re: Bugging out to a different country - permanently

they can frick right off. they have some wicked storms in the mountains in PA especially. the thunder & lightening claps off the mountains & can make you hit the ground running and shite yourself.

I like basements during twisters so D Oh Jay can suck it.

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I'm assuming you've been stationed there to even consider it. But, Japan (at least Tokyo) has issues which can only be ameliorated with corporate funding of your schools, apartments, etc.

I'd completely move there, but I don't know if most Gaijin could. I lived there as a kid, and consideration of others (not talking on your f@#*@ phone on a bus from Narita, etc) is something a lot of westerners can't get, and they don't understand how important it is. If it fits with your personality (drink lots, show lots of respect, follow rules) it can be great. Has anyone that hasn't been to Japan seen a guy pass out sleeping on his laptop in a train station, and he wakes up with the same laptop still in his possession in the morning? Yeah, that's the busiest train station in Japan (Shinagawa.)

How about Korea, like Jeju, Seoul, Daejeon, etc.? They're looser socially, and as long as you don't associate with the military crew in Seoul, people will seemingly treat you normally. I had a dude "corner" me outside of Daejeon station and just want to talk to me for half an hour because he wanted to practice his English. And there was a three/four story Spiderman "model" stuck on the side of a hotel for weeks.

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Never stationed there but I've spent a lot of time in Tokyo (months, over time) and I speak the language. The culture suits me fine, and I have no intention of being a salaryman.

Is Shinagawa busier than Shinjuku, btw?

I used to get cornered that way in China. As for S. Korea, I don't speak any, but I had another American say he took the boat to S. Korea and a dude was basically waiting there trying to fight Westerners lol...

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Mallorca, Spain is my eventual destination.

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I was there a couple of days ago and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It was full of tourists, so hard to tell what the real population was like. I could definitely see living there.

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this is so dumb.

within 20 years?

no one knows that.

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I don’t know it, but I know that this is the tendency of Latin American governments. Pinochet fixed Chile, and made them the shining star of S America. Now, they are heading left. Colombia has a refugee problem from commie Venezuela, which used to be prosperous. Now, Colombia is heading left. It’s a pattern.

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Hell, I was given a 45 revolver in March that my great Unc was issued to fight the Muslims in the Philippines in the early 1900's.

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Colt 1909. As a stop-gap measure, they were diverted from the civilian market to the military until the 1911 came out.

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Too many Muslim extremists

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That's primarily out in the province in Mindanao. They're not running around Manila, Dumaguete, or Cebu doing Haji shite.

The Republic of Alabamastan

My primary concern is always health care. As you get older you need it more

Not really close. I'm in Cebu. Lapu Lapu city to be exact.

Just got back from two weeks in CR. Six pack away from tourist spots was $10 for the locally brewed swill, Imperial. Groceries were way more expensive than in the US and we visited the local Pali and MaxiPali which is their Walmart.
Visited with a Canadian ex pat and health insurance is "free" but if you have a non life threatening procedure needed, then the waiting list is 3 months out. He had cancer several years back and was life threatening and he said the care was awesome and you are moved to the front of the line for these things.
He was getting a filling that day and said it would cost him $40 from a young, female CR dentist who he said was great. He told me anyone can buy property in CR and you don't have to worry about shenanigans with property rights. You do need a lawyer though to accomplish this. He said there was no tax on income and everything was taxed at the business level and not individual level. Of course this is probably why things are expensive there, someone has to pay for it.
We visited several beaches which were awesome, but we decided that the higher mountain areas would be where we would live if we were to move or have a second place. This was idle chat as we wouldn't do either. When we drove from the coast just an hour later in the higher elevations, the temperature dropped from 33 Celcius (91 F) to 22 (71 F).
The locals are fantastic and never seem upset about anything. We drove through a lot of small towns that were mostly likely poor and the school kids were clean cut, respectful and cheery. We did have interactions as we walked through towns to find little Sodas (cafes) to eat at so we weren't just viewing a Potemkin village in the tourist areas. You see these poor kids and their behavior and it makes you realize we definitely have a cultural problem with our supposedly marginalized, poor yutes in our country. I forgot to find out if they have a similar welfare system in CR but I highly doubt it.
With all of that said, it is still a 2nd world country. Impossible to find a public bathroom when you have to go, and there was trash everywhere around the beach towns. One day while cruising around just outside of a tourist beach a gentleman was taking a dump in a vacant lot about 10 yards from the road.
If you made the move to CR, it would definitely require some adjusting.