One thing concerning cost of living: Tokyo is definitely way less expensive than San Francisco now. Unless you're trying to live 5 minutes away from Roppongi or something, there's loads of affordable apartments and the like (no comments on houses).
I was also pleasantly surprised at the cost and quality of food here, although some of my coworkers who moved here from different countries (South Africa, for example) have complained that it's too expensive.
My bills are also less expensive, and the quality of the services are better. Internet for example is very fast and reliable, and costs me about half the price as Comcast did in SF.