Japan or Thailand- A difficult choice?
Which country is better to live and teach in is always a huge question, but if you love living in Thailand, you probably won’t like living in Japan and visa versa. Here are some reasons why-
People who successfully make the switch from Thailand to Japan (like I did, but with a big break in between) are happy to be in Japan because-
the service is better, it’s cleaner, there is more popular culture, better museums and art galleries, you don’t have to haggle, people generally leave you alone, you hardly ever get ripped off, the good public transport, there are many more films and books in Japanese than Thai that are worth a look, you are more likely to have things in common with Japanese than Thais- especially if you are British, you don’t have to worry that your partner is just after your money, the mid-price shopping is better, there are simply more things to do in the city etc. If none of those things are what you are looking for Japan might not be so good for you.
Things people might be looking for if they move (back) from Japan to Thailand include-
a sense of adventure and being somewhere exotic, jungle and tropical beaches, being dirt cheap, spicy food, street food, people coming up and talking to you, the expat scene, good food from back home in the resorts, the traveller scene, cheap and plentiful pirate copies and rip off goods, cheap flights back home and elsewhere, the ease of working illegally, the sex industry, Thai food, cheap alcohol, nature that really looks natural, more students that really need to learn the language to study abroad and work with tourists etc.
I was totally bored with Thailand after 6 months but I only just feel like I’ve started my Japanese experience after 4 years, but that’s just me. A teacher from my school just made the move in the other direction, and for him I think he did the right thing. For me, I find it much easier to relax on a commuter train in Tokyo (as long as I don’t forget my walkman to drown out the unnecessary announcements) than I did lying on a beach in Thailand getting hassled for massages, but you can see how not everyone would feel the same way…
(This is an extended and much improve answer of mine to a question on Rave Spelling’s ESL Au Lait)