My experience living in Japan

Awesome. Hiratsuka is our sister city to Lawrence, Kansas. I've always wondered what it was like.

I spent 3 years in Okinawa which was awesome. My advice to you would be absorb as much as you can. 1 yr is hardly enough time... don't waste your time or money coming home unless you have kids to see. It would be even better if you could bring them to you for a visit if that is the case.

My daily was a little silvia that I really enjoyed. Rode like crap but everything has a turbo there which makes it fun. Cars are relatively cheap. You may look into shipping something home since many of the cars are now old enough.

When I was there the cars were not old enough to qualify to bring home. Literally worked with guys who disassembled cars and had them shipped home as household goods in crates. Paid the movers some cash/beer/pizza to just ship it all.

I haven't read your posts but you may as well hit Fuji while you are there. If you get a chance to go to Okinawa do it. It's like a 3hr flight to Naha. Just spend a few days in Naha and come back.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm also on a year assignment, in London with 2 months left. Glad to hear you've enjoyed the experience. Would you do it again? Are you worried about adjusting back to the US once your assignment is over? I believe the term is 'reverse culture shock'. I'm scared shitless about moving back to the US. I'm really going to miss how much 'pop' life has had this last year. There's constantly new things to discover, and even simple things like trips to the grocery store are interesting.

Best of luck on the rest of your assignment. Definitely get out and travel as much as you can!

Very cool OP thanks for sharing. How are the people there friendly for the most part?


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that's bad ass OP. Hopefully I can visit Japan some day. I hope you enjoy the time you have there !

I go to Asia a few times a year. I am flying back over there in 2 days! While you are on that side of the pond you should travel to a some other countries in SE Asia. Your money will also go a lot further in pretty much every other place compared to Japan.

Keep this thread up to date, I love seeing all the dumb shit cars that roam around Japan.

You should see if you can meet up with u1cobra while you're over there.

Great thread.

racerbox77 said:

Very cool. Following cause this is the closest I'll ever get.

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Sounds good, I'll try to update it as much as I can.

polock4life said:

Awesome. Hiratsuka is our sister city to Lawrence, Kansas. I've always wondered what it was like.

I spent 3 years in Okinawa which was awesome. My advice to you would be absorb as much as you can. 1 yr is hardly enough time... don't waste your time or money coming home unless you have kids to see. It would be even better if you could bring them to you for a visit if that is the case.

My daily was a little silvia that I really enjoyed. Rode like crap but everything has a turbo there which makes it fun. Cars are relatively cheap. You may look into shipping something home since many of the cars are now old enough.

When I was there the cars were not old enough to qualify to bring home. Literally worked with guys who disassembled cars and had them shipped home as household goods in crates. Paid the movers some cash/beer/pizza to just ship it all.

I haven't read your posts but you may as well hit Fuji while you are there. If you get a chance to go to Okinawa do it. It's like a 3hr flight to Naha. Just spend a few days in Naha and come back.

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I will take some pictures of Hiratsuka and post them up. Most of the pictures I have are of other places. Hiratsuka isn't a huge town and honestly doesn't have a whole lot to do. Just a typical satellite city to Tokyo.

Work is paying for my trips back home and my training period is 12 months so the time back home won't affect anything. It would be difficult to stay here for a year when its my first time living abroad. I may look into Okinawa but probably won't get to it. There is enough to do on the mainland to keep me busy for the time I'll be here.

CCS_56_EX said:

Thanks for sharing this. I'm also on a year assignment, in London with 2 months left. Glad to hear you've enjoyed the experience. Would you do it again? Are you worried about adjusting back to the US once your assignment is over? I believe the term is 'reverse culture shock'. I'm scared shitless about moving back to the US. I'm really going to miss how much 'pop' life has had this last year. There's constantly new things to discover, and even simple things like trips to the grocery store are interesting.

Best of luck on the rest of your assignment. Definitely get out and travel as much as you can!

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Its been a good experience but I probably wouldn't do it again, not for this long at least. I wouldn't mind for a shorter period of time. The reason I did it was because I'm young and don't have a family yet but would like to settle down when I get back to the US. Been moving around too much since college lol. I do like traveling so I definitely see myself doing that more after this experience.

I don't think that will be a problem at all to re-adjust. I went back to the US over Christmas and it took a couple days to get used to but nothing bad. I've lived there for 26 years so it would be hard to forget. But yes, here, everything is an experience from daily life and shopping for food, to traveling to different cities and even just trying to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language. It's been eye opening and has really made me stronger having to deal with so many things that I would never give a second thought to doing in the US.

BlksvtCobra01 said:

Very cool OP thanks for sharing. How are the people there friendly for the most part?


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They are very friendly and shy mostly. I feel like many people can understand a little English but they are afraid to speak it due to their accent or not saying the correct word. I try to be very polite and everyone has been very nice back to me so far. Also no issues being out late at night and have always felt safe.

spitin venom said:

I go to Asia a few times a year. I am flying back over there in 2 days! While you are on that side of the pond you should travel to a some other countries in SE Asia. Your money will also go a lot further in pretty much every other place compared to Japan.

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Where in Asia do you go? I have seen advertisements for flights and they are only a couple hundred to China, Philippines, Thailand, etc. I'll think about it but it may have to be a future trip.

offroadkarter said:

Keep this thread up to date, I love seeing all the dumb shit cars that roam around Japan.

You should see if you can meet up with u1cobra while you're over there.

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I plan to, hope to see many more strange cars around here. There are always some whenever I go out. Do you know where is he located?

SID297 said:

Great thread.

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Thanks!

Very interesting perspective from you and others who have lived/visited abroad. Especially when your visit extends beyond a few days. I guess we do definitely take many daily things for granted.

10splaya22 said:

Do you know where is he located?

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Can't remember. I know he's gone to Mt. Fuji with his terminator and SVTF quite a lot, so he can't be very far from it.


While you're over there, you should go check out UpGarage, its an aftermarket car part shop that sells second hand parts for next to nothing.

http://www.upgarage.com/