Going through a the posts I often wonder how many people are actually living long term in Japan. I get the impression that for most people it’s something of a goal to aspire to. Is this correct?
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Not exactly what you asked for, but this poll showed that ~8% or so respondents said their main reason for learning Japanese was that they lived in Japan.
More people may be living in Japan, though (e.g. I’ve been in Japan for close to 15 years, and odds are that I am here to stay, but that’s not my main reason to learn Japanese, so I replied something else). It also doesn’t show how many people would actually like to live in Japan 
My impression is that people would probably like to visit Japan, but not necessarily want to live here. Maybe you could make another poll in this thread, if you want to collect data?
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Currently living in Japan! Not including my semester abroad, I’ve been living in Japan for only 6 months, but hoping to do a couple more years at least.
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That’s certainly my feelings toward the matter.
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I arrived two days ago. Staying in Ibaraki for 2 semesters.
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Tenth year here. I don’t know about average of people living in Japan in total, but I do feel like several of the most active users in the Japanese forums (as in people who answer language questions) live in Japan.
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Been in Japan a little over a month now. Doing a year long stint at a language school and then I’ll try and figure out what happens next.
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The Emperor of Japan, I heard
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Been living and working in Japan for three years. Also did one year study abroad before that. I’m not planning to stay here forever though. After I leave Japan I will probably mostly use my Japanese for watching anime.
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I lived in Japan for over a decade, but that was a long time ago. Still trying to learn kanji out of spite 
Back then I did learn a lot of kanji, in a fallen-off-the-ship style, but I confused similar ones and scrambled some of the readings. I wish wanikani existed at that time.
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Been living in Japan for about 8 years now~ I definitely didn’t start studying with the goal of living in Japan, but it was a nice domino effect that got me to this point. 
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Not me.
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I’ve lived here for about six years.
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Have been living in Japan for 25 years. I wish, WaniKani existed when I first came to Japan so many years ago.
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Should be hearing about the possibility by end of this month for at least three years to work there. We will see
I has now been living in Japan 4 and a bit years, it has passed quickly.
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Just finished my first year this month. I have no idea how long I`ll be staying.
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OP trying to get names and locations so your personal FBI Agent knows why you didn’t torrent the latest season of AoT.
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Been here for a month so far and that’s why I came back to the site tbh
Two months in 3 days, it’s been wild and I already have a stable social cicle. I’ve had so many new experiences and gone to so many places even when in the same place.
I’ve bearly, even less scratched the surface of this place. That being said I want to move to Europe or Australia one day. The most time I want to stay in Japan is 5 years TOPS, that being said I don’t know what I’m gonna cook today let alone what I’ll do in 5 years jajja.
Correct me if I’m wrong but 90% of foreginers return or leave Japan. I will be part of that.
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