It's on our radar despite the seismic activity there. If I had to be in a horrendous major earthquake, I would much rather be in Japan than, say, California, because they're so incredibly organized and helpful and community-minded. By organized I mean, for instance, if a quake happens, your entire village will get an immediate text message saying "A tsunami is coming, please move in orderly fashion to higher ground," and pre-designated leaders in every neighborhood will help get people out.
I mean, after the 2011 tsunami, even the JAPANESE MAFIA (yakuza) opened their headquarters to stranded commuters, and they also smuggled around $50 million of supplies into radioactive areas that it was illegal for outsiders to enter. And then all those old people volunteered to clean up the nuclear waste!!!! I read interviews where people said, "We're too old to care about being exposed to radiation, we'll be dead in a few years anyway, so we should do this work instead of making young people do it even if doing it is literally those young people's jobs. They should stay home with their kids, we'll just go do it for free, don't mind us..." And then they actually did it. Amazing.
It's also extremely safe, thanks in part to the yakuza--they literally recruit young local troublemakers, tell them they'll have a job for life if they obey absolutely and NEVER EVER commit any kind of crime or vandalism that wasn't specifically assigned to them by their yakuza boss, and in that way they keep the streets safe for anyone who doesn't cross the yakuza...
That said, I have a major knack for learning languages, have studied I don't even know how many (a dozen?), everything from Russian to Old Norse (medieval Icelandic), and Japanese is far and away THE ABSOLUTE HARDEST language I've ever studied. The pronunciation is actually very easy, especially compared to, say, Chinese or for that matter even English, but the language itself--vocab, syntax, grammar, writing--is almost impossibly difficult. And I'm not speaking as a beginner--I got to the point where I wrote a ten-page essay in Japanese (a very simplistic essay, but still), and then backslid so much I can't even READ that essay anymore, much less write it. Buuuuuuut people do it, people do learn it, so maybe I just need to give it more time?
For those interested in learning Japanese, I would strongly suggest starting with Pimsleur CDs, which you may be able to get from your local library (directly or via interlibrary loan). It's a really good system, although you'll need something else to learn to read and write. But starting out with speaking/listening is the most effective way to learn a language and it's certainly more useful than being able to read novels but unable to talk.
I agree that in Japan any of us and our children would forever be outsiders, but in a sense that can be a benefit. Nobody expects you to understand and obey all the rules; weirdness on your part is more forgivable than weirdness on a native Japanese person's part. And if you do learn to speak Japanese pretty well, my god, they'll think you're an absolute genius and they'll really appreciate the effort. That's my experience anyway, having seen reactions to my husband's good Japanese skills.