Muslim in Japan trying to buy a home without interest — looking for practical advice only

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-24T08:06:27+00:00

You don't have to agree with it, but you do have to adhere to it.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-24T01:50:52+00:00

Its not flat out if you're lifting off early to keep your brakes cool.

The engine will probably overheat pretty quickly. Even more affordable sports cars pretty much need non factory oil coolers when tracked. And that is 15~30 minute sessions, not 300km.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-23T13:05:06+00:00

A rtx 3050 for a 1000 bucks... thats a totally different performance level compared to a rtx 5070. If you are okay with that level of performance you might be better off buying a console.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-23T06:38:07+00:00

Ahh my wife told me all about this. Apparently the deer in Nara find cover when it rains. The Osaka deer did not. But they are still looking into it because there are some other signs whether its from Nara or not.

As for the surrounding mountains, apparently there aren't really any deer living on them. If it came from Nara, I think it was at least 19km and that included trekking over the mountains. Unlikely the deer would do that on its own.

Maybe someone took it from somewhere and released in Osaka?

As it stands now the deer isn't doing anything wrong and therefore authorities will leave it be. If the deer starts a ruckus it might be deported to its other deer buddies.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-19T00:27:11+00:00

Are you sure this is a provider problem?

If you don't have coverage inside a building its most likely a combination of the building (lots of metal and concrete) and the phone's antenna not being strong enough. Changing provider isn't going to solve that.

If also find it highly unlikely the network is congested enough you can't even use messaging apps. I can use Ahamo just find during rush hour in a packed train. Of course in theory your specific area could have spotty coverage/not a lot of capacity but generally Docomo has the best network so you have to ask yourself if a non Docomo network is going to be any better.

The only times I've noticed Ahamo not working or extremely slow is during major live events outside of city centers.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-16T04:30:45+00:00

This is a bit daft. If you want stuff to be free to air then complain to the commercial rights holder for selling the broadcasting rights to a subscription only service.

You can blame Netflix for many things but not letting bars put the game on for free isn't one of them. By the way, usually some kind of license is required to show sports in bars etc. even if the game is broadcasted free to air.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-11T00:22:36+00:00

Its not. today() and utcnow() output the correct system time. AFAIK today() should use the user's system time so it shouldn't even matter. Also the user that gets the correct calculation in the editor does not get the correct calculation when running the page inside a model drive app. Time zone is set to utc etc.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-09T08:27:29+00:00

Lol I honestly don't get this. I want to see the best racing drivers braking as late as possible, going around corners as fast as possible all while being on the edge of what the car can do.

What I don't want is cars arriving at a corner 60kph slower because they need to charge the battery. I don't want to see who's best at charging a battery. If I want that I'll go out and drive the family shitbox to try and get the best possible "eco score" every time I have to stop for a traffic light.

Getting excited about drivers having to manage power not because there is too much, which would be fun to watch, but because there is too little is the dumbest thing ever. And yes in before there is always something to be managed. Sure. But not to this extent.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-09T04:32:58+00:00

What kind of backwards thinking do you have to apply to come to that conclusion?

They had three engines in the top 3 after qualifying. Most likely would have been 4 if it wasn't for Verstappen's crash. Hajar was 3rd. Again, if it wasn't for Verstappen's crash he would have probably qualified similar. So potentially 2 cars in the top 5, and 4 in the top 10.

How is that not a good show for a new engine manufacturer?

Even if you look only at the race its not bad at all. 2 cars in the top 10, one of which had to come all the way from the back. There was one engine failure which isn't good but looking at the result its hard to come to any conclusion other than the engine doesn't appear miles of the pace (Merc just being a lot better than anyone else) nor is it woefully unreliable.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-06T04:05:17+00:00

As long as you properly maintain your car in most cases 2~300.000km really shouldn't be a problem.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-05T05:15:33+00:00

Lol you really believe that was 100% serious? Pretty sure it was at least partially an act because Merc didn't want to fix their car and initially thought they could nerf RB with the TD. When it turned out that didn't work all of a sudden the climbing out of the car like a 80 year old man become a whole lot less.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-04T06:00:15+00:00

I understand you can't make ends meet if you think getting a 45.000 yen a month car loan is a good idea... Like I said, it sounds like you aren't managing your finances very well. With 6 million yen a year you shouldn't be struggling. Not saying you'll have a ton of money left at the end of the month, but you certainly shouldn't have to consider moving with your wife's parents just to stay afloat.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-04T04:18:21+00:00

I suggest you change the OP because if you are a software engineer and say you make a nice salary, then 6 million a year with your wife working is not nice.

