So who's actually retired in Japan?

[captainspoke]

I'd be in heaven if I could get a traditional japanese breakfast daily--rice/nori, soup, a small grilled fish, tsukemono...

About Hemingway's short story:

The individual's responsibility to himself is to find a clean, well-lighted place or create one of his own. The ironic paradox of the story is that meaning can be created only through an awareness of its absence.

[hbd]

@Tokyo
As I'm sure you know, the Australian bubble has been going for about 25 years ( it even kept bubbling along through the 2008 GFC), so there's now a whole generation who know nothing but funny money when it comes to retirement plans or what to do about their octogenarian parents. Having said that, I think the Lucky Country is still a great place to retire for the lucky few ...

Here in unfunny (or no longer funny? or unlucky?) Japan, gaijin-oriented aged care facilities of the kind being talked about are as yet non-existent, except for those of Chinese and Koreans (which in any case are not what's been mooted because they're intra-community and grounded in their respective languages). In similar fashion the Vietnamese who are settling here now will take care of their own. The execs among us will probably go home to their uptown South Yard or Elizabeth Bay apartments, or else head off to Cairns. If they stay here they'll have enough cash to live on in Azabu or the best parts of Yokohama where they won't have much trouble finding English-speaking company, and when the end is near they'll probably have enough to hire home carers to supplement public system provisions. So I think the market for English-based and culturally inflected aged care facilities might not be as バラバラ as all that.

As for those 'little' matters, I couldn't agree more; after all, in (truly) old age what can one enjoy other than food, music, and conversation? It seems to me the way to avert a lowest common denominator scenario is to get involved in shaping what's going to be on offer -- those as yet non-existent retirement communities, and in turn care facilities. So at the risk of repeating myself, let's keep talking till some initiatives start to emerge. It may take years of batting ideas around on this site (and one hopes eventually in person), but surely that's better than waiting around til it's too late to do anything but おとなしくaccept whatever's on offer (and believe it or not おとなしい is a commonly found translation for 'docile'. Rage, rage against the dying of the light!)

[goodandbadjapan]

As for those 'little' matters, I couldn't agree more; after all, in (truly) old age what can one enjoy other than food, music, and conversation? It seems to me the way to avert a lowest common denominator scenario is to get involved in shaping what's going to be on offer -- those as yet non-existent retirement communities, and in turn care facilities. So at the risk of repeating myself, let's keep talking till some initiatives start to emerge. It may take years of batting ideas around on this site (and one hopes eventually in person), but surely that's better than waiting around til it's too late to do anything but おとなしくaccept whatever's on offer (and believe it or not おとなしい is a commonly found translation for 'docile'. Rage, rage against the dying of the light!)

- That will need to do as there is no like button.

[hbd]

Why this thread stopped for 9 days I have no idea. Just as things were getting up a head of steam ... Perhaps like me, everyone has been working hard on earning (or investing) money so that they can retire sooner rather than later. Perhaps we'd looked a little too far into the abyss and decided to back away from it. Or perhaps it's the onset of that general malaise that comes with the first few sticky days, knowing as we all do that there'll be 4 months of trial by humidity to follow.

Perhaps for now we should get back to the question raised by 'SARS' back in January: Who's retired here and how has it gone for them?

Here's one approach: If you know someone of 'our kind' ( English-speaking people from 'the West'? ) who's retired in Japan, please give a brief description of their situation as you see it. You could of course describe your own situation as a retiree here, as some individuals already have kindly done. I can't yet do that, as I'm several years away from retirement and am still in two minds as to whether I want to stay on here--like most readers of this thread, I suspect. (In any case my own deliberations will probably be largely driven by the lack of accommodation solutions for my adult disabled child.)

