So who's actually retired in Japan?

[RetireJapan]

Also in 20-30 years if we don't have home helper robots with multilingual settings I will eat my hat

[SARS]

As mentioned above, one of the main concerns is the chance of being stranded in a country alone and along with cognitive decline, losing the ability to communicate (in Japanese).

This has never been a concern, and I just jumped online to do some research to ridicule the idea.

And now I am somewhat concerned. Dammit.
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/dementia- ... e-dementia

This is something real which happens to real people. For example, I know of a German-Japanese couple living in Germany and the Japanese wife lost their German language ability. Unfortunately the German husband can't speak a word of Japanese and so they now have to communicate verbally through a translator.

Also in 20-30 years if we don't have home helper robots with multilingual settings I will eat my hat

Google translate can already do that, I'm not sure the answer is to live life through apps and robots...

[RetireJapan]

Google translate can already do that, I'm not sure the answer is to live life through apps and robots...

Sure, but in my case my native language is English, I speak Japanese fairly well and half a dozen other languages, my wife's native language is Japanese and she speaks English fairly well.

Worst case scenario is one or both of us loses use of the other's language, so we'll end up relying on apps and robots whatever we do

And I think the nightmare scenario for many is ending up in an institution without being able to communicate well. My FIL has dementia (thankfully the kind where you regress to a happy childlike state, rather than the kind where you end up with murderous rages) and he has trouble communicating in Japanese sometimes. If losing your second language is a concern, having decent tech solutions should provide some peace of mind.

I think it's worth being aware of possible outcomes but the future is unclear and all we can do is make provisional plans until reality intrudes, eh?

[captainspoke]

It's been a while, but my older sis described the phases of retirement this way:

the go-go years,

the slow-go years, and

the no-go years.

[TJKansai]

Furthermore, at a certain age long-distance travel becomes difficult. My father is in his 80's and he came to Japan for a trip a couple of years ago. However, I flew him business class - yes he probably could have handled a one-off trip in economy, but it's not something most mid-80-year olds want to do regularly. My father is also very fit and strong relative to his peers, I'm not sure how someone in poor health would have handled such a long trip.

This is very true, hence the need for a nice retirement nest egg (and plenty of miles/points for business class fights) that will fund "extravagant travel." Of course if you are traveling in low-cost countries, paying $75 for a night at the Kathmandu Hyatt instead of $10 at a backpacker's shouldn't be too tough.

FYI: I chose backpackers since I was with my teenage son. Had it been my wife things would have been different...

[Ax6isB]

I don’t speak the language and find that not being “fully functional”, as I label myself, wears on me. We’ll likely have 2 bases but I envision that we’ll probably be 100% in the US or other English speaking country at some point. It’s not just a worry about managing cognitive decline, it’s that I can’t get stuff done that I want to get done and I can’t create the types of relationships that I desire. Perhaps I need to get out of Tokyo and into a smaller community where people know each other but I’m not sure that solves it either.

[Moneymatters]

Also in 20-30 years if we don't have home helper robots with multilingual settings I will eat my hat

Robot assistants that won't even eat a hat for you.
Looks like we're heading to a dystopian nightmare!

Great topic this btw.

My mum and my in-laws are in their 80s. All still drive and exercise. With that in mind I'm targetting independance and health for as long as possible so that hopefully it's only a short period of assisted care at home before the long kiss goodnight.
A while ago, I read that one of the biggest regrets of the very old (in Japan) is not starting regular exercise earlier.
So I'm putting in some consistent effort worrying about my lack of exercise. And hopeful some actual sustained effort exercising regularly starting in the near future.

Mental health wise, as I will retire here, along side some passion projects, I plan to join some sort of regular social endeavor away from my wife that isn't just drinking in the park and shouting at young people. Interestingly, my wife is far more concerned about me doing something "volunteery" more than the drinking/shouting in the park stuff. From my own perspective I think an increased sense of integration into society could help me from getting into a rut once work is removed from the equation.