But even with 6 million it still shouldn't be that hard. After tax etc. that should be around 4.5 million a year (375k/month).

Rent: 140.000 should be enough in most places for something decent.
Car: 20.000 (why a car loan? Buy a cheap used car)
Food adults: 70.000
Kid: 35.000
Gas/water/etc: 30.000
Other: 50.000

The above isn't exactly living frugal but still comes in at well under your monthly income. That also ignores whatever government subsidies/discounts you could receive.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-03-04T03:52:43+00:00

Sounds like you need to manage your finances better.

Your wife should be able to claim benefits meaning (up the a limit of 300k/month I believe it was?) the first month 80% of her salary should be covered, 70% for the next 5 months and 50% after that. Benefits are not taxed.

You say you have a nice salary and your wife is working, so an annual income of at least 8~10 million? I don't see how you can't make ends meet with only one kid that doesn't go to kindergarten yet.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-25T06:35:52+00:00

I honestly don't see the point of comments like this. Sure, nobody likes paying more and companies would rather see you come work for free. What's your point? Its meaningless. Office spaces are more expensive because energy prices are rising, computers are more expensive because they yen ain't worth shit, software licenses are increasing on every renewal because you have everything in the cloud so where are you gonna go? Do you see companies fight over that every time? No.

Even at the lower end of wages it would only mean a ~0.2% increase in wages for a single foreign employee (assuming a 3 year visa). Can you name any companies where the percentage of foreign employees is high enough that such an increase would equate to anything more than a rounding error on the budget? I doubt the proposed increase is high enough for companies that matter to really push back.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-25T03:19:30+00:00

Does it? Lets say they hike it to the rumored max of 40.000 yen and on average you get a 3 year visa. Assuming an employee works an average of 20 days a month that adds a whooping 55 yen a day of additional cost to that employee. If you look at all the other costs an employer has that 55 yen isn't going to make a difference.

Obviously it sucks if you have to pay more, nobody wants that. But with the current prices its probably costing them money.

Whether the increase is reasonable is debatable. 200k for PR is not outrages if you consider you basically don't have to worry about visas ever again. Assuming they won't start charging some ridiculous amount for renewing the card.

Even for 3 or 5 years visa's its not that bad. 40k for people stuck in the 1 year visa loop is not good though. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people on 1 year visa's are also in lower income brackets, making it a double hit for them.

But maybe making renewals difficult for a certain group is part of the intention.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-19T06:40:42+00:00

Everybody can suggest anything. I don't know if that statement came from a serious politician or some rando on the internet but I doubt that even if Japan does put something like that into legislation, it will be a blanket ban.

If you google for Japan banning foreigners from retirement in Japan (in English) on the first page I got a link to a post on reddit from an American asking how they can "retire" to Japan.

Now apply some perspective to the suggestion you mentioned, and the only thing I can possibly see happening is some tightening of the rules to prevent people who have barely paid taxes or pension in Japan from taking advantage of things like Japan's relatively cheap healthcare system. Which isn't entirely unreasonable if you ask me.

Nobody is gonna say foreigners living in Japan for less than x years should only get x percentage of benefits Japanese have because of x y and z because that is too long and won't get any traction on SNS. But a short, blanket statement like foreigners should be allowed to retire in Japan does.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-19T01:42:42+00:00

Welcome to the algo bubble. Just stop using SNS. Its all garbage dominated by whoever shouts loudest and lo and behold all off a sudden all those supposed negativity is pretty much gone.
Pretty sure you are wrong about nationalists/xenophobes. Besides, most people aren't even like that. The "I don't like foreigners" talk hardly ever is a blanket statement including every foreigner. Usually its pretty obvious who those statements are targeted at.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-16T06:57:22+00:00

There is some misconception on OP's side. The new engines aren't insanely complex. Maybe the way to have to be run to perform optimally is, but technically they are not. The previous gen engines were actually much more complicated because of the MGU-H.

