Quote:
Originally Posted by godwine
A question that MMM can help answer.
Have you heard of anyone that will plan their retirement in Japan (non Japanese of course). See the thing is, I pretty much gave up on the ideas of finding a job or building my career in Japan (Unless an offer shows up without myself looking). But I was thinking of retiring there instead. My plan is to:
1. Start saving!
2. Sell both my houses
3. Sell my cars (Probably worth nothing then)
3. Take out all my retirement funds and such
Then I will see how I can enter Japan. I want to do the following if possible:
1. Do some sort of things related to Karate
2. Get a used RV or somethign that size and convert it myself, drive across Japan to take pictures (Free lance photographer)
3. OR, work as a photographer for themeparks
Is this even possible?
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You know, I don't think I ever saw an RV in Japan. They wouldn't fit on the narrow roads there! If they do have them at all, they are probably very rare.
What kind of visa will you get if you're retired? A Japanese person or business will probably still need to sponsor and vouch for you, which would typically be your employer, but if you aren't working... And a job like themepark photographer is not something a business will go through the hassle of sponsoring a foreigner for, they'll just hire a Japanese kid to do it.
While I'm sure you could go there for vacations, I think you might have a hard time getting the paperwork to let you retire there permanently.
1 last thing... I can't recall if or how long you've lived in Japan before, how much you know of the language, culture, etc, but living there long term is VERY different than just visiting. I love Japan, and I'm glad I stayed there 2 years, but by that time, I was ready to come home. For most people, homesickness eventually sets in, and things that were once unique and exciting become routine, annoyances that were once fairly easily brushed aside become major frustrations, and the pull of the old and familiar that you grew up with begins to outweigh the once new and exotic of Japan. It is hard to be forever a foreigner, and not really being fluent in the language. That was one of the biggest pains for me, even though I traded English for Japanese lessons once a week, I had at most a kindergartner's level of Japanese (I knew none when I arrived), and while you can get by, do shopping, travel, order food, etc on that amount of Japanese, you'll need assistance for many more complicated things, and you won't be able to have deep, meaningful conversations that truly express what you are feeling to 95% of the people around you, unless they speak English well. You'll have trouble reading some (many) signs and just get the gist of newspapers and TV, and all the manga and anime is in Japanese only too. Now, if you are already completely fluent, these may not apply to you, but you will likely still miss your friends, family, and familiar culture back home eventually.
What I'm saying is, saving up for your retirement, which is supposed to sustain you the rest of your life, and then selling everything you own and moving to a very different foreign country for the rest of your life if you don't know what long-term (years, I mean) life is really like there, may not be the best move.