With the increasing ease of travel and normality of working abroad, the following article provides an insight into the experiences of a BD Manager who moved from London to live and work in Tokyo, Japan (via Hong Kong!) 

In 2005 I joined the Tokyo office of an international law firm on what was meant to be a six month transfer from their Hong Kong office (which was itself a secondment from the London office where I started my professional services career in 2004). I joined as the sole Marketing & Business Development Manager and – four years down the line – the team has grown from one to four in line with the rapid growth of the office.

Expat life in Hong Kong was, for me, very easy. There, the residual effect of the former British colonisation still lingers and English is still widely spoken. Our office complex and vicinity was also home to HMV, Pret, Starbucks and Marks & Spencer: more a home away from home as opposed to a challenging new cultural environment. This is not the case with Tokyo; Japan remains culturally distinct.

The first thing to note about Japan is that there are a lot of false assumptions (largely perpetuated by people who have not actually ever been to Japan) floating around about what life is like to live there.  Is it prohibitively expensive? Not really - current exchange rate aside - any more so than London. Does the whole of Tokyo look like a scene from Blade Runner? Again no: this may once have been the exported, futuristic-neon-and-noise image of Tokyo but the reality is a sprawling, relatively flat city with no real identifiable centre in which you are often surprised by the quiet that falls over even the busiest parts of town at certain times of the day.

The vast majority of professionally employed expats in Tokyo live in either the Minato or Shibuya districts. The former is home to the famous Roppongi nightlife and international supermarkets, cinemas and bars while the latter is where some of the city’s zanier quirks come to life, in lively Harajuku and the busy shopping streets surrounding Shibuya crossing. Expat packages, for the most part, come with a housing allowance which once again puts pay to yet another rumour about Japan: expats do not tend to live in shoebox studios.

As far as extra-curricular activities go, Japan offers almost everything you could hope for. For me, the highlight has been being about an hour and a half away from the ski slopes. Tokyo also has good beaches in the city and great beaches and mountain hikes within a relatively short train ride or drive, not to mention some of the world’s finest restaurants, nightclubs and world-class arts and music.

The biggest tip I can offer is to learn some of the language. Once you start speaking, reading and understanding even just the basics, Japan begins to open up its treasure trove.  I came here for six months and ended up staying for four years. This is the norm rather than the exception and there is a reason for it - meet the cultural differences halfway and you’ll enjoy one of the most fantastically unique personal and professional experiences you could hope for. 

Mark Butterworth © 

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