I’m 26 and I’ve always wanted to live in rural Japan, own a small home and a bit of land to garden in. I currently live in US. What all would it take to make this dream a reality? How much money should I save up, what would expenses be (property taxes and whatnot), is it even possible to get permanent residence without getting a degree and work in big cities, etc? Ideally I would want to be able to live off my land and sell produce to pay for taxes or whatever expenses I would have.
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**How realistic is my dream?**
I’m 26 and I’ve always wanted to live in rural Japan, own a small home and a bit of land to garden in. I currently live in US. What all would it take to make this dream a reality? How much money should I save up, what would expenses be (property taxes and whatnot), is it even possible to get permanent residence without getting a degree and work in big cities, etc? Ideally I would want to be able to live off my land and sell produce to pay for taxes or whatever expenses I would have.
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If you marry a Japanese person, it would be easier to stay in Japan than convince them to live rurally😂 (I do live rurally though)
Once you get there property taxes and rural houses are cheap… I found a livable house (no land for 35k USD). Maybe 400 USD/ year taxes. We are wanting to start a sustainable community like this (still just an idea, we just moved back) Good luck!!!
In principle Japanese immigration requires that foreigners seeking residence in Japan have a primary purpose that requires them to live in Japan. This primary purpose can be something like ‘to work at a domestic company’, ‘to live with my legal spouse’, or ‘to reconnect with my documented Japanese heritage’.
A personal desire to live an agrarian lifestyle in rural Japan is unfortunately not a compelling enough reason for immigration to issue a visa nor grant a status of residence.
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>What all would it take to make this dream a reality?
You would need to qualify for a status of residence that is not tied to employment. There are basically three of these: Spouse of a Japanese national (or permanent resident); child/grandchild/great-grandchild of a Japanese national; or permanent resident.
The spouse and child options are fairly self explanatory. For permanent residence you would generally need to live in Japan for 10 years first and hold a status of residence that grants you the ability to work full time for at least 5 of those years. Then you’d be able to apply for permanent residence (there are other requirements, and there are shortcuts, but lets not get into those for now).
So, basically if you don’t qualify by family relations then you’ll need to get a job that can sponsor you to live and work in Japan for a number of years. While the basic requirement stated is a bachelors degree (and indeed, if you want to be an English teacher this is a fairly firm requirement) depending on the industry there are lesser levels of education that will meet immigrations requirements.
Without a degree, it’s really hard to be sponsored for a work visa. The only feasible option is marrying a Japanese citizen. However, you may not earn enough to support both yourself and your partner, so your partner would need to be financially well-off to provide for both of you. Therefore, if you are extremely attractive and manage to find such a person, your dream can come true.
not realistic. If your dream has always been to live in rural japan, then make a plan to make it happen. Just dreaming won’t get you anywhere – and hoping to get married is not a plan by the way