Hello,
I'm nisei living in the USA. My wife is from Japan and 100% fluent in both Japanese (native) and high business level English. If there was N5 in English that would be her.
So I went to city hall and was able to pull my family registry. I thought it would be a pain, but after about 1 hour or so they found it. Even though we are from the countryside. So I have the official Koseki with my name on it.
So I'm midlife and have a good career and good income right now. I know for a fact I can't make this money in Japan. I've met some friends and they work for Japanese companies and are in that 60% salary reduction due to "retirement" rehire thing they do.
I'm thinking about early retirement at about 55 or so. Depending on where we are financially. I know I can't get Social Security till much later, about a 10 year gap. But I think if we invest well, we can live off a percentage of that until we hit the age for SS and pulling 401k. Once we are there we are set.
Anyway, I'm looking for people who have done this or something similar and as this is a 5-10 year plan what would you have done earlier or lessons learned. Like taxes, selling your home within the 5 year residency thing etc.
VISA wise, I'm thinking of going for the Japanese Ancestry one since it feels like the path of least resistance and I have an official Koseki now.
Other considerations, my daughter is just starting her IT career, but can't find a job in the USA right now. We have also lived in Japan for under 90 days to see how everyday life is already and feel OK about it. My Kanji sucks. Like really bad. So I think when I come, I would 100% go into Language school for at least 3 years.
by eat_a_burrito