Well, there are other freedoms that you all are not thinking about. To a Japanese person moving to somewhere like Europe or the U.S., it can be very liberating.
Freedom to be themselves. It may sound corny, but I have known it to be true. Every Japanese person I know who has lived here, or living here, loved it because they could be themselves. They felt that here, they could be more relaxed. Japanese people always have to think--and think hard--about what they are going to say in any given situation with other Japanese people. They also have to think very carefully about how they are going to act around other Japanese. One wrong look, and you're screwed. I know that first-hand.
Just some examples. My husband, who used to get home at 1 a.m. every night in Japan, now gets home by 7 p.m. He also doesn't have to feel pressured into hanging out with his boss and other co-workers after work here. He can have a big 4 bedroom house and an acre of land cheap. He can be his friendly, bubbly self to people instead of feeling like he has to have a poker face. The list goes on and on.
My friend told me she could have never told her Japanese friends what she had been able to tell me. One example, my friend's daughter was born with a congenital heart defect. She had to have 3 surgeries by the time she was 18 months old. My friend's friends, that she had known most of her life, did not know about it and would never find out. Her parents' friends would never find out. They would keep it a secret from everyone except their immediate family. If her mom's friend says something about her little girl being too skinny, she doesn't want to and feels like she can't tell her it's because she was born premature with a heart defect and has had to have surgeries.
Japan is an island. It's like living in a big small town, I've often been told. You can't even move to another place without being looked down upon, because it is thought that you did something bad and are in trouble. It has carried that stigma for many years. You can't tell someone about your child being sick and having to have open-heart surgery because you don't want people to know that your child has a defect because it is shameful or because you don't want to be pitied. I know, I know. A lot of modern-day Japanese people don't think like that anymore, but a lot of them do.
There's a lot more I could list, but it would just get boring, and it would seem like I'd be rambling. I just wanted to point out that there were other "freedoms" to take into consideration. Not just technical ones. Hopefully, you all will kind of be able to understand what I'm trying to say.
