Tokyo - Post Report Question and Answers
What do you wish you had known about this particular city/country before moving there?
So, PLOT TWIST – I love Japan, and have a long history with this country, but personally, as someone who was of course working in the U.S. Embassy – I did not love working here. Japan can be a very bureaucratic place, whether you work in a foreign embassy or in a private company, and it often feels like the U.S. forty years ago. There are a lot of inefficiencies that are hard to correct. I would also note that while the Department of State has made efforts to break the infamous “chrysanthemum club” - it is very much alive and well (maybe not as much as back in the good ole days, but alive nonetheless). Some of this I knew and expected, having worked for Japanese companies in the past, but overall whether you're working in Japan as a foreign diplomat or in the private sector it can be difficult, stressful, and busy. A lot of my colleagues from the U.S. Embassy spend their entire careers trying to spend as much of their professional career in Japan as possible, but I am not sure I will be in a rush to come back to work. - May 2025
How difficult and complex the Japanese system is for everything. - Jan 2024
I've lived in Japan twice - once as a JET and then again for this tour. I always remind people that, while modern, Japan is a culture very steeped in tradition. It is really different from the US. It takes patience. You have to remind yourself again and again that what you expected may not be true. Have an open mind. - Nov 2020
Apparently. It is quite hard to get promoted after serving in Tokyo. There seems to be a misconception that this is a cushy and easy post. it is a first world country and maybe that’s why it is a very weird community that lacks cohesiveness - but on top of that officers in each section seem isolated, tired overworked and unhappy. There are so many high-level visits that most holidays and long weekends are filled with work. - Mar 2019
How frustrating the crowds can be. Everything that sounds fun to you sounds fun to like a million other people. We will go places 30 or 45 minutes early to queue up just because if you arrive later it will be a longer wait (like over an hour to get into an indoor playground for example if you arrive at the actual opening time). How hot and unbearable the summers can be. So look buggy. The mosquitos are horrible. - Jun 2018
That credit cards are not widely used, how concerned the Japanese are about recycling/trash separation, that you have to carry your trash back home when you're out and about (no public trash cans), how sticky/hot the summer gets, how concerned the Japanese are about not speaking English if their English is not perfect. - Mar 2018
Just how weird compound life is--and that BBQs are not allowed on my balcony or patio. - Mar 2017
Japanese! - Feb 2014
