TL;DR

• On November 5, 2026, 20 co-hosts gathered in person for the first Japan Substackers IRL (In Real Life) Meetup, uniting over 40 writers and readers near Sugamo Station in central Tokyo.

• Digital publishing in Japan has long been an isolated endeavor. This gathering establishes a physical infrastructure (in a casual setting) for independent, cross-genre collaboration.

• Organizers are planning recurring events in Tokyo, as well as expansion into the Kansai region, Fukuoka, and Sendai.

What’s new

More than 40 Japan-based writers, journalists, and creators gathered at Café Port Glasgow in central Tokyo for the first Japan Substackers IRL Meetup. Twenty co-hosts with active Substacks organized the event.

Go deeper

The evening featured an eclectic mix of genres, including fiction, investigative journalism, poetry, travel writing, photography, financial analysis, comedy, and anime commentary. The program centered on a round-robin showcase where each co-host introduced their work and books.

Co-hosts (listed in alphabetical order)

Bill Adler of

Fiction by Bill Adler

Delightful short stories and flash fiction by Bill Adler.

Matt Alt of

Matt Alt's Pure Invention

Dispatches from the front lines of Japanese pop culture.

Lee Arnold of

The Amazing Zoot & Algy

Lee Arnold's Substack of all comedic things.

By Lee Arnold

Tim Bunting of

Kiwi Yamabushi

An (at times hilarious) deep dive into rural Japan from a modern-day mountain monk.

By Tim Bunting - Kiwi Yamabushi

Alex Dwyer of

Tea w/ Dweez

Joyrides Fueled by the World’s Most Beloved Beverage

By Alex Dwyer

Eriko of

Eriko | What I Eat in Japan

Hi, I'm Eriko living in Tokyo Japan.

Mark Kennedy of

Real Gaijin

Unveiling the Real Japan: An American Expat's Inside Look | Hot takes, commentary, and unfiltered insights on life as a foreigner in Japan.

By Mark Kennedy

Jack Krown of

Frog's Glen

Profiles of real Japan

By Jack Krown

Maya Matsuoka of

Japan Expert Insights

We do consulting & training in: * Intercultural communications * Challenges in leading Japanese teams * Customer service * Management * Trust & relationship building * Intercultural negotiations

Baye McNeil of

From BK to TK

Memoir, commentary, and stories from a Brooklyn-born writer living in Tokyo, tracing the people, places, and realities that shaped him in both worlds.

By Baye McNeil

Tim Odagiri of

Into Japan

Japan for those who have made it their new home.

By Tim Odagiri

Tim Romero of

Disrupting Japan

Disrupting Japan gives you candid, in-depth insights from the startup founders, VCs, and leaders who are reshaping Japan.

By Tim Romero

Rei Saito of

KonichiValue Japan

Your insider on investing in Japan

By Rei Saito

Lowell Sheppard (a.k.a. “japansolo”) of

https://substack.com/@japansolo

Gianni Simone of

Tokyo Calling

About all things Japanese. Society, culture in all its forms, travel, and urban exploration. 4,000 subscribers and followers.

By Gianni Simone

Alexander O. Smith of

Alexander O. Smith

Writer/Photographer/Translator in Kamakura, Japan

Francis Turner of

Less Known Japan

Visiting the less well known areas of Japan for foreigners

By Francis Turner

Eli K.P. William of

Almost Real

essays on futurism, philosophy, speculative fiction, and Japan

By Eli K.P. William

Hiroko Yoda of

Japan Happiness

A newsletter by translator and author Hiroko Yoda.

By Hiroko Yoda

Igor Zemtchenko of

An open mic for future co-hosts

To encourage everyone to get know one another, there was also time for an open mic by some of the other guests.

Dr. Miki made a “house call” keep us healthy! She writes

JAPAN WELLNESS TRAVEL

A doctor-curated guide to Japan’s hidden wellness escapes, timeless rituals, and longevity secrets—designed to make you fall in love with Japan again and again.

By Doctor from Japan

It was great to finally meet in person Annelise Riles of

Leaving the Straight Road

Northwestern law professor + anthropologist. Northwestern law professor + anthropologist. Thirty years studying institutions and the decisions people make within them. For accomplished people working out what comes next.

