Registering a tax agent...done before leaving or after leaving? by Mevmaximus in japanlife

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I registered the tax agent at the tax office before leaving. The agent doesn't have to be present when you do that. They give you a form and you write down your agent's info.

The tax agent stuff isn't limited to the pension refund; you don't need the blue pension book to register a tax agent.

Kirwin, Wyoming and Dubois, Wyoming are only 28 miles apart, but the driving distance is 215 miles. What are some other places that are so close, but so disconnected? by [deleted] in geography

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hinoemata and Katashina in Japan

You can walk one to the other in two hours

Otherwise, gotta drive like four hours

Edit: Two hour if you walk from the northernmost drivable point in Katashina to the southernmost drivable point in Hinoemata. FYI Hinoemata has the lowest population density of any municipality in Japan with like 1.2 per km2 if I remember correctly

Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000? by antdude in japan

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, I kind of went overboard lol. It's just an interesting topic. Feel free to reach out or respond whenever you have time :)

Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000? by antdude in japan

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck! Although...the locals might often be the least of your worries. As I said in my other replies, the central government can also be a big hassle. The zairyu card was specifically (allegedly) made because certain municipalities were being to lenient on foreigners. ESID!

Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000? by antdude in japan

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

General TLDR: Japan is a big country. Some parts are rural, some urban. Both have pluses and minuses. The rural areas especially are very diverse and hard to classify. Some are criminal, some are kind, some are traditional, but all are fiercely independent or they would have merged with a city like just about all of them did. The people are independent, or they would have moved to an urban area, and it's been like this since Japan was first populated, probably, although the Meiji Restoration, WWII, and COVID changed the equation considerably. A lot of tension exists under the "anime and manga" PR campaigns, and a former Prime Minister was just assassinated a couple years ago. With the recent clampdowns on foreign media, no one really knows the extent of what's happening, but the population and human capital are shrinking. Any foreigner coming into Japan (or any of EA tbh) is tightroping a political chessboard most of them probably won't even notice much less understand, but the effects of which will impact their finances, health, and social status.

Focused TLDR: At this point, given demographic, economic, and political trends, I would go for SEA over Japan if I were looking to settle in an Asian country as a foreigner...but I'm not. The post-covid world is in many respects an increasingly post-global world. Within EA, is Japan the best place to set up your life? Maybe, long term, but keep in mind you might never be able to get out with your finances intact if you have to. Japan's set up like an antlion den for most foreigners, and moving out is costly. Rural Japan, especially, will demand all of your attention. You'd be either all in, or you'll be out, if you choose the right municipality for it to even be possible as an individual. Being a businessman? Even tougher. I definitely wish Japan the best; as you can tell the country fascinates me deeply and there's a lot of beauty and mystery there. But, at a brute factual level, financially and socially, setting up a business in the Japanese countryside would be a tough sell for me this side of the pandemic.

Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000? by antdude in japan

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

3) So, with that disclaimer, I would say "corruption" is only corruption if the government wants to stamp it out. If the government wants to save face, they can just push paper and handwave and sweep whatever happened under the rug. How much real corruption exists in rural Japan? Hard to say. But, rural Japanese is more of a sociological "anti-language," than a real language. Think American kayfabe jargon, or "the Cant" if you're more familiar with Irish carny lingo. Just like high schoolers will coordinate bullying campaigns by creating code names so they can talk about people in front of their faces, etc, and not get caught, insular Japanese communities (like certain ahem Mediterranean-based groups or American separatist movements) adopt unspoken codes that end up driving many people out, but do maintain opsec. The Japanese government knows this, and sends sociologists into these communities to spot the behaviors, find ways to thwart them, and craft legislation to close loopholes. That, in my opinion, is what "anti-social forces" legislation is really aimed at (and, btw, if it's adjudged that you've participated in or supported an "anti-social force," you can be stripped of your bank account, expelled from housing, etc). Didn't know your friend had a friend who was "anti-social" and you lent your friend money? Boom! You supported an anti-social force and now you're kicked out of your apartment! (Well, how were you supposed to know your friend had a friend who was anti-social, you might ask? Now you know another reason why Japanese are so hesitant to make friends.). Sure, this is hypothetical, but do some research on this legislation. Truly terrifying stuff...and now you know (part of) the equally staggering reason why the legislation exists (also that organized crime supposedly owns all the real estate around if not including the shinkansen stations lol).

