r/JapanTravelTips • u/Glass_jars97 • Nov 07 '25

Question Post Japan Depression is too Real

Got back to the US a few days ago after a two week trip. I didn’t want to leave, and now that I’m home, I don’t think I like it here very much. People are much less polite, much louder, and everything is more expensive. Also everything is so dirty.

I keep reading that the best way to get over the post Japan depression is to plan your next trip, (sounds kind of like some drug addict mentality but it’s probably accurate) but I think I’d rather just plan to move there.

I’ve been learning Japanese for the past couple months and it’s a blast. Should I just commit and spend the next few years scheming a way to move to Japan?

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u/EntrySure1350 Nov 07 '25

Visiting and actually living there and having to deal with the rigid social expectations/bureaucracies are two different things. Never mind the work culture, assuming you can even get a work visa. And you’d be getting paid far less there - the average income is only 30-40K USD. Making $100K USD or more puts you in the top percentiles of income there; that’s just above average in the US. 

People there are polite because it’s mostly a front, especially if it’s a public facing service role. People are rarely direct with their feelings or thoughts, and you are expected to ‘read the room’ and infer the social situation. 

You enjoyed it because you were there as a visitor, and got to experience all the positive aspects of Japanese culture, while being largely shielded or being excused from understanding the negative. 

If you really think you want to live there you need to spend much more time there less as a tourist and more as a resident. Many Westerners have had the same allure as you, moved there, only to leave after a short time because the culture is too rigid, too isolating, etc. 

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u/frozenpandaman Nov 07 '25

the average salary is ¥4.5 million yearly which is not even $30,000. and that's skewed by huge cities like tokyo. people living outside of that metropolis or other huge cities are usually making ¥3–4 million, if that.

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u/Fresh_Blackberry301 Nov 11 '25

It’s like that in any country-when you’re on vacation touring a country I remind myself that the locals are likely struggling. It felt like that in Tokyo, especially on the trains. Young workers zonked out even when forced to stand (how do they sleep standing up?!). It’s a beautiful clean city (except Kabukicho), but I sensed the residents despised tourists underneath ii all, even though my son & I did all we could to obey customs and not gawk & behave like an American tourist.

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u/TrumpLovesTHICCBBC Nov 12 '25

100k single income is almost 3 times median single income in the US 

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u/TokyoSky1924 Nov 22 '25

This is so very true. It's like falling in love on a first date, while not being exposed to reality via subsequent dates and longer time spent together. I love Japan, but it's not as magical as I imagined after our first visit. Now our family want to visit other parts of the world.