zlacker

>>anigbr+(OP)
I was always hoping that given the fact that japanese population is dropping, they will want more foreigners in this Country. Yesterday marks my first anniversary in Japan. I love this Country and very keen to stay for naturalization based on my past experience with another non-free Country. People who has longer experience please correct me if I'm saying something stupid, what Japan stands out to me are:

* Overall it's a very affordable place and people are friendly by default.

* It is a free world Country if you care about freedom

* People take privacy seriously as parts of their daily matters, minimal data share. (unsure about the lucrative advertising business, please enligh)

* Comfortable level of tech, you can say it's low tech, but they got all the details right, and experience is great. (No aggresive behavior analysis, rare ily seen QR code for menu/ordering)

And some realities to offset the love: (Ordered low to high on impact, by personal feelings)

* Unfair compensations, a large majority of companies pays their employees in a Nenko System, basically your salary increments by the x years of service inside the company

* HIGH welfare tax, Nenkin will take away around 10% of your PRETAX income.

* Language, I love this Country and I would like to learn their culture and their language

* Etiquette, the Japanese way of daily routinal interactions are very much formulated, you can take vantage of that when you are fresh off boat and trying to do basic things like shopping and lodging. But say if your goal is to integrate into their society, it's going to be a long painful journey for the talented. I got a few friends spent better half of their lives in Japan who just gave up on becoming Japanese. One of which quitted so well that he occasionally violates social norms.

Bottom line: you will need a strong incentive to stay in Japan and start/move your family here, and your first experiences won't be good. So why would foreigners stay if it's next to impossible to become local. If you are doing well enough in the Country you are already within, then you definitely would miss it and go back.

>>methou+6v
You forgot to mention the part where/how it would be great for the Japanese population.

As a citizen of a country where a lot of foreigners move in, it's not great. And we have nowhere the level of quality of life of Japan to fall from.

>>thrift+mz
Your statement is true for basically every country… except the US.

>>isykt+iA
> except the US.

And Singapore!

>>methou+mF
Singapore is a very interesting case because its multiculturalism is less organic and more top down. The upside? There are no slums. The downside? There is very little individual freedom, and punishment for crimes can be brutal. Like caning for vandalism or the death penalty for drug trafficking.

And yet! Singapore is consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world. This contradicts the common western association of personal liberty correlating with happiness.