Paul C.

If you're learning the language, it's just so much easier to do it here. Other than that, I prefer just about everything about living here compared to living in the states: people are kinder, children are treated better, the food is healther and tastes better, religion is less important, people are not nearly as outwardly angry, discussions about politics, religion, etc. can go on without people losing their shit, etc. etc. I think it's one of the freer places I've experienced, and I recommend it to anyone willing to learn a language and not have a life exactly like that which you experience in your birth-farm.

For the caller who is wondering about whether you should finish college or not, I obviously can't answer that for you, but I want to give you some input since you're interested in Japanese. If you ever want to live and work in Japan, which I highly recommend, you should finish college. Here are the visa requirements: http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/index.html Here is another link with the list of required documents: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/Table3-1.html Basically, unless you're in a very unique position for a 21-year-old (i.e. an executive at a company with a salary of over 300,000 dollars a year, fluent Japanese, and over 5 years of experience in that position), then you'll need a diploma for just about any visa you can get. Hope that helps!