5 ms·

Care homes and hotels in Japan shut as expansion strategy unravels

109 points by mikhael 5mo ago

ElijahLynn 5mo ago
There are a lot of unnamed in that article. This is not journalism.
Animats 5mo ago
Oh, a visa scam. Title is misleading.
- lysace 5mo ago
  My old little home county/region in Sweden fell victim to a similar scam about 20 years ago. It also originated from China. Use browser based translation tools on https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/smaland/fanerdun-1 https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/smaland/fanerdun-1. Lots of promised investments, naive local politicians (the same guy is still municipal councilor, gah), lack of critical thinking. The end result was just a lot of Swedish/EU visas. They had been advertised for $20-30k per family in China. Oh, and also about 100 "investors" + families who had "paid for visas" but not received anything before it all crumbled.
  - thenthenthen 5mo ago
    Mmm my browser tools fail on that page, what was the tldr regarding the visa scam? I am in China and there is a huge business scamming foreigners to open a business and get a work-residence permits. EDIT: see comments below, yeah, it seems a similar scam
bamboozled 5mo ago
This new business visa thing in Japan is just so so stupid. As if people with money can't wrangle up 300k to get the business visa and then just do nefarious things like this, all the while locking out potentially millions of hard working entrepreneurial types from all over the world who would actually make good citizens, and good honest money.
- rjzzleep 5mo ago
  Sounds logical, but can you elaborate more on what is happening?
  - keiferski 5mo ago
    Essentially the amount of capital needed to get a business visa went up dramatically. It used to be about 30k USD and now it’s almost 200k. Plus other more onerous requirements: https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2026/02/japan-revises-business-manager-visa-requirements https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2026/0... The result seems to be that a lot of smaller restaurants and other foreign-owned businesses can’t really function and will close.
- socalgal2 5mo ago
  Can you elaborate? My understanding: Before: Need $50k in bank, register business, sponsor yourself for a visa Result - lots of people just abusing the system for a visa After: Need $300k, must hire at least one local, must show a profit of $200k within 2 years. Must be reviewed by the government multiple times a year to show your business is serious I can see some issues. If you want to start a company that requires a year or more of R&D before you can ship you're S.O.L.
  - bob001 5mo ago
    Yeah, if the foreign entrepreneur argument is that they're helping the Japanese economy and not just barely sustaining another person in japan then the new requirements seem exactly in line with that?
    - bamboozled 5mo ago
      I know several young people who have migrated to Japan and due to the low cost of starting a company ended up building great businesses with pretty serious revenue and employee ten to hundreds of staff. This wouldn’t have happened if they needed such a large amount of capital just to start. The problem I see with the new rules are it just stops entrepreneurs and rewards rich money launders. The visa applications should considered based on merit and not just about capital.
jorams 5mo ago
> facilities were purchased for between 1 million yen and 5 million yen and resold to Chinese buyers for between 40 million yen and as much as 100 million yen depending on location Those prices seem weird. They were buying entire care homes and hotels for less than the price of a car? I understand they come with obligations, but these businesses were apparently financially ok before the acquisition.
- protimewaster 5mo ago
  > Those prices seem weird. I was thinking the same thing. In many parts of the world, even a failing / debt laden business would be worth much more than that.
  - colechristensen 5mo ago
    In at least some parts of the world real estate isn't the ridiculous "investment" it is in the US.
    - juleiie 5mo ago
      Real estate in good location is an investment almost everywhere Good location being the key here I doubt a house the price of a new car qualifies as being in a good location. Tokyo on the other hand… yeah I doubt you would see anything cheaper than couple million dollars there
      - colechristensen 5mo ago
        Your straight up guessing with zero information is ridiculous. The average apartment cost in Tokyo is a little north of $400k (USD), since the year 2000 or so the value of Tokyo apartments has appreciated somewhere around 3% per year. Apartment prices are ALMOST back to where they were in 1989.
        bob001 5mo ago
        > Apartment prices are ALMOST back to where they were in 1989. You mean when Japan was in an epic price bubble (ie: the imperial palace land alone was worth more than all of California) which was followed by decades of economic stagnation? I'd guess that has impacted their view on real estate to a somewhat unique degree in the world.
AltonGoehring 5mo ago
[dead]
hmokiguess 5mo ago
That .php extension though
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
mwkaufma 5mo ago
Nationalist fearmongering. Why is this frontpage HN?
Canada 5mo ago
If any Japanese people read this: Who cares what they say you will lose out on refusing this mass migration. It's all bullshit. Protect yourselves. Your people and your culture and your country.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]

109 points by mikhael 5mo ago

ElijahLynn 5mo ago

There are a lot of unnamed in that article. This is not journalism.

