She’s apparently never tried to get a GP in the States. It’s not like “We don’t take new patients” is untranslatable from French.
And know that it can be very difficult as an American to put your money into a foreign bank account. It’s complicated, but the short version is that foreign banks don’t want the hassle of accounts held by Americans, because of FATCA.
I wonder if there would be any problem with keeping my current credit union, and paying my bills electronically from that? They’re kind of slow, and they don’t process transactions on the weekend (or maybe it’s just they don’t post account updates on the weekend), but no-one has complained about that so far. I wonder if my (Japanese citizen) husband would have problems establishing a bank account, considering that most of his income is from Social Security. If not, maybe we could do a joint account.
I wonder if I can withdraw from Medicare, if I’m living abroad and don’t use it. There are deductions from my social security for Medicare premiums, although the amount is not large. At any rate, I should be able to cancel my medi-gap private insurance.
Be very intentional about doing that. If you come back to the states and try to re-initiate Medicare there may be a hefty penalty as well as increased premiums forever more and you may not be able to sign up again for Medi-gap at a reasonable cost plus everything you have been treated for becomes pre-existing and uncovered. Get very direct information in writing from Medicare before doing that. It’s complicated and often irrevocable.
Yes, as I was writing that, I was thinking “it can’t be as easy as that, what if I come back?” So possibly another minus for moving to Japan, I’d be paying for a medical system I wouldn’t be using.
Talk to a Medicare counselor. You may be able to switch to a low-cost/low-coverage Medigap plan that maintains your eligibility.
Yes, i read that article and doubt it has any actionable information. Wow, the food is different and it’s hard to learn a new language and to make friends when you don’t speak the language. Who would have guessed? And France has weird bureaucracy that’s hard to navigate. (Japan does, too.)
I suppose the only actionable info in it is: “If you are a clueless middle American devoid of both knowledge of the world and the curiosity to learn any of it, don’t try to be an ex-pat.”
Since among Dopers that description only applies to the legendary “few total dipsticks”, it’s not actionable for us. But a couple hundred million Americans might well benefit. If they had the curiosity to read it.
It’s not as large of a problem in Japan. You have to fill out a metric ton of paperwork but I haven’t had any problems here in Japan.
Setting up where? In Japan? Not a problem. And also, they don’t have joint accounts here.
They shouldn’t need long-term travel insurance. As long as he has a visa that allows him to reside in Japan he will be eligible for the national healthcare.
As far as making friends, Japan has a lot of various clubs and such for seniors. There may be some people who speak English, but it’s also possible to do some activities without a lot of language. Groups include photography, karaoke, hiking, etc.
Things like this really depend on the person. The article about the whiners in France seems to indicate that they didn’t do enough to find out how to make friends.
There are opportunities but it does require taking the initiative.
For housing, look for “barrier-free” apartments. They are wheelchair friendly, which may be something that is important later. Bathrooms (toilets) have have handles and are larger. We just moved out of one, and there were some nice touches such as a folding seat installed in the genkan entrance where you put on / take off shoes. The genkan is also low so wheelchairs can go in. It’s really nice for putting shoes on and off.
Japan is getting easier to get around for people who have difficulties with lots of stairs. More elevators and such at stations.
I have a slightly different read on the above and the article. My take was that the people in question THOUGHT they were smart and experienced, because they’d travelled the world, and were “used” to other cultures. What they were still clueless about though is that’s unspeakably different to visit, even for comparatively long durations, but living somewhere for months/years is an entirely different beast.
So they drastically overestimated their own abilities, because they “knew” better. Or in other words, they knew just enough to make huge mistakes with confidence!
Dunning, meet Kruger. Kruger, meet Dunning.
Of course you’re actually right. They were supremely confident they were ready and knew enough to succeed. They were wrong. Their vid demonstrates just how Dunningly Krugerish they were.
This surprises me, and then it doesn’t. If I won’t have a problem establishing my own account, maybe it doesn’t matter. But I guess if we want to have a “household” account for rent and utilities and so on, it would have to be under just one name.
