Leaving Japan to retire
Today we have a new guest post from Mason Dixon, this time about retiring not in Japan. I am currently planning to stay in Japan indefinitely ,but it is always interesting to hear from people who are further along in the journey, and I am a big fan of learning from other people’s experiences. Take it away, Mason!
Call it a thought experiment.
Readers of this website may wonder what the alternative to a retirement in Japan might look like. Previously, I have written about pensions (Kosei Nenkin—Applying for Your Private School Pension), and about weighing the personal satisfaction and of home ownership in Japan against the costs (The Economics and In-Economics of Home Ownership in Japan).
Leaving Japan
When my wife and I retired in 2019, we repatriated to Canada. We had planned that move with care and while working in Japan, had often spent part of our summers in our retirement destination, Vancouver.
Both of us were Canadians, had graduated from universities in Vancouver, had a network of friends and family and even owned a home which by renting it to tenants while we were still living in Japan, had paid off most of the mortgage.
Even with these extraordinary advantages, before we began to enjoy our retirement, we still faced considerable physical, emotional, and social challenges.
Challenges
First of these was the physical move from Japan which was a marathon of cleaning and packing, one day my wife clocking a record 3,507 calories burned on her fitbit.
We struggled to renovate our house in Kawasaki, to sell it, and then to clear out our things, all while still working full-time.
Once in Vancouver, we had to create a new household, buy furniture, and start-up utilities, bank accounts, medical insurance, and as we were living in a suburb, buy a car – I owned my last vehicle more than 28 years earlier.
Adapting to a new life
A second retirement challenge, one I had never fully anticipated, was the loss of identity, and the grief at abandoning the rich social network I had built in Japan over 26 years.
During my last two years at work, the administrative demands on my time, particularly committee meetings, had increased at an exhausting pace. But I loved being a professor, an area expert, a teacher to several hundred students, a supervisor and mentor to numerous adjunct teachers, and a colleague with many friendships within my department, my university, and in professional organizations.
I now realize that sense of loss is common among professionals everywhere. Among my retired friends in Vancouver, other educators, a doctor, a lawyer, and a commercial pilot, all recalled similar feelings. Today, I still think fondly of past colleagues and favorite students and I try to keep in touch with them. I have archived my best lessons and teaching materials.
What might have been
If I had remained in Japan, I might have been able to teach part-time, retained that identity, and many of those friendships.
Part of the life we left behind were our connections to several amateur arts organizations among the foreign community, and our enjoyment of the rich cultural opportunities of living in Tokyo. I knew numerous foreign writers and actors. I regularly saw first class touring exhibitions on artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol. I heard and sometimes even met famous writers like Margaret Atwood or Karl Ove Knausgaard. The most popular musicians of our era like Lady Gaga or Paul McCartney regularly toured in Tokyo.
Both my wife and I yearned for that the hectic but familiar pace that centered around school terms, holidays, and summer breaks. I also missed travelling on what is arguably the best subway system in the world, interacting with the excellent service industry in Japan, and experiencing the nearly daily discoveries of a very different and exotic culture.
Politics
A further challenge in Canada has been engaging in politics. In Japan, I was a well-treated guest worker. I couldn’t vote, and therefore felt remote from many issues that gripped Japan.
Once back in Canada, I felt thrilled to cast my vote at every level of government and I am keenly interested in current issues. But I am often frustrated by the fragmentation in society, the many competing demands I see for resources, the cynicism about our institutions, and the often vitriolic public discourse. I miss the stronger sense of community and collaborative effort that I found in Japan.
Enjoying a new life
However, set against these losses and challenges, I have gradually developed new interests and relationships in Canada, and begun to enjoy a wonderful sense of freedom and of opportunity. It is so easy for me to get things done here, by a phone call or by logging onto a website. There seems to be far less bureaucracy than in Japan and here I easily documents and breeze through most of my communication.
One benefit that comes with any retirement is the time to develop one’s interests. Currently, I am completing some academic research that I never had the time to finish while working in Japan. Making that task easier is that in Vancouver I now possess five different library cards, including a free university library card from my alma mater, so I also enjoy access to academic journals and specialist books. I can draw upon more English books, audio and visual materials than I can ever possibly read, listen to, or view.
Another advantage I enjoy is that with relatively modest resources, a secondhand car, and a roof rack, my wife and I have enjoyed activities over the last three years that would be very difficult or expensive to pursue in Japan. We’ve made short car trips around our province and learned about places that we’d never before had the time to explore.
I picked up a used kayak on facebook and we took up ocean kayaking. I purchased a cheap senior’s pass to ride the gondola up the local mountain and go hiking in the alpine meadows. This week, I saw an eagle riding a thermal up there.
Hiking in backcountry areas, I have dodged black bears grazing along mountain trails, seen seals bobbing alongside my kayak, and I have wandered in old growth forests with trees hundreds of years old.
Last year, a friend passed on her late husband’s downhill skis, boots, poles, helmet, and goggles, and I took up downhill skiing again – after more than 30 years!
In addition, I’ve discovered the pleasure of volunteering for cultural events. My wife and I made paper lanterns for the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival and we carried them in nightly processions over a July weekend. As the performers’ tents went up in the park, I felt I had run away and joined the circus!
Even more rewardingly, I participated in a writing workshop to develop a play I had written, and this past summer I directed and stage-managed it, entering a local fringe theatre festival. It was exhausting, but exhilarating to see the actors develop their roles over our weeks of rehearsal, then to see small but appreciative audiences engage with our play, one night giving us a standing ovation.
