How important are real social networks? I’m debating on moving back to the US from Japan pro’s and cons being:
Japan:
Pro: -university is easy -is cheap -have nice apartment and setup -corona situation is way better than in the US -health care is cheap and good
Cons: -very few friends (can probably change this next semester. can maybe change it this semester if I make a real effort to go to meetups. But will be hard, since is hard in general here to make friends and I’m not currently studying towards native level Japanese)
US:
Pro: -can probably make many friends -can talk to many more people
Cons: -would need to re-apply to university -university is expensive -moving will be expensive -apartment expensive depending on where I go -healthcare not cheap nor good -corona stuff not good
It all really comes down to: is it worth it to have more friends IRL? When I had more friends in the past and did coworking or just hanging out it was a lot of fun and I kind of miss that. It feels like the answer is thus yes even when a bunch of other things look like they’d suck.
I’ve thought about that but my main concern is: I’ll probably move back at some point. I’m not particularly benefitting from living here except for the inertia of already being here and having an apartment.
As someone currently living in Japan and worried about my social circle (though working, not studying), I feel like I should have more helpful things to say than I do.
Regarding the main question, I would say that if you ever decide in the future that an IRL circle of friends is valuable, anecdotally it’s much easier to make friends in college than after. Like an infomercial would say, you should act now. Of course, not all friends will be preserved in the transition after graduation so it might not be worth the move.
In a more general vein, what are your plans for the future? You list many important considerations for your present situation, but without much focus on how they’ll affect you later.
Finally, I do think it should be absolutely possible to make friends in Japan, especially since either your university is English-friendly enough that there are other foreigners around, or your Japanese is good enough despite being non-native to communicate effectively.
Regarding the main question, I would say that if you ever decide in the future that an IRL circle of friends is valuable, anecdotally it’s much easier to make friends in college than after.
It’s easier to make friends when you are in a community. Whether that community is college or a community like the rationality community (in cities with a decent community) isn’t that different.
I could have made more friends at college but I made a decision I somewhat regret now: took only classes where I could just do them online instead of having to go live. The first semester or two where I was showing up in person, did have some luck making friends. Because of the virus, there aren’t many (if any) events being held at uni I can attend to meet people so I’d basically have to wait for next semester I think.
I also sort of suffer from the issue that I kind of want friends that are interesting. I don’t hate just hanging out with people but at some level if it feels empty of value it eats at me. This is part of why I’m interested in going to the US: seems like it’d be easier to find rationalists/interesting people to hang out with rather than limited subset of english speakers around.
In a more general vein, what are your plans for the future? You list many important considerations for your present situation, but without much focus on how they’ll affect you later.
I’m interested in something amongst: (helping people do) effective learning, UI/UX design, entrepreneurship, working on cool projects. I don’t really think any of these benefit at all from being in Japan now that I think about it, I have only 1 friend that somewhat overlaps with these interests. Looking back, when I lived in Korea and had friends that had similar-ish productivity interests I did find the environment really valuable.
The main cost is then having to re-apply to university and either having to actually go through with it or finding some alternative to live off of before having to actually enter again. This is what sort of scares me, am really not big on uni, have plenty of other things I’d want to spend my time on.
How important are real social networks? I’m debating on moving back to the US from Japan pro’s and cons being:
Japan:
Pro:
-university is easy
-is cheap
-have nice apartment and setup
-corona situation is way better than in the US
-health care is cheap and good
Cons:
-very few friends (can probably change this next semester. can maybe change it this semester if I make a real effort to go to meetups. But will be hard, since is hard in general here to make friends and I’m not currently studying towards native level Japanese)
US:
Pro:
-can probably make many friends
-can talk to many more people
Cons:
-would need to re-apply to university
-university is expensive
-moving will be expensive
-apartment expensive depending on where I go
-healthcare not cheap nor good
-corona stuff not good
It all really comes down to: is it worth it to have more friends IRL? When I had more friends in the past and did coworking or just hanging out it was a lot of fun and I kind of miss that. It feels like the answer is thus yes even when a bunch of other things look like they’d suck.
A real effort to go to meetups might be easier then the effort of moving.
As far as the Covid situation goes, I would expect that in the next year it’s primarily a function of vaccination where the US is doing well.
I’ve thought about that but my main concern is: I’ll probably move back at some point. I’m not particularly benefitting from living here except for the inertia of already being here and having an apartment.
Ooh, that’s hard.
As someone currently living in Japan and worried about my social circle (though working, not studying), I feel like I should have more helpful things to say than I do.
Regarding the main question, I would say that if you ever decide in the future that an IRL circle of friends is valuable, anecdotally it’s much easier to make friends in college than after. Like an infomercial would say, you should act now. Of course, not all friends will be preserved in the transition after graduation so it might not be worth the move.
In a more general vein, what are your plans for the future? You list many important considerations for your present situation, but without much focus on how they’ll affect you later.
Finally, I do think it should be absolutely possible to make friends in Japan, especially since either your university is English-friendly enough that there are other foreigners around, or your Japanese is good enough despite being non-native to communicate effectively.
It’s easier to make friends when you are in a community. Whether that community is college or a community like the rationality community (in cities with a decent community) isn’t that different.
I could have made more friends at college but I made a decision I somewhat regret now: took only classes where I could just do them online instead of having to go live. The first semester or two where I was showing up in person, did have some luck making friends. Because of the virus, there aren’t many (if any) events being held at uni I can attend to meet people so I’d basically have to wait for next semester I think.
I also sort of suffer from the issue that I kind of want friends that are interesting. I don’t hate just hanging out with people but at some level if it feels empty of value it eats at me. This is part of why I’m interested in going to the US: seems like it’d be easier to find rationalists/interesting people to hang out with rather than limited subset of english speakers around.
I’m interested in something amongst: (helping people do) effective learning, UI/UX design, entrepreneurship, working on cool projects. I don’t really think any of these benefit at all from being in Japan now that I think about it, I have only 1 friend that somewhat overlaps with these interests. Looking back, when I lived in Korea and had friends that had similar-ish productivity interests I did find the environment really valuable.
The main cost is then having to re-apply to university and either having to actually go through with it or finding some alternative to live off of before having to actually enter again. This is what sort of scares me, am really not big on uni, have plenty of other things I’d want to spend my time on.