RetireJapan

howdi y'all I have a few things to add based upon the following knowledge base 1 we bought our apartment 13 years ago 2 we lived in a house prior to that time and still maintain it to this day I much prefer the apartment but I'm from an urban place so naturally feel more at ease there. Some of the c...

yeah I just can't get my nut around it. the solution is SO BLIPPING SIMPLE its almost a willfull disregard of the laws of nature I won't start on the men in black suits turning the office AC down to 24 or so, forcing others to wear sweaters in summer rather humorous if not so sadly serious enjoy bli...

... ... However the property tax is outrageous and only goes higher just about every year. In fact my wife often will not read any letters from the tax folks in the evening as they cause her to become upset and lie awake at night. Its going to get worse too. MUCH worse so be prepared for that. ... ...

Hello everyone, I hope you are able to stay cool this summer. Its a subject that has been bothering me for a number of years so I thought I would share some thoughts about it. Shade is the solution. I don't know how, when or why it happened in Japan but metro areas in this country are barren of any ...

Has anyone had any luck finding better insurance ? Crikey the rates are high. Earthquake payouts cover perhaps the cost of clearing out the collapsed house and not much more than that. The fire payouts are decent enough so at least we don't have to worry about burning someone else out of their house...

We use Yahoo BB. Its been relatively smooth but recently the service has taken a nose dive. Clearing the cache did help matters, as did unplugging the modem. A competing regional company rep stopped by the other day claiming they were cheaper and just as fast. I passed on the opportunity, but kept t...

I have some questions that perhaps will help us all better understand your decision making. Why are you choosing a new property ? How old is "not too old" ? I ask because in general the Japanese consumer favor new buildings which places a premium on them. Traveling during Golden week is a ...

We had 3 lenders ready to loan us the money for our apt We ended up going with the local credit union because they had treated us fairly throughout our life here in the archipelago. A regional bank said they would accept our loan only if we switched all our business to their bank. It was an interest...

Howdi, in my book the length of your loan is a major factor in deciding between the 2 flavors. We took out a 20 year loan with the first 10 year fixed because I mistakenly believed (at the time) that inflation was coming. It wasn't and I lost some money in doing so. However we all make the call when...