This week I wanted to do something really different from my usual reactions and vocal breakdowns and just talk—off the cuff—about the reality of living in Japan as a foreigner. I’ve been here for over a year, and overall my personal experience has been genuinely great. I talk about the “outsider” thing people always mention—how it can be hard to truly feel like part of Japanese society—and why, in my opinion, that can actually be a positive in certain ways, because you’re not held to the exact same social standards and pressure that Japanese people often feel. I also go into the biggest reasons I love living here: safety (especially as a woman), how people respect each other and each other’s belongings, how clean everything is, and how good the public transportation is. I compare the individualism I grew up around in America with the collectivism here, and how that creates both order and, for many people, a suffocating level of pressure—especially around work culture and presentation. And I’m honest about the hard parts too: the language barrier, and the weird feeling of sometimes being treated like “a foreigner first” before I’m just…me. I end with my take that if you move somewhere, you should make an effort to understand the culture and adapt—because there are always pros and cons anywhere you live.