Hong Kong vs Seoul vs Tokyo

[freeier]

Pretty happy here in Taipei now, maybe it's honeymoon phase but I think I am being realistic. Again, really need to learn the language so at my advanced age spend all my Saturday mornings n Mandarin class...hard to start Japanese at 39, even harder to start Mandarin at age 56...

If I get sick of things, can go back to the US but not the DC metro area, had enough of that although I enjoyed my time there, for the most part. Plenty of the US I haven't seen or lived in, will definitely be moving to cheaper areas. Life is so free when you don't need to think about school of any kind (in the US, you must consider the state if looking for in-state tuition at universities in states with a good uni system).

Japan has many good cities to live in if you can accept and try to blend into their norm..
Language is one thing, but honestly you need to speak the language and the nuance well enough to get accepted into the japanese groups as, at least, half of their own..

For an adult, Japanese as a language is much easier to learn than chinese.. as the grammar structure is very well defined and you can replace verbs with verbs, nouns with nouns.... try that with chinese when verb/noun all get mixed up and used interchangeably, adults will be confused easily..

[bdw]

Pretty happy here in Taipei now, maybe it's honeymoon phase but I think I am being realistic. Again, really need to learn the language so at my advanced age spend all my Saturday mornings n Mandarin class...hard to start Japanese at 39, even harder to start Mandarin at age 56...

If I get sick of things, can go back to the US but not the DC metro area, had enough of that although I enjoyed my time there, for the most part. Plenty of the US I haven't seen or lived in, will definitely be moving to cheaper areas. Life is so free when you don't need to think about school of any kind (in the US, you must consider the state if looking for in-state tuition at universities in states with a good uni system).

Well you should be OK in Taiwan for a couple of years, but you probably don't want to stick around when the new pacific war begins in 3-5 years time.

Australia is in a bit of trouble now because we have ordered long range anti-ship missiles, smart mines, underwater surveillance networks, 12 new submarines, 9 new frigates, hypersonic missiles, loyal wingman drones, etc. But the problem is that a lot of this shit is not going to be delivered until the 2030's and 2040's, because Australia has long held this view that if there is going to be a war we will generally have around 10 years advanced notice. But now this China-Taiwan crap has kind of just accelerated to a 3-5 year timeframe so we find ourselves up shit creek now.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/i...da69facb3717da

[MABinPengChau]

Japan is a good city to live in if you can accept and try to blend into their norm..
Language is one thing, but honestly you need to speak the language and the nuance well enough to get accepted into the japanese groups as, at least, half of their own..

For an adult, Japanese as a language is much easier to learn than chinese.. as the grammar structure is very well defined and you can replace verbs with verbs, nouns with nouns.... try that with chinese when verb/noun all get mixed up and used interchangeably, adults will be confused easily..

Worked in a wholly Japanese law firm, met with clients and discussed patent infringement in Japanese so got reasonably good. However, you can only get so far and after that, there is a wall. It's not just foreigners- city-dwellers who have bought houses in small towns in Japan (where they are practically giving houses away due to demographics of an aging population) are often not well integrated into their new environment. My daughter similarly found that it was hard to break into the existing group at her school, an all girls' K-12 school, with girls who had been together for years and were half Japanese and spoke Japanese or a mix of Japanese and English. After the first two years of high school she left for her final two years in a U.S. boarding school. Don't get me wrong, we were both quite happy in Japan but, ultimately, I was not going to go for PR and settle there permanently. Still feel I made the right choice.

[MABinPengChau]

Well you should be OK in Taiwan for a couple of years, but you probably don't want to stick around when the new pacific war begins in 3-5 years time.

I feel like I have been hearing similar things about a war with Taiwan or over Taiwan for much of my life. Not buying property, can leave at any time so if the situation becomes dire, I leave. Or stay and fight the good fight, see how I feel. Doubt my skills as a patent attorney can be of much use in a war...

[FrancisX]

Anecdotal as I've never lived in Tokyo, but I have god friend who has loved their full time for many years and still says he always feels like an outsider.

I was speaking to a different person who lived there and was asking about moving there. He asked me if I had kids. Yes, I said. Don't do it then. Why not?
"Because they'll end up really fu#king weird"

[Elegiaque]

I think I'd much prefer to go to Taipei right now, but career-wise I think Tokyo and Seoul would be the only quick options with least change to daily work.

Taipei I think would have a more free attitude in terms of cultural understanding and hierarchies. I've made a tiny bit of progress with the language and would love to continue -- I like learning Chinese. It's certainly where I was thinking I'd want to go next... (if China doesn't also ruin that).

To be honest, I'm fatigued with learning new languages, not knowing enough to make local friends, not feeling like I can find a stronger social network because of cultural barriers... all these would be worse in Seoul or Tokyo, but through my life as an expat I have learned ways for overcoming this. Maybe I'm better at learning languages now, so it wouldn't be too bad... maybe.

I'm just thinking if we have to spend one more year locked up, we might as well be locked up in Japan or Korea and have a bit more freedom to travel if needed and a new city/culture to explore. Who knows what will happen after that...

The biggest problem and the only reason why there is any question about this is laziness to move and my own job/career taking off here... It's certainly a very difficult -- yet highly privileged -- position to be in. But I've been thinking before letting my job "taking off" any more, I might as well get that starting point somewhere else...

As for financial jobs in Seoul/Tokyo -- no, that's right, it's not the "centre" and maybe a step back to a smaller/regional office, but at this point it's about life quality balances with career progress.

From what everyone says and my own personal opinions/experience, I think either city could be good fun.
those houses look nice -- thanks for the links. The views from them (and limited windows?) is not even in the same world of comparison to the kind of green view we get from our HK flat/terrace.

(Thanks for letting this be my sounding board...)

[Cheeky Kiwi]

The Economist calls Taiwan the most dangerous place on Earth now.

Somewhat inclined to agree...!

[Elegiaque]

The Economist calls Taiwan the most dangerous place on Earth now.

Somewhat inclined to agree...!

Hard to figure out where to go to avoid the CCP. Perhaps Greece.

[MABinPengChau]

The Economist calls Taiwan the most dangerous place on Earth now.

Somewhat inclined to agree...!

Call this my year of living dangerously then, time to put my 3 years of Air Force ROTC to use! Reasonably good at marching around gymnasiums, identifying all the US fighter aircraft, history of the Air Force, and know a fair bit about aircraft alloys, where does Taiwan want me to sign up? Oh, that and my 700-800 word Mandarin vocabulary, I should be an invaluable asset...

[Windmill65]

Is Tokyo better for people who don't like to go out and don't like nightlife?

In the years that I lived in Tokyo the trains did not run 24 hours per day. Therefore, late in the evening there was always this rush to catch the last train home. This put a limit on nightlife, unless you decide to stay out until the first train the next morning. Taxis used to have a higher rate at night, as they knew that customers didn't have an alternative.