And if you’re here already maybe you should leave
Coming to live and work in Japan could be a grave mistake for young people now. And if they are already in Japan, unless they are already 100% committed to living here, it might be better to leave while they still can.
The weak yen, stagnant wages, and demographic collapse have changed Japan. Things were not always this bad.
24 years ago I arrived in Japan as an excited JET Programme participant. My salary as an ALT was 3.6m a year, which was very competitive compared to UK starting salaries at the time based on the yen-pound exchange rate.
JET Programme ALTs arriving in 2024 will start on 3.36m yen. With the current exchange rate, this is much lower than average university graduate starting salaries in the UK.
And JET ALTs are the lucky ones. Dispatch ones are paid much worse.
And that is true across the board. If you are qualified to do other work, you will likely find it pays far worse, with less favourable working conditions, in Japan than it does in other countries.
This is true for computer programmers, engineers, lawyers, researchers, academics, and pretty much anyone who is not working for a foreign company.
In 2024:
- visiting Japan is amazing. It is likely to be a lot cheaper than alternative destinations, and there is so much to see and do here. Could not recommend highly enough.
- studying in Japan is mixed: up to a year or so is likely to be a fun and interesting experience, but doing your undergraduate degree here might not be a good idea.
- spending a year or two working here as a gap year or for the experience is probably still fine as long as you leave afterwards and don’t get stuck here.
- moving here to work, unless you have a well-paid position with a clear career path, is probably a bad idea.
- staying here if you are young/have a young family and still have other options might be a bad idea, not so much because Japan is terrible but because you might not have the option to leave later.
- staying here if you are 100% committed to living in Japan/have an older family is probably inevitable. The weak yen means taking a huge cut in standard of living if you want to move abroad.
- retiring in Japan with pension income or savings/investments could be a good move. The low cost of living and decent infrastructure can make it a good choice if you have your finances sorted out.
The longer you live and work here, the less likely it is that you will be able to leave if you want to. Eventually you would not be able to afford to move to a different country.
Personally I am very happy in Japan and have the financial resources to have a decent life here, but I am not sure I would recommend it to others.
“Don’t move to Japan” is perhaps a bit strong. Maybe “Don’t get a job in Japan and expect the same quality of life as a few years ago” is more accurate but that makes quite a long headline!
My advice would be to move to Japan if you can get a job at a non-Japanese company – either remote or at a local office/branch – with a salary tied to the dollar, euro, pound etc. Not necessarily easy and getting a visa could be an issue, but living in Japan is still wonderful, *if* you can support yourself.
Yeah, for someone with a decent income, this post does very much not apply.
I have been here for almost 44 years. I promised my late wife that we would stay in Japan. I did not plan on her passing away before me. But it happened. Now I feel like I can’t leave her behind. Her grave is here and I will be buried in her family grave. I lost my sister two months after my wife which left a house in America which I have since sold. So I am here till the end. Some have said I could move back to the states and be very happy there but I just don’t feel right doing that. I am interested to hear what ideas others might have. Am I making a mistake that I just don’t see?
You are definitely not making a mistake, after 44 years here.
Retiree checking in, I’m also here till the end. The main thing is that my life is very much centered here. Not as long as you, but it’s home in most senses of the word. And we’re not isolated cases–I know three retirees (two from the same place I worked, one from a different school), and a fourth who retired here from the US (was a Japanologist there), also on the same path. And this is in a prefectural capital well away from kanto/kansai–there are undoubtedly many other ‘lifers’ sprinkled around the country.
On the intellectual page of the ledger, tho I’m US and do get a bit of SS, I’m ineligible for medicare (there is a kind of buy-in possible). OTOH, healthcare here has already saved my life a couple times, without being a financial disaster. I do have three sibs there, but they’re scattered (CO, IL, OH), none near where we grew up, so no hometown to go back to. We have visited (our two kids happen to be there now), and we’re going again this summer, but as you probably know, it can be expensive there…!
The US can feel kind of alien. Maybe that’s just due to having been gone so long, and to have enjoyed a nice life apart from it, but it has also changed as a country. I was also abroad in the early 70s (both army and peace corps), but really left in ’82 after grad school. Things have changed since that time. When I think about it, truisms like ‘you can never go home again’, or ‘you can never step into the same river twice’, come to mind.
