America
- Good pay
- Bigger Houses
- Free internet
- Not an ethnostate
- Nice/open people
- Nice Nature
- Public Respect (somewhat)
- While the chances are low, shootings and police/ICE violence is not 0%
- Universities, really good if not best (as an academic)
China
- Clean, Major cities are clean but more polluted and trashed than other two
- Ethnostate, forever an outsider
- Increasingly difficult internet.
- Nice/open people
- Safe Society
- Universities, pretty mid to bad at best unless its top
Japan
- Cleanest
- Ethnostate, forever an outsider, but not being stared at or random photos like in China
- Free internet
- Nice Nature
- Public Trust
- Public Respect
- Safe Society
- Universities, pretty mid to bad at best unless its top three
I feel forever trapped between these three countries with family, languages, culture, and religion. Very lost on which to pursue for my career. A recent trip to China has made me very much feel not China. I cannot stand the staring, photo taking making me feel like I’m a zoo animal, even more so for my child. But it is nice and pay can be decent. I also really like Chinese people and culture.
America has a lot of good, but I’m so sick of having to be stressed about its politics and the culture of violence. I do love the nature, individual freedom, and academic (tho the recent not being able to comment on Israel has been insane).
Japan is great on the surface but subtle racism, bad pay, and trump-copy cat prime minister is concerning. Committing to China or especially Japan over the US is fucking my family financially if we want to visit family in the other two countries.
Side note, I love being fluid between three cultures but not having a stable home in one place is somewhat exhausting.
Another random thought is America is actually so comfortable compared to China or Japan when it comes to being yourself.
Edit: why is everyone being pedantic or getting upset over one word rather than just answer lmao
You can actively work on countering the negative effects, so I’d start with just a list of positives. If all the negatives were gone, which country would you choose?
Let’s suppose it’s the USA. You’re uncomfortable there, because of violence and ICE scares, but everything else is fine. You can look at local crime rates, especially gun violence. Find an area/school where these statistics are near-zero. You can mitigate the ICE risk by retaining an immigration lawyer and making sure that all your paperwork is in order.
Make the same type of list with Japan and China. What would you need to do to mitigate the xenophobia/ethnic differences? (Are you already fluent in both languages?)
You also mention finances, which should probably be near the top of the list. Figure out a realistic cost for your entire time at school, then work with your family to understand what’s doable and what stretches them past the breaking point.
Unfortunately, having paperwork in order does not protect you from ICE. They do not care about the law and will abduct you as you are walking into/out of any immigration hearings. They routinely ignore judge’s orders to release people and have no accountability for any harm or damage they cause. Sure, you might get yourself out in a week or two IF you have a good lawyer, but not before they do whatever they want to you in the meantime
<shrugs>
I’m sorry, but ICE’s activities are the status quo in many countries. This person is looking at countries like Japan and China. How strict do you think immigration enforcement might be in China? Do you figure that Japan tolerates a lot of inconsistency when filling out an immigration visa?
It doesn’t matter how things should be, only that this is how they are. Today. RIght now. Yes, the U.S. has a hard-liner in office. Yes, ICE will discriminate - the color of your skin and your country of origin matter. But that’s not so abnormal on a global scale.
Okay, and? I’m talking about the USA, specifically. The person above me implied keeping your paperwork in order will protect you from ICE, and I said that was false. I was not talking about China, nor Japan
This is a really good approach. Thank you!
I will go through it with your take :)