Brehs, check out the price of houses in Japan

[peppe]

man it shows americans haven't travelled outside the US.

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

There are other ways. For example, did you know that You can buy access to America by paying $800,000 to start a business? but the Japanese equivalent is much much much much much much much cheaper. It's called the investor visa.


It's only 35k . any working adult with real career experience in America should be able to have that saved. In previous years, they required you to employ two Japanese citizens. But after COVID they revised the rules to where you don't have to employ anybody.


The only catch, is that your business must make money from Japan. You can't be a digital nomad making money from an American company . But this is actually pretty good for various professionals in accounting, tourism/hospitality, sciences/engineering, etc who can do consulting. And The icing on top of the cake is that your business doesn't have to be profitable for the first two years. But if you manage to get it profitable by the 3rd and maintain it until the 5th year, you get access to living in Japan indefinitely, then you can liquidate your investments and be free .



Another option I've seen a bunch of people use is just transferring to the Japanese division of an American company. This works extremely well for finance and tech, because you can find Goldman Sachs or Google offices in the center of Tokyo.




Your goal is residence, not citizenship. Simply being a productive member of society is enough to get residence.

It's a lot like Canada with a points system where if you are a particularly productive human you can get permanent residence in one or 2 years. A moderately productive human being can get it in 5 years.


They're also temporary residence statuses such as when you get employed by an American firm within Japan, or when you come in as an investor.

Should one move to Japan just for the experience? Would be nice just staying for 3 to 6 months.

One reason I wanted to go to the Air Force.

 

[CopiousX]

Should one move to Japan just for the experience? Would be nice just staying for 3 to 6 months.

One reason I wanted to go to the Air Force.

Most people with your situation would typically just do a visa-free entry. You are limited to 90 days, but you can do multiple of them back to back if you spend a week or two in a nearby country. Lots of people in that region spend whole years just bouncing between Japan and Taiwan or Korea and Japan or Japan and Hong Kong for this arrangement.

Residence is only a thing if you need to actually be working on job while you're out there. But if you had enough savings to support yourself for three or six months in their country, then just going as a tourist is fine. One of the perks of being an American.


Also, if you wanted to go there for a very long time, the Air Force wouldn't guarantee you a slot there. I think only the Navy does. The Air Force asks you where you would like to go but you're just as likely to end up in depressing North Dakota as you are to be at Iwakuni air base. But depending on your career you may have a few options. Terminal degree holders like lawyers, doctors, dentist, optometrists, clinical psychologists, etc pretty much get to go wherever they want because they have more leverage. But if you joined as a normal enlisted or commision , there is no guarantee The Air Force would send you to Japan.

 

[staticshock]

You think that, but that summer heat, these fùcking Hunstmen Spiders and Mukade (venomous centipedes) would have you shook.

I've had a 6-inch Huntsmen run into my house, and I've had 2 Mukade in this bítch already.

I was stationed in rural Japan for 2 years breh


But yea the heat & humidity are my only complaints about Japan.

 

[Sleepy Floyd]

According to reputable sources like the Federal reserve the median balance in saving accounts of Americans is $39,000. Which means half of Americans have more than this in regular savings accounts. And once again even this number does not factor in tax advantage accounts like IRA, 401k , or 529 plans where most employees keep most of their money. It's actually very counterintuitive to keep your money in a savings account due to inflation and the fact that these are post tax accounts, unlike the tax advantage pretax accounts, hence why it isn't done commonly.

What are the numbers for Black Americans vs non-Black Americans?

 

[CopiousX]

@CopiousX droppin facts as always.

I’m getting my BM (business manager) visa now. It’s not too bad. We have rental properties in the states so we use that as our “experience”. These lawyers know the game and will put you up on it. I also needed an agreement stating I have a local helping me out with my business.

We are starting a property management company. Dropping our paperwork tomorrow.

There are two ways going about getting a business manager visa. You can apply for a four month visa then come to Japan, start your business, then apply for the year long visa. Or apply for the year king visa off top. All in all the 5 million yen is the most important thing. Plus, an office. Unfortunately, the cheapest office I can find in Okinawa is $500 a month.

Either way, moving to Japan isn’t as bad as one would think. The visa takes 3 months to process then you get your COE which you have to take to the embassy. Once that’s complete you are in for a year. Just show your 5M yen or income/expenditures statements to re-up and you are good.

Any questions, hit me up. I plan on posting up out here until my contract is up in 5 years. The visa is for my Wife. My SOFA doesn’t cover her so she has to start a business.

Did you hear about the rule changes? The Chinese scammers and Chinese spies are ruining it for everyone.



I remembered this thread when I heard about the update. You'd better move fast, if you want to use the program , since the changes kick in October. They are raising the price to a cash infusion of 200k US and requiring you to employ more locals in 2026.



It's almost an order of magnitude higher than the 35k it used to be.


They are hoping to price out the Chinese that have been buying land up in hokaido and land near military bases for "property management" bussiness . Unfortunately, well-meaning westerners will be caught in the friendly fire . Even worse, I think they used to require a one year renewal before you get the full 5yr visa but I don't know if they will raise the investment amount for a renewal in 2026 too if you get into the program with $35,000

 

[Belize King]

Did you hear about the rule changes? The Chinese scammers and Chinese spies are ruining it for everyone.



I remembered this thread when I heard about the update. You'd better move fast, if you want to use the program , since the changes kick in October. They are raising the price to a cash infusion of 200k US and requiring you to employ more locals in 2026.



It's almost an order of magnitude higher than the 35k it used to be.


They are hoping to price out the Chinese that have been buying land up in hokaido and land near military bases for "property management" bussiness . Unfortunately, well-meaning westerners will be caught in the friendly fire . Even worse, I think they used to require a one year renewal before you get the full 5yr visa but I don't know if they will raise the investment amount for a renewal in 2026 too if you get into the program with $35,000

You on it. I’m apart of a BM group chat I found through Reddit. We started off at 4 and now we are near 15 members. Most of us are in the process. Some have completed the process. One of our guys is up on it and post all the articles about it.

It’s disheartening honestly. 35K isn’t too bad and most small businesses can raise that type. 225K or 35M JPY is pretty high for most businesses.

You are correct. They are targeting the Chinese. From what I understand, the Chinese can only take 80K out of their country (I’m thinking people and not business) so they could have raised it to 85K and see what that does. Instead they boosted all the way up to 225K.

My Wife got her visa approved within three weeks which is amazing considering it takes 3-4 months. But, the immigration office stated her dependents can’t get visas. We appealed and had to show more money. We are waiting for our visas now.

My lawyer stated this has never happened. Immigration has been going through all applications with a fine tooth comb starting in June. We applied in June. Had I had the right lawyer and applied in May as intended we would have probably been straight.

Either way, the real issue is once we get out four month visa, will the new rules apply for the one year application. I doubt it (we should be grandfathered), but once we request the renewal next year, will they expect us to have that cash in the bank?

Under the current rules, you don’t have to show profit for two years. Cool, my Wife’s salary will be 400K yen per month to show she can support us. We wouldn’t be pulling “profit” though. From what I understand, we are just showing expenses and taxes every year so the 225K shouldn’t matter at all. But, do I risk moving my family, renting my home, changing schools all for the Japanese to say no.

Thanks Chinese for fukking it up for the little people.