Response to comment

I actually loved Japan, and I thought people, for the most part, were very polite. I just don't think I'd want to live there. It's exactly some of the things you mentioned that would grate on me in the long run (enthusiasm for gadgets), as well as the cult of cute. The friend in question left because she couldn't take the misogyny, and apparently, a number of women do the same.

I left the U.K. almost a year before my work permit ran out because I was ready to move on with my life. I needed something after college to clear my head, and my time in Wales worked well for that. I would be the last person to turn down an opportunity to live in London, but it was time to move on.