There is often a stark contrast between ex pat’s feelings about Japan shortly after they first arrive, which are mostly very positive, and how they feel after living there for 2-3 years, which are often much more negative. Since I’m just about to leave Japan after 3 and a half years (at least a year too long, in retrospect), I thought I would recount some of the reasons I’ve become so bitter towards the country that I once viewed as almost utopian. If nothing else, this will hopefully act to counterbalance the many naive accounts of Japan you find on the web (usually by people who have been there for less than two years, or who are enamoured by Japanese men/woman [usually women] are are walking around with rose tinted specs on).