Japanese Quality of Life: My Family's Experience in Tokyo

I feel like these types of videos should have updates every 5 years or so. Life in any country can change quite noticeably even within few years, not to mention 5 or 6. The world keeps spinning faster and faster, so to speak.

Your videos make me regret I'm not younger, I'd be very likely to move to Japan, it seems the best organized highly develop country, people are mostly nice, the country is beautiful and the walkability just steals the cake for me; UK is sadly nothing like that: unless you live in London you nearly must have a car, public transport is rubbish, towns and cities are not very human friendly, education is often piss poor, healthcare became atrocious (it used to be good)

But the best part is that you don’t have to import your Kato C62 and Tsubame express!
(For model railroaders that is)

It is so insane how expensive housing in Canada is. Second largest country on earth. Japan on the other hand is so affordable DESPITE having very little land available! Canada should be ashamed of itself.

In Japan, you have to belong to a certain group of people; parent group at school, group of people at similar level of income, single people, etc. There is no connection between each group or they do not want anything to do with other groups BECAUSE the benefits from the social security system differ depending on the group.

You will not be able to live comfortably if there is nothing that proves your social identity like married man/female, full-time worker, etc. Without being one of those "social certification", you will have to choose nothing but a social recluse, or hikikomori.

Japan is a nation of technology, but it works only for the business purpose. To something that doesn't bring any financial benefits, people have more cold attitudes. Helping out disabled people at station is part of what they do to get money, but outside of the station, you will see the reality that bites.

I wish in the USA we had more respect and care for our surroundings, such as our cities and neighborhoods. And more courtesy and respect for others. It’s something I try so hard to do myself. But it’s hard when others ride your tail in the highway and honk their horn if you miss a second going when the light turns green. People leave their tables dirty after eating out. Leave messes.
Just wish we could be better about that. It starts with ourselves.

For tea!

What the hell is a "learning difference"? lol
Actually made me laugh.

We recently returned from a trip to Japan and I instantly fell in love with the people and culture. My wife would never live there so o guess that’s off the cards for me as I would live there in an instant.

What the US should aspire to be. But with the amount of propaganda fed to Americans , you can't convince them the US is not number 1.

The quality of life here in Libya is shitty

You dont travel to other countrys?

This is the first major city I have visited and felt absolutely safe the entire time, also the cleanest city I've ever visited.

How much does a house like yours cost in Tokyo? How much would a house or apartment large enough for one person cost? I like your videos, especially when your sister-in-law participates. ;) I also enjoyed a lot the one about cycling around Tokyo. Maybe another one, this time cycling out of Tokyo into the countryside? How long would it take from where you live? (no pun intended) Thanks and cheers!

SINGAPURAAAA (Singapore) education is absolutely astonishingly amazing..!!!

The video has strengthened my already really strong desire to move to japan LOL

Thank you. Very nice video. I wonder how the taxes are.

Fact:

I was born and raised in Canada (Vancouver) and I can say that the school system is not really that good.

I will choose any day JAPAN education system.

But after living to both countries, I can honestly say that TEXAS has way better school system than any of those 2.countries (Japan & Canada), as my kids school is MUCH NEWER, WAY BIGGER, SUPER CLEAN, COMPLETE FACILITIES for every students, etc... that people from overseas always in awe every time they see the Elementary, Middle & High School in Central Texas (Austin & surrounding cities).

We will never live anymore to places that's tight, small, etc....., as even my kids feel claustrophobic in Japan and Vancouver.

Have a great day to y'all!

Thanks for your video, it is very informative. We have an opportunity to go work in Japan (Canadian/British family). We have an young teen boy who will be going to an international school, so for us it would be a bit different. Our main concern is that we are a very outdoorsy family, our weekend revolve around getting in nature, so I worry about being able to get out of such a big city at weekends. Or even if we stay how easy is it to either bicycle (i.e serious road cycling) or run? Can you do outdoor activities within or close to the city etc? Thanks

Lol, I liked the short clip from "your lie in april" live action; terrible live action, but the original anime/manga is a masterpiece. I recommend it to anyone who believes they can't cry watching a "cartoon".

I have seen other episodes of this vlog, just not this one. Very interesting take on what he had to say, I live about 3 hours south of Vancouver BC, I understand the cost of housing factor, wondering after 5 years how he feels about things in Tokyo and if the sentiment is the same or improved.😊

Excellent video!!! I liked very much!! Thank you !!!

Taking your criteria I have seen the quality of life on Long Island New York deteriorate DRASTICALLY over the past 15-20 years. This video was a total wake up call.

Catherine Austin Fitts is so based.

Very good videos. I wonder how many expats now live in Japan in 2023? Are there more or less there now after the pandemic I wonder? Thank again for your videos. Very well done and informative.

To the maker of the vid, Greg: Thanks for another great vid. I think you don't need to have any expectation that you can achieve for your kids to be absolutely bilingual as you seem to be striving to do per your commentary. Any one kid can only do a full academic year in only one country. Sure, mixing it up and country-hopping can help, but I have never met a kid who was 100% native in two languages to the point that they could effortlessly keep up and do business in both languages. Definitely not on the Eng-JP double. Perhaps for two Roman languages it's achievable (perhaps via bilingual instruction in the one classroom).