Blah, blah, blah. This is getting too long.
This post is very much aimed at people who are not here, or who have been here for a while but are not sure whether they should stay of not.
We are very much locked in!
I have ‘only’ been here 24 years, but I couldn’t imagine leaving.
This article doesn’t apply to you, since you have invested 44 years in Japan. It seems to be aimed at a young person who is starting a career, or someone who has spent a few early-career years in Japan and lacks a career path.
This article with its clickbait title and unstated assumptions isn’t up to Ben’s usual standard. I hope it’s not a new direction for this blog.
Ha, ha, I sold the blog and the new management is trying to optimise pageviews ^-^
This is something that has come up a lot with my coaching clients. Many people are becoming financially stuck in Japan, unable to leave even if they wanted to.
This is just a quick call for discussion on the issue. Planning to make a more nuanced video about the topic and wanted to hear people’s ideas.
I left Japan after 24 years to return to the US to reconnect with family and friends. I was working for a US tech company in Japan. My JPY salary was directly translated to USD at a favorable time when I moved back. What I’ve noticed is that, despite getting good pay benefits here, there is not much more left over in my bank account at the end of the month. Once you are set up in Japan, costs are low. For housing, US property taxes and management fees (mostly for condo/mansions, but also for stand alone houses in some areas, like Florida), insurance costs and other costs are quite high. A vehicle or two needs to be owned, maintained and insured. Eating out is very expensive compared to Japan. Working conditions are also not easy and there is no job security. I agree with your point that Japan is not what it used to be as far as coming to teach English or work for a Japanese company and making good money. I also agree that if you are there too long you might become “trapped”. But perhaps trapped in a good way, by the reasonable cost of living, great transportation infrastructure and stable society.
Very good points. For people who want to stay here, Japan is great. But a lot of people are not sure, or have vague plans to move ‘back’ at some point…
I have been here 11 years and live on my retirement income. I feel the same as you. My wife is younger than I am, If she were to pass before me, I would stay and visit her grave site regularly. It has been eight years since I have visited the States and even with my children living there I am not inclined to go back. I have become accustomed to the way of life here and probably could not adjust to the current U.S.A.
Generally what you wrote is sound advice. But there are obvious exceptions. The expats on great salaries in dollars and euros are doing just fine, and that’s even before you consider the 4LDK tower mansion rent and Lexus the company is paying for. Who could blame many Chinese who have ditched their country for an infinitely better life here? Same goes for Americans if Orange Jesus wins – or loses and starts an uprising. Sometimes it ain’t all about money.
Oh, absolutely. For people with good jobs, or people who are 100% committed to being here, or people whose other options are worse are outside the scope of this post.
I had been watching comedy videos before reading this but this post seems so out of character like I seriously thought this was a guest post hack of the website or maybe a drunk post.
TLDR: DO NOT LIVE IN JAPAN but I do… kill me now?
That’s not what the post says though, is it? It says don’t move to Japan in 2024 without a good job or being 100% committed to living here for good.
I came here in 2000 in very different circumstances.
I have been living 4 years I feel yen every year but cost of living has increased tremendously.So if you are planning to Japan to earn good money it is not good choice.But if you look at other aspects safety,cleanliness and quality of life it will s really good.
Agree with the headline and people should come to Japan with their eyes wide open given the circumstances.
Until relatively recently, I was working at a Japanese e-commerce company where most of the technical talent came from aboard. Japan is still not producing enough technical talent so we needed to get creative especially when foreign companies in Japan pay much, much more for technical staff.
During my tenure, this topic did come up when hiring. While Japan’s a nice place to be, it’s really hard to exit with any significant savings that would translate to non-yen savings with the current exchange rates. Even with Japanese wages rising, it’s not fast enough to counter this and the Japanese inflation. It goes without saying that salaries are increasing faster in places like China/India than here as well.
It’s become a tough sell for mid-career workers especially in the tech fields. Add on top the state of tech is a bit (quite a bit?) behind other countries as well. Come for the experience but keep in mind the financial aspects of the journey. Internships maybe booming?