Is Japan still as cash-dependent as it used to be? I hate carrying large sums of cash around, and for as little violent crime as there reportedly is, some folks aren’t above committing burglary.
Oh, and thanks very much for all the ongoing information.
Lived there for two years way back - cash. Business trips through the later decades, cards becoming more accepted. Latest vacation a year ago (Okinawa 10 days - Tokyo area 10 days) almost exclusively cards.
Yeah, that’s what everyone does. Fortunately, things are getting more modern so a lot of bills can be paid by auto pay.
There is less need for cash than before, although it’s still not zero. ATMs charge for withdrawals so when I lived in Tokyo I had an account with Citibank and they waved the fees if you had a certain balance.
Note that some landlords might not rent to older people. It’s simply economics because they have to inform potential renters if someone dies in the apartment. Because of that, some landlords are reluctant to take the risk.
Discrimination against foreigner renters has lessened but it’s not zero yet.
If you move, you may want to consider public housing or quasi public housing. They can’t discriminate against foreigners or older people. Before, I lived in an apartment run by UR, a government-owned entity and had no problems.
It would be harder to get a driver’s license now. When I came in the 80s, people could obtain a Japanese license if they had a valid US license. They still do that for UK drivers but not for US licenses anymore. ( I still have my Japanese license so as long as I keep renewing it I’m good.)
Be prepared to be ruthless when it comes to paring down your belongings. Japanese housing is much smaller and shipping costs have skyrocketed. Shipping costs were two to three times as much when we moved back to Japan two years ago compared to moving to Taiwan 12 years ago.
I wound up taking lots of pictures of keepsakes instead of taking the item itself.
Roughly speaking, you can count on spending at least ¥1 mil for setting up a household $7k, although maybe 50% more depending on furniture. (Of course, the sky is the limit.) We got most of our furniture used because we were still deciding how permanent things would be. Because of the size of the apartment, there are limits to how much you can buy.
Heck, just moving within the USA there are rather few household possessions you can move for less cost than throwing away the old one and buying a new one at the other end. If you can estate sale / garage sale the old one before you go then there’s co comparison: Always replace, never move.
With the exception of jewelry and real artwork I can’t imagine anything you’d typically put into a moving van that could be shipped for less than the price of buying new in Japan.
I am checking back in for the sake of anyone who have been interested in following this story, and to thank everyone for their thoughts and suggestions on the subject. .
The option of us moving to Japan is, at least for a while, off the table. After a few days, my husband remembered the things he didn’t like about living in Japan (mostly things like nosy and intrusive neighbors, and the awful summer weather, plus the fact that his own relatives would be wanting to come over all the time).
I continue, however, to accumulate information, just in case. All things considered, I think it is prudent to have an ace in the hole.
Honestly, I think it’s probably best not to move. As I understand it, you’re both retired so presumably you’re both older and moving, especially moving overseas, is very stressful.
Thanks for the update, it’s always so interesting and informative when discussions like this occur.
Have you guys considered an extended trip (a month or longer) to spend some time with and live near his relatives, and maybe scratch a bit of an itch? Older immigrants that I’ve known find quite a bit of peace (or maybe restoration?) in being able to “go back home” to spend time with family, speak their language and get immersed in their culture again. But they also are very happy to come back to their current home, and seem to find a re-appreciation of their current lives.
I think he’s getting enough short-term time with them. The last couple of years, he’s gone by himself for 3+ weeks each time. He stays with one of his sisters. When he’s here he talks to one or another of them a couple of times a week, and the only TV he watches is Japanese stuff on YouTube or a channel called JME. I would say he has mixed feelings about being around his family. He feels guilty when he isn’t around to help them as a brother, but he doesn’t want to be living in each others’ pockets either. I just need to remember that ambivalence the next time he has a guilt attack, so that I don’t jump off the cliff before it’s really called for.