With the right wing parties in Germany getting stronger, my Mastodon timeline gets posts from people considering to move to other countries, temporarily or forever. Japan is known for being peaceful, rich of culture, and is often called out as potential destination - so as a German living in Japan since 8 years, I will try to look at the relevant aspects. Maybe this sparks also others living in foreign countries to report?

The one thing I can promise here is that you get my honest view on single topics which I find relevant - but I might actually miss facts, and then everybody will weight the single factors differently. For some topics I’ll look at the factors, and give points on a scale 1 (worst) to 5 (best) for Germany and Japan.

How easy do you get through with English?

Not easy. You will in all important places find people who speak English to some degree: in the town hall, when opening a bank account, when buying a phone SIM card, renting a place. But you might have to wait longer, and it will be less convenient than if you know Japanese. Choosing doctors who speak English is possible, but they will be further away. Japanese have a strong urge to receive services in Japanese, so as an IT support person I also had to prove some level of Japanese proficiency to get my Japanese work contract. It’s ok to not speak perfectly Japanese, and mobile phones with an internet connection can help very much. Also after coming here I continue to learn Japanese by various means. My non-perfect-Japanese is a slight downside at work, but feeling comfortable with English is an advantage and helps me to connect with our international teams.

I recommend to learn Japanese, at least to some degree. If you look at it as a chore, it’s already over - you need to find beauty in it, and it’s also a great way to learn about the culture. I found pieces of Japanese literature which I really like, and which I can read in their native language. This is increadibly satisfyung. I’m also still learning, by various means.

In Germany: it’s much easier to get around just with English. But when looking for a flat, speaking German is a huge advantage.

• Japan: 2/5
• Germany: 4/5

Culture differences, peaceful daily life

One should not ascribe certain traits to people having a certain citizenship.. but I think it’s ok to “see some patterns”. I ascribe attributes like punctiality, trying to do something rather well than quick, being rather silant than noisy to both Japanese and Germans. So from that aspect, most Japanese people consider the same pieces important as myself.

Living in Japan, I feel even safer than in Germany. Parents allow their children quite early to commute by themself with public transport, quite untinkable for example in America.

• Japan: 5/5
• Germany: 4/5

How welcome are foreigners? Is it easy to settle in?

In Germany, especially right wing groups are right now making it harder to immigrate. Foreigners feel increasingly unwelcome. Germany has a strong record of accepting immigrants or foreigners living in Germany temporarily: this peaked 2015. Without immigrants, the German population would shrink.

Japan is quite different: it had long times of self isolation. Immigration numbers are much lower than for Germany. Right now Japans polulation is 150% of Germanys polulation, but it’s shrinking without the stream of immigrants. Overaging, and keeping the pension system up is even more an issue than in Germany. That being said, I never felt unwelcome here. Some Japanese have not much contact with foreigners and feel uneasy when interacting, what to expect - but I did not sense “you are unwelcome”.

Japan has one complication though when settling in/renting a flat: you need the signature of a “guarantor”. You also put down “security money” to restore the place in case you move out and leave havoc, but additionally the guarantor can be made responsible for your actions. In some cases companies can sign up as “guarantor”, for a fee.

Visa: Germans can stay up to 3 month with a visitor visa. For longer, you need to apply: one can get a visa “for work”, to “do arts”, to “teach a religion” or for other reasons.

• Japan: 3/5
• Germany: 3/5

Ethical differences

Traits like “it’s good to be on time” are equally important for Germans and Japanese, that’s already good. Stealing things or murder are forbidden by law, such things do also match. Looking into the details, you can spot differences though. Death penalty does exist in Japan: the criminal might be living in prison for years and will just one morning learn that he will be executed on that very day, one or 2 hours before the execution.

Further difference: pets are popular both in Germany and Japan. In Japan, abandoned dogs and cats are killed at shelters, more than 40.000 in 2014.

Something great in Japan: how to deal with things in a careful manner. The second hand market of clothes/electrical applicances/bikes etc. is big, and things are often in great shape. I love to look through thrift stores like “hard off”, for retro computer hardware and gaming consoles. Unfortunatelly I live on limited space.

• Japan: 3/5
• Germany: 4/5

Prices, wages, work, pension

Prices of commodities like food are now lower in Japan, as we have seen less inflation in the last years. Rent in Tokyo is quite high though, I pay 108800円/700eur per month for ~40qm without water/gas/energy, and I’m not really living in the city. In my IT area, I earn 82% of what I would earn in Germany right now.

Work environment in Japan: Japan is known for long work hours, that’s true for many traditional Japanese companies. I’m working at the branch of an American company and can get along with the conditions. The tax system is comparable to Germany: they are automatically deduced from your monthly wages. I need to do an extra tax declaraion in Japan, once per year, as my company is giving me company stock.

In general, I think I pay a lower percentage of my wages as taxes than in Germany - but the services by the government are also a bit different. Most prominently, education of children in Japan tends to be more expensive in Japan. Many children are sent to “after school”. So for me, earning for dozens of years the lower Japanese wages, and then after retirement living with that in the more expensive Germany, would be a bad plan. For now I’m ignoring that line of thinking, as this unbalance has just come up in the last 3 years.

I’m paying money into the Japanese pension system and hope to get some out when I retire. The idea is the same as in Germany.

