Thinking about retiring in Japan: what am I looking forward to? What am I afraid of?

[@kazuwilliams5222]

I'm looking forward to retiring to a safe city / country. Additionally, I've always wanted to be fluent in Japanese as my mother is a national, but we moved to the states about 50 years ago. Now, I'm almost the age of retirement so am excited to spend my retirement traveling around Japan. In the past, I took ferries to disembark in port towns. I brought my bicycle on the ferries. I found it fun to ride my bike off the ferry and explore different islands, cities, etc. Cycling around Japan was very safe and the food was amazing. My only fear is that obtaining residency won't be as smooth as I hope. Thanks again for another candid video.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

I am really hoping to travel around Japan slowly someday (walking/cycling).

[@GregK235]

Already retired, but planning to move to Kyushu in the next 12-18 months. Your video helped bring more things to attention. Access to quality and specialized medical and veterinary care is a major consideration in choosing where to live. At the moment, immersed in getting the house ready for sale and figuring how to organize legal and financial matters. As a history buff, looking forward to visit some of the places I've read about. My favorite place is still Hiraizumi, up in Iwate. Was always awestruck that I was walking in the same "space" where the Oshu Fujiwara, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and Matsuo Basho had been. Great exercise for the imagination.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Kyushu is great. I would be tempted myself, but am slightly put off by the climate. Given how hot it is getting here in Miyagi though, maybe it wouldn't make much difference now...

[@danieldroukis5431]

Very intereting. Of course I promised my wife that I would stay in Japan. She spoke English very well but her heart was here so I promised to stay here. Unfortunately, she died last year In January. I cannot in my heart leave her. People have told me that spirits are not reduced to being in one area and that no matter where I go she would be there. Sounds good but I can't do it. There is support from government for those who have no one. We didn't have children so I am in this category. Every month a nice young lady comes and talks to me about life and any problems I might have. I can also call if I have any needs. I am 68 and still teach a little but I greatly reduced work from this year and hopefully I will not need to go out to work in the future. Financially, I am fine and don't need to work but it gets me out of the house, I lost my mother a few years ago and my only sister passed two months after my wife so I sold my house in America , I am here for the long haul I do know some people but not that many and often spend days when I talk to virtually no one so that will be a problem. I'd imagine that if I returned to the States I would be in the same boat so here I stay alone and dealing with it as best I can.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Yes, for me as well I think it would be just as lonely or more so if I went back to the UK. Better to try to make a go of it here in Japan.

[@mrsoikawa]

Take care man. it sounds like it's been really tough for you recently. Which part of Japan are you in?

[@danieldroukis5431]

@@mrsoikawa Kitakyushu

[@ShikokuFoodForest]

I share all of your thoughts considering the option of retiring in Japan. I’ve lived in Japan since spring of 2011 and own a home and land here, but couldn’t apply for PR as a result of Covid job difficulties and department closures. The biggest concern of mine is retiring with no close relationships or friendships at all. Unlike you, I do not have a wife and kids in Japan and because building relationships with Japanese is near impossible, I am very reluctant retiring in a country where I’m sure I’d remain living in social isolation.That alone is not something I would want in my retirement. I do enjoy my hobbies, but hobbies are not enough if you are doing them alone every weekend or every day.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

It's definitely a worry. Not sure I would be much better off anywhere else though. And I find doing hobbies with a group can give you people to hang out with, at least. I have a bunch of not quite friends, but at least jiu-jitsu buddies through that, as well as a few local friends, both Japanese and non-Japanese. But ending up lonely in old age is certainly a possibility.

[@jasonsmith6106]

Enjoy these candid videos. We live in Sapporo and will need to make the move to Tokyo this year for work. We're a little worried about the natural disaster thing moving down to Honshu. Sapporo / Hokkaido doesn't "seem" to have as many as the mainland and so it's influencing my concern a little about where we base ourselves in Tokyo from a topographical and accessibility to emergency amenities point of view. Hadn't really thought about the friends piece much either until you mentioned it. Might need to give that some thought...enjoying the content!

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Thanks! Definitely worth being deliberate in where you choose to live in Tokyo. Good luck with the move 😀

[@CB-sx8xh]

Not planning to retire in Japan but once I retire I would like to spend more time in Japan, and visit for a few months at a time instead of a few weeks at a time.

