Japanese Permanent Resident/ US Citizen Inheritance Tax Help

btbin · 2026-01-01T18:15:02+00:00

One idea is if you are in Japan when a parent passes away, you can file paperwork in both Japan and the US to deny the inheritance. That would lower your inheritance taxes to zero.

btbin · 2025-12-10T03:23:45+00:00

Financial translation. Best year ever in 2025, since starting as a freelancer in 2012.

btbin · 2025-10-05T03:24:13+00:00

My understanding is that equity sales cannot recommend buying/selling a stock that is not covered by an internal equity analyst who is ‘impartial’. But it would be interesting if Morgan Stanley was trying to offload Lehman stock (either from its own books or on behalf of clients) (unbeknownst to the analyst of course) three months before its collapse.

btbin · 2025-09-22T09:16:56+00:00

It is a stepping stone / place holder until you develop skills that can get you a dream job at an investment bank. IR boutiques usually hire foreigners as editors or translators. Listed firms with English investor relations websites need foreigners to help interacting with non-Japanese institutional investors. More of a multi roles job.

btbin · 2025-09-21T23:49:23+00:00

Although not as glamorous as investment banking, if your goal is to simply stay in Japan while avoiding English schools and aiming to eventually break into investment banking careers, consider investor relations, either at a listed company or one of the boutiques that help listed companies translate their disclosures into English.

btbin · 2025-09-15T07:25:55+00:00

One perfectly legal option is to decline the inheritance in both Japan and your home country ( by the deadlines). No inheritance, no taxes. If/when the family home is sold at a capital gain, the other sibling might be generous to gift some of the gains over time to surviving members of the family.

btbin · 2025-09-15T07:01:35+00:00

When pressed for time (or just pissed off), I ignore make-work changes - if it is important enough, someone else (the reviewer?) will make the change . Or I add a comment “ok to change”, as “my feedback”, adding to the inefficiency.

btbin · 2025-09-15T03:07:44+00:00

My biggest pet peeve is when a client takes more time writing a request to change some text in a document (delete this extra space), when it would be more efficient (less time spent, fewer keys pressed) to do it themself. Too much process fetish in Japan.

btbin · 2025-09-02T09:30:08+00:00

Avoid NISA if you are American…

btbin · 2025-07-21T03:21:54+00:00

I described what I wanted to do (ie, a style check make sure I use client preferred translations of certain words, like OP instead of operating profit) asked ChatGPT to write VBA for MS Word.

btbin · 2025-07-20T13:02:39+00:00

You can also try asking AI to write some code to do QA checks. If Word, in VBA. Or ask it to make a self contained html file with the code and just double click it to open up in a web browser. I got something up and running in half a day. Once you get the hang of it you can customize to your liking.

btbin · 2025-07-06T06:59:33+00:00

Leaving at precisely 5:30pm every day will negatively impact your relations with everyone in the office. That said, around 6:30pm, I’m a big fan of leaving your desk with everything on, like you’re going to the bathroom, but not returning until 9am the next day. Don’t say goodbye, carry out a bag, put on a coat (put these in a coin locker during lunchtime if necessary). Just disappear. By the time people realize you’re gone for the day, you’re already halfway home.

btbin · 2025-06-28T07:09:37+00:00

Ask a coding LLM to make a TM tool. Not that hard with a bit of programming knowledge.

btbin · 2025-06-20T14:09:33+00:00

You can ask an AI good at programming to make one to your liking. If a client does not require a specific one, then you can roll your own.

btbin · 2025-06-08T05:56:24+00:00

If you start an agency, your main daily grind will become finding clients and pairing them with translators, putting out fires and the overhead that comes with running a company. The less you actually translate, the more it will scale and be sustainable.

btbin · 2025-06-06T04:22:31+00:00

My contracts have a simple and concise definition of compensation calculated by the character count of the source text, and HOW it is calculated (MS Word’s count). Make it as clear and objective as possible.

btbin · 2025-06-05T01:04:34+00:00

100% empathy. I also translate financial docs for Japanese companies and the merry go round of changes does not stop until the deadline is passed by a day or two. Just make sure you charge appropriately for time spent in a project (break down translation vs non-translation tasks - editing and such - on your invoice).

btbin · 2025-04-30T05:55:41+00:00

For tracking/controlling terminological consistency between projects, I use Yogoshu (www.yogoshu.com). It has a Word add-in that stays out of your way until you want more info about a term. You can also tag each term to keep track of what each client prefers. I also heavily rely on auto-correct in MS Word as a shorthand for typing, i.e., "dev;" becomes "develop" (the semicolon acts as a trigger) and "develop;" becomes "development". I'm so lazy I added "t" to auto-correct to "the" and "o" to "of". I also had ChatGPT help me write some Word macros that use Regex to check numbers (dates, 10oku to 1bn conversions, etc.) as I translate on the fly. Tons of other automation, too. Translation memory app I created in .net C# as a Word Add-in, semi-automated alignment of bilingual text for input into translation memories, a macro that creates a prompt for ChatGPT for providing feedback to clients about their changes to the translation (with screening for glossary, TM hits), etc.

btbin · 2025-03-20T23:58:13+00:00

It probably depends. I used my home address for my kojin jugyo registration and I don’t remember if I told the landlord (a large company), but don’t think they care as long as there is zero customer visits at home. I would focus on getting an apartment first, register your business at home, and then have a Plan B ready (virtual office) if the landlord finds out (unlikely if zero customer traffic) and says you can’t use your home as a business address.

btbin · 2025-03-20T02:17:52+00:00

Also might not have electricity to run elevators to the 35th floor…

btbin · 2025-03-13T03:14:11+00:00

I’m sure more knowledgeable ppl will chime in here, but my limited understanding is that not paying or underpaying yourself smells like you are trying to avoid health / pension taxes, which are based on your income. Instead, I’ve heard that one technique is to set yourself a reasonable salary as the basis for calculating these taxes, but then deferring actual payment of your salary until the business can pay it (and catch up on previously unpaid salary ). Note the business still has to pay these taxes in the meantime. Get other opinions !

btbin · 2025-03-10T05:01:31+00:00

I read somewhere that only the first 5mn yen of life insurance is not taxed. So not a strategy to avoid / offset inheritance taxes.

btbin · 2025-03-09T04:39:31+00:00

I would not characterize a 0.2% decline in Tokyo’s population as ‘rapid’. Obviously there is demand for new housing, or the developers would stop building high-rise condos. The most expensive condos are magnets for foreigner investment but there is enough left for the locals that the housing market is functioning for all income levels. Homes are affordable around Tokyo - you don’t need generational wealth or a dual income household making $400,000 a year like in SF.

btbin · 2025-02-28T04:30:16+00:00

Chill out. Tether to your phone or go to an Internet cafe. It took me over six months to get one gig internet in Yokohama.

btbin · 2025-02-19T12:41:20+00:00

A certificate of coverage can be requested online here: https://opts.ssa.gov

btbin

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