Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

I see the hype on the internet all the time about how cool and beautiful Japan is.

And honestly, I think the hype is real.

Japan truly is as cool and beautiful as people say — and I’ve experienced it firsthand as someone living here as a resident. But I’d like to touch on a few sides of this hype.

When you visit Japan as a tourist with limited time, you only get a small taste of what the country is really like. With its vast cultural heritage, a two- or three-week trip will only give you a surface-level impression. Traveling by car or train from hotel to hotel, you see a lot but rarely get to feel Japan. Visiting tourist hotspots means most of your interactions will be with commercial businesses and other international visitors.

Living here long term is a completely different experience. When you live among local residents, away from the tourist zones, Japan begins to reveal its quieter, more authentic rhythm. If you work for a Japanese company, you’ll find yourself fully immersed in daily life and culture — something that short-term visitors will never truly understand. Even as a resident myself, not working in a traditional Japanese corporate environment, I can only imagine how deep that immersion goes.

What I’m trying to say is this: if you’re a true Japanophile and dream of experiencing Japan in its fullest sense, don’t just visit as a tourist every year. Instead, come live here for a while — perhaps on a work visa — and let the country shape you. You’ll learn what it means to adapt to the local culture, and the experiences you gain will stay with you for life.

I can speak from experience. Before moving to Japan, I went through a similar journey when I moved from Switzerland to the Netherlands over 30 years ago. Only after living and working there for many years did I truly understand the Dutch culture and lifestyle. The same applies here in Japan — it’s only through living, not visiting, that you start to see the soul of a country.