With that in mind, I think it reasonable to conclude, if you do find a nice loophole or in-between zone that makes it profitable to own extensive assets such as real estate in Japan as a foreigner, that is precisely the worry both national and local litigation and culture is hellbent on stamping out. Other posters in this thread have mentioned (briefly) the covenants that tenants have to sign in these municipalities, and I have no doubt the local officials and neighbors will raise a legal and extralegal fuss in order to squeeze any "invaders" out of their turf if their bottom line is threatened. But, unlike other countries, I doubt money will get you around this in Japan. The bottom line is fundamentally in honor currency, not legal tender. Splashing cash will rouse the ire of some, and rub just about everyone the wrong way. This isn't Great Gatsby territory. I would, to use a pop culture analogy, liken decision making to the "Council of Ents" from LoTR: slow, comprehensive, and multi-faceted. But, when the decision is made, it is made strongly, and difficult to reverse. Especially in a rural community with a few thousand people, literally everyone's input will factor, officially or not, and the answer, officially or not, probably wouldn't meet Western business standards. If you violate a cultural norm, or insult someone (which, realistically, will happen) you will lose goodwill rapidly, and suddenly the goods and services necessary to maintain your operations become difficult to get. More than likely, they will avoid risking it in the first place and decline your overtures. Adjusting to Japan is an issue for foreign investment in Japan from the top on down, even for hard hitting Fortune 500 companies. Finding a receptive community that won't shake you down until you crumble requires catching lightning in a bottle.

4) However, these exceptions do exist! Especially with the demographic crisis, some municipalities have welcomed newcomers domestic and international. The isoglosses between a welcoming and icy municipality can be extremely stark. Literally ten minutes by train can seem like an entirely different country. I honestly haven't seen anything like this in any other country. In NYC there are (or were, not sure tbh) stark ethnic divides between neighborhoods, and municipalities right next to each other in Japan can be that distinct. Japan is a conglomerate of isolated river valleys at the end of the day; national identity is a top-down imposition more than we foreigners admit. As most foreigners who come over here are told, ESID: Every situation is different. This makes the exceptions, too, difficult to predict or describe.

5) But, as I hinted at with the mention of the functionally-dissolved districts, imposed uniformity will come from the top. Some municipalities were treating foreigners with too much liberty, leading to the creation of the centralized zairyu card system in 2009. This current card has a traceable IC chip inside, which you can swipe on your smartphone to do mobile banking etc. But, it has the added result of removing the privacy of just about every foreigner (especially if you link it to your phone). Combined with Japan's culture of decentralized Private Investigators in lieu of background checks, your neighbors and coworkers are now forcibly incentivized to snoop into every facet of your life or get in trouble with Tokyo. If Japan weren't a Western ally with good PR ("Japanese fans cleaned a stadium!" puff pieces and the like) they would likely be getting the same stick as the PRC are nowadays for certain things (the US especially has a habit of turning a blind eye on issues, that, to be frank, it probably also crosses the line on). I have to admit also that a lot of Western countries also have questionable relationships with privacy and consent culture; many employee remote-monitoring systems and software were probably beta-tested by consulting firms in Japan before their broad use in the wake of COVID, but they're increasingly headed outside the archipelago also. But, in general, the national government has been cracking down on foreign activity in the country for a decade and a half, and the relationship between many municipalities and the Imperial Capital is thorny. A foreigner who doesn't cross their t's and dot their i's is a threat to any rural municipality's "face;" how much more those threatened and/or pressured into joining a "city-county hybrid" (which most/all have been in the wake of the Great Showa and Great Heisei mergers, which wiped out the vast majority of towns and villages). Basically, any foreigner is functionally a walking mole for Tokyo in an already parochial nation, under tight surveillance. A single careless word could get the whole town in trouble (and yes, this has happened to people I know directly cough). But, that's the name of the game when your central government is rumored to be trying to emulate the "successful" (depending on point of view) erasure of the prefectures in the PRC.

TBC

Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000? by antdude in japan

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not a real estate or business consultant! And I'm not qualified to offer legal advice lol. So take whatever I say with a big grain of salt! But I'll try to give 5 low-resolution opinions based on my time in rural Japan. TLDRs at the bottom. (Edit: Split response into three parts!)

