Transcript
Speaker: The easiest possible way to move to Japan is with a student visa. And I'd say the easiest possible school to get into is a language school.
Speaker: Welcome back. Welcome come back. Take it. It's been a while since we recorded a podcast, but I feel like we did five podcasts all in a row. And then we took a little bit of a break, but we are back now. We are back baby. We're so back all time highs of Bitcoin today, actually too. So.
Speaker: We're so back, baby. That's what they say in crypto. um I sold all my crypto. But anyways, today we have a very special guest, a little bit of a long time coming here as well. We have been chatting with Nick over at Japan remotely for quite a few months now, trying to set up a time to jump on and record a podcast. Nick runs a consultancy business helping Anyone gets started down the immigration path into Japan, whether you're interested in a startup visa or a business manager visa, or really just want to move to Japan and don't quite have a plan yet, but need some, a little bit of guidance, figuring it out how to make everything work out for you. Nick is the person to talk to. Welcome Nick.
Speaker: Thanks very much, Joey. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun starting up Japan remotely. What we do is help people dig through all the information out there about how to move to Japan. And some of the deepest digging that we do is actually internally, like figuring out for the individual person what their lifestyle goals for Japan are going to be. Do they want to copy and paste what they're currently doing and figure out the closest thing they want to do in Japan? Or do they want to completely uproot and do something like buy an Akia, start an Airbnb and start, I don't know, a wild boar BBQ joint? point
Speaker: There's a lot of opportunities out there. Starting a wild BBQ boar joint. No, I stole that actually from Matt Ketchum during his presentation. he He said that's one of the Akia businesses that he's run into is wild game BBQ so from Japanese Akia. Wouldn't that be awesome?
Speaker: i sorry interrupt you Close ah just on the wild boar and business ideas. There was, there's a a wild boar racetrack close to when I used to the top of easy peninsula, but then with my family, we would drive down to the Southern tip Shimoda to go surfing with my brother. And when you're crossing the mountains there, there's like a ah wild already been closed or abandoned at that time, but there was a bunch of signages. I'm not even sure how it works. They like put them in tracks and like you pick a number and it runs or something. But yeah, I just thought of that when you mentioned the wild boar and businesses.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess you can't exactly like and in the States anyway, they have this rural activity called mutton busting where they have little kids ride on on on sheep at rodeos and the winter stays on the longest. It's just like a wild bull, but and instead of a bull, it's a it's a sheep. So it's not very dangerous, but I guess you couldn't do that with a wild boar because people would die.
Speaker: Nick, you're from, where you so you're from the U S where, um, how did you get started on this journey to Japan? What's your initial connection with the country? Yeah. So I'm from the Pacific Northwest and I got started.
Speaker: down the Japan path through a sister city program in my little small town. And it was just a one week trip. And it was to the island of Shikoku.
Speaker: and it was really amazing in the Ia Valley. So for those that aren't initiated, that the Ia Valley is really famous for ninja culture and they've got like vine bridges and it's really deep rural Japan. So there's just a very rich history, very warm people. And before I went, I'd always liked languages in general and on in middle school and high school, they had Spanish. And please don't ask me to remember any of my Spanish, but I did like those classes. And so I got this is still in the days of CD players and I got a Pimsleur
Speaker: Japanese audio training course. And I have 10 CDs or something like that. And I learned like Ohio Gozaimasu and Ayasun Sai. And of course, Toi de wa Doko desu ka. And when I got to Japan, I was pretty much the only one that actually prepped to learn a few phrases in Japanese. And You know how it is in Japan, even if you speak a little bit of Japanese, people are just floored, especially in rural Japan. They're like, Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Japanese. You speak Japanese. That's so great. Yeah. it's And it was very, yeah. It's a huge ego boost. So I was like, after this, I'm going to go study in college. And, but.
Speaker: That was the thing that really got me started was that one week trip was just like magical experience to rural Japan. Interesting. We actually passed Ea Valley, Joey. That's like where that rope bridge is that like really famous.
Speaker: is Is that one of the, we saw signs exactly stuff for it when you were driving through there. Yeah. All right. We'll have to stop by there. I remember some early on when I started the document Instagram, I remember one of the very back when I had 20 followers, someone reached out and they're like, anything in the Ea Valley, that's where I want to go. And passing through it with sake recently, it was like very green, a lot of valleys with rivers at the bottom. You know, rafting is really big there. It's maybe one of the top.
