**A summary of my situation:**
\*Thank you in advance for your patience in reading this.
* My wife and I are in our late 30s, and we’re considering a transition to life in Japan.
* We live in Canada (born here), and we are fortunate enough to own a home that is valued at around $550,000 USD.
* Our mortgage is small (about $750 USD/Month).
* We both have bachelor’s degrees from reputable Canadian universities.
* Mine is a Bachelor of Science (Psychology/Sociology), and hers is in Environment.
* We both work in administrative/managerial roles and have done so for around a decade (jobs completely unrelated to our degrees).
* I’m currently a Health and Safety Manager at a small company (I have no specific accreditations for that role. I just worked my way into it within the company). I work remotely for the most part.
* She is currently a head receptionist at a large medical clinic.
* We grew up in a big city but we now live in a pleasant but small, boring, homogenous rural community. (Hockey, hunting, church… none of which *we* find particularly stimulating).
* We don’t want / cannot have children, and we’re planning our next steps in life.
* Staying here long-term isn’t really an option. We don’t want to languish away in a rural backwater without much culture/architecture/cuisine etc. Moving back into the city within Canada would be financial suicide due to absolutely wacky housing prices.
* We’ve both traveled a lot, including various trips to Japan. All told we’ve spent about 6 months there, spread throughout the country.
* We absolutely ***love*** it there for all the usual reasons (security, cleanliness, food, infrastructure, Buddhism, service quality etc.) I’ve dreamed of moving to Japan since I first visited 15 years ago. I think of Japan every day, and I dream about it regularly. Whenever I am there, I feel a measure of peace that no other place on Earth has provided me.
* We are well aware of some not-so-great aspects of the country (xenophobia, work ethic norms, forms and bureaucracy, mega hot and humid summers, etc.) and I believe we have a sober appreciation of those drawbacks. I am also mindful that living there will be different than traveling there.
**How we see it possibly working**
\*First approximation
* We could rent out our house in Canada and after expenses (taxes/property manager etc.) have around $1,000-$1,200 USD of passive income monthly while in Japan (this is preferable, to hold onto our foothold in Canada as an escape hatch if the move is a mistake). From what my research indicates so far, this *could* cover most or all of our rent/utilities monthly.
* Alternatively, we could sell our house in Canada and have $200,000 USD in-pocket when we enter Japan. I’m not sure yet what we would do with that exactly. Buying a home in Japan is interesting, but I don’t think we would want to lock ourselves in geographically for a while. Also, I’m aware that home value depreciates in Japan, so this seems unwise.
* Either way, we could begin our life in Japan with *some* amount of financial breathing room.
* One or both of us could secure work in advance (most plausibly English teaching, from what I can tell) for an initial Visa. If *only one* of us secures a work visa at first, the other could come in on a spousal/dependent visa initially.
* Beyond that point, we would begin the journey of looking for long-term work options once in-country (which could well be teaching) and re-securing appropriate visas as needed.
* We would rather do this sooner than later, but we also aren’t in a rush. I don’t see this happening for 3-5 years, so we have time to prepare.
* We intend to learn Japanese *in advance* of moving to Japan, aiming for N3 fluency at a minimum.
**My question**
* Given our specific circumstances, does anyone who is established in Japan have some advice or feedback for us? Maybe somebody traveled a similar path? Maybe there are obvious pitfalls I’m not seeing (or possibly even opportunities I’m not thinking of, given our financial nest egg).
Thanks very much!
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Onward to Japan? Seeking general advice and feedback.**
**A summary of my situation:**
*Thank you in advance for your patience in reading this.
* My wife and I are in our late 30s, and we’re considering a transition to life in Japan.
* We live in Canada (born here), and we are fortunate enough to own a home that is valued at around $550,000 USD.
* Our mortgage is small (about $750 USD/Month).
* We both have bachelor’s degrees from reputable Canadian universities.
* Mine is a Bachelor of Science (Psychology/Sociology), and hers is in Environment.
* We both work in administrative/managerial roles and have done so for around a decade (jobs completely unrelated to our degrees).
* I’m currently a Health and Safety Manager at a small company (I have no specific accreditations for that role. I just worked my way into it within the company). I work remotely for the most part.
* She is currently a head receptionist at a large medical clinic.
* We grew up in a big city but we now live in a pleasant but small, boring, homogenous rural community. (Hockey, hunting, church… none of which *we* find particularly stimulating).
* We don’t want / cannot have children, and we’re planning our next steps in life.