Animats 5mo ago

Oh, a visa scam. Title is misleading.

lysace 5mo ago
My old little home county/region in Sweden fell victim to a similar scam about 20 years ago. It also originated from China. Use browser based translation tools on https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/smaland/fanerdun-1 https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/smaland/fanerdun-1. Lots of promised investments, naive local politicians (the same guy is still municipal councilor, gah), lack of critical thinking. The end result was just a lot of Swedish/EU visas. They had been advertised for $20-30k per family in China. Oh, and also about 100 "investors" + families who had "paid for visas" but not received anything before it all crumbled.
- thenthenthen 5mo ago
  Mmm my browser tools fail on that page, what was the tldr regarding the visa scam? I am in China and there is a huge business scamming foreigners to open a business and get a work-residence permits. EDIT: see comments below, yeah, it seems a similar scam

bamboozled 5mo ago

This new business visa thing in Japan is just so so stupid. As if people with money can't wrangle up 300k to get the business visa and then just do nefarious things like this, all the while locking out potentially millions of hard working entrepreneurial types from all over the world who would actually make good citizens, and good honest money.

rjzzleep 5mo ago
Sounds logical, but can you elaborate more on what is happening?
- keiferski 5mo ago
  Essentially the amount of capital needed to get a business visa went up dramatically. It used to be about 30k USD and now it’s almost 200k. Plus other more onerous requirements: https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2026/02/japan-revises-business-manager-visa-requirements https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2026/0... The result seems to be that a lot of smaller restaurants and other foreign-owned businesses can’t really function and will close.
socalgal2 5mo ago
Can you elaborate? My understanding: Before: Need $50k in bank, register business, sponsor yourself for a visa Result - lots of people just abusing the system for a visa After: Need $300k, must hire at least one local, must show a profit of $200k within 2 years. Must be reviewed by the government multiple times a year to show your business is serious I can see some issues. If you want to start a company that requires a year or more of R&D before you can ship you're S.O.L.
- bob001 5mo ago
  Yeah, if the foreign entrepreneur argument is that they're helping the Japanese economy and not just barely sustaining another person in japan then the new requirements seem exactly in line with that?
  - bamboozled 5mo ago
    I know several young people who have migrated to Japan and due to the low cost of starting a company ended up building great businesses with pretty serious revenue and employee ten to hundreds of staff. This wouldn’t have happened if they needed such a large amount of capital just to start. The problem I see with the new rules are it just stops entrepreneurs and rewards rich money launders. The visa applications should considered based on merit and not just about capital.

jorams 5mo ago

> facilities were purchased for between 1 million yen and 5 million yen and resold to Chinese buyers for between 40 million yen and as much as 100 million yen depending on location Those prices seem weird. They were buying entire care homes and hotels for less than the price of a car? I understand they come with obligations, but these businesses were apparently financially ok before the acquisition.

protimewaster 5mo ago
> Those prices seem weird. I was thinking the same thing. In many parts of the world, even a failing / debt laden business would be worth much more than that.
- colechristensen 5mo ago
  In at least some parts of the world real estate isn't the ridiculous "investment" it is in the US.
  - juleiie 5mo ago
    Real estate in good location is an investment almost everywhere Good location being the key here I doubt a house the price of a new car qualifies as being in a good location. Tokyo on the other hand… yeah I doubt you would see anything cheaper than couple million dollars there
    - colechristensen 5mo ago
      Your straight up guessing with zero information is ridiculous. The average apartment cost in Tokyo is a little north of $400k (USD), since the year 2000 or so the value of Tokyo apartments has appreciated somewhere around 3% per year. Apartment prices are ALMOST back to where they were in 1989.
      - bob001 5mo ago
        > Apartment prices are ALMOST back to where they were in 1989. You mean when Japan was in an epic price bubble (ie: the imperial palace land alone was worth more than all of California) which was followed by decades of economic stagnation? I'd guess that has impacted their view on real estate to a somewhat unique degree in the world.

AltonGoehring 5mo ago

[dead]

hmokiguess 5mo ago

That .php extension though

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

mwkaufma 5mo ago

Nationalist fearmongering. Why is this frontpage HN?

Canada 5mo ago

If any Japanese people read this: Who cares what they say you will lose out on refusing this mass migration. It's all bullshit. Protect yourselves. Your people and your culture and your country.

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]