9 reasons to retire in Japan, and 5 reasons not to

I promised my Japanese wife that we would stay in Japan all our lives. We didn't plan on her dying in January this year. I will keep my promise to stay here and maintain her family grave. It has only been seven months and already its hard. Hoping that I deal with this better as time moves on.

Thank you for making this video. I have lived in Japan for 34 years. I am still working, due to retire from my job at a university in 4 more years. My initial goal was to return to my country, Canada, but over the last 25 years, cost of living in Canada has skyrocketed. I doubt I can even buy a small home there anymore. So now I am seriously thinking of staying in Japan. The points you raise are very important.

Excellent summary Ben, and very important that everyone thinks about it in time to prepare for whichever way they go. I don't have any positives to add - I think you covered all, but I have quite a few negatives: 1) Possibility of armed conflict in the region - random missiles being lobbed overhead, and the likelihood of a move to invade Taiwan don't leave me with a warm fuzzy safe feeling tbh. 2) Probability of another mega-earthquake/ nuclear accident. I don't share your confidence in the government response, specially if it hits a more densely populated part of Japan and the infrastructure damage is greater. Even though, theoretically Japan should be better prepared since 3-11. What-ifs include your house being reduced to rubble and you getting a delayed and small insurance payout that leaves you to sort out new accomodation in your 70's or 80's in a tight housing market because so many people lose their homes at the same time? Not fun, even with advanced Japanese. 3) Lack of community. I know you covered social networks a bit, but looking in more detail: if you don't have a big enough circle of similar people here for the long term, living near enough to you to physically meet, if your neighbourhood is not friendly, or you even have downright hostile neighbours, this will start to matter more and more as you become less active, or don't have cash to splash on getting out and about. For me, one of the big negatives in Japan is their concept of community. It doesn't mesh with mine, and I find it inhospitable. I'd like to be in a place where people invite each other round, where people are readier to share aspects of their life with others, where it's easier to make new friends (to replace those who leave or drop out of circulation). 4) Language barrier in old age - imagine your grasp of Japanese getting poorer in your twilight years. I feel I have navigated reasonably for the last 25-odd years, but after traipsing round government offices and the pension office recently, it really doesn't seem set up to be easy to understand bureaucracy, even for native speakers. I see a lot of discombobulated-sounding older people in the offices. And I don't see any signs of improvement over the past 25 years to be honest. 5) Food security - I know you mentioned it, but I don't see Japan adapting either to the labour shortage, or anticipating the growing crisis of food production. And we have seen that it can worsen not just steadily, but in a matter of days or weeks. The older you get, the more complicated it is to make all the arrangements involved in a radical change of country. It's not like arriving in your twenties with one suitcase. 6) Value of yen - for all the demographic negatives, I see the value continuing to decline, and I believe that yen saved here are going to continue to fall relative to other places, meaning like you say, better to make any move sooner rather than later. 7) Infrastructure - depopulation is going to mean that being old will need to be done somewhere urban enough to be able to be confident the transport links and health services will continue. That counts out vast swaths of cheaper parts of Japan to live. But even in a major city, I would worry about the falling quality of care in understaffed care homes as the labour shortage bites deeper. And this is bound to push up the price of later years care. 8) Housing - second all you say, so you need to make sure you have your own place to live, in a place that you feel at home, and has all the right services, and plan for this far enough in advance that you have it in place by the time you are ready to retire. As a Brit like you, even without considering the terrible immigration regime making it very hard to import any non UK citizen family members, just considering the economic factors on their own mean I have pretty much written off the possibility of return to the UK, even supposing it suddenly morphed back into a welfare state. So, if the negatives bother you, definitely start planning where you want to head to, and see what you need to do to make it happen.

We have chosen Japan to retire early in and we moved here in January this year. As an early retiree (I just turned 39) I think it’s the perfect place but I can see the challenges of becoming older here and not sure it will continue to be the place for us once we approach older age. But for now it’s perfect for us 😊 For us we are using the Designated Activities Long Term Sightseeing visa which gives us a years visa (6 months plus 6 months extension) which we’ve been told we can keep applying for as long as you continue to qualify. Which if you are retiring shouldn’t be too difficult for most to have the right amount of cash.

Where my children were growing up, I had always told them I want you and your brother find a girl from Japan. You are American both of you and that is the only world place that you would live for good. Because culture, goods, and Zen doctrine is the best in the world. So now, I am old lady and still thinking about it. Love Japan, never been there, but I read and continue checking everything in that amazing natural such as flowers, mountains, food, people is quiet and educated, Etc love Japan. 😊

Thanks for your advice 🥰

Currently getting everything together for my PR application. Hoping to stay here until the end of time!

Thanks for some great insights.

Well done! Thanks for sharing...

Congratulations on your very productive output of videos - keep it coming!

Hello, I’m Canadian and have lived in Japan since 2011. I fall into the category of wishing to leave, but since I’ve been away going on 14 years, real estate in Canada now is completely unaffordable plus securing employment in Canada will also be very difficult since I am approaching retirement age. I was on the PR track leading up to Covid, then the pandemic changed everything leaving me unemployed for 2-3 years. I just secured a new job this spring, but it may be too little, too late. I’m now looking to retire in a country with a lower cost of living. Further motivation to leave Japan is not meeting a compatible life partner here and finding developing friendships extremely difficult.

Excellent video. My 91 y.o. father lives in a nursing home in Japan and I'm so grateful he's able to live out the rest of his life there, where he has family support, receives excellent care, and his care costs are less than half of what he'd have to pay here in the U.S. As for me, I had a dream of retiring in Japan, but without fluent language proficiency and no support network, it would have been too difficult.

Good point highlighting that one is no longer allowed to stay in Japan with spouse visa, if the spouse passes away.

Regarding AI, we’ve noticed that even dealing with complex contract language or government documents has become tremendously easier with the increasing quality of translation programs.

Thanks for the info and it is very useful

Very clear video, btw. I agree with most of your points. It does look to me as though older people in general are keeping more active these days, not only in Japan. And you seem to be rather optimistic about the shift to renewable resources, as you put it.

Reason 3 is highly underrated. + #4 makes it a no brainer.

Excellent Summary. A1-9 all great pts. D1-Language (written/spoken) is critical and a showstopper IMO. As I recall you passed the JLPT1 test, a grand accomplishment most foreigners won't ever get a sniff at. You are set. My Japanese spouse could certainly cover for my social blunders, but in the end my approx JLPT3 level of proficiency would be C- survival level acceptable in Japan. Doable, but improvement - I'm sure - is faster when living 365/365 in Japan. I'd also miss my kids alot in the US if I was all in 365/365 Japan. Keep up the good videos, I'm sharing your inheritance info with the better half. She owns a home there and we visit 3-4x/yr. Interesting that there is no joint property ownership allowances in Japan, so I'm told. Makes for transfer of spouse to spouse property more complex.

Thank you for this. These are the scary questions we must all ask ourselves. I think getting to our last years, as in getting ill, immobile, losing our faculties is hell wherever you are. Slightly less hellish, I guess, if you have friends and family. Personally, I think that is the key. I will live wherever I have friends and family.

Thank you for the video. Currently living in the States and my wife (whom is Japanese) wants us to retire in Japan...possibly in 4 years from now. So I have that long to learn the language so I'm not so isolated. The spouse vista is a useful piece of info, was planning on just a spouse visa guess I'll have to rethink that. You've been there long term, I wonder what the terms are for someone moving there at retirement age and whether the healthcare system would still apply to me. A lot to figure out. Again I thank you for the video !!