Ruka Murakami a former US Citizen who lives in Tokyo shares his experience and why he decided to renounce his US citizenship. Read Below:
I left the US at age 19 and moved to Japan. 5 years later I renounced my US citizenship and became Japanese.
Not a single day goes by that I have ever regretted leaving the US, nor have I regretted renouncing my citizenship. Renouncing American citizenship currently costs $2,350 and it was worth every penny.
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The cost of living in America is ridiculous. I'm currently living in Tokyo, which is the largest city in the world and yet apartments here are dramatically cheaper than in my dinky little hometown of 15k people in America.
I just searched and I found studio apartments in my hometown for $1200/month. Over here in Tokyo, you can find a studio for $450 easily.
Health care is another matter. Everyone in Japan is guaranteed affordable health insurance through the government, and there are also private options available.
I have private insurance through my work but when I was a student I used the government option. Both options are dramatically cheaper than insurance in America and overall medical costs are also cheaper. When our kids were born the government paid for the cost of giving birth and our insurance paid the cost of the hospital room. Going to the doctor is free for our kids. When I get sick and go to the doctor they give me medicine and usually, I have to pay around $12. In America, the doctor was $50 + whatever the pharmacy charged for medicine. A couple of years ago I had to get a wisdom tooth removed. The week prior I had a very high fever and went to the emergency room (on a Friday night, so it's more expensive than normal). I paid the bill for the wisdom tooth removal and the emergency room visit at the same time (the wisdom tooth was removed by a specialist at the same hospital where I went to the emergency room) and the total cost for both was around $130 together.
When my first child was born my wife took paid leave from work for an entire year. She took off work again when our second child was born. She just went back to work last month, and our second child turns 2 next month. Meanwhile, some of my old classmates in America had to go back to work only a couple of days after giving birth. I had the option to take parental leave for up to 6 months but I chose not to because I was working from home.
My wife and I both work, so our kids are enrolled in a government daycare. Kids age 3+ get to go for free. Currently, we only have to pay for the youngest but it's based on our income and it isn't expensive at all. The government also gives you a small amount of money every month if you have kids, so technically childcare is free for the youngest too.
When my kids eventually go to college, it's much more affordable here than it is in America and the job market isn't a wreck so they won't have to worry about not finding a job in their field or mass amounts of debt.
Safety is another matter. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, meanwhile America has already had over 200 mass shootings this year.
I could go on all day listing all of the ways that Japan is better than America but I'll stop, there. The simple fact of the matter is that I was able to build a life for myself here that would have been impossible to do in America.
I sometimes check Facebook to see what my old classmates are doing in America and unfortunately, most of them are struggling. The ones who aren't struggling can't even afford to have kids. No doubt I would probably be stuck in a very similar situation if I had stayed in America. I am incredibly thankful for my current quality of life.
Wherever you go, keep in mind that you need to integrate or assimilate into that society, or else you will not have to find success. I have met plenty of other foreigners here in Japan and many of them closed themselves off into a little bubble and live life the same as in their old country, and as a result many of them are struggling whether that be financially or socially. Don't do that to yourself.
