My wife and I recently came into some inheritance, and are considering taking a year to live in Japan. As some background, I worked at Nova for some parts before it imploded in ‘07, and I speak Japanese fairly well.
My wife is a stay at home mother for our 3-year old child, and we would ideally like to move there and continue that arrangement. I know the pay is not great (I was surprised to see all the big players are still paying basically what I made 20 years ago), but we have a good financial cushion to make it work. My questions are 1: is it even possible too have my wife and daughter there for a year, visa-wise? Second, what would health insurance look like? I know I would have to pay into shakai hoken, but I’m less sure about how insurance for my wife and child would work. Would it just be travelers insurance? I remember that’s basically what Nova’s health plan used to be, as they somehow exempted their teachers from shakai hoken.
I’m aware housing might also be an issue. Looks like Aeon is out as an option, but I understand JET might be feasible. I think ECC allows you to arrange your own housing as well. Does anyone have any experience setting up housing from overseas? I only ever moved apartments while living in Japan before, when I moved there originally it was into a Nova apartment.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
by A_Very_Large_Bird