Speaker: three if not the very best place to go rafting in Japan. And I went rafting a couple times there and it's is's pretty cool. Very cool. So let's hear a little bit about Japan remotely. I feel like personally, I am very confused between the startup visa and the business manager visa. I have neither at the moment, but I've had conflicting information where sometimes people have said, oh, you guys should go for the startup visa. Don't bother with the business manager visa. And then for the exact opposite advice where people are like, oh, you already have a KK in Japan. You should go for the business manager visa.
Speaker: um Where should someone start or I guess even backing it up a little bit further, where where should someone start Nick? if If someone approaches you and like me, they know a little bit about the different visa systems. They want to move to Japan. How do you start? Yeah, to get started.
Speaker: Of course, you got to first figure out what you guys are, what you want to do and how you want to live. And in that respect, I feel you, Joey and Takei have done a lot of that homework already, but some people are coming into the game and thinking about, uh,
Speaker: opportunities for Japanese real estate or just getting out of whatever country they're in and and spending some time in Japan. A lot of people are burned out by jobs at home and some people are are thinking about retiring early and doing something like like fire or barista fire or some form of downshifting their career while still having a little bit of income here and there. So it really depends on your goals and I feel like that's a big differentiator between and Japan remotely and like a pure immigration lawyer that you might go to.
Speaker: If you go to an immigration lawyer, you have to have a plan already ready to go and be like, Hey, I want to do this and I want to move them. But with Japan remotely, we take a step back and we ask Joey into you've started this business. Is this something that you enjoy, you want to keep doing, or is there something else that, that you like with many people? We talk about issues with family.
Speaker: whether it's kids, parents, figuring out if they want to start a family in Japan. I've worked with people on all ends of the age spectrum, people that are a lot of empty nesters that are like, yes, we're finally done with this chapter of our lives, bittersweet, but now we have freedom to go and do something that that we want to do. I feel like One of the first things we take a look at is thinking about the easy stuff and whether or not.
Speaker: You know, a person's interested in that. And the easy stepping stone to getting into Japan is being a student or getting some kind of entry -level job. And entry -level jobs, the king of entry entry -level jobs is the JET program, getting in and teaching English, and they take care of everything for you. And starting as a student is also very reasonable too. The school pretty much takes care of your visa process.
Speaker: You do have to figure out what you want to study, but that's a very, those are two very common paths to getting into Japan. But on the work side for a lot of people, especially with the exchange right now, it's hard to get too excited about doing any kind of job in Japan because whatever you make is going to feel like half. So I'll give a little example. I first moved to Japan with the JET program, so I'm a little biased. It was, they took care of me the whole way through. And it was, it had its ups and downs, but it was very easy from the immigration side. And at the time, I think salaries have pretty much stayed the same the last 10 years or so, but it was about 300 ,000 yen a month.
Speaker: But the exchange rate then, u right now yeah, exactly. But then yeah the exchange rate was opposite. So it felt like 4 ,000 bucks a month, which as a new grad was pretty good.
Speaker: Um, but now it's more like 2000 a month. And what people are realizing is for assistant language teachers, what we call ALT or, uh, a Kiowa teachers, which is like an English conversation class. It's another entry level job. It's very popular to to move to Japan with all of those are going to be less than the jet program salary. So we're talking sub $2 ,000 a month.
Speaker: And as this with, sorry, I don't ah know too much about the ah teaching English in Japan, but you're talking about if you just get a job at a regular a Kiowa, you're making even less than a jet program. Exactly. Exactly. So.
Speaker: If you're at an a Kiowa or there's other ways to get assistant language teachers jobs, none of them are as attractive as jet and the salaries are going to be lower. Jet's a bit interesting because it's subsidized and they really want to attract.
Speaker: uh, foreigners to come teach in Japan. So the benefits and the salary are a little bit artificially inflated. Whereas companies like Interac or Amity, these are also jet program like placement programs, but Sorry. Who do you think excels in the jet program? I've got a friend, he's living in Dallas, not making much money in his job, going nowhere in life a little bit. And I've been trying to pitch the jet program to him. It's just like something different in life. Who do you think excels in like the jet program? Here's the hard thing about the jet program is that it's actually very competitive to get in and the application process is super long. Um,
Speaker: By the way, um if you publish this relatively soon, right now, um applications are open for the JET program. So if you're thinking about it, do it and apply, um because there's only one application period a year. But essentially, application season starts now And you go through passing through the first application and then you got to do one interview, another interview, several rounds. of It's like applying for Google and acceptance rate is about 25%. So I've known people who.
