[Umihito]

How much does homesickness play a part in people's decision to move to Japan, or how long they live there?

I've heard of the stages of moving to a new country. Don't remember them exactly, but it's something like Stage 1: seeing everything good about the country, Stage 2: Settling in, Stage 3: Only seeing the bad points etc.

Does homesickness play a big part in these stages? I mean, I know some people have no reason to be homesick (bad family life etc). But even after a 2 week trip to Japan, I was very homesick. Has anyone here who lives (or lived) in Japan ever felt (or even still feel) strong homesickness?

If you haven't been to Japan, but desperately want to live there, how do you think it'll affect you? Do you consider it to be a major hindrance to your plans, or something that'll stop you wanting to go there for an extended time?

So many questions in this thread, because I always considered homesickness to be a major off put for wanting to move to a different country, especially Japan. Yet it has tens of thousands of Americans living there, with a sizable cut of that probably there for the long haul.

With what I felt after 2 weeks, I can't imagine what it must be like when hitting that Stage 3 and missing home.