By Annelise Riles

We persuaded to get off his bicycle for a few hours. He writes

Kazuma from Tokyo Bike Bliss

Stories about real Tokyo life, hidden gems, and Japanese culture that you won’t find in guidebooks.

It was a pleasure to welcome Alex Audette of

Verbotenly unsanctioned

Medicine and empowerment don't have to be estranged bedfellows

By Alex Audette

Similarly, it was terrific to meet Stewart Dorward of

Stewart Dorward

Retired English teacher trying to forget about all that and now teaching English cooking, guiding overseas tourists and running an Airbnb in the mountains near Chichibu. With a bit of Zen, hopefully.

Mike Thurreson (aka “Salaryman”), an expert on digital book publishing, brought a few of his books to share. Arie Meir, PhD was eager to meet everyone. Rochelle Tokyo-based freelance writer Louise George Kittaka was inspired to try to find more time to launch her own Substack. Kevin Dias traveled from Tochigi to join the group and is now considering starting his own Substack. Rochelle Kopp, founder and managing principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting, made certain to meet everyone before ducking out to run an all-night training session. Adoptive parent Andrew Neuman shared a moving comment about how the evening inspired him to launch a Substack to showcase what can be done to help more than 35,000 Japanese children awaiting a permanent home. Lawrence Kieffer (aka “The Headhunter Dad”) stuck around until the very end to meet just about everyone.

Toward the end of the evening we also welcomed the world-famous, Tokyo-based writer (aka “Tokyo Vice”) of

The venue

Tucked away in a quiet residential neighborhood adjacent to Sugamo Station, Café Port Glasgow is a convenient, cozy venue that looks more like a living room in an elegant home in the West than what you would typically find in Japan.

There was even a piano, which Russian-born Igor Zemtchenko used to showcase his musical talent.

While it probably helped that the event was held right after work, when everyone was hungry, the food was pretty good, too.

Finally, a huge shout-out to Natan Edelsburg from Muck Rack, who brought some original Substack swag from a friend in PR all the way from New York City! The Substack socks were very popular!

Commentary

Independent creators often underestimate the power of physical proximity. While the internet built the audience, face-to-face interaction will ensure the longevity of Japan’s independent publishing renaissance.

What to watch

Keep an eye out for upcoming regional expansion announcements in Kansai (potentially Kobe), Fukuoka, and Sendai, as well as the formalization of recurring Tokyo meetups. We’re open to suggestions regarding the frequency, venues, and program formats.

Leave a comment

#JapanSubstackers #SubstackCommunity #TokyoWriterMeetup #ライター交流会 #独立系メディア

TL;DR

• A new Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR・東京商工リサーチ) survey finds that 49.2% of companies that answered a question about workplace safety training for app-based sukima baito (spot work part-time workers・スキマバイト) report providing no such instruction.

• Japan’s spot-work apps have made short-term hiring remarkably convenient. However, workers hired through these platforms are generally direct employees, leaving businesses responsible for complying with employment and workplace safety laws.

• Japan’s labor authorities have already issued guidance on spot-work employment. The question is whether employers and matching platforms can translate those requirements into reliable, practical onboarding procedures.

What’s new

In Japan, you can now hire a worker as easily as ordering takeout. But what happens when that worker arrives?

A new survey by TSR, released on October 23, 2026, reveals a troubling finding: 49.2% of responding companies said they provide none of the required safety training when hiring workers.

It’s not surprising that Japanese law has failed to catch up with smartphone technology. The obligations already exist, and the government has issued guidance explaining them. The problem lies in the gap between accepting a worker through an app and putting that person to work.

By the numbers

• TSR’s October 2026 online survey received 5,334 valid corporate responses1.

• 4.6% (249 companies) reported that they currently use spot workers. Adoption was highest among businesses in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining (12.7%), followed by transportation (12.1%).

• 49.2% (100 out of 203): The proportion of companies that answered the relevant question and reported not conducting legally required safety and health instruction.

• 25.7% (59 out of 229): The proportion of companies that are unaware of the direct employment relationship and the possibility that obligations involving employment insurance, social insurance, or paid leave may apply.

