A few weeks ago, I joined a friend for a quick trip to USJ for the Conan Mystery Restaurant. Much like the One Piece restaurant, of which I am a big fan, this event is a Lunch/Dinner shows that features characters from the animated series Detective Conan.
Now, I know little to nothing about this series, but I do like dinner shows so I was willing to give it a go. Sadly, I think I was a little out of my depth as I found very little of the show entertaining.
At least we got food though.
The actors were, as usual, very engaging with the audience. They took time to pose for a picture when they could and even played little pranks.
This is a repost of a thread I made on Twitter, but essentially, it's a breakdown of how much I made working as a freelancer in Japan. Consider a cautionary tale if you're thinking about moving to Japan.
So i made roughly 5 million yen last year, right? Highest i've ever gotten after 14 years in Japan (higher than what i made at my old company even). Awesome, right?
Well, since i am freelance, i have to cover my own expenses. this includes lights, internet, software, other equip or transport I need for work. So once you subtract all of that, roughly 3 mil yen, I have about 2 mil yen left. Not terrible, but not great.
Now, from this 2 mil, I have to subtract health insurance, which a monthly payment of about 12000 yen (144,000 a year). Ouch, but like, necessary. 1.8 mil is still not.... the worst.
We still haven't paid into the pension system :smiling_face_with_tear: This payment can be made monthly, but you get a bit of a discount if you pay for a year up front (short for money, jp govt?).
So that's about 200,000 yen. Just gone.
It's just me and 1.6 mil yen left…. okay…
Did I mention there's a city tax? I haven't received it yet, but it's roughly 150,000 for Osaka city. Are you crying? Because I'm crying with my 1.5 million yen. Want to cry harder? If I were to convert this to USD, it's less than 10K for the year......
And that 5 million yen from all my work last year is ABOVE AVERAGE. The average wage in Japan is currently 4.1 million before taxes... IS IT REALLY ANY WONDER PPL AREN'T HAVING CHILDREN?? I CAN BARELY AFFORD MYSELF LMAO
There is one major difference between freelance and fulltime employees though. Companies will cover half of your pension and a certain percentage of your health insurance, so maybe salaried employees end with a 300,000 more in their wallets.
But freelancers? This includes animators, comic artists, video editors, etc. Or people that aren't employed full-time?? We have to cover our insurance and pension.
Freelancers are really out here with no money.
This is all to say, basically, working in Japan is a joke. Honestly the amount I pay for healthcare is too high for quality of care I receive most of the time and I'm not even sure I'll receive pension from the govt (because they have no money)
Did i mention that pay into a separate retirement plan in the states because i do not trust the japanese govt?
XDDD i've moved beyond anger. i can only laugh at my circumstances.
OH and japanese politicians have just been pocketing MILLIONS of YEN. YOU KNOW. THAT AVERAGE JAPANESE CITIZENS AMT IN YEARLY WAGES. THEY POCKETED THAT TASTY UNTAXED MONEY UNTIL THEY WERE EXPOSED A FEW MONTHS AGO
So yeah, the cost of living in Japan is low, and seems affordable from the point of view of the US dollar. But when you work in Japan?? When you make money in yen?????
I've started to notice something about the types of immigrants that live in Japan and which types in particular don't last very long.
Contrary to what you might think, the immigrants with a vested interest in Japan (be it thru games, animation, music, dramas, etc) seem to be the most well adjusted and they tend to stay longer. These immigrants were introverts in their home country, so moving to a country of introverts (not literal but used to illustrate the in-group, out-group social structure. If you don't know what this is referring to, it's simpler to just think of many of the ppl as introverts) requires almost no adjustment. As such, they are not terribly upset when Japanese people don't make some kind of concentrated effort at friendship. They are content to be in their homes, surrounded by their favorite things; they have a few local spots where they go to socialize if need be. But otherwise, they're just kind of vibing on their own.
Then there's the other immigrant. Let's call them extroverted outcasts™. Back home, they were viewed as awkward or strange, but, free from the confines of western social hierarchies (not always specific to western countries, but this particular thought came from interactions with other westerners), they become the life of the party here. Everyone (in the club or bar or school) wants to be their friend, take photos with them, drink with them.
They drink. A lot.
How well they drink becomes a part of their personality because hard drinkers are popular in a country of undiagnosed alcoholics (this is not literal, just painting a picture).
Unfortunately, these immigrants don't last long. Typically 4 to 6 years before the drinking takes its toll or they become disillusioned about their lives in Japan. They often make the hard turn into complaining about not having Japanese friends (which, yes, making friends is hard). But what did you expect moving to a country of introverts? Oftentimes, they don't speak the language well enough to make the kinds of deep connections they long for.
These are by no means the only kinds of people that come to live in Japan. There are so many kinds from so many countries. I just picked up this quirky trend and thought it might be interesting enough to write down before I never think of it again.
The weather hasn't been great this year, so I'll share some photos from the cherry blossoms last year. The weather was almost perfect. No post editing. Just straight from the phone.
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