Not American myself but I've met a whole range of Americans while living in Japan. Their experience varies, obviously, but I've noticed some pattern.
I've met from the "top" of US hierarchy; white Harvard graduate (parents both from Harvard) who get to live very nice life with wide availability of choices, to the "lows", Latino high-school dropout from the ghetto. Those two both love living here, for different reasons, while a lot of people coming here working as English teachers just loath the place and leave after 3-4 years.
All in all I think (like most places) it really depends on 3 things, what job(income) you can get, what social circle you'll find, and what expectations you have in the place (and your life).
The most content ones I've met is well paid engineers married with kids. Having kids just makes you part of the community so much easier. Also being an engineer from US probably means you're not that annoyed by work culture (compared to say Europe). The safety is ofc incomparably better and most people get used to being perpetually treated as "the foreigner"; people that can't get over the latter, usually sooner or later, will start to resent the place.
Since the majority of Americans coming to Japan to live, is white college graduate who end up as English teacher (horrible job with bad pay), they start to loathe the place after the honeymoon phase. Online forum is filled with these types so staying away from those is also crucial ( I'm looking at r/japanlife)
Sad to hear that /r/japanlife has gone down the drain. I created it nearly 15 years ago, but stepped down as a moderator in 2015 when I left Japan and have not visited it since. It was supposed to be (was?) a place where expats could solve everyday issues without constantly being bombarded with questions related to pop culture or tourism ("Help! How do I deal with my washing machine?!").
Just my 2 cent, but the Japanese work culture can be quite stressful, in the way it's demanding and hierarchical. As a tech worker you have more leverage when choosing jobs. Also tech is a bit more modern / younger so there's more willingness to circumvent that hierarchy and cultural work pressure (drinking out, over-politeness etc).
But still, the work is a bit more hectic and you're expected to prioritize work when required (deadlines etc). Also not as much paid leave. Which is not too different from the what's plausible in US, but in Europe this attitude is often strongly frowned upon, even in tech, so it might be an absolute deal breaker
I've met from the "top" of US hierarchy; white Harvard graduate (parents both from Harvard) who get to live very nice life with wide availability of choices, to the "lows", Latino high-school dropout from the ghetto. Those two both love living here, for different reasons, while a lot of people coming here working as English teachers just loath the place and leave after 3-4 years.
All in all I think (like most places) it really depends on 3 things, what job(income) you can get, what social circle you'll find, and what expectations you have in the place (and your life).
The most content ones I've met is well paid engineers married with kids. Having kids just makes you part of the community so much easier. Also being an engineer from US probably means you're not that annoyed by work culture (compared to say Europe). The safety is ofc incomparably better and most people get used to being perpetually treated as "the foreigner"; people that can't get over the latter, usually sooner or later, will start to resent the place.
Since the majority of Americans coming to Japan to live, is white college graduate who end up as English teacher (horrible job with bad pay), they start to loathe the place after the honeymoon phase. Online forum is filled with these types so staying away from those is also crucial ( I'm looking at r/japanlife)