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Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

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Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#101

Post by braiamp »

nradov wrote: post #91
myrmidon wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from a region negatively affected by this. Foreign capital is undesirable in the housing market because: 1) It raises demand (when buying a home as a local, you now also have to compete with foreigners "investing", and this raises prices). 2) It often develops housing in a very unhealthy direction: Airbnbs and vacation apartments are toxic for local society and must be kept in check, otherwise you end up with hal…

Why is there insufficient new housing development in your region?

Because that implies more supply and landlords are happy with the supply being restricted. The people that has the money to build won't, the government will follow the money, so the state doesn't help. That kind of question reeks to "why are you poor?", well, because I have no money!

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#102

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

timr wrote: post #47
tristanj wrote: post #2

A large number of Airbnb hosts were using this Business Manager Visa as a way to stay in Japan. People in China realized they could just buy/lease a guesthouse in Osaka / any tourist hotspot, and rent it out on Airbnb. Then they become a "business manager" and get a Japanese resident visa within 3 months. All you needed is to invest 5million yen, which is like 31k USD, which isn't much. People wrote entire online gui…

Yep. There was also a proliferation of Indian restaurants in the major cities, for the same basic reason. (Though I have to say that seems like a much harder road than operating a guesthouse for people from your own country, which is what I presume was the Chinese approach.) Since you can bring in relatives on this kind of visa, I’ve heard the expression “One curry pot equals three people” . There have been stories i…

I have to say though, the abundant authentic, high-quality and low-cost Indian and Nepalese restaurants across the country was a real quality of life benefit for people living in Japan.

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#103

Post by aurareturn »

akg_67 wrote: post #75
timr wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He is an immigrant in Japan but he doesn’t want immigrants both in his host (Japan) and home (UK) countries Except that’s not what he said at all. He said if there’s visa abuse, the abuse should be stopped. How one gets “doesn’t want immigrants” from this is beyond me.

> As a *Brit living in Japan* (non-resident) I think they should protect themselves at all costs, lest *what happened to my country happen to theirs.*

UK doesn't have an issue with visa abuse though.

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#104

Post by modo_mario »

akg_67 wrote: post #70
timr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s rich about it? You can live in Japan as a non-resident and still be following 100% of the rules. I agree with the GP. It’s their country. They set the rules. If they want to change the rules because those rules aren’t working for them , that’s their prerogative. As a USian, I’m actually sort of jealous that they have the ability to make changes so quickly.

Double standards. He is an immigrant in Japan but he doesn’t want immigrants both in his host (Japan) and home (UK) countries. Pretty ironic come to think of. I guess he thinks his type are “good” immigrants, others are not so much.

The UK isn't exactly an assimilation success story. As someone with potential aspirations of moving to a different country I don't mind it if they tried to avoid that kind of scenario and to retain their state's character to some extent.

The irony comment comes across somewhat innefective and petulant when I and others i've encountered with such views hold them in spite of the effects it could have for us. I don't see the point in laughing at that any more than i see it in calling out irony when a rich person calls for tax hoops to be closed and taxation to be fair.

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#105

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

nradov wrote: post #65
torben-friis wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I feel like letting people buy their way in to visas is actually a pretty good system That depends of what you're hoping to prevent. If you want to filter out people who can't sustain themselves, petty crime or the like, it works. But it can open the door to a lot of unwanted effects. A foreign national that just extracts capital by capturing real state and collecting rent is a great example, this person is a large…

If foreign nationals are able to extract a lot of capital through rents then that's a sign that the government has made it too difficult to develop new rental housing.

This really isn't the case in Japan. It's extremely easy to develop new rental housing, and rents are fairly low.

However, it can be difficult for foreigners without a Japanese support network (like a blue-chip employer) to rent property in Japan at market price, because of discrimination by landlords. This isn't because of government policy, it's because building managers have the impression, mistaken or otherwise, that foreign tenants won't respect the rules, will be difficult to communicate with, or might skip town with unpaid rent.

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#106

Post by everforward »

embedding-shape wrote: post #73
nradov wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The notion of earning "passive income" as a landlord is a total fantasy. The reality is that it takes a lot of work. Otherwise tenants, vendors, and property managers will wreck the assets and rob you blind.

