The Actual Pros and Cons of Living in Tokyo

Every now and again I’ll see a list on some travel site about the good and bad things about living in Japan. It’s usually pretty obvious that was written by someone who’s only been here a year or two, and who was assigned to write it by some content editor, only because lists are a format that gets shared a lot on social media.

Some of the things they include on lists like that are just mundane stereotypes, like how Japan is such a safe country. Other observations are the kind of thing the Japan Tourism Bureau would like you to know, like how quirky Harajuku is. Sometimes they include things that were clearly added to pad out the list, like how there are people outside train stations who hand out little tissue packets with advertisements on them. That can be convenient or not, I suppose, depending on if you happen to need a tissue. And maybe they don’t do that in other countries. But, is it really something meaningful enough to hang your impression of a country on?

Rarely do these lists reflect anything like what it really means to live here. And I don’t know if they ever could. Does anyone choose to live in a country because of exotic quirks or broad stereotypes?

I’ve lived in Tokyo for over half my life, and I like it just fine, but I’m neither delusional about it’s merits nor cynical about it’s difficulties. Of…