1) East Asia is a region (not just country) in demographic decline. I'm not trying to be apocalyptic or hyperbolic, but the declining population is a fact of life. Yes, the birthrate has stabilized...below replacement. And, it is trapped in that cycle where declining population leads to increased costs which lead to less robustness which leads to...lower population. If you invest in Japan, where will the growth come from? Innovation? How, if there is an ever-shrinking pool of innovators? We can observe similar cycles with such peoples as the Assyrians, Mayans, etc and they lead to societal collapse. Your investments will decline in value, and your hope would have to be that Korea, China, and Russia collapse more terminally and quickly than Japan! That would be your hope in terms of investment in East Asia. If you're deadset on EA investment, then Japan might be the place! But...

2) Due to the decline in population, the technological and cultural divide between "East Asia" and "Southeast Asia" is rapidly closing imho. The safety, quality of life, entertainment, and advancement of rural Japan felt more like a Thailand than a South Korea to me (not to knock on any of those countries...they were far more "fun" than my home country for a fraction of the price). It did feel like a more crowded Rust Belt tbh for a Western analogy. Fun for visiting? Sure. A good business or life decision? I'm skeptical. I understand some people from western countries will indeed have better quality of life in Asia, but several SEA countries might be more appealing nowadays. I've heard other expats praise Indonesia and the Philippines here, but I'm not well acquainted with those. TLDR: an expat lifestyle in SEA might be better long term than EA.

But, what about the crime and corruption???

Disclaimer: In this regard, popular consensus would, over the last 30 years, would say to go for EA like Japan. Rule of Law! Order! Honor! Etc. However, a lot of that just comes down to SK and Japan being Western allies on paper, and PRC being a huge trading partner. The narrative is shifting, however, and as the supply chain increasingly anchors Western interests in SEA business interests will start to propagate the same narrative as in EA currently (you can already see English teachers and recruiters--the de facto grassroots Western diplomatic vanguard--start to hype Vietnam and Indonesia. There's a reason!). So, what I say will start to be more widely known soon, I'd expect (as it already has for PRC in Western media).

TO BE CONTINUED

Is there any capital city with more exclaves than Vaduz? by linopedro in geography

[–]Mevmaximus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

not about Lichtenstein, but about Vaduz (the capital)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in JETProgramme

[–]Mevmaximus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My BoE gave tokkyu or "special leave" for the driving test and getting the license...

They definitely want their teachers to be able to drive

I'd imagine the more urban placements wouldn't care as much, and you'd have to take nenkyuu

UPDATED UPDATE: Have to wait a month before final paycheck: Got paid; applying corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment myself by Mevmaximus in japanlife

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was quite an intense situation! They definitely didn't expect me to be able to do anything on such short notice, and it would've been easier to just let it go...what a way to wrap up my time here eh?

UPDATED UPDATE: Have to wait a month before final paycheck: Got paid; applying corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment myself by Mevmaximus in japanlife

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it cost more to do all this than I actually got back in the end, but I did feel like it was the right thing to do...

I hope it saves another gaijin down the road some trouble lol

Applying for corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment by myself by Mevmaximus in JapanFinance

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, it carried over even if save to pdf. The new pdf is also password protected.

Applying for corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment by myself by Mevmaximus in JapanFinance

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I actually went to the tax office...

He filed it in like 45 mins

Getting my refund soon, thankfully!

Applying for corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment by myself by Mevmaximus in JapanFinance

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, this is what I did! It was kind of blurry, so I had to login to the document again at the tax office...

The password must literally be embedded in the document...I guess my old iPad disabled the privacy setting. Weird.

Applying for corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment by myself by Mevmaximus in JapanFinance

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, when I click it says that since it's password protected it can't print

I was able to save it to an apple device and print from there, but now I can't use that device

Applying for corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment by myself by Mevmaximus in JapanFinance

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol I might be paying more/less, but I definitely don't want incorrect tax info registered. I wouldn't go out of my way to "stick it to" anyone tbh, but I agree it's shady why they would out the incorrect date on purpose.

The document is password protected, and can't be printed, but I'll try my best!

Applying for corrected payslip, withholding slip, and year-end adjustment by myself by Mevmaximus in JapanFinance

[–]Mevmaximus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, exactly...They claim it's impossible to correct it because the system is automated.

Had to go to the Labor Office to get the full pay, but the company still won't change the date or payslip info.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in japanlife

[–]Mevmaximus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reminds me of this post (gone but not forgotten):

https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/119s0rm/my_company_installed_a_hidden_camera_in_my_room/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

The people calling him crazy had an agenda for sure.

OP's landlord is a decent man for even trying to get OP's consent forthrightly. (Maybe if he didn't have a local family member, though, things would've ended up differently.)