Speaker: are super enthusiastic about going to live and work in Japan. And they have been trying for years to get into the JET program and just haven't been able to. um So I think people who would excel in the JET program, I think first of all, you have to be truly excited about the idea of going to Japan. So if you're like,
Speaker: maybe like your friend who's stuck in life, not sure what he wants to do, I think first he'd have to like really get into the idea of yes, Japan is the place for me and I've got to do this thing because the JET application process is intense.
Speaker: Um, you only make one even if you get into jet, the salary at this point is about $2 ,000 a month. yeah So you're going through this rigorous process to yeah make below minimum wage. And what would it be in the U S okay. That's tough. That is tough. The one consolation is that in the country of Japan, the jet program salary is competitive.
Speaker: especially in rural areas. I was placed in Tottori Prefecture. And not only is it competitive in rural areas, but there's a lot of fringe benefits. There's a lot of time off. The work hours per day are pretty easy. And what was the other big thing? But ah in general, it's a good deal.
Speaker: Oh yeah, this is what I was coming to. The other thing that's nice is that the jet program, it's, it doesn't always happen, but often they will.
Speaker: find you very low cost housing and sometimes subsidize the whole thing. So you don't pay anything for housing. Honestly, if I look back at my life and I've had a few jobs, I've in Japan and did the jet program. And then I worked as a real salary man at a Japanese it t company. Oh, it's got it. Yeah. Thanks. And then I did, I did a startup in Japan and it's a really fun three man team, but.
Speaker: In terms of my Japan life, and actually even now arguably, the time when I felt most cash rich was as a 24 year old in Tottori prefecture, keeping my whole salary. like Like they took off for taxes, but pretty much everything else was just like, boom, 300 ,000 Japanese yen a month. And there's been a bit of inflation in Japan, sure, but rural Japan too, you can go to the,
Speaker: little supermarket and get discount sashimi seven o 'clock after you've been working out or something and go get that sashimi for 300 yen which now seems really cool because it's like a dollar but you just have to realize that your salary is also very low comparatively to what you can get in the west.
Speaker: Yeah. Right out of college. Yeah. Keep keeping that money. And then Jaco and beers, like you probably, yeah Oh yeah. And I traveled all over the world and I had friends that paid off their, their student loans. I had friends that started and finished and like a master's degrees while in the jet program. That's something that they allow. You can do it online. I would say.
Speaker: Like for any of those entry level jobs, the key thing is to have a goal at the end of it. Cause whether it's the jet program or another, what we call ALT position or English language teaching position.
Speaker: They're dead end jobs. There's no career advancement. And it's, it can be hard to pivot. So it's good to have some people come and and they do like the toy full masters or something or they, and they get certified in English as a second language. For me, I didn't have a plan, but I had a girlfriend who had a plan. So that was the best next option. And and she was like, I'm off to Tokyo. Are you gonna.
Speaker: move up there with me or are we done? And I was like, okay, I'll figure it out. And over the next few months, I, I did job hunting and was able to land a job in Tokyo as a Saturday man. Shifting gear gears. Sorry, tage I've been asking much questions. Did you have one? Uh, I mean, so jet is probably one of the easiest ways to get a visa in Japan yeah is the high level, right? Yeah, it's definitely, I would say.
Speaker: Because it's so hard to get in, I wouldn't call it the easiest, but I would call it the best entry level job in Japan. Okay. Okay. What is the easiest? Good question.
Speaker: I think that Japanese girlfriend. That's hard too in different ways. Cause it, it doesn't matter if they're a girlfriend, they got to be your wife. spousal visa Yeah.
Speaker: If your life takes you in that direction, then yeah, I guess that can be the easiest way. And I think probably the easiest visa is a student visa because the thing that you got to remember is that you pay them. So they kind of got to help you. They have a vested interest in wanting you to come to Japan. So I would say that the easiest possible way to move to Japan is with a student visa. And I'd say the easiest possible school to get into is a language school.
Speaker: There you go. The easy mode button. yeah If after the election, you're like, I'm done. i i I just have to go to Japan like as soon as possible. The easiest, quickest way is to, to get on, here's another application deadline, by the way. Gaijin pot has a special.
Speaker: kind of sub -brand called, I think it's Gaijin Pot Study. And they have a white glove service to find you a language school to study in. And they will like hold your hand through the whole visa process and figure out which school you can go to. And again, it's ultimate pressing the easy button.