We already had considerable social capital in Vancouver before our return, so we are re-integrating into a strong network of friends and family. As a senior, I realize now how many of my deepest friendships were formed over years of contact, shared experiences, and conversations.
Maintain relationships
I maintained friendships here by staying in touch by short visits and by calling up my friends or emailing them. Some friendships greatly enrich my life today. I have people to spend time with, different things to do, local mentors who can offer advice on everything from great hiking spots and the best places to live in the city.
For the most part, although my family ties here have meant new obligations, they largely have
benefitted me. Among the things I miss about my teaching career is my contact with young people, the opportunity to mentor them, and the chance to learn about the attitudes and concerns of a younger generation.
Now I cherish my nephews and nieces, and also my friends’ children. I enjoy sharing my experiences with them, and seeing their lives develop. I feel very fortunate to have been able to return to Vancouver at a time when I could assist my ageing parents, to help a father dealing with Alzheimer’s, and later, my mother, as she has struggled with losing my father and battling cancer.
These have been difficult experiences, but precious ones, too, as my presence and my help made a difference in their lives. Watching my parents in their last years, and seeing other family and friends struggle with age and various illnesses, I view my possessions very differently – here today, gone tomorrow!
One day, I will have to give up my house, and my car and my driver’s license, and ultimately, my money will be of no use. Now I see my financial resources as a means to improve my writing, to live an active, healthy lifestyle, and to enjoy travel and new experiences. I treasure my time because I am so acutely aware of its limits, and I so often feel new aches and pains.
My new credo is “I do as much as I can while I can.”
Keep an open mind
In conclusion, people planning their retirements should thoroughly explore their options. For a couple where one is from Japan, and the other from abroad, it would be worth exploring living part time in two countries, and in reaping the benefits of life in two different cultures, even two different climates.
Of course, if people need the money, or they enjoy working, they should do so, part-time. Anyone looking at retirement should review their financial resources, try to anticipate their future activities, inventory the costs and benefits of where they will retire, and examine that often overlooked resource, their social capital.
Thanks again, Mason. I’m sure many of our readers are considering retiring abroad as well as in Japan. Hopefully your post will give them some food for thought.
How about you? Are you a Japan lifer or are you considering a move to fresh pastures?
That is such a lovely and thought-provoking post. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Mason.
Being nearly 57, and looking at my 100year spreadsheet for retirement at 65, I would echo the last paragraph “it would be worth exploring living part time in two countries”. But more than that, why would anyone want to “retire” to any one place? It makes perfect sense to me to spend the best seasons in Japan (global warming notwithstanding), 3 months in London and 3 months somewhere warm in the globe – at least until we’re 80+ and are slowing down. Why would anyone want to compromise by having to up roots? Just do it all without compromise!
I think most expats get priced out of returning home to retire, as Japan has seen very little inflation and wage growth, in contrast most of the western world.
Housing in Vancouver is substantially more expensive, as is the cost of living. This move would be impossible for most individuals earning average Tokyo salaries.
Higher income DINKs, perhaps.
Perhaps US-specific, but (bracketing housing costs for this) it isn’t hard to find articles on retirement there describing how a retiree might need ~$300,000 for medical costs–and I think that is over and above insurance. Also, IIRC, you need 40-quarters/10yrs of social security contributions to be eligible for Medicare, and without that eligibility, that cost will be higher (tho there is apparently a way to ‘buy in’ for more favorable eligibility).
Thanks for the insightful write up. As a Vancouverite living in Japan, every time I go back I am reminded of how good the lifestyle is, and think about going back permanently, but then I crunch the numbers with regards to housing, and sadly come to the conclusion that it’s likely beyond reach.
Hi, Mighty58, I published the piece to show people that there is some downsides to repatriating, that in some ways it’s more difficult than one might imagine. That being said, there are many options and possible lifestyles. I have some friends who live very well on Vancouver Island, in smaller communities that have most of the amenities of Vancouver, but far cheaper housing and less congestion, etc. An alternative is to own a condo in a age 50-plus building, owner-occupied, and perhaps one that is 10 years old or more, or one with other restrictions. These places don’t go up as much as do other types of real estate. I have some friends doing that who enjoy a pretty good lifestyle without the costs and burdens of owning a house. And there’s always renting which is often downgraded in these past years of unusually high price increases in the cost of real estate due to high immigration numbers, and low interest rates. But I also put the article out there to encourage people to think outside the box which might mean leaving in two places.
Thanks for the write-up, it was very insightful. I’m curious what factors led to retiring in Canada as opposed to Japan?
Thank you for your guest post Mr. Dixon, I really enjoyed it. We are also close to retirement, and I haven’t seriosly considered the emotional challenges of retirement; like building social networks and hobbies. Food for thought. I am not sure how I will fill my time, with the income I will have in Japan. But you are so right in noting our priviledge of having extraordinary advantages.
Interesting to read of your experience of returning home after retirement. It’s quite a issue to grapple with: where to spend one’s remaining years? Before retiring, we always thought we’d base ourselves in Japan and spend a couple of months wintering in warmer Asian resorts. But after some trips away pre-Covid, we realized that wasn’t really what we wanted.
Personally I have little interest in returning “home”. While we can afford to go and also have property there to live in, we don’t think we could ever enjoy the quality of retired life we now have in Tokyo. This city is stunning, as noted by the art and concerts mentioned above but for us it’s much more about the quality and efficiency of the network of transport, medical facilities, shopping, etc. And the food! There’s nowhere else in the world I would rather be having my 3 meals every day.