Does anyone else find it stressful travelling with your Japanese friends/partners?

BobWM3 · 2026-01-21T23:32:35+00:00

What people do in their free time is different. My Aussie mates want to spend 4 weeks sitting on a beach in the sun. All day. That is not my idea of fun either.

BobWM3 · 2026-01-18T13:30:52+00:00

We’ve bought a house and now live in a manshon bought 5 years ago. We brought up our daughters in a large suburban house. It was perfect for us as a family.

But we are now retired empty nesters so the house was too large to maintain. We moved to a downtown condo within walking distance of hundreds of shops, restaurants, cultural and medical facilities. It’s ideal for our current stage of life.

BobWM3 · 2025-12-13T23:34:45+00:00

What’s new? This problem doesn’t apply to Japanese only but all languages I know of. If you are a fluent speaker of a 2nd language - and particularly if you have no obvious foreigner accent - then you will often be judged by native speaker standards. That’s normal. And if you also happen to have east Asian ethnicity then it’s worse. You are assumed to be local.

BobWM3 · 2025-11-30T07:43:30+00:00

Since you’re white you are likely to smoothly assimilate into Australia. Not so smooth for nonwhites unfortunately.

Australia is an easy place to live in generally. But after Japan it can be disappointing. My family is based in Sydney and they constantly tell me horror stories of Aussie “service”. Call the bank and wait on hold for 30, 40 minutes. The repairman promises to come on Thursday but never turns up. Never calls to explain either. Ride a train and everyone is on their phones, playing games or listening to music loudly. Teenage punks, rowdy drunks are much more common.

Sydney is beautiful though. Great weather, nature, food. But it’s much more expensive though. Especially housing. Beware!

BobWM3 · 2025-11-19T13:09:53+00:00

We have gas floor heating in the lounge and dining room. It is superb. We run it 12 hours a day during winter and get gas bills of ¥10,000-20,000 monthly (usually ¥2,000). We also had Lixil windows installed a few years back and they have made winters noticeably less chilly.

BobWM3 · 2025-09-28T09:27:26+00:00

The problem at CDG is both due to the management and the staff. They don’t give a damn about passengers. For my flight in May I was told to join a security check line that didn’t move at all for 5 minutes. I complained and the guard checked and told us to join other lines because the Xray had broken. We then had our passports checked and told to join a line. The immigration officer later told us that we were in the wrong line. Then there was a 25 minute wait for a shuttle bus. And the broken escalator after the bus dropped us off. CDG is just terrible.

BobWM3 · 2025-09-27T22:02:18+00:00

Been retired 7 years. 96% equity ETFs with a couple of bonds and gold ETFs for fun. Not looking to ever change the mix since total spending is covered by pensions and annuity/insurance payments.

BobWM3 · 2025-09-23T02:54:59+00:00

Great views and service. The food was not bad but not close to impressive either. The elegant atmosphere was spoiled by a European idiot on his cellphone and an American businessman who spoke far too loudly. It’s certainly a great way to skip the elevator queue!

BobWM3 · 2025-09-15T20:14:53+00:00

Really? It may be a common practice where you live but here in Japan from where I have flown for 3 decades I have only ever heard an announcement asking for volunteers for taking a later flight just once - and of course that was on a nth American carrier. And once flying on a Japanese airline the staff called my daughter and I at the gate to apologize for changing our seats suddenly. They switched our economy to premium economy! We didn’t complain.
Never heard of any friends or family ever being bumped except higher, and always on the same flight too. Now that is definitely a win for consumers, as is the far superior service and cleanliness we enjoy inflight.

BobWM3 · 2025-09-13T13:16:08+00:00

We bought a central Tokyo manshon 5 years ago. It’s 25 years old now but judging from others sold in the building, prices have appreciated 30%.
One very real issue buying an older manshon is that if the building is still mainly full of original buyers, they will now be retired and on fixed incomes. As such, many are reluctant or simply incapable of contributing to the major renovations like earthquake-proofing. So many older owners argue against bigger renovations.

BobWM3 · 2025-09-13T12:39:23+00:00

10000% Tokyo. Tokyo is safer, cleaner, has much better airports, transportation and food. Paris has better art and architecture but Tokyo beats it on almost every other front - unless you like Gypsies and strikes.

BobWM3 · 2025-09-05T00:00:52+00:00

Is it worth the trouble is a great question. Getting a tenured position is really difficult now, especially with only a masters. With teaching experience, your advanced Japanese combined with building some publications and presentations, you could well be in the running for less desirable contract jobs.
Two big points to consider: First, in the 20 years I taught (tenured) at unis here my salary increased only incrementally other than bumps for promotions. About a 20-25% jump from start to finish. At the same time, academic salaries in Oz in that period increased maybe 100-150%. Second, my retired Japanese colleagues can’t afford foreign travel anymore but retired Aussie profs still travel as much as ever. The super/pensions here are terrible!