• 72.9% (178 out of 244) cited flexible staffing during busy periods as a reason for using spot workers. 24.4 percentage points: The difference in the proportion of large companies (73.3%) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME・48.9%) that report conducting safety training.

Catch up quick

Japan’s spot-work market did not emerge in a legal vacuum.

In 2012, Japan restricted day-labor dispatch arrangements, with a few exceptions. However, these restrictions did not broadly prohibit companies from directly hiring workers for short assignments.

Today’s spot-work apps primarily facilitate that direct employment relationship.

Once a worker and business are matched and the employment contract is formed, the business assumes the relevant obligations of an employer.

This includes providing clear employment conditions and appropriate occupational safety instructions.

The distinction matters because these platforms have changed how employers find workers, not the fundamental legal relationship between employers and employees.

The compliance gap

According to Japan’s Industrial Safety and Health Act (労働安全衛生法), employers must provide health and safety instructions relevant to a worker’s duties when hiring them.

The required content depends on the work involved. Certain instructional subjects may be omitted if a worker already possesses the necessary knowledge and skills.

However, being hired for only a few hours does not automatically exempt someone from these protections.

For an employee arriving at an unfamiliar workplace, the instruction may cover equipment hazards, protective equipment, safe operating procedures, and emergency responses.

This becomes a particular challenge when businesses use spot workers to handle sudden peaks in demand.

A supervisor may need someone to start working immediately. The worker may have no previous experience at that location. Nevertheless, the employer must determine what tasks the person can safely perform and provide the necessary instructions.

The hiring process may take seconds. Proper onboarding still requires attention.

Government response

This is not an entirely new regulatory problem.

In July 2025, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) published guidance addressing employment practices involving spot workers. MHLW requested that relevant business organizations and the Japan Spot Work Association help communicate the rules.

The guidance clarifies important responsibilities concerning labor contracts and working conditions. However, the October 2026 TSR survey suggests that awareness and implementation remain uneven despite existing government guidance.

This changes how the problem should be understood.

Japan does not necessarily need a new set of employment laws for spot work. Rather, it needs employers to comply with the existing laws. For smaller businesses, this may require better training materials, clearer supervisory responsibilities, and onboarding procedures suited to short-term assignments.

The survey’s results regarding company size are consistent with possible differences in organizational capacity, though they do not explain why compliance differs.

Yes, but

There is an important question the survey cannot answer: Are businesses that hire through spot-work apps actually less compliant than businesses that employ temporary workers through conventional channels?

Japan has long relied on seasonal workers, short-term employees, and part-time staff across industries, including hospitality, agriculture, retail, and logistics.

However, the TSR survey does not compare the safety training practices of these workers with those of their app-recruited counterparts.

Without that comparison, we cannot determine whether digital hiring has created a new workplace safety problem or simply made an existing weakness more visible.

That distinction is important.

It would be premature to blame smartphone apps for poor safety practices if similar problems exist throughout the broader temporary labor market.

The survey does demonstrate, however, that some businesses using these platforms are failing to carry out a fundamental employment responsibility.

Zoom out

There is another possibility worth considering: The same technology that makes short-term hiring easier could also facilitate more systematic workplace compliance.

Digital platforms could help employers communicate job-specific requirements, confirm relevant worker experience, deliver appropriate preparatory information, and maintain records of completed instruction.

However, such tools would not automatically satisfy every legal requirement. Employers would still need to ensure that training is appropriate for the actual workplace and tasks involved.

However, standardized digital procedures could make compliance easier to manage, particularly for smaller businesses with limited human resources infrastructure.

The broader challenge is not necessarily choosing between labor-market flexibility and worker protection. Rather, it is designing employment processes that can deliver both.

What to watch

• MHLW enforcement and guidance: Will labor authorities intensify their efforts to ensure that employers understand and fulfill their existing obligations, especially those concerning short-term employment?

• Platform accountability: Will major spot-work platforms introduce stronger tools for job-specific safety instruction, verification, and recordkeeping?

• SME compliance: Will subsequent surveys show improvements in safety training among smaller employers, and will researchers be able to establish whether app-based hiring differs from conventional temporary employment?