Why do Keycards to open a door annoy Me?

The good old reliable Door Key not Stylish enough?

I thought about this Popsicle effect. I grew up in a small town when I was going to grade school. I was in six grade and I went to my Wednesday evening girl scout meeting at the towns library, after the meeting I had to cross main st. to go home. I ran across the street so fast i had gotten winded, so I stood there catching my breath. An white car with 4 old men pulled up and one of them asked me if I wanted a ride. At that very same moment I remembered what my first grade teacher taught us and that was, what patches the pony says, Nay Nay From Strangers Stay Away! I politely said no thank you. I then ran home and told my mom, she immediately called the police and told them.

Aren't all pharma companies bancrupt when the government decides the prices of life-saving drugs? o_O
Just kidding, good thing they stop them from robbing you on your death bed :D

Let's just say that a Potatoe probably has a better quality of life in America than I do :( Lol.

The "not your actual house" looks like it is next door to the place from Brand New Japanese House Tour episode from 2017, which I watched today, too.

Japanese people are really blessed

Canada sucks

interesting, I'd like to know more on Japanese down to earth economic system for the communities (zoning) , not macroeconomic system.

watching your videos have made me study harder just to come to japan!

"What's the quality of life like, where you're from?"
Well I'm from Hungary. Before I left in 2011, it was all right. Public transportation in the capital was good, even if some buses caught fire randomly( yeah...) . The ticket prices sucked, but it was fairly clean for a capital, healthcare was free and accessible, medicine prices were capped. If you were medically deemed to "need" a piece of medication (Allergies, blood pressure, etc) you would get 10 to 90% discounts on that medication as it was essential to you functioning. I say the healthcare is "free" but you do pay an amount (IDK what right now ) each month to unlock those free services, this is compulsory when you hit a certain age. NOW it's a fascist hellhole where what little assets there were are being stolen, kind of a laughingstock.

But it's not the UK, at least.
In the UK, cyclists are in danger because they can not ride on the sidewalks - especially considering the bad, overgrown, sharp-turned, one-lane roads in the rural areas (IE most of the UK), they often get blindsided, passed too closely, too aggressively, "Punishment passed". Healthcare may be free but the government keeps ruining it by underfunding \scamming money out of the system so there aren't enough doctors, vehicles. My local doctors are largely inept and when I told them I had suicidal urges, they just told me that happens a lot and offered nothing. No advice no drugs, no referrals, I was forced to just awkwardly leave the office. The people in service places are - largely, not entirely - inept. They will be late, damage your goods, or you will call for a 5 minute thing which will take days and weeks and MONTHS (A simple name change for my ex's bank account took 3, including 2 in -person half an hour one-way bus visits, 3 copies of a paper they should never have asked for...).
That is not to even mention the freshly unearthed racism\xenophobia (Thanks Brexit!) which sees an immigrant like me treated worse some times - I've been passed up for a job despite rocking the requirements VS a fresh new local boy hire with the excuse that I was "too gruff" (Despite being adored in a customer facing role in my last 2 jobs , but, sure :-P).
Hell, the woman who came to evaluate our household being suitable for our lovely dog way back when casually cracked a "horse meat" joke when she heard where I was from. (Took the chance to fire back that only the UK does that - there was a horse meat mixing scandal at the time :->).
The UK right now is a toilet-shaped joke island made of sloth, ineptitude, hatred and bigotry. While obviously not ALL the people are guilty of this (our local post lady is a darling and I like most of my cashiers at the supermarket!) , the staggering amount of stupidity I've seen in simple jobs has made me so pointedly cynical.
Mercifully, I'm moving to the Netherlands later this year...or, if things go a bit slow \weird, some time next year. Back to the EU! Sensible prices, no export limitations, better produce, foods, goods (THANKS BREXIT).
Can't wait _

this aged horribly

If you had to work a 9-5 (or longer) job in Japan, would it still be worth it? I think that’s the main difference. Because your career obligations would sadly overrule.

Your videos make me want to move to Japan 🇯🇵 is it difficult to immigrate or obtain a work visa to live there? Thank you for the videos 😊

I just came to Ray Ban and I couldn’t recognize you 😢I work in Ray ban🥺

Where is all the graffiti and garbage covering the streets? Oh yeah, very little "diversity".

What’s up Broski 🦋’,

Awesome program! Keep it up.

I live in utah usa, and the quality of life is: crap. On the most part. Me and all my friends have depression sooo ye its crap here.

Everything he said is true of most European cities. Just cause Canada is a shithole, Japan looks good by comparison I guess 😂😂

I love how concise and engaging this video is! From the visuals to the explanations, all of it (in my opinion) perfectly explains the different factors that contribute to a middle-class life in Japan, and all was explained without over-complicating the explanations or using difficult wording - I really appreciate that as it makes it easier for me (and I'm sure many others) to learn about what it's like to live in Japan. Thank you for making it! I hope you and your family are doing well :)

ありがとうございます。I could so relate to everything you share here！私のニュージーランドの高校生に見せるのを楽しみにしています。