanese racism as "racism done right".

I'd say I agree with his assessment. I've been denied apartments, had an ex whose family hated foreigners, and been refused entry to a restaurant once, but that's all fairly uncommon. You are unlikely to experience violence, although the police will -- very politely -- pay more attention to you than they would natives.

Tokyoites are used to foreigners, and outside of that, you're a curiosity?

Also, speaking Japanese opens many doors. I once had a nightmare of a time getting a taxi, but they would stop to pick up Japanese people. Once I finally flagged one down, I asked the driver why.

He was thrilled that I spoke Japanese, and mentioned that, in that area, most foreigners (a) couldn't speak the language; (b) wanted a long taxi ride; and (c) often fought with the drivers and refused to pay (taxis are not cheap here).

Remote work is a thing now, but before that, you lived in Tokyo. You can easily live in a bedroom community and commute -- some people do 4+ hours per day on a shinkansen.

On the off chance that I do stay here, I will likely move to a semi-rural area and telecommute full time.

Your company (nominally) pays your commuting costs.

Japanese is straightforward to learn, but you really have to devote time to it. Plan a few years of total immersion.

Also, it's not a European language, so outside of the grammatical differences, there's just a ton of culture where there is no overlap -- I didn't really appreciate just how deep Christianity's roots were in Europe until moving here -- it's crazy.

As a tiny example, the little grill that you cook "Ghengis Khan" on is called a "shichirin" -- which is a specifically-shaped wheel from Buddhist teachings.

[082349872349872]

I've heard an anecdote from a colleague that speaking Japanese moves one from the category of "Gaijin" to "interesting Gaijin", at which point people start volunteering how "we do things." (this is probably true anywhere: it's the fundamental distinction between an expat and an immigrant.)

> Plan a few years of total immersion.

I'd say this is true (although closer to "a couple") even going between european languages and english.

On the other hand, anyone emigrating for cultural reasons might appreciate that learning a language in their host country will be an order of magnitude more rapid than raising and educating a generation or three[1] in their home country.

[1] Has the american character has changed significantly since the publication of The Canterville Ghost in 1887?

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14522/14522-h/14522-h.htm

[actuator]

Hey, thanks for taking the time for answering that. Your answers are realy helpful.

- Definitely an interesting way to look at it, I am not sure whether I would be able to convince myself of this though, based on the cultural difference I have grown up with.

- The US company thing sounds great, even entry level tech roles have $150k+ comps, and I think in Japan that should still be really good.

- I can live with a little bit of racism and I think learning language of the land is kind of a good thing anyway, if I do plan to live long term.

- I think with Covid forcing companies to allow WFH possibly in the long term should definitely make it easier. Japan seems to have beautiful countryside and small towns, so it would be a shame if I don't get to experience that. :)

The culture bit is quite interesting indeed. Other than Buddhism, foreign religions haven't been able to get much foothold there it seems. Even Buddhism lives alongside Shinto and folk religions from what I have read.

I think one more good thing about Japan is their PR is points based and last I checked, I qualified for the fast track one based on points.

A bit worried about the Gaijin bubble thing, I would have assumed even the US company offices would have a lot of Japanese employees.

From one of your remark it seems like you are planning on moving out, are you planning to go back to your home country or some other place?

[donw]

USD 150k is roughly JPY 16M, which is 2-3x an entry-level salary here. Google might be laying that down for new graduates, but they'd be the only ones that are.

[actuator]

Ah, thanks. Will check levels.fyi to get a better estimate.

[donw]

If you are genuinely looking for a gig in Tokyo, feel free to ping me directly. Email in profile.

[actuator]

Not immediately, because I would want the Covid-19 situation to improve a bit with hopefully a vaccine before moving into foreign territory.

Thanks for the offer though, would definitely ask in future.