Following up on this post from a bit ago and a lot of new questions
Moving from US to Japan this year, what am I missing? https://reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/1j54grz/moving_from_us_to_japan_this_year_what_am_i/
First, the new questions
- Looking at Japanese apartments, I notice a distinct lack of ovens?
I love to cook. I am becoming a house husband (and student) for 3 years, so I plan to handle all our cooking. In the US an oven is an essential part of my routine. I don't need a big oven, but enough to throw a cast iron in to finish a dish and roast some veggies. What are my best options for making this work in Japan?
- Financial Advisor or similar in Japan?
We currently have a great FA in the US, but they are not legally allowed to do a lot of stuff with us while we are in Japan. We need to find a new one that can support any savings, investing, etc… activities using our earnings there. Anyone have good recommendations for how to find one in Japan we can work with?
- Paying rent pre-tax
My partner's employer is offering us the ability to pay rent pre-tax and is hooking us up with someone to help us find a place. From my limited research, it appears this is a pretty common option in Japan and it may be possible for me to research places myself ahead of or in addition to what they bring us. Anyone have any pointers to how to find rentals that support this pre-tax option?
- How to find an expat community in Tokyo?
Outside of Reddit and Discord, we generally do not have any accounts on common social networking platforms like Facebook that we see recommended for finding expat groups to join. We also, ideally, do not want to join more social networking services.
Does anyone have any recommendations on other ways of finding expat groups that we may be able to join?
- Noise separation in apartments
One of the concerns I have read about is that noise in a lot of Japanese apartments is not as reduced by walls and insulation as in the US. Anyone found good ways to tell if an apartment has noise issues or not before signing the contract?
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Adopting cats in Japan
While reviewing apartments, we see the option for "Pet Negotiable" and are planning to secure one so we can adopt a couple of cats a few months after we arrive. Any recommendations on great adoption centers or other methods of finding cats if we are able to get an apartment that permits them?
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Componentized Sofas in Japan?
We currently own a LoveSac sofa in the US and really appreciate the ability to wash individual parts of it and rework its layout when we have visitors. LoveSac, through a partner, is willing to ship their sofas to Japan, but we were wondering if anyone is aware of similar local options I could look at before taking on the larger expense.
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Working as dependent with overseas startups
While I am on a dependent visa and not planning to work in general, I have worked in the past with multiple startups for some equity. Given that equity-based compensation is generally quite small at grant, and only becomes valuable at exit, is this something I could still potentially do while in Japan? AKA – work for equity but not income to avoid any issues with the 1,500,000 yen yearly income limit for dependents?
And now the follow-up
We are officially going to Japan within the next 3 months. My partner obtained a new position with their employer in Japan. It's about a 30% pay cut, but that was expected, and we keep all the unvested stock she has in the company. All told, with lower base pay, lower bonus, and lower new stock grants, income is roughly down 10 to 15% for the next 3 years, then assuming no promotions or major raises, will drop again to be down a total of 40% from what was made in 2024 after 3 years have passed.
Our COE applications are now filed and since my partner is getting HSP, it is getting accelerated. We may have our COEs by mid to late July ahead of a possible move before the start of September.
The employer is handling almost all relocation. We don't get everything but pick from a list. We are focused on temporary furished housing, assistance finding our rental, and air freight for around 1000lbs of stuff we want to bring. Then we expect to pay about $15k total to get other stuff we need, after we arrive in Japan, like beds, blanket, TVs, cookware, utensils/plates/cups, etc…
I am getting a dependent visa and am limited to 28 hours per week, but also appears I should avoid making more than 1,500,000 yen in a year just to be safe. I am scheduled to start Japanese language school for 2 years in April and as part of the relocation package will get about 3 months of personal language education before that school starts. In other words, outside of odd requests from former coworkers and employers for some contract assistance, I am not planning to work in Japan till after we obtain PR.
We are looking at Ikebukuro and Shibuya for the rental because residents get access to an amazing public gym. It's also more affordable than a lot of areas and higher quality than many others. Nice middle ground that is about 15 minutes by Yamanote from both my school and the office.
Through a friend that moved to Spain 2 years ago, I learned how to handle TMOBILE. We will keep our current numbers with them, just disable data roaming while in Japan, and use a 2nd Sim in phones with a new Japanese number.
We are getting our first phone number in a couple weeks through the company. We can use that to open bank accounts, then we can use the bank account and company address to get a phone plan, then we swap the new phone number into the bank account then when we have our fixed residence, update the phone plan. A little convoluted but should help us get a foothold before we arrive.
We started using Asana free tier to document everything to do before moving in one project and post move in a 2nd project. I couldn't help myself as a Program Manager… Needed a familiar tool.
As always, happy to discuss and answer any questions. Also love more ongoing advice.
by forgedbygeeks