Very concise and interesting point of view Maciamo.
I would say I agree with 99% of what you said (but you already know that ). The 1% probably being nuance.
I am surprised you did not mention Japan.
Japan was on my mind. And despite adoring their values and culture, I personally did not mention it in my desired destinations, because I doubt I would fit in/ enjoy fitting in within the culture. (Very traditional/ hierarchical/ strict on some aspects of life)
So I wonder what was your reasons for not including such a country? I mean I am aware that in the international indexes for various measurements they do not really rank at the top (top 10), but are there any other reasons? You having lived there, I would love to hear your opinion.
For me Japan and Singapore share similar reasons, why despite me ranking them high in where I would live, I would still opt for other options.
My experience of living in Japan left me with mixed feelings about the country.
The pros:
- Great food and relatively cheap restaurants
- Excellent service in shops and in general
- Extensive and reliable railway and metro networks
- Clean streets
- Peaceful people and very low crime rate (you can leave your wallet in a public place and it will be there an hour later)
- Mostly atheistic society where religion and politics rarely enter discussions
- Lots of mountains and forests for hiking
- Convenience stores and vending machines everywhere
The cons:
- Little care for aesthetics in urban planning (lots of ugly buildings, non-buried electric lines everywhere, concrete all along the coastline and hillsides, few parks in cities, etc.)
- Lack of thermic isolation and central heating in houses
- 5-month-long hot and muggy summers
- Lots of natural disasters (earthquakes, typhoons, landslides, floods...)
- Assumptions that foreigners in Japan commit much more crimes than the Japanese and as a consequence frequent police checks on non Japanese people
- As a foreigner it is very hard to fit in and feel accepted, even if you speak Japanese and know the culture like a native
- Discrimination in general (toward women, young people, foreigners, burakumin...)
- Most people are workaholics, but salaries are nevertheless not that high anymore (Japan's GDP per capita, once the highest in the world, has fallen to the level of Italy or Spain despite the fact that the Japanese work long hours and take very few holidays).