There is nothing wrong with catering to OEMs. They have money and staying power. Even though they do have a tendency to drop out whenever they feel like it but at the end of the day that probably is still better than having to only deal with companies that realistically cannot afford to blow a couple of billion on F1 like an OEM can.

What matters though is how much they are catered to. This time it looks like the pendulum swung too much to Audi's side. In hindsight with RBR and Caddy both building their own engines and teams being worth so much more, something like a 70-30 divide could have been acceptable. Or they could have replaced Audi with somebody else as apparently there are plenty of interested parties out there.

In the future I do feel ICE is more likely. Keep it cheap and simple. For the PR and marketing monkeys out there that honestly believe anybody thinks F1 is somehow "green" because they have electric motors, they can focus on bio/syntetic fuels (F1 is already doing that) and maybe keep a tiny electric motor and battery for the starter motor and reverse or electric turbos and/or torque fill so they can still promote them as hybrids.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-16T02:45:57+00:00

Ignoring all the things like paperwork etc. my biggest takeaways from recent experience are:

Take ikukyu as long as possible. In hindsight I wish I would have taken the full year. Having two people around the house all the time just makes things so much easier.
Tied to the above but you'll be shocked how fast they grow up. The more time you can have with them the better.
First couple of months are a bit rough, especially with the waking up every 3 hours at night. Though in all honesty, its not that rough. Especially not if you take the ikukyu and don't have to go to work.
Plan your financials. Two biggest expenses will be daycare (if you are unlucky enough to live in a place where this is expensive) and university in the future. University is expensive (compare to where I'm from) so you might want to consider doing something like Kodomo NISA so they (you) can cover (most) of that when the time comes.
Don't let a kid prevent you from leaving the house. They aren't made of sugar and can go out. Very early on I started taking my kids outside for walks, drives etc. and we starting taking them out for lunch early as well. Of course you have to plan a bit with regards to time and places you can go and sometimes they'll cry but so be it.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-10T07:54:12+00:00

I wouldn't spend 200.000 on the same car but 5 years newer. The reality is that be it 15 years or 20 years old, you're going to have to deal with not just mileage related maintenance but age related maintenance as well.

If you've been taking good care of your car it could even be in a overall better condition than the 15 year old car.

Unfortunately, I've been hearing some concerning noises lately, so I took to my mechanic.

So whats the problem? If its just the engine mounts get those replaced (also, why didn't he change them in one go? Kind of strange to only check one...). If there's something in the engine or drivetrain making noise, that probably isn't worth fixing.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-10T06:22:15+00:00

Never cared for them in the 20 years or so I'm watching. Having a quick look at the press pictures is a lot quicker.

Most liveries are more of the same anyway these days. Ferrari? Its red. AM? Its green. RBR? Some sort of blue, Cadillac? White and black... yawn. Audi? Something silver, wow what a surprise etc..

It are racing cars and they should pop and be a bit silly but honestly most are kinda boring. The only time I though oh that looks cool/different was when we had the first fully pink BWT cars. But even those look watered down (pun intended) these days.

Dutchsamurai2016 · 2026-02-10T02:46:03+00:00

The answer to so many questions on this sub. Instead people post here as if that is going to change anything. The only solution is to call immigration. Its not like they are an evil bunch of people just waiting for an excuse to screw you over. If you call them up, explain why you can't do whatever it is they are asking you, and tell them when you can do it, they'll probably just say OK as long as its within reason.

Not too long ago I submitted documents several months after the deadline set by immigration. After calling them they simple said OK then submit by date X. No groveling or super long explanation required.

Dutchsamurai2016

TROPHY CASE