I live in Japan (more than a decade now) and grew up in the US. Life here in Japan is getting harder as the currency weakens against others, inflation has been going crazy, and wages aren’t keeping up. A lot of energy is imported as are a lot of materials. Gasoline is up over 20 yen per litre since the start of last month and that will translate into increased costs for anything requiring shipping. It also means, at least for those of us with family overseas, that seeing family members is much harder and more expensive than before. It’s also hard to bring my wife because I never know what the ICE is going to do with a non-white woman who speaks almost no English and that’s a risk I won’t take.

We have a big overtourism issue which is leading to a lot of people thinking foreigners = trouble and giving racists an excuse. Japan just elected Japanese Thatcher which is a setback for the rights of women, LGTBQI+, and more (especially around the koseki system and marriage equality).

Tech jobs are in a bit of a crunch right now with the whole “AI” thing going on and some places wanting to go all in on that. I am starting to think I want to change jobs, but finding another remote software engineering job is going to be very challenging.

For everything else, though, rural Japan treats me quite well.