Speaker: So their application deadline, I believe, is mid -December. So if you want to be in Japan with a language school by April, you can apply like right now. But I think they have another application session in March, like early March. So that would get you in the fall. But that's the real easy button. And once you're there for for language school, there's a lot of people that then do job hunting after that. and Take their, hopefully they have some other marketable skills they can bring and then go find um some job in Japan. But we talked about how competitive the jet program salary is.
Speaker: If we're talking entry level, Saturday man jobs, it's also going to be below jet living in Tokyo with a job that pays less than 2000 bucks a month.
Speaker: You got to strategize. Um, there, there are some jobs out there, especially like if you've got technical skills where you can go Google, Japan would be great. Amazon, Japan. Fantastic. These companies are called guys. Which are like foreign companies in Japan.
Speaker: It's not always that way that they'll have somewhat comparable Western salaries and conditions, but that's a good target and, and it is possible to work up to it. like Think about it in phases. I've had friends who start as like real Saturday men and then they have a vision though, and maybe they go.
Speaker: get an MBA or maybe they get, I had one friend get like a master's of the administration was a little different than an MBA, but he jumped around and was strategic about his job hunting. And now he's at like this, this consulting firm and one of the big four and very comfortable in Japan.
Speaker: Got it. What about, so another kind of hot visa out there that I don't know much about, but I believe is an easy mode button thing. Maybe. with a digital nomad visa. Do you know, what what can you tell us about that? Cause that is, does seem like easy. I really like this conversation that we're working up to the business manager and starting a visa, like start with the easy buttons and and then get there. And digital nomad visa is another easy button visa, but it's really just a glorified tourist visa. It's six months long and there are a bunch of requirements.
Speaker: You've got to make, I think it's 10 million yen a year, which is the big one for a lot of people in the States. It's not as bad. A lot of people, especially in tech and other 60 ,000 dollars a year, you it's like 60 ,000. Yeah. But and for most of the world, that's tough. And so the digital nomad visa.
Speaker: It's you got to prove your income and then apply for the visa and wait a few months and and then you get it and then you can stay in Japan without break for for six months. But as you guys well know, the regular visa exemption, you can just show up and do nothing and have three months and you could leave for a little bit and come back and have another three months. yeah So it's neither of those will allow you to work Like locally, neither of those give you any sort of residence card or residency. I think a lot of people were pretty disappointed with the digital nomad visa. And even the Japanese government is kind of.
Speaker: half in half out about it. I had a client who uh went to the embassy in London and asked about the digital nomad visa and essentially the consulate just said ah you don't need it just get the the visa exemption so that's crazy coming from obviously the consulate is not the same thing as immigration in Japan But the fact that they're like, why bother is pretty telling. and But to be fair, in places like the UK or Germany, those guys already have a six month visa exemption. Whereas like in the States and Australia and other places, most other places it's 90 days, but there's a few countries in Europe where it's already 180 days. So I could see why the consulate in and London was just like, nah, don't bother.
Speaker: Yeah. I, again, bringing it back to housing, me and Taka have been thinking about trying to market some of our properties towards people on the digital nomad visa, people who are spending longer term, especially given the... Yeah, people are doing it. yeah Airbnb. Yeah. But maybe...
Speaker: It like, I was thinking that, Oh, given this, Oh, new visa people can stay for six months. That's great. There'll be this increase in demand for medium term housing. But given that it's not too big a change from the existing three month tourist visa that you can just do twice in a row, pretty much. I don't, you're making me think now that maybe we're not even going to see that type of that increase in demand that maybe I was expecting. I think though.
Speaker: that there already is demand and it's not being met. So I think it's a good idea. In my business, I'm all about how to move to Japan and how to get a long -term visa. That's really what I help people with. But sometimes randomly, people from like Australia will will send me email or sign in through my my website and send me a contact form and they'll be like,
Speaker: Hey, I know this isn't your thing, but do you have any leads on ah midterm rentals near Niseko? And I'm like, no, I think soon though. Yeah. So I think especially like countries that have those longer visas and countries with working holiday visas, those are already year long visas and people like to travel around and stay places for a certain amount of time. I feel like.
