I’m able to enjoy myself now because I studied Japanese to an extent in advance

I’ve been to a lot of countries, but I really love Japan. Sight-seeing is incredibly fun, and a lot of things match my tastes. Daily life’s good too. I feel very blessed. It’s comparatively cheap as well. Of course, the pay’s cheap too, but that’s balance. People say the pay in America’s better, but it costs more to live there as well. When I ask my friends from abroad, 60, 70% of them are satisfied living in japan. The remaining 30% say they struggle a bit due to the language barrier, and while that’s not a problem for me, it’s true that work’s the greatest barrier. Daily life and work overlap considerably, and can’t be separated, so those from abroad who want to live in Japan long-term need to consider their work life as well.

I don’t think anything’s clear cut black and white. It’s true that a lot of things can be improved, but it’s also important to preserve traditional culture. I think that’s one of Japan’s strengths, and something that I too like about Japan, so it shouldn’t be cast aside. It’s just a question of how we do things. I think we can change just parts of the system, and understand the importance of that, and plan to make changes based on that understanding. I think it’s important to have people who understand the importance of that.