When you are old, look back on your life and you will find;
When to study abroad,
When did you decide to do your first career?
When you choose a partner and fall in love, when you get married,
In fact, it is all a great change of fate.
It's just that I was standing at a three-way intersection at that time, seeing the wind and clouds,
The day you made your choice, in your diary,
Quite dull and mundane,
At the time, I thought it was an ordinary day in my life.
——Tao Jie, "The Girl Who Killed the Quail"
At the beginning of 24 years, the channel once did an issue of content "The middle class who immigrated to Japan for ten years, what happened", and now more than three months have passed, and I have received all kinds of private messages in the middle, such as:
Lao Xiao, I'm in my thirties now, is it too late to go abroad?
Lao Xiao, I am currently dragging my family, how is the consumption in Tokyo, can I afford it?
Lao Xiao, I am the same age as the friends you listed, and we have been for more than ten years, now that I come here, can I adapt?
There are many kinds of forests. I asked a lot, I didn't do any paid consultation, and I really couldn't reply one by one, so I thought, just come out with a story of people who reached middle age and moved to Japan, which has the confusion of a strange country, the adaptation to daily life, and the change of consumption habits. I always believe that the hearts of ordinary people, even if they are ordinary in the eyes of outsiders, are also their own turbulent waves in their lives~
The courage to start over
I don't know since when, the term midlife crisis is getting earlier and earlier. According to the inherent thinking, the midlife crisis should happen after the confusion, at least it must be the usual 35 years old. But for Mr. Zhang. His version update seems to be a bit faster than others.
In 2017, China's Internet was booming. Mr. Zhang Yiming's sentence of the new era slogen: What you want to see is the headline. The only iron law of the second half of the Internet is revealed: big data. The ancient word of information cocoon has re-entered the C position of the times. That year, the shared bicycle was not worried about refunds, and Mr. Zhang Xiaolong, the manager of WeChat, could still shout that sentence with feelings:
Let everyone run out and go, without the slightest ambition to pack all the time of the user.
It was also in the enthusiasm of that year that Lao Zhang, who was 34 years old at the time, suddenly received the cold air from the upper echelons and was transported to the society as an outstanding talent.
As for the environment is so hot, why was Lao Zhang suddenly laid off, Lao Zhang took a sip of wine and looked at the north full of memories and said: Jun Xiang Xiaoxiang and I Xiang Qin, the boss said that he went on a business trip to North America and will be back next week. Lao Yang patted Lao Zhang's shoulder and said: Dude, the old man is scattered, don't say anything, it's all in the wine.
Lao Zhang, who lost his job, submitted his resume for half a year, and his ability is no problem, his technology is no problem, and his mentality is no problem, but this 34-year-old age seems to be a bit of a problem. Approximately:
There is no position in the position, and the self-surrender identity is unwilling.
After half a year, the 35-year-old came, doesn't this echo the version? The intensity of the two interviews in three months really made Lao Zhang a little broken. No, the years have not bypassed me, and neither have I bypassed the years.
That's it, Lao Zhang has lectured on online classes, filmed videos, and taken over ghostwriting code, life kisses me, and I apply for flexible employment.
In fact, on the whole, although I am flexible in employment, my income is still okay, and I can live a good life. But in those two years, the malice of society towards middle-aged men seemed to be particularly harsh, income can say that you are in good shape, and if you are in good shape, you will say that you speak greasy, and finally work from home to say less, and say that you are out of touch with society.
While shouting Uncle Circle Tiancai, he shouted for the middle-aged man to get out. It seems that all ordinary men have been expelled.
In such an atmosphere, Lao Zhang, who was once a high-achieving student, began to ponder about going to sea for reemployment, looking around Asia and superimposing keyword Internet, and the version answer is self-explanatory.
So Lao Zhang began to contact Japanese IT outsourcing companies, here is a little explanation, the so-called Japanese IT outsourcing companies, basically because around 10 years ago, at that time there was a huge gap in technology and talent reserves between China and Japan, and some buddies who really couldn't enjoy the blessings of 996 simply went to sea. Several people partnered to set up a software outsourcing company to undertake the outsourcing business of Japanese IT companies, and this group of people was like a Viking brother who first came to England, and they really opened their eyes to Japanese programmers. A buddy once said to me: The dead line set by their company for itself was once unacceptable to Party A, because the progress of communication between the other company could not keep up with the speed of their project. In such an environment, this kind of scarcity and dimensionality reduction blow to the Japanese workplace began to emerge in batches.