Speaker: The other problem is that most short -term rentals like Airbnb, even in the States, it's very hard to find one blocked off that you can get for like a whole month. My family had an incident with our house last year and we had we had a pipe burst and the flooring was just totally destroyed. Insurance covered it, which was great, but we really struggled to find someplace we could stay for two months. Like we were just hopping around Airbnbs every week. And it was first, it was fun. It's all around vacation. But by like week four, we were thinking, this is so tiring. I wish we could just go home. yeah So I can't imagine like people on the digital nomad visa or working holiday visa being like, okay, I want to experience Japan and I want to stay in this place for a month. And
Speaker: every week having to hop around and lug your suitcase around. And especially if you've got kids or something, that'd be a nightmare. So I think with the big push globally for tourism in Japan, I don't think you can go wrong with having a little diversification and having a midterm rental. is the Does the digital nomad visa help you when you apply for your other visas? I've heard maybe that somewhere is that show good track record or or anything like that.
Speaker: You started out and then went to the business manager or startup visa. From a high level. No, I don't think that's true. I think that anytime you go to Japan and back and obey the visa laws, that's great. I think it could.
Speaker: One of the things that I help people with for whether it's the, whether it's a work visa, I guess that could be true to work visa, or if they're doing a startup visa or business manager visa. A key thing that I think Japan or remotely does different than a typical immigration lawyer is once we get down all the ideas about what your lifestyle is going to be, what kind of business you want to run, what kind of visa you're after.
Speaker: We come up with a story about the visa that I call ah a visa narrative. Like what is going on? Why are you going to Japan? Most of the time, the visa applications are pretty straightforward, but ah especially for the startup visa,
Speaker: there is a lot more interaction between you and the community where you're going to work and live. And it's really helpful to get in your own head and start communicating. Hi, my name is Nick. I'm a relocation consultant that helps people understand their options when moving to Japan.
Speaker: I want to move to the Iya Valley because that was my very first trip to Japan over 20 years ago. On that trip, I was warmed by the people of Shikoku, and I want to give back to that community by establishing my business in the Iya Valley.
Speaker: I want my clients to be able to say something like that and to be able to essentially pitch themselves and their love of Japan and a especially a certain place they wanna go. I think that's a very valuable skill that they can develop with me. And to your answer, if it's valuable to go back and forth to Japan, in that sense, the answer could be yes. You could say, I worked,
Speaker: in many countries as a digital nomad. And I traveled through Thailand and Georgia, Mexico. But when I came to Nagasaki in Kyushu, it was the perfect blend of of European and and Japanese culture in a small city by the coast. My business has to do with organizing, I don't know, shipping,
Speaker: shipping stuff and Nagasaki being a historical port. and the So I think in that sense, being able to tell a story about why you went on a digital nomad visa and what you did for those six months besides sit around in your on your desk and taking care of business, I think that could be good. Nick, tying this back to housing and real estate market in Japan. One of the like the top questions we get all the time, and I'm hoping you can provide some insight here, is I'm interested in buying property in Japan. I want to buy this akiya. Can it help me get a visa? Can it help me stay in Japan long term?
Speaker: That's a great question. And I see that all the time too. And I think we finally arrived at the two complicated visa types, which are the parent, the business manager visa, and the relatively new child, the the startup visa. So the answer is mixed. If you show up in Japan and buy yourself a house and move into it,
Speaker: After 90 days, they're going to ask you to leave. Yep. Which is three months though. Actually for most people listening, yeah this is what I am currently doing. I find a month and a half, like long enough for me. And then I enjoy going back home to Nova Scotia. Yeah, that might be fine. Most people just, yeah. Yeah. I think.
Speaker: But for people that do want to stay longer. Yeah. Sometimes I'd talk to my clients about that. Like there, there are a lot of sacrifices that you have to make to get a long -term visa. And I honestly tell them just coming on a visa exemption will give you up to six months in Japan. That's half the year. That's half your life potentially. yeah it's true What is the reason?
Speaker: that half is not enough. What makes you want to stay that seventh month? What is drawing you to stay that eighth month? Why can't you take a break and go somewhere else. It doesn't have to be home. You could, I know some people, especially I see on social media, there's influencers that I think are on the just the standard visa exemption. And for part of the year, they're filming in Japan and the other part they're in places like Bali or they're in places like Thailand. And there's great stuff to film down there too. So the film down there.