From what you have divulged on this website, your top salary here (7mil annually) was always quite low by international developed world standards. Considering you turned out fine on such a comparatively modest income, and many salaries are on the upswing, maybe the doom and gloom isn’t warranted? It’s not a great idea to peg all of an economy’s prospects (or one’s career and life) on currency fluctuations; I don’t know if the yen will rebound, but neither do you or anyone commenting here for that matter, and JPY was trading much closer to the dollar only a couple years ago.
Very true, but inflation is picking up in Japan (partly due to the weak yen) and going abroad on holiday is extremely painful. For many people, moving to a different country is going to be difficult if not impossible if they have been here for a while.
Something that comes up quite a bit with my clients.
I hate to sound elitist but many of the things that made Japan so appealing and interesting in bygone years was its expensiveness and lack of accessibility. If you were on a shoestring budget and couldn’t speak Japanese your access to the best parts of the country and culture were significantly limited. Working here and learning the language gave you access to an incredible quality of life premium and, given there were so many fewer western expats, the gaijin community was so much more cohesive and friendly than today. Now with the cheap yen, massive salary disparities and smartphones guiding and translating everything for low effort tourists, that premium is disappearing and a lot of what made Japan unique and special to me has become a series of banal low rent instagram moments of no real significance.
That and the fact that I am paid 50-60% less than my colleagues in the US for the same work have me chewing sand these days.
Or maybe I am just getting old and bitter.
Hey there, I don’t have much time but I’d like to say that YOU ARE COMPLETELY RIGHT.
I can see JPY following Turkish’ Lira footstep.
1 USD = 300 JPY within a decade is not beyond the realm of possibility.
I hope not! That would make us very well off indeed in yen terms though…
Ken Seroi gave the same message for years on his now defunct Japanese Rule of 7 website. I totally agree with you and Ken, wherever he is now. My father was shocked at how little money I returned to the UK with after 3 years in Japan, and that was the early 80’s. From a working class perspective, the whole point of going abroad for any length of time is to seek your fortune. If you’re TELFing in Japan for a pittance then you need to do it in an Oil State, like Brunei, or Saudi. Your website is about getting rich, not poor.
I miss Ken Seroi!
Gosh its falling like a stone.. STG is almost 195 Yen, will hit 200 Yen I guess soon if this keeps going…
People travelling abroad for GW will find it expensive….
We’re heading to London in August -with four people!
Going to need new mortgage…
Indeed – but back in about 2002 when my parents-in-law came to the UK for the first time it was 250 Yen to the pound, so we are still far from the lowest the yen has been vs sterling. At this rate we’ll be there before long though!
With my luck, we’ll get there when I’m in London in August with the family…
You should not look at nominal exchange rates but at real exchange rate (adjusted by the differential of inflation of between the 2 countries).
Over the last 20 years price increased by 79% in UK and 12% in Japan. As a result the depreciation of the JPY is much worst than it seems. 200 JPY is more like 350.
Well, in 1973 it was 1000 Yen to the £, and in 1981 it was 500.
Great article, really resonate with most of what you said. I have met quite a few newcomers spending retirement here with their £€$, they are all loving it.
Not being passive aggressive but do another one of England, then suddenly, Japan life will seem glorious. Or at least the most eligible bachelor on the leper island
Ha, ha, you could not pay me enough to move to the UK. But I like Japan and plan to stay here for the rest of my life. Others might want to have a choice.
Thanks, Ben! Your advice really hit home. I’ve been testing the waters during my gap year in Japan, and your insights totally align with what I’ve been observing. Your post confirms that it’s time for me to start considering other options once my internship wraps up. Cheers!
Good luck! Keeping your eyes open and looking at all the options is going to help you make a better choice.
Quite a different tone than the author of this recent Bloomberg article (paywall) (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/features/2024-04-24/how-japan-regained-its-superpowers-and-recovered-from-recession). No doubt Japan is no perfect place, nor is any place else. Would not consider living in the US of A now with all they have going on on several fronts least of it political. I personally appreciate being in Japan today.
I enjoyed that article, but the author predicts wages will rise going forward and the yen will strengthen. I would love to see both of those but am less optimistic.