[@softypapa]

Thank you for the video and for sharing about your plans and asking about our plans. I'm a new viewer to your channel and excited to learn. My Japanese wife and I are retiring this year. My wife's retirement party was yesterday, in fact! And we are planning to return to Japan in May and December, respectively to settle down for good. Our grown daughter is also moving back to Japan, to Tokyo where she will start her first post-university job. My question for you is about managing income originating overseas. In our case, our retirement income will come from my pension and my wife and my social security as well as our IRA investments. Will we need to pay taxes in Japan or mainly in the United States given that the money is all originating from the United States? It seems like we should be paying in Japan, given that we will be using the Japanese infrastructure. But I'm not sure how this will work since all of the money is coming from the United States. Your thoughts and experience and recommendation about this are very much appreciated. Thank you in advance. I’m very happy that I found your KZbin channel! 😊

[@emikami1]

US Japan Tax treaty article 17 covers most pension payment. If you live in Japan, you generally pay tax to Japan but for US Citizens and US Green card holder, article 1 paragraph 4a applies (US Savings Clause) which allows US to tax its Citizens and US Green card holders even if they live in Japan. To avoid double taxation, article 23 covers special rules for foreign tax credit that allow re-sourcing US income as if it is originating from a foreign country. By doing so, it allows you to claim the foreign tax credit even on US sourced income such as US IRA and US Social Security payments. The re-sourcing is limited to only the amount necessary to avoid the double taxation without any foreign tax credit carry over if for example, the Japanese tax is higher than the US tax for the same income. Practical implication is that it leans toward higher taxation. If you were working for the US Government, US State Government, or US local government and receiving pension (other than from US Social Security), such pension income is covered by article 18 which if you are a US Citizen and living in Japan, it is taxed only in Japan. However, if you are a Japanese citizen, such pension reverts back to article 17 and it is taxed in Japan. Article 1 defines that only National Income tax (Shotoku zei) and corporate income tax (Houjin zei) is covered in the US Japan tax treaty thus excludes any claims for local inhabitant tax (jyumin zei). This means, even if your pension covered in article 18, you still owe Japanese local inhabitant tax and also health insurance and long-term care insurance based on income even though that pension is exempt from Shotoku zei. US Bank interest is very similar to article 17 pension in the sense it is taxed in Japan and if you are a US Citizen or Green card holder, taxed in US with re-source by treaty rights to reduce/eliminate double taxation at Shotoku zei level. Capital gains on US Stocks, US bonds, US mutual funds, etc. are generally considered Japan sourced if you are living in Japan, thus such income is in the passive foreign income category on US foreign tax credit form 1116 (no re-sourcing by treaty). US Stock Dividends are a bit different--up to the first 10% is taxed in the US which means, for that amount, foreign tax credit needs to be claimed on the Japanese tax return (within its limits of Japanese tax law), but if the tax in the US is higher than 10%, the portion that exceeds 10% needs to be re-sourced by treaty to claim foreign tax credit on the US side. The big gotcha US bank deposits is that from Japan's standpoint, holding US dollar is holding foreign currency. Currency gains are considered taxable but currency loss can only cancel currency gain in the same year (no carry over). As ridiculously as it sounds, every time you spend US Dollar, buy a US or other investment with it, pay US or other tax with it, buy a different currency with it (not just yen), etc., it creates a currency gain or loss for Japanese tax purpose if you are living in Japan. Realistically, not sure how far they'll come people with such matters especially if the balance is very small. One approach to reduce question of currency gain (especially now with 151 yen/USD) is to move the money into US Money Market Fund before moving to Japan. From Japan's standpoint, even USD money market fund is a "bond" fund thus the currency gain/loss are capital gain and capital loss for that fund. So at 151 yen/USD right now, you erased all of the currency gain up that point from Japanese taxation purpose and if the yen starts to appreciate against the USD, the realize loss when you take money out of that money market fund is a capital loss than is eligible to be carried over for 3 years if there is an excess of capital gains from other source such as other mutual funds, ETF, stocks, etc. The other (usual) side benefit with Money Market fund over US bank deposit is that for Japanese tax, the interest from Money Market fund is treated as separation tax (bunri kazei) taxed at a flat 15.315% Shotoku zei + 5% Jyumin zei. For US bank interest, the income is miscellenous income (Zatsu shotoku) in comprehensive tax system (Sogo Kazei) with its excessively progressive tax rate (Chyoka Ruishin Kazei). As you can see, it is ridiculously complicated and since your intent is to live in Japan, make sure to have your wife exit from the US tax system by giving up her Green card and filing appropriately for US tax purpose. You won't be able to use Joint filing anymore for US tax, but it eliminates headaches for her in the long run. Those with $2 million or more in assets who had a green card for 8 years or longer in the last 15 years who gives that green card up are US Covered Expatriate who might be subject to deemed sale for financial assets and pay capital gains tax to the US (Expatriation tax form 8854) but there is a $821,000 exclusion of the gain for that deemed sale purpose as of 2023 tax year. As a US Covered Expatriate, there's a requirement to have US tax withholding 30% from US retirement plan (such as 401(k)), but this amount can be refunded simply by filing a 1040-NR by April in the following year. The US Japan Tax treaty, article 1, 4b has a savings clause for US Expatriate but that paragraph is obsolete because the term used for it only covers IRC 877 US Expatriates and not those expatriating right now under IRC 877A. As such, a Japanese Citizen who become a US Expatriate by giving up their green card still retains the right that pension payment paid to her is taxable only in Japan under article 17. When filing form 8854 to expatriate, you agree to waive the rights to reduce or eliminate the 30% tax withholding but it does not in any way restrict to claims of refund for such tax withholding when filing form 1040-NR.

