RetireJapan

Hi all,

Last year I bought a piece of land in Saitama and after spending several months designing the house with the architects (it's a 注文住宅) construction started in March.

Last week I received a letter from the 次世代住宅ポイント事務局, which I assume is a kind of government organization. If I understood correctly, when you build a new house meeting certain green standards, or reform an older house or mansion to conform to these, the government gives you a certain amount of "jisedai jutaku points".



Apparently I can use these points to buy furniture, home appliances, sports equipment, etc. There's a website from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism listing these rewards: https://www.jisedai-points.jp

Does anyone have any experience with these? I've tried calling the phone number in the postcard to ask a few questions, but they seem to be always busy.

A few of the questions I have are:

a) Is there an expiration date for these points? The house won't be ready until September, so I don't want to use them yet.

b) Besides the official jisedai-points.jp website, I see that there are third-party sites also exchanging points for goods. Is there a list somewhere of shops/businesses I can spend them in?

c) Do I have to use them all at the same time, or can I spend some in equipment that I need now and will later take to the new home a few months from now?

Very appreciated if someone can help me with these questions.

Thanks in advance,

I can't answer all of those questions but about the expiration of these points, they are valid till September 30, 2020.

Thanks, I was already able to contact them on the phone (took me three days!) and ask all the information I needed.

Yes, as you correctly say I would have to use these points before September 30th. I was hoping to use them to buy some of the expensive items (fridge, washing machine...), but since my house will be finished by the end of September most likely I wouldn't have been on time.

I've used them to buy other things that I needed, such as a microwave oven, vacuum cleaner, and lots of kitchen equipment. These have started arriving already, so I'm going to have to store some of the big boxes somewhere until I move, but I'm not complaining. Free money (points) from the government is always welcome.