• Japan: 4/5
• Germany: 4/5

Health

The health insurance system is quite comparable to Germany: either from the employer or from the government you enter health insurance. It’s just “one class”, not two classes as in Germany. The employer is deciding the health insurance company. For medicine or medical services I pay 30%, the rest is covered.

In Japan, you can drink water from the tap - and you should, it’s well checked like in Germany. Like many Germans, also many Japanese prefer bottled water. I use the tap, my day starts with green tea from the tap.

Employers give employees one free day per year, and pay for a health checkup. In general, the rate of obese people is low. I think that influences the own standard of “what is considered normal”, so sets incentives to stay slim/live healthy also for me. As per my understanding, obesity in Europe is bigger, and even bigger in America.

• Japan: 5/5
• Germany: 3/5

Climate, danger environment wise

Japan is shaped a bit like a boomerang, and covering more climate zones than Germany. I’m living in Tokyo, it’s in average warmer than Germany. July to September/October are scorching hot, unbarable without aircon. One can also move to Hokkaido in the north (colder), or to one of the many places in the south (warmer - but more dry air).

Japan is facing much higher danger regarding natural deasasters: light earth quakes are almost daily. Big ones are appearing roughly in 30 year cycles, and a big once for Kantou, where I live, is overdue. Japan is also experiencing Tsunamis (huge waves), and storm. There is a rain season, traditionally one week of rain. Many buildings are made from wood, there have been deadly fires in the past. I should mention that the geological features also have good sides: Onsen, where hot water comes from the earth and resulted in bathing culture.

Scientists predict Japan to suffer more with the intensifying climate crisis than Germany.

• Japan: 2/5
• Germany: 3/5

Environment protection and climate crisis awareness

Things are dark in Germany, and even darker in Japan: people are not giving the climate crisis the attention it requires. In Japan, even less recycling is done, even less awareness that one should prevent trash in the first place, save energy and so on.

To be fair: it also seems “harder” for Japan to get green than for Germany. Less areas for solar cells, these would need to be mounted more expensively to cope with the rock and danger of earth quakes. Wind mills on the ocean: the ground of the nearby ocean regions is very deep, so wind mills would need to swim, making them more expensive. Translating wave energy into electric energy seems to just work in 2 places of the world.

• Japan: 2/5
• Germany: 2/5

Traffic, Transport and communications

Public transport and traffic in the big cities like Tokyo and Osaka are excellent. Everything reachable with the train, efficient payment with cards - while staying anonymous. High speed trains through whole Japan, on separate tracks, highly reliable and on time. Great mobile networks, affordable. Great internet connectivity via fiber in most places. Of course, on the country there are also places with less frequent buses.

From most places, one can also reach one or more airports conveniently.

With a German drivers license, you can drive in Japan for 3 month. If you stay longer, you anyway need a visa, and you can get the German license converted into a Japanese one.

Within 1 hour my train I can reach a train station from where I can go hiking for some hours. Just jogging is not ideal: there are parks for jogging, but no longer ways for jogging without traffic lights. Also just asphalt, no soft ways like you would find in the woods.

Tokyo is not ideal for cycling, but it’s not bad either. Most days I’m commuting by bike to the company, in 45min one way.

Internet access is not censored, not like i.e. Korea where you easily hit zensored pages, or in Germany where you also might hit DNS zensored pages at times (i.e. imposed by some ISPs).

• Japan: 5/5
• Germany: 3/5

Entertainment, finding communities

In the big cities like Tokyo, everything is happening. There are meetups of all kinds of folks: around certain technology like Linux or HAM radio, around languages like “German” and so on. There are maker spaces, 2600-meetings. Culture wise, all one could imagine is offered: rock concerts, classical concerts, cinema and so on.

Onsen (bathes) are also a fantastic: I enjoy these very much, visiting them once per week.

When you live in bigger cities, language is usually not an issue when connecting with communities: there are English speaking HAM radio groups, Linux users, makers, nerd nite. German speaking groups where I attended presentations on topics like Japan history, “influence of 2nd world war on Japan Manga”, “Getting green in Germany and Japan” and more - with amazing technical depth. I meet amazing specialists and discuss differences between Japan and Germany. When coming to Japan, I tried to focus on Japanese speaking communities to better learn Japanese. Now I more focus just on the topic of the groups, ignoring the language.

• Japan: 5/5
• Germany: 4/5

Food

..is superb, for my taste. Great lunch is available for 1100円(7eur), no upper limits, of course. I’m not cooking at all, always eating at restaurants. Or getting sushi etc. at super markets.

• Japan: 5/5
• Germany: 3/5

Politics, bureaucracy

Politics in Germany as well as in Japan are quite conservitive. Right wing tendencies in Germany got much stronger lately, but in Japan these have always been there.

As for feeling included in Japanese policits: I’m not included at all, as a foreigner I can not vote, not even though I’m registered as “permanent resident”.

Bureaucracy is bad in Germany, and even worse in Japan. Much paperwork, not much digitilization.

• Japan: 1/5
• Germany: 2/5

Summary

I have written about many aspects in detail, on the blog or here.

Already choosing the relevant factors is of course subjective, and also the single ratings. Of course, there are then also factors not fitting into above categories. Until my 12th year I was growing up in Socialist East Germany, knowing I would never be able to go to America or West Germany. Having the option of living abroad is great!

Which factors did I forget? Super curious also how you rate the country you are living in!

Corrections? Questions? -> Fediverse thread

Last modified on 2025-02-22