Instead, here's a brief sketch of an Australian friend who's 93: He has lived here for nearly 60 years, having come in his mid-30s after receiving a job offer as an English-language editor at a downtown Tokyo firm. He lived a very active and reasonably successful life, but one with neither a domestic partner nor kids. A sibling married to a Japanese had some children, so he has a few nieces and nephews who live here. About 6 years ago he was worried about his legs and what would happen if he had a fall, living alone as he did, so of his own accord he moved to a rather classy retirement home (he had saved a great deal so could afford it), where he has a spacious top-floor room with a bathroom attached. There's a restaurant downstairs and a little concert hall where a lot of music is performed. Before Covid residents in reasonable health used to go on bus excursions around Tokyo. With the onset of the pandemic, however, all that stopped, and so did all visits except for ones from immediate family, which had to be booked weeks in advance. So I've not seen my friend for nearly 18 months. The thing is, no one speaks English at the retirement home, and he told me that I was the only regular visitor with whom he could speak his native tongue. During the Covid crisis I've been ringing him occasionally (he does not use email or messaging), but have noticed a marked deterioration in his faculties since early this year. He was entirely lucid when I last saw him soon after his 92nd birthday, but the subsequent isolation and lack of English conversation seems to have brought on dementia. I doubt he will last very long now. I also doubt the facility will notify me if he passes away, as I'm not family.

Take from this profile what you will. My point is that the more situations we hear about, the more informed our own decisions may become.

[goodandbadjapan]

Why this thread stopped for 9 days I have no idea. Just as things were getting up a head of steam ...

Here's one approach: If you know someone of 'our kind' ( English-speaking people from 'the West'? ) who's retired in Japan, please give a brief description of their situation as you see it

This would be interesting to hear, but I think one problem (and perhaps related to the first point about the thread stopping) is that many of us may not actually know any English speakers who have retired here. There must have been many over the years of course, but I think the first really big waves of English speakers started coming here in the late eighties / early nineties when the JET programme and similar began. Those who stayed are now the ones who are in their fifties and approaching retirement and so we are perhaps the first generation where there will be significant numbers of western retirees. I now there are plenty of people who didn't come here as teachers, but I think even then, the numbers are much bigger now than they have been in the past. We are likely all just figuring this out as we go!

[captainspoke]

Well, as a retiree I've made a few different earlier posts. (And my wife is now a few months retired.)

We eat a lot of fish and veggies (w/rice), and virtually no bread (my wife does sometimes have shokupan with something on it as a part of her breakfast). Any meat is usually chicken, tho I do make spare ribs maybe once a month and sometimes sub some cheap beef in for chicken when making a pasta sauce. Beef and pork could disappear and it wouldn't make much difference to us. We're in an area known for its fish, which has been and will be an attraction.

We do have stairs, but they're broad, railings on both sides, and the rise/depth are 'normal' (might even match US building code), and they're one straight flight--no turns along the way. Still, it'd be nice to someday have everything on one level, so maybe someday. One problem with moving is that my wife plays shamisen. I like to listen but it's fairly loud. We don't get any noise complaints at all, but when talking about moving, this always comes up--"how could I practice in a condo?" And even for a new house that question would always be there.

**

Two of my (also foreign) colleagues retired before I did, both are still here, apparently no plans to move. One fellow just reads a lot, enjoys drawing, cooks some, and exercise--walking, golf, yoga, some home workouts or the city gym (this guy's wife is still working). The other has kept working, part time teaching jobs that I think keep him pretty busy (his wife does the same). There's another guy and his wife who have retired here, and this couple moved here to retire. He was a uni prof in the US, a cultural anthropologist (japan, and his wife is japanese), but they had never lived in japan, and chose to retire here, rather than the US or some other place in japan. There's another fellow, longtime friend of ours, who will likely retire in a couple years or so, and who I doubt will leave town (he's been here as long as we have). He was kept on by his school as an administrator (actually is 校長) after he turned 60, and seems happy with that. There's another retired foreigner, a woman who lives on the other side of town (i.e., our paths don't cross), who has also been here quite a while. She used to be a cyclist, but I guess has given that up (unlike me, I'm going for a ride in a few minutes!).

We're all english natives, but if I can offer this for everyone, I don't think any of us would place much value on having/needing other english speakers around in our retirements.

