[saaxu]

I can understand why MutsuYakumo told dreamsandhopes to give up on moving to Japan. I've seen a lot kids dream of the same thing:

1) Move to Tokyo, Japan after high school at the age of 18.
2) Work at a entry level job until they can get the opportunity to become a mangaka.
3) Make the decision to give up their citizenship of their home country to become a citizen of Japan before even moving there.
4) Reason for living in Japan: They love the culture, despite never visiting Japan.

Majority of the time though these people fail to realize their dream though and it's obvious why. To want to move to a different country without any real purpose is absurd. Wanting to experience culture isn't a good enough reason to leave everything behind and live in a foreign country for many years. If you love the culture, take a vacation to Japan once in a while instead of moving there.

For instance, I know a guy people call Pyrolee who is basically a professional Street Fighter III: Third Strike player (often referred to as the best player in the US) who loves the competitive scene in Japan since the highest level of play is there. His dream is to become the best player in the world and to realized that dream he plays practically everyday for many hours at the arcade. It pays off as every year he was able to win an invitation to compete in the biggest fighting game tournament in the world located in Japan. I wouldn't be reasonable for him to move to Japan just because he loved the arcade scene there, but it is reasonable for him to visit every year for something he loves.

Think about it, the primary reason people move in the first place is for jobs. Either you move somewhere for a job in your field (i.e. move to California to work at Pixar) or you are relocated by your current job (i.e. Marines places you at a base in Japan). That's one of the reasons why there are so many immigrants come to the US, because they have a good chance of making a better living. A good reason for wanting to move to Japan would be something like a marriage, job opportunity within your grasp not available back home, etc.

Now I don't believe that you need to have visited a place to move there temporarily if it's always your intention to come back to your home country. Universities often encourage students with the grades, money, and minimum language requirements to study abroad in a country of their choice and often times it's a place they've never been to before, but they want to go. This is fine because it gives them a chance to experience something different that they will take back home and benefit from. After living there for a year or so, it is then reasonable if they experience reverse culture shock and decide they want to continue living in that country after everything is settled back home.

Now unless you have a valid purpose for moving and you work very hard make it happen, there's no reason to move to Japan long term.