Speaker: that's also perfectly acceptable. You could bounce around and have Japan be one of your flags. There's another ah kind of more business -oriented influencer I follow, and it's the nomad ah capitalist. And I read his book, and in there he talks about what's called flag theory. And the idea is that If you have the money or if you're some kind of digital nomad, what it one way you can live your life is to plant flags in different countries and have different reasons for those flags. You may have a flag in a certain place that you want to be a tourist. like you You want to go there and be
Speaker: taking care of and see the things you want to see. And maybe that's Japan for a lot of people. Maybe three months is totally good for that. Another place might be a flag to work. Like maybe you are in, like we just talked about shipping business. Maybe you need a flag in Amsterdam because it's one of the biggest ports in the world, biggest port in Europe. You got to be there to to take care of business. And maybe another flag is is somewhere where you can hunker down or relax. Maybe you want to have some sort of chalet up in Sweden and just be there for winter, turn out all the lights, candlelight, just chill out. There's lots of different things you can do, ah of course. But for a lot of people, three to six months is enough in Japan. And so I do challenge my clients as to why it's not. And for people that tying it back to a business manager visa,
Speaker: people that want to stay in Japan and advantage of this great opportunity for real estate, the best two visas they can go after are the business manager visa and the startup visa. But the key word in both of those visa types, or I guess the key concept is business. You have to do something and It doesn't have to be a real estate business, but in order to live in that house that you bought, you have to think of something in Japan that you can do. One of the things that we talked about, we just finished up the Japan real estate summit. It was so great to to meet you guys there and the.
Speaker: The opportunity for real estate in Japan and the amount of great people and information out there, really honest and caring people willing to help you along really just impressed me a lot at the summit and really warmed my heart. So I feel like if you're interested in going down the short -term or long -term real estate plan,
Speaker: that could be an option for you with one of those visa types. Now, it's a long road to get there and there are definitely a lot of hurdles. And I think one of the first hurdles that is important to get through is in that visa narrative we were just talking about,
Speaker: A key story that you're going to have to tell is what business you've done in the past and if it relates to anything to real estate. And if the answer is no, then you might have to have a staged approach. For example, if you buy property in Japan and and start a rental and start a company,
Speaker: You don't have to live there right away. You could just start the business and you could visit the business and it could run, but you don't have to live there the whole year. It could, the operations could, you could have somebody run it while you're away. And that could be possible to come and go and do that. And then when you're ready, like this could be good for, for you and Takei, you can easily come in and say, Hey.
Speaker: I started at this rental and it's been operated by these great partners of mine for a couple of years. I am now ready to come in and actively manage this business. And that's the key thing with both of those visa types as well is unlike countries like Spain or Portugal or Greece, there's as of today, there's no real investor.
Speaker: Visa in Japan, there's only manager. So you have to come and actually do whatever business it is that you say you're going to do. You can't just sit back and say, Oh, I put some money in and these guys are going to go do it for me. So.
Speaker: Those are some of the initial hurdles that, um, that I talk with clients about. And then the the third kind of topic that's difficult for a lot of people is that you have to come up with some starting capital in order to get this visa type. And it's, it's 5 million Japanese yen, which is $30 ,000. And that's a lot. Um,
Speaker: With the exchange rate, it's nice that it's not $50 ,000 of course, but. The Japanese government is looking for you to put your money where your mouth is and actually come to Japan and and make a real business. And so for the business manager visa to circle it all in, you've got to have the money. You've got to have a business plan and be able to reasonably show that you can start a business in Japan.
Speaker: And the third big one is that you have to have a physical location where your business takes place. And that's where just to buy it into buying an Akia, buying the Akia itself, you're not going to get any sort of a visa in Japan, but it can be used if you are interested in a business manager visa, it can be used for your physical office in certain circumstances. Is that correct? Yeah. if Especially if you're doing on Akia BNB, what some people do, and I always use these guys as a reference. I just love what they're doing. On Instagram, look up the Benton homestead, and they're just a wonderful couple, and they are in Ehime, and they are pioneers of this method of getting a visa in Japan.
Speaker: where essentially what they did is they bought two low -cost Akia within close proximity for the grand total of $30 ,000 US dollars, two two units. And one of them they use as their home and the other is their business address slash BNB.
Speaker: So go to their website. They've got a lot of documentation about how they did this. They walk you right through it and get inspired by, by what they did key caveat. Evan speaks very good Japanese. So for a lot of people, it may be more realistic to do something like that. Closer to an urban center. And as we learned from Tracy and and Anton and others,
Speaker: If you actually want to make money at the short -term rental business, you need to be in a place where people go regularly like Tokyo or Osaka or Kyoto. So one, there's an advantage to actually being able to do it if you don't speak Japanese in one of these more urban areas. And two, the money is going to be quite a bit more consistent, I would say, and higher.
