We’re looking at buying a home in Japan to use during retirement. The plan is to purchase outright and live there for 3 to 6 months a year, my understanding is that tourist visas allow 90 day stays per entry. We’re Australian citizens and plan to maintain Australian residents.
In Australia, we’ll retain a house, which we plan to rent out, and will rely on our superannuation (once we turn 60) and other investments to fund our retirement. For the rest of the year, we’ll likely slow travel between Southeast Asia and Europe, returning to Australia for a month or so annually, until we eventually move back to Australia full time, we're hoping to slow travel for approximately 15 years.
We intend to work with a Japanese company to assist with purchasing the property and setting up an account to handle bills. We are open to renting out the Japanese property in 6 month blocks if it's feasible but it will likely remain empty 6 plus months a year, with friends and family using it too.
Ideally we’d like to buy somewhere in the Izu Peninsula. However, in researching this, it seems difficult for non residents to purchase a car, even if you own a home with parking. Without a car, living outside a major city is more challenging. Does anyone know of ways around this, or have suggestions for making this plan work?
by Marayong