Kanazawa — June 2025
This is a decision that I didn’t take lightly. After all, it was my dream to live and work in Japan even before I came here as a tourist for the first time. And I have loved living here for many reasons. The food, the variety of landscapes, the vibrant cities, the people I met along the way, the safety, and convenience, the list goes on. However, I did not love the working opportunities and administrative limitations by my visa. Given my professional background in tourism and language knowledge, it wasn’t too hard for me to get a job offer as a Japan inbound travel consultant. The Tokyo-based company sponsored my “Specialist in Humanities & Intl. Services” visa, which was approved for 3 years.
This meant that I had some freedom to change jobs within the industry as long as tasks included some kind of international exchange. But it should be an office job. Which, I realized during the past year, is just not an environment I thrive in. For a while, I felt miserable. I then tried to change the scope of work within my last job. Still, I came to the final conclusion that the fact that I was struggling with, was the expectation for me to spend 40 hours per week in a closed office space. When I started to explore other options like part-time work, I quickly learned that it’s not feasible from a financial point of view. I’d be living paycheck to paycheck, and would need a second source of income to cover the social security costs.
I basically found myself asking: was I ready to settle down and seek the happiness in everyday life? It might be easier to do so in Japan. However, my main reason for accepting that Tokyo job back in 2023, was to be able to enjoy Japan to the fullest and hopefully save some money along the way. I did use the remote work option to visit other prefectures (like Okinawa with my friends). I was able to travel to different countries in Asia (like India, the Philippines and Indonesia). I enjoyed the access to Onsen, delicious food and fun activities like local festivals and karaoke whenever I could. But it all came at a cost. I fought for my right to take time off on many occasions. 2 times it was actually only possible because I quit my job.
Financially, I could only afford this lifestyle because of the hard work I put in during the 2024 spring season and additional freelance work for EU-based businesses. Furthermore, I compromised on things like Japanese language classes and visits to Switzerland to save precious time off and money. If I were to settle down in Japan now, I would definitely have to shift the investment from vacations to Japanese classes. While I can get by with easy phrases and my listening has improved a lot, it’s still difficult to make REAL connections without being fluent in the language. And let’s be honest, I’m just not disciplined enough to study Kanji and grammar by myself. Another thing that I’m struggling with is the summer weather. While I do like the variety that the 4 seasons bring, I find myself lethargic by the heat and humidity dominating from June to September (or lately even into October).
Reading the title, you can tell that I’m not ready to settle down in Japan just yet. Yes, living in Japan was my dream for many years. But so are: sleeping in a Ger in Mongolia, diving at the Great Barrier Reef, living in a Spanish-speaking country, spending a summer running a Swiss mountain hut, and so many more. Some of those dreams might be achievable with Japan as my base and place of work. But I know that I would have to be putting in a lot of energy to make them happen. Working through all of these points, I was only stuck with 1 last item: the dilemma of the leftover 1.5 years of my visa. Since it’s a working visa, it expires after 3 months of unemployment. More than once I heard “but it’s a waste to give it up now” and at times, I thought so too. “It will never be as easy to find a new job in Japan as it is now that I’m already eligible to work!”
But I have done it once before. I have gotten a company to sponsor my visa and there are still plenty of other options. I may come back on a student visa in the future, enroll in Japanese classes somewhere in Kyushu, Shikoku, Izu or Wakayama and work part-time. Or I may decide to go for that Akiya renovation project and open a guesthouse on a Business Visa. For now though, I’m happy to return as a tourist when I get a chance. A few things I still want to experience: Hokkaido in summer, exploring Kochi & Tokushima, visit a Bonsai garden, play a Taiko drum, take an overnight ferry, dive at the Izu peninsula,… But first, I‘m going on a new adventure to visit parts of Asia I haven‘t been to. Stay tuned 😉
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