I might move to Japan
- Thread starter Zaphod
- Start date
You have a job lined up? the japanese are anal about just letting people live here. You need to be sponsored. Hope your fluent in japanese..
A 20gal should be ok. not sure where your going to get the water for it though. If your going to bring your own RO/DI unit then you might want to buy a booster pump for it, water pressure over here sucks. well at least on okinawa it does. they put the water tanks on the roof, so your water pressure is gravity pressure. Your also going to have a hard time ordering stuff online, most places wont ship international, and when they do its retarded expensive. If you do make the move though, It shouldnt be a problem to have your family mail stuff to one of our addresses(military) and we can forward it on up to you.
I really dont know what the prices on stuff in tokyo is though, so you might be ok.. *shrug*
A 20gal should be ok. not sure where your going to get the water for it though. If your going to bring your own RO/DI unit then you might want to buy a booster pump for it, water pressure over here sucks. well at least on okinawa it does. they put the water tanks on the roof, so your water pressure is gravity pressure. Your also going to have a hard time ordering stuff online, most places wont ship international, and when they do its retarded expensive. If you do make the move though, It shouldnt be a problem to have your family mail stuff to one of our addresses(military) and we can forward it on up to you.
I really dont know what the prices on stuff in tokyo is though, so you might be ok.. *shrug*
Zaphod
New member
I can speak Japanese not fluent it needs a lot of work. Getting the visa is the hard part right? I would like to have a job in the IT field since that is what I do here I work on 30+ servers a day at work. The difficult part is I never finished my degree but we are planning on getting married so I would think it would be easier to get a visa then.
I see from your post that you're an IT professional. Assuming that you will be continuing in the same line of work, you would probably be living in Tokyo and possibly commuting from outside of Tokyo to keep costs low. But in general, the cost of living is a beast here in Tokyo. Think New York City, but more expensive groceries. 
As for equipment, I have seen a small barebones set (tank, skimmer and salt) for like $200 or so online, but you'd probably need more than that. I would say a lot of the fish and such in Japan are considerably less expensive than at the LFS near my parents' place in California. But the price on any livestock is significantly more in Tokyo shops than from any southern Japan website. I spent quite a bit on my equipment, but I actually got most of it heavily discounted at a store FAR into the Saitama boonies.
I don't know how much my parents pay for electricity and they probably would exagerate anyway, but only half a month after I had my tank set up here in Tokyo, my electric bill was already at 8000 yen. ($80-ish). Which is about $30 more than my winter electric bills, but I do have to factor in A/C into that as well. It's also higher than the electric bills I paid while living in Washington DC during law school.
I do like that they have a lot of different products in the stores here due to the hobby being very common. I buy natural salt water, since it's just easier for me that way, but most people in Tokyo mix their own from tap water and some solution to neutralize the water. (I have a filter tap, so this concept doesn't bother me so much, but I swear the tap water smells really chlorinated at some of my friends' places.)
The Internet is a great resource here and delivery is super fast to Tokyo. But it'll probably be frustrating here if you're not somewhat adept at Japanese. ^^;; Also, remember that there isn't much of an exchange or return policy in Japan. So do know what you're getting into before starting the hobby here (and before moving out here.
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As for equipment, I have seen a small barebones set (tank, skimmer and salt) for like $200 or so online, but you'd probably need more than that. I would say a lot of the fish and such in Japan are considerably less expensive than at the LFS near my parents' place in California. But the price on any livestock is significantly more in Tokyo shops than from any southern Japan website. I spent quite a bit on my equipment, but I actually got most of it heavily discounted at a store FAR into the Saitama boonies.
I don't know how much my parents pay for electricity and they probably would exagerate anyway, but only half a month after I had my tank set up here in Tokyo, my electric bill was already at 8000 yen. ($80-ish). Which is about $30 more than my winter electric bills, but I do have to factor in A/C into that as well. It's also higher than the electric bills I paid while living in Washington DC during law school.
I do like that they have a lot of different products in the stores here due to the hobby being very common. I buy natural salt water, since it's just easier for me that way, but most people in Tokyo mix their own from tap water and some solution to neutralize the water. (I have a filter tap, so this concept doesn't bother me so much, but I swear the tap water smells really chlorinated at some of my friends' places.)
The Internet is a great resource here and delivery is super fast to Tokyo. But it'll probably be frustrating here if you're not somewhat adept at Japanese. ^^;; Also, remember that there isn't much of an exchange or return policy in Japan. So do know what you're getting into before starting the hobby here (and before moving out here.
)If you haven't finished your degree, it is almost impossible to get a job here. It's one of the main requirements from what I hear. And spousal visas don't get around this issue very easily. Spousal visas don't really allow a person to work from what people I know have told me.
I like my base house. I run my 175w halide all day long, i keep my house super cold during the summer and I dont worry about watching my big screen at all. the internet and cable is cheap, my phone is through the internet to make things even cheaper. Ohh yeah, I love not worring about paying for some guy to haul my trash away either.
but I live on base. lol.
on the subject, i know its retarded expensive to live in town if you dont have some help from the govt and things are even more expensive in japan.
Also, getting a job is very difficult from what im told from friends who leave the military and try to stay here with G/F's. I only know of one guy who has stayed and living here, not comfortably. -hes only been out of the MC since Dec.
but I live on base. lol.
on the subject, i know its retarded expensive to live in town if you dont have some help from the govt and things are even more expensive in japan.
Also, getting a job is very difficult from what im told from friends who leave the military and try to stay here with G/F's. I only know of one guy who has stayed and living here, not comfortably. -hes only been out of the MC since Dec.