• Workplace outcomes: Will more comprehensive evidence emerge linking spot-work arrangements to occupational accidents, disputes, or other measurable employment risks?

The bottom line

Japan’s spot-work apps have dramatically simplified the process of finding someone to fill an empty shift. However, they have not simplified the employer’s responsibility to keep that person safe.

The challenge is not to slow down digital hiring. Rather, the challenge is to make proper onboarding as routine and reliable as the matching technology itself.

A worker can be hired in seconds. Workplace safety cannot be reduced to a swipe.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.tsr-net.co.jp/data/detail/1203365_1527.html, https://note.com/syacyo_otasuke/n/n4f8655e7e539, https://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/roudoukijun/faq_kijyunhou_4.html, and https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_59197.html.

#SpotWork #GigEconomy #スキマバイト #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin2 for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/

https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack

https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin

https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin

TL;DR

• A derogatory variation of gaijin (外人), written 害人, has been appearing in Japanese online discussions. It replaces the character for “outside” with one meaning “harm,” turning a familiar description of foreigners into a hostile label.

• Unlike the longstanding debate over whether gaijin itself is offensive, 害人 is explicitly derogatory. Its use raises questions about how criticism of individual foreigners can become hostility toward foreigners as a group.

• The bigger picture: Japan needs to distinguish legitimate concerns about immigration and public behavior from language that encourages collective suspicion.

What’s new

One pronunciation. Two very different messages.

外人 (gaijin) is a familiar Japanese expression for a foreigner. Depending on the circumstances, it can be casual, affectionate, dismissive, or exclusionary.

However, change one character and the meaning becomes unmistakably hostile.

Replace 外 (”outside”) with 害 (”harm”), and gaijin becomes 害人—an internet expression that JapanDict classifies as derogatory slang meaning “troublesome foreigner.”

This variation has been appearing with increasing regularity in Japanese news comment sections and social media discussions.

It is not a new invention. Japanese online discussions about the expression date back to at least 2023. What remains unclear is whether its use is genuinely increasing or simply becoming more visible.

In any case, its emergence occurs against the backdrop of an increasingly contentious public debate about immigration, foreign residents, and the perceived social costs of Japan’s growing foreign population. Concerns about crime, public behavior, and pressure on local communities are increasingly prominent in online discussions, where individual incidents can quickly lead to broad judgments about foreigners as a group.

The emergence of 害人 in these conversations is particularly revealing. Rather than criticizing specific behaviors, the term risks turning foreignness itself into a negative characteristic.

By the numbers

• 12.7%: Share of foreign-resident respondents to Japan’s fiscal year 2024 Immigration Services Agency survey who reported personally experiencing hate speech.

• 31.6%: Share who had not personally experienced it but had witnessed or heard it.

• 65.5%: Share of respondents who had experienced or encountered hate speech who identified the internet as a setting where it occurred.

These statistics do not measure the use of 害人 specifically. They establish that online hostility toward foreigners is a documented concern.

Context

The debate over the term gaijin (外人) is much older than social media.

In fact, there is a long-standing argument about the usage of this term versus the slightly longer gaikokujin (外国人). Both refer to foreigners, but gaijin, literally “outside person,” is sometimes criticized for implying that foreigners can never fully belong in Japanese society. Gaikokujin is generally considered more neutral and appropriate in formal settings. Major Japanese news organizations, including NHK, typically favor gaikokujin, while many Japanese speakers use gaijin casually without intending offense.

• Slight “detour” Some rental cars display bumper stickers announcing 「外国の方が運転しています」 (Gaikoku-no-kata ga unten shiteimasu・”A person from another country is driving”). The polite wording presumably encourages other motorists to be patient with drivers unfamiliar with Japanese roads. Yet publicly identifying a driver as foreign—even with good intentions—raises questions about whether such labels reinforce the very distinction between insiders and outsiders that more considerate language is supposed to soften. After all, Japanese tourists can be equally unfamiliar with local roads.

However, 害人 represents something fundamentally different.