* Staying here long-term isn’t really an option. We don’t want to languish away in a rural backwater without much culture/architecture/cuisine etc. Moving back into the city within Canada would be financial suicide due to absolutely wacky housing prices.
* We’ve both traveled a lot, including various trips to Japan. All told we’ve spent about 6 months there, spread throughout the country.
* We absolutely ***love*** it there for all the usual reasons (security, cleanliness, food, infrastructure, Buddhism, service quality etc.) I’ve dreamed of moving to Japan since I first visited 15 years ago. I think of Japan every day, and I dream about it regularly. Whenever I am there, I feel a measure of peace that no other place on Earth has provided me.
* We are well aware of some not-so-great aspects of the country (xenophobia, work ethic norms, forms and bureaucracy, mega hot and humid summers, etc.) and I believe we have a sober appreciation of those drawbacks. I am also mindful that living there will be different than traveling there.
**How we see it possibly working**
*First approximation
* We could rent out our house in Canada and after expenses (taxes/property manager etc.) have around $1,000-$1,200 USD of passive income monthly while in Japan (this is preferable, to hold onto our foothold in Canada as an escape hatch if the move is a mistake). From what my research indicates so far, this *could* cover most or all of our rent/utilities monthly.
* Alternatively, we could sell our house in Canada and have $200,000 USD in-pocket when we enter Japan. I’m not sure yet what we would do with that exactly. Buying a home in Japan is interesting, but I don’t think we would want to lock ourselves in geographically for a while. Also, I’m aware that home value depreciates in Japan, so this seems unwise.
* Either way, we could begin our life in Japan with *some* amount of financial breathing room.
* One or both of us could secure work in advance (most plausibly English teaching, from what I can tell) for an initial Visa. If *only one* of us secures a work visa at first, the other could come in on a spousal/dependent visa initially.
* Beyond that point, we would begin the journey of looking for long-term work options once in-country (which could well be teaching) and re-securing appropriate visas as needed.
* We would rather do this sooner than later, but we also aren’t in a rush. I don’t see this happening for 3-5 years, so we have time to prepare.
* We intend to learn Japanese *in advance* of moving to Japan, aiming for N3 fluency at a minimum.
**My question**
* Given our specific circumstances, does anyone who is established in Japan have some advice or feedback for us? Maybe somebody traveled a similar path? Maybe there are obvious pitfalls I’m not seeing (or possibly even opportunities I’m not thinking of, given our financial nest egg).
Thanks very much!
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There isn’t necessarily a problem with the plan as is, but more so if you guys will actually like the reality.
With your degrees and backgrounds, really your only option for employment will be in teaching.
This isn’t even like “good” teaching either. It’s basically ALT/Eikawa work. Can be fulfilling for a bit, but if you’d want to move up to better schools and actually teach you’d most likely need some publications in addition to a masters degree.
The salaries for the types of jobs you would be able to get are okay but not great IMO.
Your plan for learning the language is great, but definitely shoot for above N3 especially since you are planning for a long term move.
I’d honestly just rent your house out and pocket the passive income. Most people who move to Japan as expats do not end up staying. And to enjoy more of your time while you are here, that income could supplement the teaching salaries nicely.
Lastly, shoot for some more time in country. I’ve made it a point to max out my visa every year as much as possible and have about 4 years of time in Japan over the last 8. Going to be going back for 3 months from Oct-Dec this year as well.
The 6 months you have spent is definitely more than a lot of people who post, so I believe you do actually have an idea of the life you can have in Japan; but more time over there never hurts as long as you can swing it.
I normally recommend someone getting a year or so total.
Depending on how tech minded you are, a great way to get into Japan is to have a tech background that you’ve built in your home country and then try to go over in IT or as a software developer.
If you were on a 5 year timeline, you could take some supplemental courses through university or a bootcamp, etc. since you already have a degree.
Try to get into a tech role in Canada and lock in 2-3 years of experience.
Then you can try to get hired in Japan directly that way. Skipping the teaching (unless that’s something you really want to do) and actually commanding a really good salary. Probably enough for you guys to make it pretty comfortably on one income.
Agree with Sarfanadia. Visiting Japan and living there are different things and I’m not sure you will like the actual living part. Most people from developed countries eventually move back for a reason.
In the end it all boils down to you finding a job in Japan. With N3 it may be problematic, but you also won’t get a visa without a job either. Teaching English is a job with high competition and not exactly famous for good employment practices, however it’s the easy way to get into the market.
Your idea to leave the house back home as a passive income makes a lot of sense. It’s up to you to move or not, but the older you get the less appealing Japan becomes and it may be a step to move somewhere else, not the final destination for that reason.