Choose Dilemma: New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris or Zurich?

[sugarysunflower]

Hello ATRL, 

 

I'm setting my goals for the next 3, 5 and 10 years and would like some insight from those here on what it's like living in the cities in the title. Particularly those who've lived in more than one of these (as well as London, which is where I've been for years, to compare and contrast). 
 

Without giving away too much, I can't progress in my London finance role without more in-person global experience, my current workplace aren't budging on secondments or transfers and other than London, these are my top destinations to obtain further like-for-like work and/or apply for fellowships. I'm also working on my own company that has three focus areas: in fashion/beauty/luxury, food/biopharma and media/entertainment and will be continuing this and building a network around these as these cities are where these markets thrive. 
 

That being said, I'd be interested to know how your cities' approach to work/life balance, taxes, healthcare, appetite to risk, access to housing, treatment of minority groups, climate change and natural disaster management is. Visa issues won't be an issue, I've got contacts to sort this out for me. 

 

I'm a POC male, late 20s, and know French, Italian and working on my German and Japanese. So language barrier won't be an issue. Dating…. N/A. 
 

A bit long winded, but given the global reach on here and mass of talented individuals on here, I thought to ask. 

Edited 6 hours ago by sugarysunflower

[BionicWooHoo]

New York. Easy. 
You can open up Grindr and find white cawk, black cawk, latino cawk, Asian cawk 

[JO1s]

Tokyo if you can work remote for a company in UK or USA, cost of living is the lowest, some of the best amenities and quality of life.

[LegaMyth]

Tokyo.

 

Switzerland is more expensive (unless you have the coin) but that would be my #2.

My ranking:

1. Tokyo

2. Zurich

3. Paris

4. New York

5. Hong Kong

[willmcclure9]

I have lived in Tokyo for 4 years (total) and unless you have very good mental health, it will seriously depress you. Especially if you work for a Japanese company, It is horrible.

 

But out of your options, I would personally chose Zurich if you have the $$.

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by willmcclure9

[Dula Peep]

I've only lived in New York but I feel like it's the most fun along with Hong Kong

[Alldeezy]

Tokyo

 

I've only been to NYC though and I do love it over there but c'mon if Tokyo was a choice that be top pick

[Archetype]

Long ass response below
 

Spoiler

As someone who has lived in NY, Paris, and Zurich, I would say Zurich is by FAR the best place to live if you care about quality of life, ease of travel, being multilingual, and having a successful career and growing your company.  It will be prohibitively expensive if you like to dine out a lot, but it's also easy to budget and the quality of goods and produce is very very high due to Swiss regulations.  I also find Swiss people to be very advanced socially, as in, they are logic-first in many ways and are more keen to research topics before forming opinions and are capable of politely disagreeing with one another.  This Swiss government is also one of the least corrupt on earth.  

 

Paris is best if you want to focus more on the design and fashion aspect of your business, otherwise there is no country in Europe that knows how to operate successful businesses more so than Switzerland, Zurich and Genève especially.  Also it's pretty easy to go to other major European cities just by train alone from Zurich.  Swiss resident spending power abroad is absurd.  

 

I have not been to Tokyo or HK, but I wouldn't recommend either long term unless you want to make significantly less money from a salary (which limits your ability to grow your business internationally and travel).  Tokyo might be nice for a few months or a year, but unless you've wanted to live in Japan as a main goal for a long time, it's not going to be worth it.  Grow your business so it's your main source of income and then freely travel there as much as you want in your future.  
 

As for HK, I've only heard negative things from my friends who live/work there.  Not that it's a bad place to live, but it's quite dirty and disorganized in comparison to the other cities you've mentioned.  Also, HK is not viewed in the same way it was 10 years ago now that the Chinese govt is placing more restrictions on businesses and residents.  Also, while there is obviously a lot of great local and Asian cuisine, it's not as diverse as you'd expect in comparison to places like New York or even Paris.
 

As someone who mostly resides in NYC, it's incredible, but many people who move here get trapped due to high costs and can't travel or don't actually like where they live.  You can live in far nicer apartments and neighborhoods in every other city you've mentioned for the same price or less.  I live here mostly because it was always a goal of mine to do so and I can luckily afford a high quality of life, but I will move back to Switzerland sometime in the next ten years.  

 

Edited 2 minutes ago by Archetype