It does not merely identify someone as an outsider. By replacing 外 (”outside”) with 害 (”harm”), it deliberately introduces a derogatory meaning. The expression has even entered Japanese-language dictionaries as internet slang, demonstrating that it is more than an isolated typographical joke.

Friction point

There is a credible argument that not every use of 害人 is intended to condemn all foreigners.

Some users may intend it to describe particular foreigners whom they regard as troublesome or harmful.

That distinction deserves acknowledgment.

But it also raises an uncomfortable question: What qualifies someone as a “harmful foreigner,” and why should their nationality be part of the label?

Japan has every right to enforce its laws, investigate misconduct, and debate immigration policy. None of those responsibilities requires attributing an individual’s behavior to foreigners collectively.

Commentary

Because this Substack is called “Real Gaijin1,” I felt it was my duty to address this issue. While some fellow foreign residents may joke that being labeled a “troublesome foreigner” should be considered a badge of honor, that would be making light of the situation. What concerns me about 害人 is not just that it’s offensive. Rather, I’m concerned about how effortlessly a familiar word can be repurposed to attach a negative identity to an entire category of people.

The Japanese language is particularly well-suited to this kind of wordplay because different characters can share the same pronunciation. This makes the substitution clever in a linguistic sense. However, it does not make the underlying message harmless.

At the same time, though, I would resist treating every instance of gaijin as an insult. Doing so would obscure the important difference between an ordinary colloquial expression and a deliberately derogatory one.

What to watch

Whether 害人 remains relatively marginal internet slang or becomes more common in mainstream discussions about immigration, crime, tourism, and foreign residents.

The distinction matters because comment sections are not representative surveys of Japanese public opinion. A small number of highly active accounts can create the impression of a much broader social consensus.

Understanding the scale of the phenomenon requires evidence, not just impressions.

The bottom line

The difference between 外人 and 害人 is only one character.

However, that character changes the message from identifying someone as an outsider to associating that person with harm.

Japan can debate immigration, enforce its laws, and address legitimate public concerns without turning nationality into an accusation.

The question is not whether foreigners should be exempt from criticism. It is whether being foreign should itself become grounds for suspicion.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://note.com/unitedreasoning/n/n3431ec8228dd, https://wiki.ffo.jp/html/11038.html, https://number.bunshun.jp/articles/-/859727, https://www.moj.go.jp/JINKEN/jinken04_00108.html, and https://newspicks.com/news/7821513/body/.

#Gaijin #外人 #害人 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/

https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack

https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin

https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin

What happens when an American writer buys two aging houses in Hokkaido, Japan, one of which he has never been inside? Come along for a house tour and candid conversation about Japan’s abandoned homes, unconventional living, and the search for belonging.

What would you do with an 800,000-yen (about US $5,000) house in Japan—especially one you’ve never inspected?

For American author and world traveler CD Damitio, the answer was simple: Buy it, restore it, and document the adventure.

In 2024, CD purchased an old house in Otaru, Hokkaido, for less than $30,000. Then, in March 2026, he doubled down by buying another house for just 800,000 yen—without ever stepping inside.

He’s now restoring both properties while documenting the challenges, discoveries, and unexpected rewards of breathing new life into neglected Japanese homes.

But there’s much more to his story than inexpensive real estate.

Meet CD | INDIGNIFIED (CD Damitio).

Who is he?

CD Damitio is an American author, travel writer, entrepreneur, and self-described “Story Nomad.” His unconventional journey has taken him across continents, cultures, and careers.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran (🦅 🌎 ⚓), he studied anthropology at the University of Hawaii and has spent more than 25 years writing and exploring the world. CD has authored more than 30 books and has lived in Morocco, Turkey, Hawaii, and Japan.

Currently, he divides his time among several countries, including Japan, where he spends part of each year in Otaru, a historic port city on Hokkaido’s western coast.

CD’s latest adventure involves restoring two aging Japanese houses, including the remarkably inexpensive second property featured on his YouTube channel, Indignified with CD.

Yet CD’s interests extend well beyond home renovation.

He founded Xcrol (pronounced “Scroll”), a small, advertising-free social network, and created Indignified, a Substack publication exploring the intersection of power, belonging, and meaning.

INDIGNIFIED with CD Damitio. