RetireJapan

Sakuramochi wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:24 am Especially as it’s a Danchi, so government run.

Off topic:
I guess the word danchi has different meanings in different areas of Japan. In Hiroshima at least, it refers to a residential area (mostly standalone houses) especially on a hillside or hilltop, nothing to do with the government.

One thing to be careful of with home loans are the handling fees. Some banks, like Aeon, offer two ways to pay for the handling fees 1) 2.2% of the total amount loaned (with a minimum fee of 220,000) or 2) or a flat fee of 110,000 and a 0.2% increase in interest. We plan to pay off the loan as fast ...

beanhead wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 8:14 am I had been thinking about getting some of this for a while, and just bought some today. Let's see how good this new-fangled technology is!

It's nice a cool when you lay down ... but it's not magic, it heats up as you lay on it like any other sheet. Still it's probably better than nothing.

Living in Hiroshima, I haven't had any network or internet speed issues ... but I can't say what it's likely in more densely populated places.

UQ mobile doesn't require an app to use the "free" phone calls included in each plan, you are also able to set up visual voicemail on UQ (although you have to pay for some extra service to enable it). Not having to use an app to make phone calls, the ability to tether and visual voicemail ...

Wasn't sure what board to put this in, so I just went with general. My wife and I just built a new house, and as such we will have 13 years of tax adjustments based on the remaining amount of the loan/value of the property. I'm thinking of investing each of these tax refunds, and then once the tax b...

Building a home made me break. The amount of 住民票s and 印鑑証明書s needed for all the paper work, being able to print them at the convenience store was a blessing, that and the 5000 rakuten points was also a nice bonus.

I have a shitty android phone with an Australian SIM card in it for 2FA. I signed up for it prepaid, and it has a 1 year expiration on the credit, so I just top it up with 30AUD every year to keep it going.

Pretty sure the only cashless payment system available at Costco is credit card. The credit card terminals have no nfc section, so I imagine Apple Pay et al are still a while away.

Butterball wrote: ↑Sat Mar 13, 2021 4:14 pm Holding bonds is getting closer and closer to holding cash (for Japanese bonds it's worse!).

I would guess a 0.09% return on 10 years for JGBs is better than holding cash in most banks in Japan (although I haven't gone searching for the best rates available for savings accounts).