[@marklorenz4302]

This was really positive and balanced with some really good takes (e.g., alternate times/off-peak). The friends thing is a biggie and that is something that probably needs to be weighted quite heavily but gets more difficult with age. Cheers for the vid.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Thanks for watching!

[@nipponfraser2383]

I plan on settling down in Japan after my retirement from the military and all the points you mentioned have been on my list of pros/cons; but compared to living in the U.S., it’s much much better overall imho. The safety and cost of living are the biggest factors that make Japan much more attractive than America, but the natural disasters are scary, but not enough to deter me.

[@TiatheDreamer4ever]

New subscriber! So glad found this channel. Hubby and I are moving back to Japan and looking to retire there eventually

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Fantastic! Let me know if you have any ideas for videos you'd like to see.

[@nickjgodwin]

Excellent video, Ben. I think I agree on almost all fronts. I'm currently living in Tokyo but have even been contemplating moving to a part of Japan with (historically) fewer occurances of natural disasters, since all of my work is done online. The lonliness point also really hits deep. While I have 'friends' through various group activities, it feels more distant that the friendships I have in the UK. This is something compounded by my online work situation, so I'll need to put real effort in to developing these relationships over the ensuing decades here.

[@PS-eq6xe]

My Japanese born husband & I plan to retire in Japan. We dont have children. For me, loneliness is a big issue. I wish Japan had nice luxury independent retirement homes like we see in Australia (not the typical depressing hospital like old age homes we see in Japan). All foreigners feeling lonely can live together in those retirement homes.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Very much depends on your budget. Full range of options here in Japan.

[@PS-eq6xe]

@RetireJapan_OG Oh, I didn't know they had a full range of options here.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

@@PS-eq6xe The silver market is huge in Japan. There are options for every budget.

[@jamescorbett5729]

Is there an option of retirement homes for foreigners?

[@PS-eq6xe]

@jamescorbett5729 I have been researching on google, but I can't seem to find any good retirement homes in Japan . Looks like there are multiple nursing homes for elderly but there is nothing available for 50+ independent retirement.

[@mickohagan861]

Good stuff, Ben. I relate to most of your points, both the pros and cons. One growing concern of mine is the possibility of some kind of assisted living situation and not being able to communicate needs or wants properly. Possibly, and hopefully, AI and continued translation software improvements will make this a moot point.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Yeah, a huge issue. Think my next video is going to be about this 😀

[@GTV-Japan]

I live in Fukushima until March 11, 2011 and I can’t imagine going through that again at any age. After it was over, many who were forced to leave did get set up in UR housing for a while but if you’re over 70 then there’s just no way to rebuild. You just never know when it’s going to happen.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

It's one motivation for me to get myself as financially bulletproof as possible.

[@GTV-Japan]

@@RetireJapan_OGin a way though it helped because there was Noooooo way on earth ever I could save enough to buy a house while renting at the same time. So a nice 5 year rent free run was worth the whole thing.