Looking at my own father, after retiring before 60 in relatively good health, nestling in the bosum of mother england. Well he basically watched tv and mowed the lawn for about 25 years. Can't really say he actually did anything in retirement. There's nothing wrong with that. But I just don't want to look back on the same missed opportunity.

I should mention that I have already found a potential all seasons outdoor drinking group not far from the house as the plan B. Easy to join as spaces open up frequently enough or you just fight someone for their seat on the bench.

The dementia comments are a concern. But it doesn't really seem to hit my family so I don't think I'm going to let it drive any decisions. And if I lose my Japanese ability later on it won't affect my daily life as the only person whose Japanese I can't understand is my wife.

Maybe Ben will launch "RetiredJapan" so we can gather to complain about the cost of surgical supports and where to find cheap one cup sake..

[goodandbadjapan]

So I'm putting in some consistent effort worrying about my lack of exercise. And hopeful some actual sustained effort exercising regularly starting in the near future.

This has been me for a very long time!

[hbd]

A very good topic indeed. Hopefully people will continue jumping in with comments to continue this conversation. After all, if we've joined "Retire Japan", then in theory at least we're all thinking of doing just that.

But look around you: Where are the native English-speaking retirees in your locale/市村町？If you live in certain parts of Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto or Kobe (less so Osaka!) they won't be so hard to find, but elsewhere they're very thin on the ground. Compare that to the large numbers of elderly people of Korean and Chinese heritage (and these days Filipinos and Nikkei Brazilians, too), including first-generation migrants as well as people raised in Japan within those ethnic communities. For the most part they set up their retirement infrastructure well; namely, financial, physical and mental support systems operating in their own languages. Often they are appropriately bilingual systems, but the fundamental idea is to give those who choose to (or have no choice but to) retire in Japan a very strong embrace in the manner of the cultures they left behind, using language's power to ground identity and values as a core tool for sustaining well being.

I think Ben's work in establishing and maintaining this web community is a wonderful contribution, the huge significance of which will come to be appreciated with hindsight. (One imagines, Ben, that when you're deep into your retirement here someone will recommend you for an Imperial award for contributions to the ongoing enrichment of cultural diversity on these islands. Perhaps the equivalent of the Koala Stamp with Gumleaf Clusters in my homeland ... ) Yet it remains to be seen what percentage of members of Retire Japan will ultimately opt to retire here. I expect most won't, but for those of us who are or will be retirees in this society, I think there's a very great deal that we could start to think about and perhaps even act upon before those slow-go and no-go years creep up on us.

In light of that, just one question: Who can tell us of a single retirement community or nursing home/老人ホーム in this country where English is the primary medium of communication?

[captainspoke]

One hobby/exercise that I've always enjoyed here is cycling. As much as cyclists complain about wild drivers--and drivers who complain about cyclists (and cyclists and pedestrians that complain about each other...!)--cycling here is really, really nice. It helps being away from the mega cities, but even there, via the rivers in tokyo, or via 輪行袋 on trains, it's really a paradise for cycling.

And, tho in the past I've crashed a couple times (one horrible one), I'm still at it at 69, carefully. Today was mostly down a river cycle path and back, 30km, 1:45, and my garmin speculated that it used ~1000 calories.

Secondarily, I do some bodyweight stuff every other day, and while I have some elastic bands, those don't get used much. I've never been a fan of clubs, I think I'm too stingy, and really, doing stuff at home saves getting there and back.

When I was working, my uni had a nice pool (far better than any fitness club), and I swam quite a bit--a nice activity for bad/cold wx. There's a new pool that Mori had built here (the olympic guy who said women talk too much!)--he's local so it's an olympic/50m, plus a 25m in the same complex. http://www.kanazawa-pool.jp/use.html Zero kids and extra wide lanes in the big pool. Downside is that it's about 30min each way by car.

There's a city gym almost walkable from home, and one of my retiree friends went there a lot, pre-corona. A decent weight room, and not all that busy on weekdays. No showers there, but good value.

I've given up drinking (anything like before), and my wife and I generally each have a can of beer/day, tho now and then we'll split a bottle of wine, and sometimes we'll not have anything.