Eventually, after discussing with his lover for a long time, Mr. Zhang made up his mind to go to Japan to work. Offers from Japan also came quickly. Compared with the previous owner, the treatment given is a little less than the project commission, but counting the year-end bonus and Japan's thirst for talents at that time, the income is about the same. The new owner said: After all, they have all been frozen by the cold, we all understand.
So, after the Spring Festival in 2019, with the support of his lover, Mr. Zhang embarked on a one-way flight to Tokyo with a backpack for each person.
Strange crampedness
After a flight of up to 2 and a half hours. Get off the plane, enter the country, fill in the form, go out of the customs, follow the online search strategy with the translation of the mobile phone, and get it done in one hour.
After all the formalities, the moment I walked out of the airport hall, Lao Zhang said: A huge sense of exoticism came to my face, I was not lonely when I saw the slogan when the plane landed, I was not lonely when I used broken English to fill in the information with the airport lady, and I was not lonely when I listened to the ups and downs of Japanese at the airport. But when I arrived in the hall, there were lovers hugging each other affectionately, some relatives and friends holding signs and waiting, and I, alone, had a bag. This exotic loneliness is almost suffocating.
But this discomfort only stayed for a few minutes, this is the airport, 35 years old, and I am not qualified to worry about the new words, so I can only have a cool autumn. Sort out your mood, follow the location given by the boss, compare Google Maps, and grope all the way to the company.
When we met, the boss poured a glass of water, icy. Lao Zhang's heart suddenly cooled, as the old saying goes, hot tea welcomes guests, cold tea gives away, this pour a glass of ice water, I'm afraid I didn't like me. But after chatting for a few words, I found that the boss is actually quite enthusiastic and really a person, three years older than himself, and he is also an outstanding talent who was sent to the society by a large factory back then, with similar resume and growth experience, and now there are a total of 12 people in Lao Zhang's company, including 8 Chinese programmers, a BD, an intern student, and a local Chinese. There are not many people, but they are all generalists, and the positions are complete, from architecture to testing and maintenance. The boss is a hexagonal warrior, you can type code together when the project is busy, and when there is no project, you can take BD to run the customer.
At present, the company has two long-term maintenance projects as cash flow guarantee base salary, but the majority of the revenue is still in those short-term development projects.
After chatting, I briefly introduced my colleagues, and the boss took Mr. Zhang up and down, the company is a two-story building, with an area of almost more than 100 square meters. The first floor is office, and the second floor is a living area with three rooms. Occasionally, the project is urgent, and the boss will rest here. Considering that Lao Zhang had just come to Tokyo and the rent in Tokyo was gratifying, he said that if he didn't dislike it, he could vacate a room for Lao Zhang to settle down temporarily. Don't charge rent, just do a good job of hygiene, speaking of which, Lao Zhang drank the whiskey in the glass and took another sip of ice water. Lao Yang laughed and said: Lao Zhang, have you adapted to ice water at this time? Lao Zhang laughed and said: Hey, how do I know, everyone in Tokyo drinks ice all year round. It's a shame that my daughter-in-law didn't come with me, and if my daughter-in-law comes, she will drink ice when she comes up, and she may think that this boss is not doing some kind of color suggestion.
Basic necessities of life
After Lao Zhang settled down for almost two months, he brought his daughter-in-law here. By the way, don't keep looking at the opposition between men and women, what middle-aged couples kiss, nightmares can be done for a few nights. There are good sisters in this world, Lao Yang, who has been married for seven years and chats and chats, and I who was hit by a crit next to me. After the daughter-in-law came, Lao Zhang began to rent a house, what deposit, gift money, and head money have been said many times, so I won't talk about it, anyway, renting a house in Japan is almost preparing for half a year's rent at the beginning.
Next is the daily food, clothing, housing and transportation, let's talk about them one by one.
Let's talk about clothes first, Lao Zhang has nothing to say, the programmer BUFF is there, the company is with the boss, and 9% of the clothes come from Uniqlo. The price of this brand is about the same all over the world. As for the daughter-in-law, according to the saying, the price of clothes in Tokyo belongs to the category of cheap clothes, expensive clothes, and expensive clothes are cheap. I was stunned when I heard this, and Lao Yang, a friend of women on the side, explained: What my sister-in-law means is that ordinary clothes here basically cost a few thousand yen, about two or three hundred yuan, and it is estimated that it is difficult to find a small skirt for dozens of dollars like Taobao in China. And the real brand of clothes, let's not talk about going to Shinjuku Isetan, let's talk about Ole, because of tariffs, the clothes in that place are actually only 10,000 yen, about 1,800 yuan, this price is probably cheaper than China
Lao Zhang nodded violently on the side, and I was curious, Lao Yang's skill points were really messy and orderly.