[@lblg4167]

very interesting point of view... For me, after 25 years in Japan, I just don't have the choice anymore to leave the country. Once you settle down, have children etc... there is no point of return. Anyway, I share you pros points, but I am not worried so much about the disaster threat. It is part of the environment here, we have to deal with together, and my experience with the 3/11 is that I felt very connected with the people. I never had the impression to be left alone, everybody was facing the adversity with courage and dignity. Japanese people can be very difficult to understand when it comes to child abduction issues but for anything related with resilience during tough time, I think they are fantastic. About medical care, I agree that basic 医者 can be very... basic, but I have experienced a heavy surgery as well as strong illness (one day in intensive care, just before covid), but they managed it at top level. I even sent the result of my surgery to a Professor in France who told me that the work done was top class... I am rather confident that the doctors in the big hospitals are decently competent...

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Completely agree. My experience with Japanese health care is that they are good at emergency situations, but less good at managing chronic or complex issues (I'm sure this is the same in many countries). So they will keep you alive but maybe not be as focused on your comfort or quality of life 😅

[@Zante_on_google]

I would be interested in some information regarding retiring TO Japan (from abroad). My wife is Japanese, and we're currently living in Europe. We're looking at Matsuyama (for the moment at least) for our retirement, on my Euro pension.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

That's a good idea. I get a lot of enquiries about that, but it's not part of our core mission. Might be good to have one video on the topic though 😀

[@RetireJapan_OG]

The good news is that you have the most difficult part (getting a visa) covered if you have a Japanese spouse 😎

[@emikami1]

This is a good summary of things to think about when deciding where to actually retire. Japan certainly has an aging population problem which is putting huge stress in healthcare and long-term care costs. The current government solution seems to be spread the cost to the younger working population, raise the retirement age, cut retirement benefits using "macro slide formula" (excuse that we can't pay based on inflation, so we'll pay based partly on inflow), so that the elderly can get the service they need without all of them going on welfare. The other issue in the last few decades is the wages not going up as much as other countries. That in implies there's a smaller salary base to try to raise or insurance premiums and not enough rich people to tax upon because they already raised their inheritance tax to a level to drive them out of the country. If this cycle continues, the country can go bankrupt. The expansion of NISA limits is a good start to try to combat this issue of lack of growth but maybe this should have been done many years earlier. Hopefully, it isn't too late as it impacts not just Japan but because we are all globally linked economically around the world. Most developed countries have similar issue to varying degrees, but Japan seems to have much bigger challenges ahead.

[@morganp7238]

Good summary. A more in-depth at the life of an elderly person would be most important. End-of-Life Care seems quite harsh even on the Japanese. I had neighbours dying off within a year or two when taken into the hands of the government. Moreover, would a foreigner be eventually booted off in that scenario? There is also the issue of how to resolve all financial ties to Japan (including property) if one becomes senile and repatriation is forced upon you.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

I don't think repatriation is something I need to worry about. Permanent residence or citizenship should protect against that, and there would be no practical reason to leave (I don't really have family in the UK but do here).

[@morganp7238]

​@@RetireJapan_OG Have you considered private End-of-Life Care in Japan or are you counting on your Japanese family for that?

[@RetireJapan_OG]

@@morganp7238 I'm (hopefully) at least 30 years away from that. Given advances in AI and robotics etc. I am hopeful that we'll have more options at that point. If I'm lucky some of my grandkids might be around to keep an eye on me. Hiring private help should also be an option. And I don't intend to live past a certain quality of life decline. I am guessing we'll have more permissive euthanasia options by then (a la PLAN75: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_75)

[@jsmith6259]

Thank you for your channel how old are you ? you don’t look like you’re close to even 60/65

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Thank you! I am 46 in your human years 😁

[@ep6944]

Hello, thank you for your very interesting videos. I have a question that I have never seen in other places: how do you prepare for death in Japan if you are not married to a Japanese person? Some of my japanese friends experienced the loss of family members, so I heard about this topic. But what should we be careful of for our own last travel? How much would it cost? How about the burial place? If the topic is interesting for you, or if you have information, would you share it with us? Thank you 🙇‍♀️

[@joefroelich4934]

Could you do a video of different Visa options.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Not really my area of expertise. If you are planning to retire here it would be best to get an unconditional status of residence like PR or citizenship. If you are not in Japan yet you'll likely need to get a working visa, spouse visa, or student visa in order to come here.