Recent article from John Rubino (Who admit can be a bit bearish on things in general)
https://rubino.substack.com/p/how-far-can-the-yen-fall-before-japan
Totally agree. The other angle is if you get accustomed to the culture and manners in Japan, going back to live mostly anywhere would be a challenge. Temporary or for good. Of course, only personal observation. Depends on the thickness of the skin.
I think much of the pain in that post is related to the weak yen. What gives me most pause about the current yen weakness is that purchasing power parity is telling a different story about the strength of the yen. Look at the data in this table from the OECD. For years now the yen has bought more in Japan than a US dollar buys in the US and we are now well below a 100 yen-to-the-dollar parity level. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm
I think for young people, Japan is still better than many other countries that are highly sought after for higher wages, such as the US.
While it’s true that people make a lot more money in the U.S., expenses are proportionately higher. For example, from San Diego where I’m from, a low end job would net you about $3000 after taxes. A one bedroom apartment will run you almost $1700 on the low end. That’s almost 2/3 of your income. In Japan, a low end job would net you about ¥150,000 but a 1LDK might run you 70,000. That’s less than half of San Diego and in Kyoto. If you live in farther out, rent is even cheaper. And other living expenses are also higher in the U.S. – owning a car is very expensive ( over $600 a month once you include loan payment, gas, insurance and maintenance.). And health care is more expansive in the U.S. too.
In Japan, public transportation is much less expensive and expenses are often picked up by the company.
While it’s true that if you want to move abroad from Japan, that will be much more difficult to do. For the majority of people looking for a better standard of life, I think Japan is a much better choice (that also includes factoring in the lower crime rate, healthier lifestyle, healthier food, and safer environment over all – compared to the U.S.)
Completely agree, but people need to know it could be a one way ticket and make sure they are okay with that before taking the plunge 🙂
I agree with you. Bang on!
Ben, have you put this post on Reddit yet?
I’m not brave enough to do THAT!
Perhaps add the Exit Tax and Inheritance Tax to your ‘locked-in’ context. It makes it even harder and more frustrating.
We send our money abroad to earn so it hedges the yen.
Also locked in for life, only been here a year.
On the salary question, I noticed this:
https://awaji-youth-federation.com/ayf-fellowship-program/
It is an internship, so a learning opportunity I guess. But I agree with Ben’s point that you would have to really be interested in Japan to consider doing this, especially if in your late 20s.
Ben, could you elaborate on your last point in the list you have at the end of the article?
“retiring in Japan with pension income or savings/investments could be a good move. The low cost of living and decent infrastructure can make it a good choice if you have your finances sorted out.”
Do you mean from the point of view of a person coming from overseas to retire in Japan?
I think if one has their finances sorted, living anywhere would be possible and comfortable, since they would be sorting their finances to live in the place they choose. So that seems to me to be a moot point.
If one has worked in Japan in “regular” jobs in a JPN or non-JPN company (not in the privileged expat jobs in finance, for example), raised a family in Japan, paid into the national/employees’ pension systems, saved accordingly and invested for the future ( this last part would differ from person to person bc of knowledge and resources), despite the lower cost of living here, one can struggle in retirement, or at least have a difficult time bc of the low wages and lower options for growing wealth here. That’s why many older Japanese need to work past the age of 65. They also were not used to investing bc it was not as big a part of the culture in comparison to western countries.
There are many Japanese retirees who did well in the bubble era, but there are many more who didn’t, and many more who didn’t do well in the post-bubble era. Long-term care facilities in Japan do lack quality facilities, and are experiencing a significant staffing shortage; resources are noticeably lacking, particularly in non-cosmopolitan areas, and in areas that are depopulating faster than others. That’s a vicious circle, and will affect all seniors in Japan.
Other countries have their own issues related to retirement/long term care. I am wondering how you see retiring in Japan as a possible good move. Perhaps I am missing some valuable understanding.
Yes, that is referring to people moving to Japan with foreign pensions/investments/savings. With the current exchange rate and assuming they can navigate the culture they could have a much higher standard of living for the same money.
My impression is that, provided you are not poor and live in an urban area, Japan is a fairly good place to be older.