Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Japan House: Property Management Contracts

Things take time and work in a certain way. I have to remind myself of that. The speed at which I want to push forward on getting things going for my joint in Daito does not match reality in some cases. Lining up property management has been one of those things.

It's set up now, by the way. 

Monday, October 6, 2025

Japan House: Remote [Property] Management

TL;DR

Everything takes longer than you expect or want when you're communicating over email in a language that you're, at best, a first-year student of. 

  • Relax, take a breath.
  • Don't reply immediately if you don't have to; consider it for a moment first.
  • The process works in its own time. Just go with it.
To make my life easier, I asked my real estate agent in Japan for a recommendation for a vacation property manager. They connected me with my current property manager, Tokunaga-san, from SR Real Estate.

Monday, September 29, 2025

Japan House: Insurance!

TL;DR

Fire and Earthquake insurance for the vacation home in Daito is approximately $35 per month. (For the next five years, per the exchange rate on 2025.09.29)

This is a pleasant surprise! I have phone app subscriptions that cost more per month. (I really need to review my subscriptions again.)

Friday, September 26, 2025

Japan House: Buying a second home in Japan.

TL;DR

Cutting to the chase, I bought a house in Daito, Osaka prefecture. My offer was ¥5.2M, which was accepted. My total at closing was ¥5.7 million (~$ 38,000 USD), which included real estate agent fees, scrivener fees, city taxes, registration license taxes, and other associated costs. 

Adding in the fees paid to the company that managed the purchasing process, I'm at $ 44,000 USD. I'll chat about that later.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

EuroTrip

 Spent two and a half weeks wandering around Europe, specifically Munich, Stuttgart, Paris, Cologne, and Amsterdam.  Long trip, probably a little too long to be completely honest. Had a hell of a good time while also getting to the point where I was very keen on having the trip over and done with.

Just going to hit the highlights for each place.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

A matter of substance.

The COVID TimeLine hasn't been great for a lot of people, I'm no exception. During this period I've felt more isolated and lonely than ever. It hasn't been unmanageable. Unfortunately some of the ways I've been managing are neither productive or healthy.

Boiled down, I'm conscious that I've been drinking a lot more. Problematically, I'm drinking more when I'm bored or lonely. This has almost become habitual. A bit like boredom or fugue eating, but with adult beverages.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Life Update

It's been a minute since I've posted here.

Anyway...

To date, 2022 has been pretty low key.  Less boring than 2021 for sure.  These are the highlights so.