I choose, for the moment, to live here, in a little town I rather like, close to friends I rather like, attending a little church I rather like, etc.

For better or worse, choosing to live here (or really, anywhere) generally means you get to work nearby as a package deal. I'm working on making that more of an a la carte selection.

(Edit: Incidentally, I don't dislike my job. Parts of it are actually quite fun -- it has made me a much better engineer, I've learned quite a bit, and it has done wonders for my ability to read web application stack traces in Japanese.

Its just that, well, I have a finite number of years to live and hours in my waking day. They can have a few years and many hours. Or they can have many years and few hours. But I'm not willing to sell many years and many hours.)

I'm curious as well as to where you live... and also, about your experiences doing software over in Japan. I've never really had the chance to live there for an extended period of time, but I'd like to give things a go in a year or two... just to get that nagging monkey off my back, and to do something different.

Hopefully, the stack traces don't just read 'エラーが起きました。たいへん申し訳あります。' grin

I think you mean 申し訳ありません (inexcusable).

Though I've tried using 申し訳あります (literally, there is an excuse) before as a joke to lighten the mood when apologizing. I'm not sure they got it.

Damnit, I can't believe I typed that, and didn't catch it. Goes to show how bad my Japanese has gotten over the past year. I really need to start studying again, and not just chattering with my girlfriend.

Yeah, 大変申し訳あります sounds like something you'd see in 漫才.

If you don't mind sharing, whereabouts do you live? I'm guessing a commuting town near Tokyo?