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How did you get here?
I came here for a three month internship during uni and just never left. My Japanese was basically nonexistent when I arrived, but I was working at a small design firm in Shimokitazawa where most of the communication was in English anyway. I picked up the language slowly over the years, mostly from ordering at izakayas and chatting with my landlord.
The visa was the hardest part. I had to switch from a student visa to a cultural activities visa, then eventually to a work visa when I got hired full time. It took about a year of paperwork and trips to the immigration office in Shinagawa. I still live in the same neighborhood, a five minute walk from the station, and my rent is 85,000 yen for a 1DK that would be considered a closet in most other cities.
honestly i just kinda fell into it. was teaching english in my hometown in canada for a bit and a friend mentioned the JET program pays way better than the local boards. applied on a whim, got placed in saitama prefecture, and then just never left. that was 8 years ago now.
the real trick is finding a job that sponsors your visa before your current one runs out. i switched from teaching to IT after a few years, which was easier than i expected since tokyo tech companies are desperate for english speakers. pay is decent but the apartments are tiny, im in a 1K in nakano that costs as much as a full house back home.
Came here for a grad school exchange program at Waseda and just never went back for the final semester. I was studying international relations and my advisor basically told me the thesis I was writing would be better if I actually stayed and did fieldwork instead of finishing remotely. So I dropped out of my home university's program, transferred credits, and finished my degree here.
The job thing happened by accident. I was working part time at a hostel in Asakusa to pay rent and the owner asked if I wanted to manage the place full time. That turned into a gig helping other hostels in the area with their English booking systems, which turned into a proper IT job at a travel startup near Ueno. My visa path was a mess, went from student to designated activities to engineer, but the immigration office in Shinagawa is actually pretty helpful if you show up with all your documents in order.
The biggest surprise was how cheap day to day life can be if you know where to go. I eat at the same soba shop near my apartment in Yanaka, 390 yen for a bowl that fills me up, and my rent for a 2DK is 95,000 because I'm in a building that's technically too old to be considered modern. The walls are thin and my shower takes ten minutes to get hot, but I can walk to Nezu Shrine in under five minutes.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.