Hello, my name is Greg. I'm a US Citizen, been living abroad in Tokyo with my wife (Japanese) and two kids (under 3 yo).

I'm considering moving from Japan (Tokyo) with my
family to Zurich. We've never lived in Europe before, and we'd like to consider it for the long term. Japan is great (as is Asia in general, especially now), however I'm interviewing for a job which I'm highly interested in as a career move; additionally, it seems like living in central Europe would be a great experience.

Additionally, a slower life and better work/life balance in general is very appealing. I've been reading these forums for the past few weeks and so far I like what I've been hearing. Depending on the job offer (if it comes) I may be living in/near Zurich in next few months.

Wish me luck!

Hi Greg,

I was in Tokyo for a week last year with work and it was an amazing cultural experience. There would certainly be a huge contrast if you move to Zurich! Hope your plans work out and welcome to the forum.

Thanks, Readingsteve! Yeah, Japan is a good cultural experience for sure but language is a huge barrier for comfortability (try looking up Japanese in a dictionary ... you have to count the "brush strokes" to find it, plus you need to be able to read it to know where to look up it's meaning. You can't even type something into google translator if you can't cut it from a electronic source first!! I wouldn't have survived well here without my wife).

I speak about 4 years worth of high school German, and I'm pretty sure I could come up to speed very quickly. It would be nice to take care of my wife for a change without her always taking care of me.

If you're considering moving to Japan, you can e-mail me privately :-) I'll fill you in -- this isn't the right forum, I suppose.

Hello Greg,
I'm Japanese and have been in Switzerland for 12 years.
If your wife would like to know about Japanese society, Japanese schools or so, just send me a message.

I wish you good luck!

I loved Tokyo, but I don't think I would want to live there! As for language here, be ready for a bit of culture shock as you adjust to Swiss German. I work with a native German speaker and even he finds it confusing sometimes! You are definitely at an advantage with 4 years of German behind you. I gave up after only one year because my German teacher told my parents that she did not expect any of her students to gain an exam pass in the subject unless they had German parents!

Hi Greg & Nagel007,

my name is Susan and I'm new in this forum. I saw your old posting and is interested in getting to know japanese near Zürich. I studied in Tokyo for 1 year and love japan very much. Unfortunatelly, my japanese is dandan waruku narimashita. I have 2 kids (3 and almost 6 year old). Would be nice to have contact again with Japanese mother

edit: realised OP posted 3 years ago.

welcome to the forum.

He probably didn't get the job. Oh well, at least he never had to come here and complain about the lousy, over-priced sushi.

Could still be waiting at the airport baggage carousel waiting for his lost bags.....

The job went bye-bye right before the financial "crisis", so ... still stuck in Japan. The sushi here is also overpriced.

I like your statement, are you still in japan. I am here since 6 months and considering to start my own IT company, but at the same time I am tempting to go to Switzerland.