Wait, what are the benefits apart from 'we let you stay here and do your business and here are some lawyers and maybe a good word here and there'? This is absurd.
I've noted this in a different comment, but Japan is very easy to live in. Japan's greatest strength and it's greatest weakness is that just about everyone in the society is in the same "lane".
This means you get a bunch of good and bad characteristics in the vast majority of the population -- politeness-by-default, general honesty, intense almost blinding nationalism -- it's a mixed bag.
Also, if you're interested from a culture perspective, it's quite possibly the most unique culture I've ever experienced. I'm not even normally interested in culture (just about every group has culture, things that make them different, and it's usually all interesting), but just the amount of seclusion that makes it almost impossible for a foreigner to be accepted in japan makes for some really interesting heightened culture differences/quirks.
> Japan's greatest strength and it's greatest weakness is that just about everyone in the society is in the same "lane". This means you get a bunch of good and bad characteristics in the vast majority of the population.
I've never heard it described this way before, it makes a lot of sense.
My Japanese girlfriend is always curious (from a distance) about America and what it's like there -- she sometimes assumes that it must be a terrible place because I chose Japan.
I usually explain that Japan and America have the same average quality, but Japan's peaks and troughs are fairly close to the average, while America's are much more extreme.
I don't know if that makes sense (and I'm not guaranteeing it's 100% accurate), but it helped her "get" how Japan is a bit different. :)
That's also how I explain it to people on both sides; Japanese society basically has the extremes pulled in on both sides, which results in a lot of benefits, but also some downsides. And it applies to a lot of aspects of society, like prosperity, politics, altruism, etc.
> I usually explain that Japan and America have the same average quality
Depends on the attribute, they certainly don't have the same average politeness, honesty, and public cleanliness. But then Japan has some unique downsides as well.
Yes, very safe indeed. It can be quite fun when you are in your 20s, if you live in big urban centers (night life, etc.) - but it's also an impenetrable society. Not being Japanese will place barriers around you in many aspects of the society, sooner or later (even if you are fluent in the language). It's important to be aware of this.
For homicides yes. You can live in Germany or some other European country where murders and gun crime are in single digits per year (haven't checked the latest number, could be higher than single digits but much less compared to US, you get my point).
But the difference compared to Japan is in more petty crime. Things already mentioned in this thread - you can't just leave your laptop on coffee table and go to the loo for 10 min. Or leave your bicycle in front of a store and go inside for half an hour.
As a European I don't think there are many (if any) places in Europe where you don't have to watch your back and be aware of thieves and other (potentially dangerous or at least inconvenient) dodgy street elements.
Add to that overall cleanliness (amount of homeless people shitting on streets, screaming obscenities on people walking by etc, in US and EU cities that will be quite normal, in most Asian cities this would be a rarity) and moving to a place like Japan can be attractive option for people.
Homicide rate seems a ridiculous rate to use; I suspect the homicide rate per 100,000 startup founders is a rounding error of — for example — road traffic accidents.