**

It'd be nice to travel, but while I had a couple good trips pre-pandemic, that obviously has been on hold. But I've just gotten my first shot, the next is in three weeks, and after that one takes hold I'll be going to visit one of our kids (and the two grandkids) over in kanagawa. That'll be late july (their company closes for a week), and thankfully, it looks like there'd won't be olympic mobs all over then. Long ago I took my car on a ferry to hokkaido (a bike in the back) and spent three weeks going everywhere. I'd like to really 'see' tohoku and kyushu the same way. Pandemic life has been cheap, just living off pension, so splurging on some domestic trips is definitely in the cards.

[RetireJapan]

I don't think any of us would place much value on having/needing other english speakers around in our retirements.

This is my current view as a 43-year old here.

I have English speaking friends and Japanese speaking friends, my social activities are basically Japanese (mainly jiu-jitsu now), my family is Japanese speaking, I have friends in Europe/the US that I keep in touch with by email and hope to see at some point. My 3 week stay in a Japanese hospital (practice for a nursing home?) was perfectly fine, so I am not particularly concered about having an English-speaking community in retirement.

[TJKansai]

Why this thread stopped for 9 days I have no idea. Just as things were getting up a head of steam ...

Here's one approach: If you know someone of 'our kind' ( English-speaking people from 'the West'? ) who's retired in Japan, please give a brief description of their situation as you see it

This would be interesting to hear, but I think one problem (and perhaps related to the first point about the thread stopping) is that many of us may not actually know any English speakers who have retired here. There must have been many over the years of course, but I think the first really big waves of English speakers started coming here in the late eighties / early nineties when the JET programme and similar began. Those who stayed are now the ones who are in their fifties and approaching retirement and so we are perhaps the first generation where there will be significant numbers of western retirees. I now there are plenty of people who didn't come here as teachers, but I think even then, the numbers are much bigger now than they have been in the past. We are likely all just figuring this out as we go!

Most non-Japanese I know are in the 40-60 range, so I have yet to get a real feel for how things go post-retirement.

I can think of three English speakers who have "retired," but all are still teaching part-time. Two are single and one married with grandkids.

[hbd]

If we're 'all just figuring this out as we go', in a sense we're lucky because we don't have to accept the status quo established by those who've come before us.

As for the observation that 'I don't think any of us would place much value on having/needing other english speakers around in our retirements', it's good to know that there's diversity of opinion on this crucial point, and that some people retired or soon-to-be retired in Japan feel so well integrated (and please note that I did not write 'assimilated', which is a more problematic, potentially condescending term). I imagine most people who use the Forum and this thread in particular don't feel that way, and there's already quite a bit of evidence to that effect in the posts. Hence the need for plenty of dialogue.

Many thanks to captainspoke for those details about yourself, your friends and acquaintances. I have to say I'm a little envious of people who can use the expression 'lives on the other side of town' because it suggests they already live in a place that can be meaningfully conceived of as a 'town'. These days neither Tokyo nor its endless so-called 'bed towns' - in actual fact seamless suburbs - allow for that sort of community consciousness, especially among foreigners unless they manage to form enclaves like 'Warabistan' or Shin Okubo. I wonder if some of the other megalopolises, like Osaka and Nagoya, are more conducive to community formation?

[RetireJapan]

I have to say I'm a little envious of people who can use the expression 'lives on the other side of town' because it suggests they already live in a place that can be meaningfully conceived of as a 'town'. These days neither Tokyo nor its endless so-called 'bed towns' - in actual fact seamless suburbs - allow for that sort of community consciousness, especially among foreigners unless they manage to form enclaves like 'Warabistan' or Shin Okubo. I wonder if some of the other megalopolises, like Osaka and Nagoya, are more conducive to community formation?

I live in Sendai, which for me is the perfect size (1.2m, I could realistically go anywhere in the city by bicycle even though I live on one of the edges of the city), you can buy/eat/see pretty much anything but it doesn't feel too big.