r/JapanFinance

My Japanese relatives told me that basically they get a new iPhone every 2 years but only pay about 1000 yen a month for the keitai plan. They do this by switching carriers every 2 years and returning the phone at that time when they get a new one .

They claim no down payment, no monthly fee other than the monthly keitai/data fee of about 1000yen month, no electricity/gas tie in, no home internet tie in...

I'm puzzled as to whether this can actually exist. I've only ever seen it including a monthly fee for the phone.

New iPhone every 2 years, no down payment, no monthly fee for the phone, no tie ins, no fee other than equivalent to an MNVO basic plan..

So I'm doubtful .But, I remember being doubtful that Furusato Nosei exists as it's too good to be true, and it does!

So, Japan Finance peeps, is there some magic I am missing?

Upshot: I am wondering what to do with ¥50 million plus a few more years of earnings.

My wife and I are both PR with two Japanese kids. We bought a house in Tokyo on my 52nd birthday in 2021 and my income started cratering immediately as COVID set in. I worked every waking moment, making about 40% of my previous income, just to cover loan payments and utility bills while leaning on my wife to feed, clothe, and educate our kids.

We eventually decided to sell our home in Tokyo and move to Shizuoka, where my wife had found and purchased, entirely from her cash savings, a beautiful house in a mountain hamlet. I then inherited some money from my mother and bought House Number 3 on a neighboring mountain to live in while we renovated and set up House Number 2 as a vacation rental.

It took forever to get a free moment to empty out House 1 in Tokyo to put it on the market, but it did sell and we're clearing about ¥50 million after paying off the loan and capital gains tax.

The wife and I are debating how to go forward. She is focused on developing more rental properties and starting various businesses (and she has absolutely batted 1.000 with her real estate and entrepreneurial moves so far). I have converted my insane working hours to insane commuting hours to continue working in Tokyo through 2028. My salary is garbage but at least now I won't have to devote my entire paycheck to loan repayments.

Our situation is:

- No savings; staying afloat in Tokyo since 2021 cost me everything I had

- No debts after House 1 closes this month

- We are living in House 3, which will get a lot of weekend renovation

- Two old cars (2015 kei car and 2000 truck), running fine, paid off

- Will earn ¥5M to ¥6.5M from my jobs and business income over the next year

- We eat out about four times a year (birthdays) at chain sushi restaurants and never travel or take vacations. It would be nice for the kids to visit their remaining grandparent in Thailand sometime next year.

- Hoping to pay for the kids' university over the next ten years

- House 2 is paying for itself and putting food on the table as a vacation rental; we run it ourselves.

- My wife is 46, kids are 16 and 13.

- We pay into 国民年金 but I have no idea what I'd get if I retired at 60 (three years from now) or 65 or 70

- I would like to stop commuting into Tokyo (other than for one-off jobs), resuscitate my one-man company and work entirely from home within the next few years, until I die or whatever.

Astute readers will discern that I am a financial doofus. I'm sure I've omitted something important from the preceding, but this is too long already. My wife grew up poor and is frugal and shrewd as hell but utterly mistrustful of financial/investment markets, so we have some blind spots where money management is concerned. I am wondering what to do with ¥50 million plus a few more years of earnings.

Hi all,

I've applied for extension of stay, but it's looking highly likely it will take longer than the valid period of current status. This process is all online, so I only have the email from immigration.

Do any of the banks (in my case I have accounts with Yucho, Sony & SMBC(not Prestia)) accept this document and give you 2 months extra?

If not, I wanted to know what happens when the bank account is frozen? Do my automated salary deposits go in? What about automated withdrawals for credit card bill payments?

I guess without access to any bank accounts I can't manually pay credit card bills even if I have the cash, or is that possible?

Hi all,
Got redirected to here.

My wife got a job in Japan, we are moving next year. I’m joining on a dependent visa so am semi but not fully free to do what I want. I am self-employed in Europe as a consultant/cfo, and won’t have a real problem continuing this from Japan.

Is anybody in the same boat, being self-employed/working internationally on a dependent visa? Would love to hear some experiences, tips, things to take into consideration, …

I plan to send money to my parents back home and found out that i can file for dependent tax exemption next year. I've read the documents in National Tax Agency website, but there are things that confuses me, so i want to ask to clarify some things:

-Are 380k Yen deduction, limited to one person? that means if i cumulatively send about 400k for 2 people, but each only received 200k Yen, then it means i am not eligible for deduction?

-And because it's already October now, that means i have to send 380.000 within this year so i can get the deduction?

-I've read in some site that it's only eligible for people earning under 9.000.000 yen (<10.950.000 yen salary) My salary is 10.800.000 yen / year. I'm not sure what my earning is, so am i even eligible for the deduction? There is no information on NTA site regarding this.