JP onry didn't happen in FFXI until pretty late into its life, i think around CoP that the issue became prevalent. Overall that game did had a great community during its early stages.

that said, if the servers werent seperated by region in the first place this issue wouldn't be as bad as it is today.

I'm from SEA and I play on Sargatanas (NA), i have contemplated moving to the JP servers but decided against it coz I found a good FC that played during JST hours. In the end, it's a matter of people you play with, if you can't find anyone then it's probably better to move.