> The reality is that it takes a lot of work. You can outsource pretty much the entire thing, and just be a name on a paper, and receive money in your bank account, that's as close to "passive income" as you can get. Lots of people do this today, pretty common for landlords to do so in Spain for example, and I'm sure all around the world.

I tried this once and it wasn’t great. It was a single home, and in a college neighborhood (house was cheap, ergo rent was low).

The rent paid the mortgage, but that was about it. Repairs were more or less out of pocket.

I gave it up because I didn’t live locally and got raked over the coals on repairs a couple times. I finally quit because the property managers had an “emergency repairs” clause where they could do repairs without my approval and bill me.

One of the renters clogged the toilet at 11pm on a Saturday, moron decided to call the property management because I guess plungers are confusing, they decided that was an emergency, and I got a $700 bill to send a plumber out at midnight to plunge a toilet. Like not even a roto rooter or something, just a generic grocery store plunger.

Became clear I was either a) going to have to be much more involved, or b) accept that the returns are basically just equity in the house on a 15 year mortgage, minus overpriced repairs.

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#107

Post by hylaride »

rayiner wrote: post #68
timr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. There was also a proliferation of Indian restaurants in the major cities, for the same basic reason. (Though I have to say that seems like a much harder road than operating a guesthouse for people from your own country, which is what I presume was the Chinese approach.) Since you can bring in relatives on this kind of visa, I’ve heard the expression “One curry pot equals three people” . There have been stories i…

> Since you can bring in relatives on this kind of visa, I’ve heard the expression “One curry pot equals three people”. Family reunification is a gaping loophole in any skilled immigration law and developed countries need to seriously limit it. The New York Times did a good podcast on how uncapped family reunification ended up being a loophole that totally overturned all the limits and compromises in the 1965 immigra…

It's a contentious issue in Canada, too. There are legit reasons families may want to bring in certain extended family members (grandparents for childcare, etc), but it becomes a chain. Canada's elderly benefits are designed for people that have lived here all their lives, so it adds a strain to healthcare and other services.

IMO it should be immediate family (spouse and children) and then maybe one should be able to sponsor 2 others on long term VISAs. But there would still be fraud (there always will be I suppose).

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#108

Post by dindunuf »

eloisant wrote: post #13
ElProlactin wrote: post #6

Many countries are tightening the immigration screws. For example, Thailand just reduced visa exempt stays for most countries from 60 to 30 days and have been going hard after illegal foreign businesses set up under Thai nominees. While there are usually political and economic factors that contribute to these decisions, I've been living overseas for almost two decades and have noticed that rampant abuse is now almost…

That's pretty crazy when you see that in developed countries, Japan in particular, population is aging and declining. Countries should be competing for the best immigrants, not closing their doors.

[flagged]

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#109

Post by gacgacgac »

Gareth321 wrote: post #41
torben-friis wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I feel like letting people buy their way in to visas is actually a pretty good system That depends of what you're hoping to prevent. If you want to filter out people who can't sustain themselves, petty crime or the like, it works. But it can open the door to a lot of unwanted effects. A foreign national that just extracts capital by capturing real state and collecting rent is a great example, this person is a large…

> A foreign national that just extracts capital by capturing real state and collecting rent is a great example, this person is a large net loss for the country. Is this a creative way of arguing that landlords are a net loss for the country? Because I would like to remind you that MANY people cannot afford to buy homes, and renting is how they make sure they don't become homeless.

Why do you assume it has to be landlords providing inexpensive, short term housing?

Re: Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

#110

Post by nicbou »

rayiner wrote: post #68
timr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. There was also a proliferation of Indian restaurants in the major cities, for the same basic reason. (Though I have to say that seems like a much harder road than operating a guesthouse for people from your own country, which is what I presume was the Chinese approach.) Since you can bring in relatives on this kind of visa, I’ve heard the expression “One curry pot equals three people” . There have been stories i…

> Since you can bring in relatives on this kind of visa, I’ve heard the expression “One curry pot equals three people”. Family reunification is a gaping loophole in any skilled immigration law and developed countries need to seriously limit it. The New York Times did a good podcast on how uncapped family reunification ended up being a loophole that totally overturned all the limits and compromises in the 1965 immigra…

I wouldn't call it a loophole but a compromise.

If you want to attract skilled labour, you must allow them to bring their dependents. They come as a unit.

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