4 ms·

Having lived in Tokyo for a long time probably helped, as you are familiar with the language, local customs, and dealing with beaurocracy. I'm not sure if the p

Having lived in Tokyo for a long time probably helped, as you are familiar with the language, local customs, and dealing with beaurocracy. I'm not sure if the parent has prior experience living in Japan, but if not I would think the whole process could be quite bewildering.

anigbrowl 4y ago
I do have longtime priors, but there are always new things to learn. Thanks.
- freetime2 4y ago
  Ok then I would agree buying a house is easy. A real-estate agent should take care of everything and you are only really responsible for stamping your seal (about 100 times) and transfering the money. Getting a loan is also fairly easy provided you are employed and have permanent residency (or a spouse who is a permanent resident or citizen). Shinsei Bank (recently acquired by SBI) seems to specialize in loaning to foreigners. Neighbor situation is highly variable. I have some neighbors who I am quite friendly with, and others I literally have never seen. Typically neigbors will at least be polite, but you do hear horror stories of neighbors quarreling about taking out the trash, snow falling from the roof onto the neighbor's property, etc. My next-door neighbors live with their aging parents, and the grandfather (who has dementia) once shouted at someone who was doing work on my house. And people do tend to gossip, but it's mostly harmless.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    That's helpful advice. Thanks again.
  - dilznoofus 4y ago
    I have some passive knowledge of seals as used by Japanese folk What determines the design of ones' seal as a foreigner? Just transliteration?
    - freetime2 4y ago
      A Jitsu-in, which is the most official type of seal and is registered with the city office, needs to match your legal name. So mine is just my family name in latin characters. It looks funny but does the job. For less formal seals you can pretty much pick whatever you want. For those I use my family name transliterated into katakana.

anigbrowl 4y ago

I do have longtime priors, but there are always new things to learn. Thanks.

freetime2 4y ago
Ok then I would agree buying a house is easy. A real-estate agent should take care of everything and you are only really responsible for stamping your seal (about 100 times) and transfering the money. Getting a loan is also fairly easy provided you are employed and have permanent residency (or a spouse who is a permanent resident or citizen). Shinsei Bank (recently acquired by SBI) seems to specialize in loaning to foreigners. Neighbor situation is highly variable. I have some neighbors who I am quite friendly with, and others I literally have never seen. Typically neigbors will at least be polite, but you do hear horror stories of neighbors quarreling about taking out the trash, snow falling from the roof onto the neighbor's property, etc. My next-door neighbors live with their aging parents, and the grandfather (who has dementia) once shouted at someone who was doing work on my house. And people do tend to gossip, but it's mostly harmless.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  That's helpful advice. Thanks again.
- dilznoofus 4y ago
  I have some passive knowledge of seals as used by Japanese folk What determines the design of ones' seal as a foreigner? Just transliteration?
  - freetime2 4y ago
    A Jitsu-in, which is the most official type of seal and is registered with the city office, needs to match your legal name. So mine is just my family name in latin characters. It looks funny but does the job. For less formal seals you can pretty much pick whatever you want. For those I use my family name transliterated into katakana.