Speaker: But then again, the properties too. Yeah. It's going to be a trade off. The capital requirement. That's one of the big things for us. How do you just need that capital at the time of application? Let's say we wanted to buy another Acia for $1. So we put that money into our bank account and we go apply for the business manager visa. Is that neat? Is it just like a picture in time that you need to have that capital or do do they check over you know six months time or something like that? So.
Speaker: This is something that you'll probably want to make sure that it's documented correctly. So it needs to be what's called shihonkin, which is like a capital. It can't just be like you make a deposit. You have to like.
Speaker: they might have that various very capital injection right i don't think you need to do that like it sorry It needs to be like an official injection of capital into your business with the appropriate documentation. Yeah, yeah it has to be documented. and And to a degree, it is like a picture in time. Like you have to put the money in and say, hey, this is my shihonkin. This is my capital investment into my company.
Speaker: But after that, you could use it and you you can use it for things like expenses. You could use it for your own salary. You could do a lot of things with it. It doesn't have to sit there forever. It's not like frozen, which is nice. Yeah, that is good to know actually.
Speaker: I think that we were under the impression that you need to show like a bank statement and you have this much money in and they're going to come check back up on you like in six months time. Hey, show us your bank statement again. Kind of thing like that's what we were worried about, but it doesn't sound like it's that at all. It's more about the capital requirement that has been put into the business. And you have the right documentation showing that at some point or over a period of time, 30 that 25 million yen was placed into this business.
Speaker: Exactly. Okay. Five million yen, sorry. yeah Yeah. Five million yen, $30 ,000 US. And Canada, I'm not sure what that would be. Maybe like $40 ,000.
Speaker: 45. Yeah, maybe a little higher than 40. Yeah, maybe 45 to 45 ish. Yeah. All right, Nick, I got some spicy questions for you here. I'm a prospective Akia buyer. i I need to be in Japan at least 10 months. Let's say a year. I i want to go ah past the ah tourist or visa exception. Why should I go? Should I go for a startup visa? Should I go for a businessman visa? are they Which one should I be going for? Let's say I want to just get some Airbnb returns off this property. I'm buying somewhere.
Speaker: that I think will get a good amount of returns. That's a good question. The two, the benefits from the startup visa are going to be a delay in those three big requirements we talked about. The money that you have to develop the business plan, of course, and and that can be done over time, and then the physical space. So I feel like the startup visa is good for Acia owners who maybe need some help to get started and need a little time and
Speaker: I would go for a program that's at least 12 months. Um, I think the, the Benton homestead guys, they were able to do it with six months, but they had the the cash ready to go to, to invest in their business. So that's a key differentiator. If you are unsure about whether this is going to go off, if you're going to like it, the startup visa can be.
Speaker: nice to not exactly test the waters, but maybe get in hip deep. You don't have all of your money tied up, but you did go through a lot of BS to get this visa. So it's a lot of time. And with the startup visa, the double -edged sword is that you have the opportunity to work with Japanese local government to get your business off the ground.
Speaker: The other side is that you must work with Japanese local government regularly and check in and have reasonable updates with them. to get their approval to let you stay in Japan period. Sounds bad. Yeah. It's the main thing I'm afraid of with the startup visa and why I feel more inclined to just go straight for business manager. It's those check -ins with government officials. I think and we're talking about someone like you and Takei who already have the business ready to go. You have the entity.
Speaker: all that's waiting is for you to put the money in. Yeah, i just go for the business manager visa. If you're someone who is more like your customer and wants to buy an akiya as kind of their first entrance to Japan and they want to do a BNB, it could be good before putting all their chips on the table to do this startup visa. And the nice thing is that a few of them like Fukuoka, Kobe, Niigata, those guys have government officials that provide these regular check -ins in English. So you can go and work in the English language with
Speaker: People who in general are supportive. on These guys are have elected to do this job and they want foreign businesses to come. I am an optimist and would say in most situations,
Speaker: the Japanese government will be helpful. When I talked to the Benton Homestead guys, I was a bit skeptical. They were the first ones to do the startup visa in the only startup visa location in Shikoku, which is Imabari City.
Speaker: The guys, the their contacts there didn't speak Japanese and Imabari City is very rural and they're on some, I think it's pronounced Omishima Island in the Seto inland sea. Working with people in rural areas can be very challenging, but from their stories,
Speaker: It was super helpful to have the Japanese government involved. For example, with getting approved for Minpaku, you've got to go talk to the city anyway. And for them, it was a very helpful process. So it it depends, one, on the location and if you're lucky or not.
