21 THINGS ABOUT JAPAN to Know Before Moving 🇯🇵 | The REALITY...and what I wish I knew first 🤧

Did any of these surprise you? Let me know in the comments!! 😇 Also, I'm trying out an editor because honestly it's nice to sometimes have a week off from having the video editing looming over my head after work every day (I like it, but I also like having free time 🤧) so let me know your thoughts/feedback!! My first time working with this editor so there's bound to be stuff that doesn't work 😆 (Also, I'm definitely still going to always be editing my vlogs!!! Just these kind of videos it's nice to have help with sometimes hehe)

I like how down to earth your videos are, a lot of the bigger japan youtubers are kind of getting unrelatable to me? Like doing mr. beast type things but in japan lol. I still like all those channels but i appreciate you being more real and relatable to normal folks lol.

Thank you Allison for the video. Living in a different country isn’t for everyone. My son has lived in Japan for almost 4 yrs. He’s visited the country twice before moving there. Once was a 2 month. My sister and I laugh how my son blended well into the culture. Those are his people. Basically, landing on his mother ship. For others that don’t feel that way, it may not be your place to live permanently. He’s teaching English. Many friends come and go. Comments on depression. Don’t try to live there if you are people needy. Although polite, Japanese aren’t that open. You need to be able to eat out alone, hike alone, shop alone, and go on tours alone. I hope everyone gets to visit there.

Thank you for telling it like it is. My recent trip taught me this exact thing: visiting Japan was an amazing, mind-opening experience. Would I actually WANT to live there? No, I wouldn't. Mostly due to the quiet discrimination. I certainly felt it in the little things: getting weird looks on the train, having people actively move away from me, just feeling like I was seen as something, well... foreign. Cheers!

Just got accepted by a professor to the International Multidisciplinary Engineering Program at the University of Tokyo... so I'm very likely to be entering Japan around Sep 2024... These are some nice tips I have noted, might help me survive there...

THANK YOU SO MUCH for speaking the truth on behalf of us; foreigners/residents 🙏🙌😂 all of these are very very true, and 21 is probably the most important! Especially given the lack of resources/education about mental health in Japan. I know it’s a bit sad to hear for some people, but it’s better to hear this now; that waste loads of money coming here and then ending up hating Japan for no reason.

Re 21, while true also remember that a life shake up is exactly what many need to radically disrupt bad patterns. Don’t use travel to “fix” yourself, but also it can open your horizon and teach you that the problems in your life might not be as big as you think. Trying something new can really reset your mindset.

The emoji's was a nice change of pace. You are always honest & tell it like it is and that's why I like your videos. Life is not all unicorns and cotton candy. If you ever change jobs, maybe you can open your own business to help foreigners transition to living in Japan(?). You could probably write a guidebook on everything people need to know before coming to Japan(1 for tourists, 1 for moving to Japan to work). 👍

As a Canadian that lived in Tokyo for 8 years. I can agree with everything you said here. Japan is a decent place to live if you can find like-minded friends or a community that you vibe with. All the city ward or document related stuff was a pain to do 😂

Coming from someone who has been here 12 years and is on the shy, not a fan of partying, loneliness might not go away. Allison seems a bit out going and only been here 5 years. Also her social circle is not limited to her job or school. Coming as a teacher you have training and meet the teachers also in you Mr area. At work you talk with the other ALT during downtime. You become friends but those people leave. Japan wasn’t for them or something. Rinse and repeat with the next year’s ALT. My best friend went back to Australia after 5 years. You just don’t know what will happen in life. Thankfully I met my husband after that.😅 Also when I studied abroad my dear aunt passed away and I couldn’t fly home. And now I’m worrying about money for our roof and no way we can afford to fly to California to see my family I haven’t seen since I arrived in 2011. I really want my husband to meet them.

Excellent and realistic video, a nice antidote to the many 'Japan is so wonderful' gushing fantasy videos. I didn't know about the middle name issue, interesting.

Hands down! An YouTuber that shows the real life living in Japan. No sugar coating. Great video

おはよう👋😃☀️ Thanks for finally being realistic Too many people move to Japn and Korea thinking its just like the movies music and shows I explain to them it's like thinking america is like hollywood movies lol 😅 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 😅😅😅

💯fellow American woman who lived in Japan here. Excellent advice, Allison!

God, these are all SO TRUE! Living in Japan can be really tough at times, especially without any Japanese skills. I think we all wish we would have known more Japanese before coming here 😂

I really appreciate this video. I don't think people realize how it will really be. I was there for almost a month this time solo traveling, trying to get a sense of being there alone, and realized that. However, I still want to move there (because I have a community locally already) but I have my expectations in check.

This needed its own comment rant! The name thing!!!! Ugh! Your visa aka residence card will have your passport name. In the past my school or my company picked the katakana and it changed over and over. I had to change my passport to my married name so PayPal would work with my bank. Now that I’m an author, I’m still trying to get Amazon right so I can get paid.

I am looking forward to visiting Japan and am learning the language. The cultural indirectness concerns me in face to face communication and is something I've come to appreciate in songs and books. Although I'm reading an English translation and might still be missing the essence. I think you're doing a great service in this video to people who intend to move, live and work there.

Love this new style of editing in this video!!

just wanted to say, been following you for a bit and ive been watching your vlogs so many times, even rewatching them and i really enjoy your videos a lot. they are interesting but also calming, just the perfect thing to put on and watch for hours. thank you so much! :)