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Originally Posted by GTJ
Didn't feel like reading through 11 pages, but I read the first few and the last few, and I have to agree largely. Japan is a great place to be, certainly, but it has its flaws just like any other country, as does my own (America). It's hard to notice at first, but Japan's society really is crumbling. The birthrate is in the negative, the population is aging and dying off, social services are in the gutter, the male population is swiftly beating down the potential for future generations, rampant apathy for people's own political system prevents them from voting or even caring, thus letting the politicians and beaurocrats run wild, tearing down the country and putting one incompetent prime minister after the other in office to further destroy what was once a great nation. I could go on and on; Japan really is an anthropolgist's/sociologist's wet dream, there are just THAT many glaring problems.
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Welcome to the "Japan has some serious issues - (insert country of choice) has it`s problems too, but they`re not THAT bad." stage! Congratulations! You`ve hit one of the incredibly stereotypical stages of "Attitudes toward Japan". You have two paths to choose from - the one becoming more and more negative and bitter toward Japan, or the one that actually looks deeper and comes to see the underlying reasons and attitudes - and can see that not all is as meets the eye. The choice is yours!!
To be a bit more serious though - a lot of people reach that point. They can now see the problems that were formerly hidden beyond a barrier of language and cultural differences... And because the problems suddenly seem to leap out, they seem much much larger, more dire, and more shocking than the reality. Add the fact that the rest of the information still lingers behind those cultural and language barriers, and a lot of people end up becoming very bitter toward Japan - "Why can`t they see how stupid they`re being?!?! This would never happen in (insert home country)."
As a long term resident, it can become very frustrating because the newly minted "activists" end up screaming and whining about the wrong things. It`s really sort of a case of barking up the wrong tree - and pulling attention from the places that really need it. (Not to mention making it harder to get people to take long term residents seriously, as the majority "get" enough to be annoying but not enough to be productive.)
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But America's laundry list is certainly just as long. As would any country's be. I think the reason you hear so many people hoot and holler about living in Japan is that they're either grossly mis/uninformed, or tweenage weaboos with stars in their eyes. Nothing particularly wrong with either, and nothing a little education won't fix in both cases.
I'll be living in Japan for I think... 3 or so more years. 4, tops. Then it's back to Americaland with my lady. Heck, she's been telling me how badly she wants to get out of Japan and move to America practically since we met, and if a Japanese national is saying that, you might be able to glean something. 
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Please allow me to ask - how much experience does your girlfriend have with living abroad?
It goes both ways. If she has actually LIVED outside of Japan for a few years - fine - but if her experiences with the US are limited to trips to Hawaii and an all inclusive tour of New York... Well, it`s no different than those tweens with stars in their eyes. There is a whole culture built around romanticizing the US to the OL range. Their dreams are a trip to Hawaii, a "romantic" international boyfriend, jetting back and forth between the US and Japan, and some oh so cute "half" kids. Reality of life abroad comes very thin in their circles.
On either side, it`s usually those who express the biggest desire to live in the US/Japan who have the most trouble adjusting if given the opportunity. I don`t want to be overly negative, just realistic... But I`ve translated for a number of divorce cases between Japanese and Americans. And the one thing that was pretty uniform between all of them with the husband still in the US - the wife was thrilled and wanted to move out of Japan to the US where it was so cool... And then reality set in, and things fell apart.
A strong desire to live in another country you see as "better" even if you`ve never been there or know very little about real life is usually a sign of wanting to escape personal problems. Unfortunately, they usually tag right along and are often amplified by the stresses of life outside your comfort zone.