u/LividHH

Hello,

Is there still a way to keep a relaxed lifestyle, while moving to Japan? It seems like with the recent changes to the business manager visa everyone except upper class are aggressively priced out of that.

I don't talk about not working at all, but setting your own deadlines and goals while being a small business owner or freelancer - like working around 20 hours a week and still earning more than the average.

I have friends, who are digital artists and moved there on a business manager visa, and they had to work much more than they actually needed money-wise just to meet the new requirements.

It seems like Japan, among other countries, explicitly pushes people towards burnout. A lot of Japanese seem to take pride in the fact that they have no time for anything except their corporate jobs. I am from Northern Europe, and I don't approve of such exploitation.

Is there no way to move to Japan and still have the control of the amount of work that you have to do (apart from investing 200k euro in a business that doesn't even need that much money)?

Hello,

I have started to notice in articles, interviews and on YouTube that Japanese, especially older ones, are somewhat annoyed with financially independent foreigners.

Obviously, it is reflected in the recent changes to a business manager visa too.

I have a couple of friends who have moved to Japan a year ago and opened a creative agency: providing visdev, illustration e.t.c for animation and game studios. They spent around 150 000 euro initially, and had to find commissions for another 200k the first year of their operation because of the changes to the business manager visa. Now they had to find 100k more to meet the requirements on practice (due to accounting quirks, the first 200 000 wasn't enough).

At the same time, everyone is talking about how Japan needs a labour force for manufacturing, service and such.

Even on this sub-Reddit, people who plan to avoid employment in a Japanese company are often met with open aggression.

This seems strange to me. Here, in the EU, independent, creative and entrepreneurial foreigners are much more welcome than the rest.

Are artists, freelancers, small business owners and other not-corporate-workers not welcome in Japan? What is the reason? Envy for the independence from the local work culture?

Some people from the interviews couldn't hide their strong hatred and disdain of ones who don't work 9-5.

Hello,

Does anyone know the legal status of income from Patreon, Pixiv and such.

I have a freelance bank account in my country - Estonia, from which the taxes are deducted. I receive my income from subscription services and other freelance work there.

Does it come in conflict with a student visa?

Technically, I don't even have to work to continue receiving that income, since it's not actually wage. But also, compared to part-time work in a conbini or something, how would they even check for how long I have been drawing and if that was a commercial work or not?

Also, depending on the income level, is a business management visa the only way for me to stay there and continue doing what I have been doing after the language course?

Pixiv is a Japanese service - does it count as a client, for example? Or do I have to look for traditional ones there - like book publishers and such? Can I start a company with a Japanese national, if I can find such a person via networking, and stay on this basis?

The recent changes to migration policies have jumbled everything.