As for food, this is probably the place where Lao Zhang complains the most, and it is also the most uncomfortable place to live in a foreign country for the first time. After all, you can buy clothes from later, but you have to eat every day. The complaints here are concentrated in two places:
For example, when I first went to the supermarket, I always unconsciously exchanged yen for yuan, so I had radishes for six yuan, apples for eight yuan, and 12 vegetables for 12 yuan. Okay, the couple went to the supermarket for the first time and bought meat, eggs and milk. No way, those twelve handfuls of greens are really stressful for people who are in a foreign country for the first time. Then after settling down for a month or two, Matsuya Yoshinoya ate it all, and after starting to miss Chinese food, the 15 yuan two fritters almost broke Brother Zhang's defense again.
And Brother Zhang thinks what's even more strange is that because he just came, he has a great sense of curiosity about everything. He told an interesting story, which was also a bottle of Coke. The vending machines on the street sell for 120 yen, 140 yen, and 160 yen. And it is possible that the distance between the front and rear of these three machines is less than 100 meters. What makes sense in this matter?
Another example is the same bottle of mineral water. A 2-liter convenience store sells for 120 yen, and a 500-liter one may also cost 120 yen.
But after two or three months, you will find that there are 100-yen steamed buns, 150 yen rice balls, Matsuya 600 yen beef rice for lunch, 800 yen bento, and 1,000 yen ramen at the breakfast convenience store. These comparisons seem to be similar to the cost of a meal in Shanghai. And if you go to kaiseki cuisine, which I thought was full of dozens of dishes, I can pull it down for 10,000 yen per person. Two days' wages only. Yes, this price is equivalent to RMB 500, which is not cheap. But the same thing, in Shanghai, 5,000 per capita is not too expensive, and 2,000 per capita has to belong to the conscience store. Anyway, for the former Lao Zhang, this kind of restaurant belongs to a place that feels criminal at a glance.
After all, Tokyo has the world's most expensive taxi fares, costing tens of thousands of yen, and the working class is basically saying goodbye to this mode of travel, but fortunately, Tokyo has the most robust and complex tram system in the world. There are dozens of various tram routes in the city, superimposed stops, quasi-urgent, acute various ways, except that the cost is slightly more expensive than China, there is nothing else that is not suitable, speaking of which Lao Zhang chuckled: I just came to the first month, just taking the subway and tram used nearly 20,000 yen, converted into RMB almost 1,000. The thief felt a pain in his heart, thinking, I am afraid that this money is enough for me to take a taxi to and from work every day in China. But the pain hasn't happened yet, and when the salary is paid at the end of the month, the boss said that he remembered to submit the transportation expenses for this month, and then he knew. It turns out that Japanese companies basically reimburse transportation expenses by default.
There are all sorts of things, small things, and small amounts. But for middle-aged people who have just arrived in a foreign country, there is no one, words must be called history, and movement is home and country. It's the little things that matter.
There are even the most people who have been complained and scolded on the Internet for small courtesies and no righteousness, and all kinds of Japanese-style bows.
Lao Zhang said with a smile: I am a human being, I hope that when others serve me outside, I will be polite to others, and I will be polite to others, what's wrong with this. As for bowing, in the eyes of others, it is just like shaking hands and greetings, basic etiquette. People smile and bow to you, you can bend down, you can't bend, just smile and nod, people know that you are a foreigner, and they don't care. 99% of the situations we encounter in our daily lives only need a small courtesy, as for the righteousness, what kind of character am I, the righteousness in the history of the thousand autumns is something that people like me can control? 19 When Japan sent masks, don't we still shout that the mountains and rivers are exotic, and the wind and the moon are the same day. We, at best, are the lines in the ancient poems:
Prosperity, the people suffer, death, the people suffer. trillions of people, there are nothing more than two words in the history books.
Work & Habits
Working and settling in Japan is never a question of whether it should or should not be, only whether it is suitable or not. These words came from Lao Zhang's circle of friends a year after he came.