[@casakaiser]

I kind of feel that a lot of the negatives can apply in many other places as well. I didn’t have that many friends when living in Spain or the Netherlands either. And in Japan in a certain way you have more group activities for elderly one could join. A point that scares me a bit is language. I speak Japanese reasonably well and use it every day at work but it is nowhere as good as my English or other languages I speak. So when I retire (hopefully in about 4 years) I want to go back to language school and learn more. Specially reading. Which now I rarely do. I agree with you on the safety, and cheap living (although rent/house prices in Tokyo aren’t cheap) and the general good organization of the society. I also don’t think that Japan has a good economic future and that’s because there are only few people with a real vision and hardly any of them are politicians. So I do think that Japan will slowly degrade over time. Unfortunately.

[@Duke-mn2xm]

Hi, I am 52 years old and I will retire in 8 years. I have traveled several times all over Japan for holidays and I would like to retire in Japan 100%. However, the visa theme is not that good in Japan. I am thinking of finding a ready business to purchase in one of the major cities because I have a daughter who will have to attend an international school, and my question is investing 500K US$ in any kind of business that already has employees and a standard yearly profit, will help me obtain the visa immediately? My family's expenses will not depend on this business since I have fixed incomes from investments that will not cause me any future financial issues. My main wonder is if I will obtain the visa for sure or not. Shall I invest or not? I am not looking to start when I am almost 60 from scratch any business and I will not be in that mood anyway. Any idea or thought will be mostly welcome

[@RetireJapan_OG]

Sorry, visas are outside of our circle of competence! Good luck with the move though 😀

[@rafae5902]

Large natural disasters may or may not happen in our lifetimes. What would really worry me is Japanese healthcare. If you google it, you will see plenty of ppl complaining about it. And as more and more ppl get old and stop paying taxes, more stress the system will suffer and the quality may get even worse.

[@johnpiroz7075]

One big deal for me is, people that don’t know you, do not take you seriously. And you are always a “gaijin” no matter what your status is. Maybe just how do I feel 😢

[@RetireJapan_OG]

I haven't felt like that for a long time. Maybe I'm just lucky. I do feel Sendai has a better atmosphere than places that get more tourists.

[@emikami1]

The racial issue I think is mostly from cultural and language barrier rather than actual racial discrimination. That applies not just to Japan but in my experience in the US as well. In your case, you understand Japanese language well enough and probably most practical parts of Japanese culture as well. As a result, such misunderstanding of what may seem like racial discrimination does not happen to you. I am pure Japanese and live in the US and speak English fluently. I have never felt racially discriminated in the US. However, I hear about others who are not Caucasian, who don't speak English that well who feels the US has a discrimination problem. I saw a KZbin video about a foreigner visiting Japan, sat in a popular Japanese restaurant. He felt discriminated because he was speaking in his language over the phone and was asked to eat silently. The others according to this person in the table were louder and they weren't asked to eat silently. So he confronted the owner. The owner's explanation was "Kono gojizisei nano de..." (because of this day and age...reference to COVID concerns) but he didn't understand what COVID has anything to do with it. Not actually being there to see the event and just listening to the KZbinr explain the situation after the fact does not lead me to believe this was actual discrimination. My version of recreation of events are that he's leaving out something that he didn't consider. Perhaps, they had the tried to separate consumers by spreading them out to every other table. But because it was busy and didn't want to turn down anyone, he gave a table next to an occupied table. Because of the distance between customers were smaller, concern was spreading the virus thus by reducing conversation to a minimum in such confined area, he wanted to reduce such risk. In other words, he was just there at a busy time that barely got a seat for him. The "louder" group might have had been seated away from anyone else. So the concern was not the same as where he was seated at that time. That's my version of it. It's not that I expect everyone to learn a foreign language and culture to the point they can pass as a native, but at minimum I would like everyone to be aware that there are often misunderstanding that happens because of language and cultural barriers. On the US side, a Japanese person might be offended because Americans don't usually apologize for things even which were clearly their error. It stems from US's litigation society. Many states have passed "I'm sorry" law to allow for example a Physician to express empathy for patient's family by saying "I'm sorry" without fear of that being used in court for admission of any fault of their own professional action or lack of action.

[@RetireJapan_OG]

@@emikami1 That is a great point and kind of aligns with my experience/opinion. If you can speak Japanese at an adult level I think things become much easier. In fact, this has given me an idea for the next video 😁