Speaker: And it also depends on your personality. Maybe for you and Take, you guys are so independent and you've already started this business and you used to doing things on your own and maybe you don't want people put putting their fingers in your pudding for you guys. Yeah. Just go for the business manager visa. But for people who are new to Japan, I think the startup visa could be a good tool. What's the capital requirement again on the startup visa?
Speaker: zero. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it's a delay. So the startup visa is a bit like business manager visa junior. What happens is you spend six to 12 months on, it's actually in most, in there's two different programs, but in one of the programs, the actual visa you get is a business manager visa. And they they give you that visa, but with the blessing of the town or prefecture that you you work in, you are allowed to forego those three big requirements for however long their startup visa program is.
Speaker: And at the end of it, hopefully you've been working towards putting the money in, getting your Airbnb up and working as a business address. And then once it's time to say, Hey, it's time to renew it. It's a real easy process because technically you're already on that visa. All it has to be done is a renewal. Another thing that's an interesting idea that you could do with a startup visa.
Speaker: is you could piggyback it on top of the standard visa exemption like you guys are doing. Let's say that you're targeting Fukuoka because Fukuoka has really good benefits for the startup visa.
Speaker: If you were to go for six months on and off and have a plan, you could start your business up and maybe renovate your Acia and start putting together your marketing materials for Airbnb or Verbo or whatever. And then when the startup visa hits, you still don't have to put money into it. But from that point,
Speaker: you can start earning money legally in Japan. Once you're on the startup visa, that's the key thing is you've spent nothing on your business, but you can start earning money. And I think that's the big thing. And so over the next six to 12 months, after you've gotten in there, you've already had six month lead time. It's a lot more comfortable to say at month 10, say, yes, I have enough revenue and money to put in a she honking. I know this business works and I am confident that the renewal is going to be fine.
Speaker: Nick, let's say I'm thinking about this maybe in the next year, I am serious about spending more time long -term in Japan. Give us one piece of advice. If someone is maybe not exactly ready to make the jump into this, but maybe in the next six to six months to one year, anything they should be doing or like give us your closing piece of advice here. Sure. There's two.
Speaker: If you're going to start a business in Japan, there's two aspects to it, right? There's moving to Japan and starting a new business. If it's totally new to you and like maybe you're doing IT t and you're like, I want to go to Japan and start a museum about coins. It could happen. Coins are interesting. I would say first,
Speaker: experiment with monetizing that business now. See how much money you can make wherever you are. take your if Everybody's got something in their head that is interesting and they've got ah dreams and aspirations and different things they could do for some business and value they could add.
Speaker: start experimenting today with making a little money at it. Some people want to go and be farmers in Japan. What if you started growing some carrots in your backyard and selling them to neighbors? That's a good first step. Or with HOA and stuff, this is hard for a lot of people. But I have some friends that have sold their suburban house and gotten a more rural house and on that rural house in order to get a subsidy from the government, they have a cow and they call it an agriculture business. Maybe you could do something like that or even even for kids, if you've got kids, they've got things like 4 -H. I don't know if that translates to a lot of different countries, but basically it's a program for kids to learn about agriculture. Maybe do that with your kids. Do something
Speaker: that takes an image of your future self in Japan doing a business and do a little bit of that business today. Start today with the business side, because you might hate it. What if you hate the business and you show up in Japan? and My dad is does has done short -term rentals and long -term rentals in the States and he's done it for something like 30 years.
Speaker: I'm not into it. I'm not, I'm not, I i don't, i I would not do that in Japan. It's not for me. I would not do it anywhere. I wouldn't do it here. I wouldn't do it there. It's like Dr. Seuss. No, I would hire somebody to do it, but I would not do that myself. So think about the different things you could be doing period and try it out. That's my advice.
Speaker: I think that's great advice. Thank you, Nick, for spending the time today to chat with us. ah How can people reach you? how What's the best way for people that are interested in this to get in touch with you?
Speaker: Absolutely. Um, just look up Japan remotely on Google. My website will show up japanremotely .com. Also got Instagram at Japan remotely on the contact page of my website. There's a contact form. Fill it in. Tell me what you're interested in. And for now I'm doing a free consultation. Tell me your ideas and we can have a little chat and see what the next steps are.
Speaker: Get them all, he's free. Yep. It's getting hard. I know that you guys did some free consultations for a while, but I'm pleased that business is picking up. So I'm not sure how much longer I can add free consultations, but I'll do it as long as I can promise that. Thank you very much, Nick. Thanks for chatting. All right. Adios everybody. matan and
