RetireJapan

This is a thread I decided to make to share some of the discoveries I made over the last few years in Japan that resulted in anywhere between +2000 to +65,000 yen. As you can see, the thread isn't in stock market investing or frugality--I will not discuss plays related to stocks/funds, and I am not talking about penny-pinching ideas.

My hope with this thread is to be able to gather a few members to share life hacks that we learned to effectively get money.

Here goes:

1. Every 2-3 years, switch your internet provider.

There are two big reasons to do this:

• It doesn't matter how satisfied you are. Technology evolves at a rapid pace and pricing does as well. Don't let a provider stick you to an older tech and grandfathered (read: more expensive) plan.

• And the big reason: companies in Japan will pay an arm and a leg for you to switch over to them.

Don't believe me? Check out kakaku.com/bb and see for yourself. Over the course of 1-2 years, at the minimum you will save at least 50,000 yen.

I signed up for OCN and paid a premium of about 500 yen over other providers, but after 7 months received a cashback bonus from them and kakaku for a combined total of 65,000 yen. After doing the math, OCN is a lot cheaper if you don't stay with them for 4, 5, 6+ years, but most people don't switch so their campaign is working to lure people in. With kakaku promos and OCN forgoing installation fees, etc, I had saved/gained well over 120,000 yen over the course of 2 years by taking advantage of the promo and then hopping after 2 years. Starting at the 1 year mark, your internet price goes up, and you may still be bound by some sort of contract (but cancellation fees for breaking contract is usually under 10,000---best to check).

2. Not with Rakuten Mobile? Go with Rakuten Mobile, even if just for 3 months. Here's why:

• months 1-3 are free

• if you buy a phone, you can get up to 25,000 rakuten points back

The trick is to buy a 20,000 yen phone, get the 25,000 yen in points, pay off the phone immediately, make a single call with the rakuten app using this phone (IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO THIS TO SATISFY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BONUS OFFER), switch the SIM card to your main phone, then sell your paid off phone. You can get about 70% of the price you bought it for by selling on Mercari.

So that's 25,000 points + around 16,000 yen + 3 months free for trying out Rakuten Mobile. Plus, you get one year of Rakuten hikari for free if you apply for it while you have Rakuten Mobile. Best part is you can cancel Rakuten Mobile after your 3 months, pay nothing, and STILL qualify for the year free internet.

3. There are paid surveys that target foreigners.

You will get a chance to participate in them on average once every 2 months and the payout is anywhere between 20 EUR to 60 EUR. Search for "Link of Asia".

That's all off the top of my head.

What plays do you guys have? Share the love

I don't recommend this (and actually find the idea kind of icky) but you could buy appliances and stuff off of furusato nozei and resell on mercari. Its free money if you can get over the fact that you're breaking the spirit of furusato nozei and basically trying to make money off of donations.

When I switched to Rakuten mobile I got a year free and 40,000 points. Guess the offer will degrade further as time goes on.

I think the entire point could be summarised as: be an early adopter for anything where the company is pushing loss leaders to try to get established.

Line Pay offered 2% cashback on everything for a couple of years, and occasionally paid out 10,000 yen bonuses for paying by QR code and splitting the bill with friends. That's all gone too. I mentioned it here a couple of times but I don't think I convinced anyone.

Bitflyer gave out free bitcoin daily for years. Can you imagine anyone giving away free bitcoin now?

MajesticSoup wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:04 pm

2. Not with Rakuten Mobile? Go with Rakuten Mobile, even if just for 3 months. Here's why:

• months 1-3 are free

• if you buy a phone, you can get up to 25,000 rakuten points back

The trick is to buy a 20,000 yen phone, get the 25,000 yen in points, pay off the phone immediately, make a single call with the rakuten app using this phone (IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO THIS TO SATISFY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BONUS OFFER), switch the SIM card to your main phone, then sell your paid off phone. You can get about 70% of the price you bought it for by selling on Mercari.

So that's 25,000 points + around 16,000 yen + 3 months free for trying out Rakuten Mobile. Plus, you get one year of Rakuten hikari for free if you apply for it while you have Rakuten Mobile. Best part is you can cancel Rakuten Mobile after your 3 months, pay nothing, and STILL qualify for the year free internet.

Amazing advice, thanks a lot!

One question, those 25,000 points that you get, are they restricted? For example, could you use them to pay off your rakuten credit card?

so the outlay is 20,000yen - about 16,000 yen so about ,4000yen or so??

MajesticSoup wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:04 pm 1. Every 2-3 years, switch your internet provider.

This is cool and all but keep in mind that if you are a member of any one of the private sites that aid in "a life on the ocean waves" with catchphrases like, "Aaaaaarrrrrgh... Ahoy, me hearties!" etc., then you may very well lose your membership as they require an IPv4 address and most new internet subscriptions come with an IPv6 address (I think)...

pfdsa wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:23 am

MajesticSoup wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:04 pm

2. Not with Rakuten Mobile? Go with Rakuten Mobile, even if just for 3 months. Here's why:

• months 1-3 are free

• if you buy a phone, you can get up to 25,000 rakuten points back

The trick is to buy a 20,000 yen phone, get the 25,000 yen in points, pay off the phone immediately, make a single call with the rakuten app using this phone (IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO THIS TO SATISFY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE BONUS OFFER), switch the SIM card to your main phone, then sell your paid off phone. You can get about 70% of the price you bought it for by selling on Mercari.

So that's 25,000 points + around 16,000 yen + 3 months free for trying out Rakuten Mobile. Plus, you get one year of Rakuten hikari for free if you apply for it while you have Rakuten Mobile. Best part is you can cancel Rakuten Mobile after your 3 months, pay nothing, and STILL qualify for the year free internet.

Amazing advice, thanks a lot!

One question, those 25,000 points that you get, are they restricted? For example, could you use them to pay off your rakuten credit card?

The points are indeed restricted, but there’s numerous ways to work with the restrictions. For example, Rakuten pay lets you pay with points, and you can use these points. You can also pay for a ton of things with Rakuten pay, including normal groceries, which I think we all kind of need. You can think of it as free groceries for a while.

bryanc wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:12 am so the outlay is 20,000yen - about 16,000 yen so about ,4000yen or so??

Ah sorry if I wasn’t clear.

It’s -20,000 for a phone, and then a pretty much guaranteed 16,000 from reselling it, so -4000. Then, you get 25,000 in points. Effectively net +21,000 for giving Rakuten mobile a chance.

(Rakuten Hikari also comes free for a year if you choose to sign up for this too, effectively making your deal 4000ish JPY * 12)

Bushiman wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:40 am

MajesticSoup wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:04 pm 1. Every 2-3 years, switch your internet provider.

This is cool and all but keep in mind that if you are a member of any one of the private sites that aid in "a life on the ocean waves" with catchphrases like, "Aaaaaarrrrrgh... Ahoy, me hearties!" etc., then you may very well lose your membership as they require an IPv4 address and most new internet subscriptions come with an IPv6 address (I think)...

Isn’t this a non issue with IPV4 over IPV6 solutions that just about every carrier provides? I could be wrong!

I am all about sign-up bonuses, incentives, and paid surveys.

I am not so sure about the Rakuten mobile suggestion. Seems a bridge too far for me. A bit disingenuous.