USA-Japan Tax Treaty: Exceeding 183 days in Japan due to nuances to the “days of physical presence” measurement?

The company I work for in the U.S is letting me work remotely from Japan for at most 183 days. This is not a work assignment, just a personal request on my part. I will enter Japan on a spouse visa.

When I return to the U.S. at end of the 183 days, I will begin a three month parental leave. During this time, I hope to re-enter Japan on a tourist visa at some point.

All info I’ve found online regarding the treaty’s “183 day rule” does not talk about the nuances laid out in the treaty’s [Technical Explanation](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/japante04.pdf):

>The 183-day period is to be measured using the “days of physical presence” method. Under this method, the days that are counted include any day in which a part of the day is spent in the host country. See Rev. Rul. 56-24, 1956-1 C.B. 851. Thus, days that are counted include the days of arrival and departure; weekends and holidays on which the employee does not work but is present within the country; **vacation days spent in the country before, during or after the employment period,** ***unless the individual’s presence before or after the employment can be shown to be independent of his presence there for employment purposes*****;** and time during periods of sickness, training periods, strikes, etc., when the individual is present but not working. If illness prevented the individual from leaving the country in sufficient time to qualify for the benefit, those days will not count. Also, any part of a day spent in the host country while in transit between two points outside the host country is not counted. These rules are consistent with the description of the 183-day period in paragraph 5 of the Commentary to Article 15 in the OECD Model.

Assuming I can prove my stay as a tourist is not related to employment purposes, it seems to me those days won’t run the risk in pushing me over the 183 days?

Probably a question for a tax lawyer, but hoping someone out there has gone through something similar first-hand.

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by TheHeadlessCabbie

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