So who's actually retired in Japan?

[Beaglehound]

Agree on cycling as a great activity here. Compared to the U.K. I can’t believe how much space/respect I get on the road. This may be partly due to nobody wanting the hassle of killing a foreigner...My area is very hilly, which may limit the routes available as I get older though.

[MisoSoup]

Agree on cycling as a great activity here. Compared to the U.K. I can’t believe how much space/respect I get on the road. This may be partly due to nobody wanting the hassle of killing a foreigner...My area is very hilly, which may limit the routes available as I get older though.

In the UK cyclists seem to have brains the size of peanuts and a death wish. They are a menace to society.

[Beaglehound]

Agree on cycling as a great activity here. Compared to the U.K. I can’t believe how much space/respect I get on the road. This may be partly due to nobody wanting the hassle of killing a foreigner...My area is very hilly, which may limit the routes available as I get older though.

In the UK cyclists seem to have brains the size of peanuts and a death wish. They are a menace to society.

Well hopefully my brain grew after I moved from the UK to Japan.

[Ax6isB]

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?

I think we need some investors to spin something up like this in Japan. I’m not sure there’s a lot of options even for Japanese folks. Considering the massive aging population across SE Asia, you’d think something like this would be on the horizon. Korea, Japan, Thailand, China all have rapidly aging populations due to low birth rates for the last 30 years. I think Japan has a lot to offer for retired citizen. Opportunity awaits I guess.

[hbd]

Opportunity awaits - that's the spirit! I'm an academic whose pay fell by 20% when I took a job at a Japanese national university, so I'm not going to be able to dive in and invest in such a venture, but I'm sure there are plenty of members of this online community who have or will have commensurate resources and investor networks. They simply have to become sufficiently concerned about QoL in their old age here!

It seems there are now more options available for elderly Japanese than you might imagine -- certainly more than just a few years ago, so the timing is good for efforts to diversify and improve approaches. For example, these accounts in English: http://www.share-kanazawa.com/index.html

and

https://www.allianceexperts.com/en/know ... mmunities/

Or these ones in Japanese, the second of which includes example facilities in and near Tokyo (多摩市 and 千葉市):
https://korekara.sumirin-ht.co.jp/couple/005241.html

and

http://www.city.kamogawa.lg.jp/ikkrwebB ... 4jirei.pdf

[eyeswideshut]

Agree on cycling as a great activity here. Compared to the U.K. I can’t believe how much space/respect I get on the road. This may be partly due to nobody wanting the hassle of killing a foreigner...My area is very hilly, which may limit the routes available as I get older though.

Japan is a paradise for cyclists, not so much because the driver's are respectful and less aggressive than overseas (which is definitely the case bar a few psychopaths) but more because Japan has one of the largest networks of pristine mountain and country roads I have ever seen. The only country I have been to which compares is Germany with its wonderful network of cycling paths. With a little planning here you can do really long rides through gorgeous scenery on beautifully paved narrow country roads with barely any traffic on them. And if you are into hill climbing there are some amazing mountain switchback roads to ride. Plus with convenience stores and vending machines everywhere you can pack light.

To the main point of the thread, this hits home as my biggest fear in life is my wife dying before me and I need to go solo as a doddering old gaijin. My Japanese is pretty good but it would still be incredibly challenging and lonely for me and now this thread has me terrified that I will lose my hard won Japanese as my faculties decline. It is hard enough for elderly Japanese people here so in no universe will it be any easier for a foreigner struggling to understand and be understood. Like others in the thread my wife and I don't have kids and have no other real family in Japan to lean on for support (she has no siblings). I suppose I could head back to Canada but it would be terribly unfair to leech off of family who I barely ever see. While I have a reasonable network of friends, I would not ever expect any of them to take care of me in my old age.

My current thinking would be to finally retire overseas in a place that has good healthcare and where you can hire a live-in care giver to care for both myself and my wife. The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand etc. may all be good choices for this. If there were similar options in Japan I would certainly consider it but, again, how happy would I be here living in a 100% Japanese care home especially if my wife has predeceased me?

Anyway, it is a bit morbid to think about such things when we are both still healthy and happy here but planning one's retirement is not only about money but also how you plan to live and, when it is time to shuffle off this mortal coil, how to plan for your death and ensure that your loved ones are taken care of.

[captainspoke]

... For example, ... http://www.share-kanazawa.com/index.html

and

https://www.allianceexperts.com/en/know ... mmunities/

Or these ones in Japanese, the second of which includes example facilities in and near Tokyo (多摩市 and 千葉市):
https://korekara.sumirin-ht.co.jp/couple/005241.html

and

http://www.city.kamogawa.lg.jp/ikkrwebB ... 4jirei.pdf

I know that place in the first link, and if it weren't corona times I know some people around town who might be playing/performing there (in the part that's set up for that). Another spot right downtown is: http://www.hanamizuki.ishikawa.jp (expensive, but location...).

