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Joined 5 months ago
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Cake day: October 14th, 2025

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  • I can only speak for myself, but I fought as hard as I could before making the tough decision to leave. I spoke up to friends, to my mostly republican family, spoke up at work (government contractor) which almost cost me my job, spoke up on social media, called my elected representatives and lawmakers, went to protests, and helped organize protests.

    But after June/July 2025 I began to realize we were not getting the momentum we needed to stop the MAGA movement, and it was time to begin making a plan B (physical escape).

    I’d like to think most others like me have also tried to make an impact, but at some point you have to jump ship. There’s no reason to go down with the others who refuse to wake up and smell the fascism.



  • Airplane tickets - $8k, Sending 2 boxes of things air freight (we lost 2 boxes doing sea freight to the US a few years back, so not trying that again) - $2.5k, Vet visits + vaccinations for dog to be allowed in Japan - $1.5k, Repairs on house to list it for sale - $11k, Short term apartment rental while house is on market - $12.5k, Giving away all our stuff because there’s not enough time to list everything for sale online and spend 1-2 hours per listing dealing with people trying to haggle… and then re-buying the essentials in Japan - $20k+ (honestly idek, could be much more. Haven’t sat down and added up how much value we gave away)

    This doesn’t include the $50k we dropped our house sale price to make it sell faster, or the $100k+ per year less I’ll be making at work here.

    So yeah, clearly our priority here was not maximizing our net worth. We’re significantly downsizing our lifestyle financially, and prioritizing our family’s safety and peace of mind instead. It was not an easy decision to make.









  • I have a dog, and have seen him experience suffering. It breaks my heart to see it happen, and I would never do anything to intentionally cause him to suffer.

    Yet by eating beef, pork, and chicken I supported an industry that causes similarly intelligent animals extreme suffering for their entire lives.

    I’m a pescatarian for this very reason. And even as a pescatarian, I strive to eat only wild caught fish when I do eat them. I also only eat certified humane eggs, and only buy oat milk or almond milk.

    I’m still guilty of eating cheese, but if there was a certified humane cheese option, I would absolutely pay extra for it.

    We don’t have to cause all this unnecessary suffering for animals. We can get all of our food from other sources, or take it from animals in a humane way.