Going to Japan made me dislike my own country even more...

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First thing I will say is you have been very brave to go abroad. I havenever been and for me the experience to try and get past customs would mean even if I spent thousands on the flight, I would turn around and walk out! I also would need to be near a window so if I panic and need air, I can open the window, but I don't like the idea of being hemmed in by people sitting next to me as claustrophobic. Never been on a plane.
I did fancy going by ferry to France, and drive to places from there to eventually get to Switzerland and even bought a classic car with an extra set of snow tyres to do so, but I got the passport forms and read the smaller book of forms which was instructions on how to take the photograph to go on the passport, and took one look at the complexity of the passport forms and realized I would have to also go to one of the big cities as part ofgetting a passport, and there was no way I could fill thr forms without too much stress, let alone the thought of going to London! (Used to be Newport and that would be stressful enough, but they closed Newport and so it was London... and London is like going abroad compared to here! I wouldn't have a clue! And now London is full of "No-Go" drive zones it is out of the question me ever being able to get a passport ever! So the want to try France and other places especially driving in Switzerland in the snow... I sold the lovely classic car and gave up hope! You are so brave to go through customs and go on a plane! If I go on a plane I want them to fly it close to the ground incase I have to jump out and get off!


Ooh... What I wanted to say is that Mum and I moved area when we moved house. It all seems lovely moving area... BUT one then misses where one was. I am not saying we will go back to where we were as there are reasons for relocating. BUT what I am saying is that for years I used to come up to this area for visits and loved it! But after moving, one does miss aspects of what one had. So putting that in perspective in your case, you may find if you moved to Japan, you may miss the USA and vice versa. So ideally an inbetween country with easy access to travel to both would be ideal? Not saying this is a plan. As for you, living in the USA and then spending long holidays in Japan whenever you can maybe the most perfect solution?

Good job you have your sister.

Japan has a much more beautiful culture than North American countries and the people of Japan have manners and they're very polite. Japanese people also love their home country.

I feel like Japan is a much easier nation to feel welcomed as a tourist than as an immigrant.

If one actually lives there the homogeneity of the culture might start to feel unwelcoming.

An example I've heard of recently was a woman who was mixed-race, but Japanese was her first language, asking a question in unaccented Japanese only to receive an answer in English, as though they're not Japanese. The lady in question barely even speaks English, just to underline the absurdity.

There's a lot that's great about Japanese culture, but just like everywhere else, there's some ugly aspects too.

Have you seen the movie Lost in Translation?

I definitely think that European and Asian cultures tend to much more hospitable than Americans. Southern hospitality is a myth. Many of them are nice to your face but then talk s**t about you behind your back. There's a lot more of the community mentality in the South than the rest of the country (this actually goes for all southerners, not just white Baptists), and lots of rural southern communities can be pretty cruel to outsiders.

Japan is ahead of the US in so many ways. They actually spend money on developing the country instead of spending it all on the military. It's also a very safe country with a low crime rate and it lacks the gun culture that America has. You don't have to worry about sending your kid to school and possibly never seeing them again. It also has a more even distribution of wealth than America (or even most of the world). 90 percent of Japanese are considered middle-class.