***

I'm no expert, but for different types of care facilities I'm pretty sure you have to qualify in (to be eligible), meaning a doctor and/or social service person's assessment of your condition. There are several levels of shien (支援), and then for the next level up, kaigo (介護), and facilities (or parts of facilities) that are aligned with those classifications.

[hbd]

I'm sure that "biggest fear" is lurking there for many of us, but we're loathe to talk about it. Stiff upper lip and gaman-sei be damned, we DO NEED to talk about it! In my own case my wife and I have a child, but he's an 一級障がい者、in short meaning that he's a gleeful 19 year-old who has the capabilities of a 1 year-old. It will be at very least another decade before the (currently woeful) options for supported accommodation for him yield any kind of solution. So neither my wife nor I will have anyone to take care of us in our dotage, and for all we know we may still be full-time carers for our 35 -year old son in our late 70s! A more likely scenario is that I (being male and somewhat older) will gradually become incapacitated, but of course my wife will have her hands more than full with the helpless young man, so I'd see little alternative to either moving to a retirement community myself, or finding one where all 3 of us could live with daily support appropriate to our various levels of need. (At present it seems there is no such place anywhere in Japan, but I look forward to being proved wrong about that!) In the case of our son, the level is 24-7 care.

In the meantime, here is another interesting new (but Japanese only) approach to retirement communities and nursing homes:

https://yui-marl.jp

Perhaps the proposed 'investment opportunity' might be best conceived of as some kind of collaboration with such an innovative Japanese firm,
pitched as an initiative to found the very first English-based such community or facility in Japan?

[Beaglehound]

I'm sure that "biggest fear" is lurking there for many of us, but we're loathe to talk about it. Stiff upper lip and gaman-sei be damned, we DO NEED to talk about it! In my own case my wife and I have a child, but he's an 一級障がい者、in short meaning that he's a gleeful 19 year-old who has the capabilities of a 1 year-old. It will be at very least another decade before the (currently woeful) options for supported accommodation for him yield any kind of solution. So neither my wife nor I will have anyone to take care of us in our dotage, and for all we know we may still be full-time carers for our 35 -year old son in our late 70s! A more likely scenario is that I (being male and somewhat older) will gradually become incapacitated, but of course my wife will have her hands more than full with the helpless young man, so I'd see little alternative to either moving to a retirement community myself, or finding one where all 3 of us could live with daily support appropriate to our various levels of need. (At present it seems there is no such place anywhere in Japan, but I look forward to being proved wrong about that!) In the case of our son, the level is 24-7 care.

In the meantime, here is another interesting new (but Japanese only) approach to retirement communities and nursing homes:

https://yui-marl.jp

Perhaps the proposed 'investment opportunity' might be best conceived of as some kind of collaboration with such an innovative Japanese firm,
pitched as an initiative to found the very first English-based such community or facility in Japan?

A tough situation you find yourself in sir, and I hope the future opens up better solutions for you.

[Beaglehound]

Agree on cycling as a great activity here. Compared to the U.K. I can’t believe how much space/respect I get on the road. This may be partly due to nobody wanting the hassle of killing a foreigner...My area is very hilly, which may limit the routes available as I get older though.

Japan is a paradise for cyclists, not so much because the driver's are respectful and less aggressive than overseas (which is definitely the case bar a few psychopaths) but more because Japan has one of the largest networks of pristine mountain and country roads I have ever seen. The only country I have been to which compares is Germany with its wonderful network of cycling paths. With a little planning here you can do really long rides through gorgeous scenery on beautifully paved narrow country roads with barely any traffic on them. And if you are into hill climbing there are some amazing mountain switchback roads to ride. Plus with convenience stores and vending machines everywhere you can pack light.

To the main point of the thread, this hits home as my biggest fear in life is my wife dying before me and I need to go solo as a doddering old gaijin. My Japanese is pretty good but it would still be incredibly challenging and lonely for me and now this thread has me terrified that I will lose my hard won Japanese as my faculties decline. It is hard enough for elderly Japanese people here so in no universe will it be any easier for a foreigner struggling to understand and be understood. Like others in the thread my wife and I don't have kids and have no other real family in Japan to lean on for support (she has no siblings). I suppose I could head back to Canada but it would be terribly unfair to leech off of family who I barely ever see. While I have a reasonable network of friends, I would not ever expect any of them to take care of me in my old age.

My current thinking would be to finally retire overseas in a place that has good healthcare and where you can hire a live-in care giver to care for both myself and my wife. The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand etc. may all be good choices for this. If there were similar options in Japan I would certainly consider it but, again, how happy would I be here living in a 100% Japanese care home especially if my wife has predeceased me?

Anyway, it is a bit morbid to think about such things when we are both still healthy and happy here but planning one's retirement is not only about money but also how you plan to live and, when it is time to shuffle off this mortal coil, how to plan for your death and ensure that your loved ones are taken care of.

Your fear is my fear. But it is a ‘what if’ fear, so when it rears its ugly head I acknowledge it before telling myself that it useless to worry about every possible eventuality at this stage. Sometimes that even works