RetireJapan

Noted so as long as I don’t remit to Japan my foreign income then I don’t need to declare. But once I have been here for 5 years within last 10 years then no matter if remit or not I will have to declare and pay tax. The fact that it is independent from visa status makes sense otherwise one could a...

I have had the same problem on a number of financial accounts and they usually either come down to:

(姓)　ラスト　(名)　ファーストミドル

or

(姓)　ラスト　(名)　ファースト

I agree with RetireJapan's comment. Because investments increase in value over time there is no mathematical advantage to spreading out your NISA/Junior NISA investments over the year. For that reason I make all of my NISA contributions in early January. Because many people working in Japan get a De...

Sure, a post explaining the landscape would be helpful just don't encourage too many purchases ;) . I do agree that home insurance, car insurance, etc are necessary and term life insurance if someone is relying on your income. Unfortunately, even that term life insurance seems to be quite expensive ...

The insurance industry in Japan dominates investment markets much more than in the US, but their products are generally terrible. Those attractice young ladies lined up around companies during the lunch hour are selling policies that cost much more than in the US (at least for life insurance) or are...

Resona Bank offers an Amundi Nikkei 225 index fund which does not generate any external dividends. It has an expense ratio close to 1% (like 0.83%) but has very slightly beat the index. If you can get it directly from Amundi you might avoid the Resona sales fee.

Form 8162 for Foreign Passive Investment Company reporting is not required for owning Japanese stocks. Compliance with FATCA and sending in FBAR's will be required but they are also required if the total of everything in your bank and brokerage accounts reaches $10,000 at any point in the year so al...

The taxes due are unlikely to be substantial. Assuming you are a US citizen and want to claim your son on your taxes (a $2000 tax credit starting in 2018), the process is easier if he gets a Social Security number and US citizenship. The dividends and capital gains from his Junior NISA (not taxable ...

I bought a home and land in Tokyo in 2001. I did not then have PR and my wife is not Japanese so it was very hard to get a mortgage, but I was eventually able to do so through connections in my company. Last year I had the home and land appraised and the home had lost over half it's value while the ...