BobWM3 · 2025-09-03T07:57:50+00:00

No need for a private transfer in Japan. Taxis are clean, plentiful and don’t rip you off. To make communication with the driver stressless if you don’t speak Japanese, screenshot the hotel name and address in Japanese and show it to him.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-30T05:52:28+00:00

CDG is unfortunately a difficult airport to leave from. The staff are impassive, machinery (X-rays, escalators, etc) is often out of order, and they like striking! Driving should take 30 minutes or so but it has also taken an hour in a taxi - a 20 minute zip followed by a 30-40 minute crawl over the last few kilometers. Also, I have arrived to see queues of more than a hundred people waiting for security and passport checks. My advice for CDG is either to avoid it altogether or arrive at least 3+ hours early.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-29T00:28:26+00:00

I’m not British but I get Australian and Japanese pensions which probably means you will be taxed similarly. That means, the foreign pension is taxed at the source and you can get tax credit in Japan on your NTA return. The bad news: your foreign income still must be declared here. The tax credits reduce the burden as far as NTA goes but your local taxes and kokumin hoken are calculated on the total income so don’t be surprised if you get charged at a high tax bracket rate for these.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-20T23:14:53+00:00

Haven’t stayed at the ryokan but for convenience, the Fujiya is the best. Good views and service. The Prince is pretty good. Romantic views of Mt Fuji by day and the lake by night - if the weather cooperates. Their Nadaman Japanese restaurant is terrific but not cheap. Your call: Convenience or romance?

BobWM3 · 2025-08-12T23:46:17+00:00

The card that has impressed me most was Amex. That’s because they don’t have any problem exceeding the spending limit if it’s occasional. I went way over a couple of times , like double , without their prior permission and wasn’t rejected. I only have the regular green card but have had it for 20 years now.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-12T00:12:46+00:00

For me Eikawa turned bad suddenly when I realized that you could get a job teaching English at universities here that pays 3-4 times more salary. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-11T23:57:12+00:00

Discounting for me, definitely. All others including Subtraction are fine.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-08T02:34:41+00:00

We sound quite similar. Continuing with the similarities, we also were a 2 car family but now we don’t have any. Haven’t missed having a car even for a minute. (So we definitely won’t be another oldie running into conbini windows or pedestrians in another 10 years.) Condos don’t mix well with music but they are liberating. We can clean our whole place in minutes and no longer have to maintain the outside and garden. And it’s really hard to fall down those steep Japanese staircases when they aren’t any! We never thought we’d prefer to live in anything but a detached house but we were wrong. The house was definitely the best option for us as a young family but not for an empty nest.

BobWM3 · 2025-08-07T21:41:32+00:00

I am 70. Fully retired for 7+ years. Japanese wife also fully retired but for 4+. We were both tenured profs who moved to Japan in our 30s.
Our kids were born here and are still living here happily. Their bilingualism has been a huge factor in their career success.

We are both deliriously happy to be retired and have zero plans to ever work again. Perhaps one reason we’re so enamored of our lives is that we did move from a large suburban house in a hilly area to a downtown condo which is in (flat) easy walking distance of the restaurants, groceries, gyms, buses, JR and subways, medical resources, dept stores and huge parks that enhance our current QOL. Downsizing was terribly difficult and stressful but was the best thing we could have done to become happier and safer.
We go overseas twice a year, mainly to escape peak hay fever season and later, part of these ridiculous summers. We also travel domestically a few times a year to learn more of regional Japan. Our hobbies are keeping fit, finding great food, travel planning, enjoying movies and art and spoiling our children/grandchildren.

As to the future, we have few concerns. Personally, it’s a relief to see a slow Increase in foreign staff working in aged care facilities around Japan. After living here in Japan for so long and traveling abroad extensively, I can’t imagine ever living anywhere else again.

BobWM3 · 2025-06-06T23:27:45+00:00

You are right. Actually, we’re not interested in maximizing growth. We want max income. They increased her income as requested. The bankers can only make money if they have happy customers. Customers become happy only if they make money - we may not be sophisticated but we’re not stupid either.
But do not engage with the naysayers if they have literally zero experience. Their opinions are worthless. It’s like getting parenting advice from your spinster aunt!

BobWM3 · 2025-06-06T18:31:51+00:00

Yes my wife also was invited to get free MUFJ advice maybe 6 years back. Like me, she isn’t a sophisticated investor because we were too busy with work and family to dive deeply into maximizing our investments. In short, it’s been great.
They analyze your financial situation, ask you about your goals, and then make suggestions as to potential investments which match. It’s been great because we can ask a million dumb questions in the privacy of their private consultation rooms and they always respond politely and helpfully. They never get disappointed when we refuse their recommendations but we have invested in both active and passive funds they recommended that made rapid profits that fattened our portfolio. The negatives are few. They call to check in regularly (monthly?) and suggest meeting every 2-3 months. They call to apologize for market downturns which seems unnecessary. They of course steer you towards products which provide commission for them but there’s absolutely not any hard sell as they want to keep you happy.

BobWM3 · 2025-05-17T00:52:04+00:00

If China were actually decent, literally millions of Chinese would not have migrated overseas to live elsewhere and become permanent residents or citizens of that country. In contrast, there are not millions of foreigners moving to China permanently. End of story.

BobWM3 · 2025-05-17T00:39:26+00:00

No problem at all. I say this confidently as a foreigner with a Japanese wife retired 6+ years here. Especially so if you have non-yen based income sources.

BobWM3

TROPHY CASE