After a year of running-in, the basic life problems of clothing, food, housing and transportation have been solved, if you still decide to live in a foreign country for a long time, then the next step is to start getting used to the various subtle unspoken rules of a foreign country, as well as those little things of life habits.
For example, some of the most common differences in Japanese life. Walk on the left, drive on the left, on the escalator are all on the left, this kind of can actually quickly adapt, for example, you go on the escalator, everyone stands on the left, you will involuntarily stand on the left, after a long time, if you see a person standing on the right motionless, this person is 100% a tourist.
For example, there is not much talk on the Tokyo train, and it is strange for everyone to talk loudly in any public place. Then in a quiet elevator, you will naturally be quiet too. This has nothing to do with the quality level that everyone likes to rise to on the Internet, it is just a simple habit.
As for garbage sorting, a bag is full of bottles, and if you throw a tissue into it, you will find it strange. For example, if no one smokes on the street, and you suddenly light one, all passers-by look sideways, can you still calmly swallow the clouds and spit out the fog?
In terms of work, Mr. Zhang said that there is no need to adapt to this. After a long time in China, Japan has to be backward compatible.
Because the version here doesn't seem to have evolved into a "midlife crisis". There are many people who change jobs and careers at the age of 35, and there are even many people who work odd jobs to get by. After all, if you work at a convenience store or an izakaya part-time job, you can earn about 200,000 yen a month, which is not to mention very nourishing, but it should be no problem to live alone. As for serious employees, as long as there is no principled mistake, it is a very expensive thing to dismiss a person in Japan, and the company will not open up easily, and as long as the job is not lost and the income is stable, the so-called mid-life crisis will be largely resolved.
If you can still retain the spirit of the volume king on this basis, in the Internet industry, what you are afraid of is not being optimized by the company, but that the company advises you to take a vacation quickly. The reason is understandable, as most of Japan's IT industry is currently serving finance and manufacturing, so it pays more attention to stability and reliability. As a result, Party A will give you a very clear technical requirement, and you don't have to think about pondering the colorful black and the most active user portrait at 3 o'clock in the morning. The standard is there, and it's over when it's delivered on time and on time.
Speaking of this, Lao Zhang jokingly asked me: Do you know why programmers want to go home and farm when they are in trouble? I say:
The sea wants to see people a lot, and people want to see the sea when they see a lot, after all, they stay at the workstation every day, and occasionally think of idyllic songs.
Lao Zhang chuckled: Because the corn in the field won't call me in the middle of the night and say that he wants to produce a mango today.
In this way, Lao Zhang made a choice at the age of 35. He thought it would take a long time to integrate into life in Japan. As a result, it took him less than a year to go from cramped to integrated, from unsuccessful job hunting to foreign employment to make money. According to Lao Zhang's plan back then, he worked in his IT dispatch company for two or three years and then found an opportunity to jump to a local company in Japan. Maybe the salary will be less, but it will be stable and long-lasting, and the upward channel can be seen. This was also a common plan for programmers who went to Japan back then.
The idea is very good, but this is 19 years, the world is about to stagnate, and now more than five years have passed, Lao Zhang some time ago to talk about buying a house, the budget of 40 million yen is equivalent to 2 million yuan, in the place half an hour away from Shinjuku by train, buy a house of about 90 square meters. Loan 7 into a down payment of 3 into 3 years, 35 years of please, loan interest rate of about 2%, talk about this old Zhang Meng complained, hey, the Japanese have 0 down payment, annual interest rate of 0.5%, to me on the down payment + 2% interest, but not to buy it.
I asked why, and he said: My daughter-in-law has a second child.
I was silent for a while, looking at the empty room, not knowing for a moment whether to bless or call the police. Hey, where is there a midlife crisis, where is there a seven-year itch, the joys and sorrows of human beings are not connected, at the moment I just want to drink.
postscript
Middle-aged immigration is a lifestyle choice. It may not be the best solution, but it can provide you with an option in your life.
However, each option implies a choice of cost and an adaptation process. Before making a choice, you need to ask yourself if you have the courage to start over. Because this choice is likely to lead to a turning point in your life.
If you don't know, let's choose a more scientific method: coin toss.
Of course, this is just an assumption, and we can set the heads and tails of the coin as yes or no. Toss only once. If you want to toss a second time after seeing the result, then you already have the answer......
I always believe that
The hearts of ordinary people,
Even if it is ordinary in the eyes of outsiders,
But in his life,
It is also its own stormy waves
......
咨询:masonjapan
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