http://jimjamjenny.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] jimjamjenny.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] chochajin 2011-12-02 03:25 am (UTC)

Stop being so negative!

I live in a city, and of the negatives that you listed, NONE of them are true for me. It takes me about half an hour to get to work, and would be much shorter if I used a bike for the walking part.

I have LOADS of free time - probably more than you have now.

I can save at least 50,000 yen a month, which is a decent amount (sometimes I can save up to 100,000)

I live within cycling distance of the city centre so I can go there without taking the train, but even if I do take it, it takes either 200 yen to get to Hakata or 250 yen to get to Tenjin - hardly breaking the bank.

I live in a very quiet environment, my neighbours are hardly ever loud.

My coworkers are all lovely and my job, although I'm not entirely satisfied with it, is generally good.

Plus, there are lots of other positive things to living in a city:

Transportation - It's SO easy to get anywhere. First of all, most big cities in Japan have an airport, so travelling by plane is really easy when you have to do it (I live 15 minutes away by train from the airport!). Then, there are really good train services to most places, and if you were going to live in somewhere like Osaka or Kobe then you have really easy access to the Shinkansen.

Shopping - Any German food that you miss? It'll probably be MUCH easier to track down in a city than in the countryside. There are huge bookshops if you like reading (one of the ones I go to regularly has a collection of German books, as well as a big collection of English ones)

As a foreigner, you're much less likely to get stared at in cities - generally people don't notice you!

Range of jobs - there are way more opportunities in the city than there are in the country.

I could go on, but I'm not going to.

...I also have a tendency to think negatively about stuff. I think what you have to remember is that you're obviously not happy where you are now. Otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about moving in the first place. Even if you do move, and you're not happy, you can always move again! This is where not having a boyfriend/husband/children really helps, as you're not tied down at all.

I'm not really looking forward to moving to Tokyo next year at all, because I LOVE it here, and even the thought of packing and arranging stuff for the move really stresses me out. But when I think about it, there are loads of positive things about moving as well.

I think a lot of the problem is that you just don't know how things are going to work out - you could end up really happy, or you could end up regretting leaving. It's impossible to tell how it'll work out. But you really don't seem to be that happy where you are now, so I think it's probably worth taking the risk?

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