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Anyone moved out of Japan, and then returned?
honestly the "things just work" thing is real but i think people oversell it. i was in london for 4 years and came back to tokyo last year. what got me wasnt the convenience or the weather, it was how much less i think about money here. in europe i was constantly doing mental currency conversion and stressing about whether a night out was worth it. here i just tap my suica and move on with my life.
the thing that almost made me leave again was the housing situation tho. after having a proper 2bed flat in east london with a washing machine and dryer in my actual kitchen, coming back to a 1k that barely fits a futon was rough. i pay 140k for a shoebox in meguro that would be considered unlivable in most of europe. but then i walk to the konbini at 2am and grab a beer and some onigiri and im like ok this is fine actually.
one thing nobody mentioned to me was how returning actually made me notice how isolated japan can be from global culture. like i didnt realize how much i enjoyed being able to read street signs and menus and news without effort until i lost that again. but also the flip side is that being a foreigner here is just easier than being a foreigner in most of europe. the japanese version of racism is annoying but its mostly passive, in london i got actively yelled at on the
There's a specific kind of loneliness that comes with returning that nobody warned me about. When you leave, your friends build new routines without you, and when you come back you expect to slot right in but they've already filled the gaps. It took me about a year to rebuild the same depth of connection I had before I moved to London.
The currency thing you mentioned is a real trap. I came back with savings in euros and felt rich for about six months, then the yen kept sliding and I realized I'd permanently lost purchasing power compared to staying in Europe. If you're thinking long term, that gap is only going to widen, so factor that into your math.
One practical thing that surprised me was how much I'd internalized European work norms around weekends. In Tokyo I kept showing up to things on Sundays that were closed, or trying to buy groceries at 8pm on a Saturday only to find the supermarket had already stopped restocking. It's a small thing but it made me feel like a tourist in my own city for a while.
The travel thing is the part I think about most. Three years in Barcelona taught me that weekend trips to Morocco or Portugal are incredible, but they also eat up your whole weekend. In Tokyo I can hop on a Shinkansen at 7am, be in Kyoto by 9:30, eat lunch, see a temple, and be home by dinner. That kind of accessibility to variety within a single country is rare.
What nobody warned me about was how returning would change my relationship with the language. Before leaving I was fluent enough to handle daily life without thinking, but after coming back I noticed I was translating in my head again for a few months. It faded, but the feeling of being slightly less sharp in your own second language is weirdly humbling.
If you're weighing long term, consider what you actually do on weekends. In Europe I spent a lot of time planning things and then commuting to them. In Tokyo I spend more time actually doing things because everything is close and open when I want it. That difference adds up over years.
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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.