to vs. in (Present perfect)

Question

I've just started to explore details about tenses. And one point doesn't take me a clear understanding. Maybe this is not about tenses at all.

So. There is a few examples, and I don't really get, why first is using "in", and other using "to".

1 (In)
Have you always lived in Chicago?
How long has your sister been in Australia?
2 (To)
Have you been to California?
They've been to Japan.

I've thought it's about a scale of place or something, but it's not(Japan is a country but using with "to"). Maybe it's about accent on time(1)/place(2)?

Also related They have been to Washington (they are there now vs. they are back now) From our sister-site, EL&U: Difference between "been to" and "been in" — Mari-Lou A, Jun 11 '23 at 22:05
For "live in", you can generally use "in" for any sort of place name. The size does it matter; whether it's a city, a country, a continent, does not matter either -- I live in California - I live in Canada - I live in North America - I live in Japan - I live in Europe, etc. — Brandin, Jun 12 '23 at 07:26
The only time it wouldn't work seems to me is if you're talking about living on a boat, on an ocean, on a planet, on a space station, etc. then we would use on rather than in. For example: I live on (the) Earth. Some astronauts live on the ISS. Some day, I wonder if it would be possible to live on Mars. — Brandin, Jun 12 '23 at 07:30
Also if you live on a particular named mountain, on is probably most appropriate. If the name refers to a range of mountains, in would be appropriate. E.g. She lives in the Rockies. He lives on Mt Fuji. — Brandin, Jun 12 '23 at 07:36

to vs. in (Present perfect)

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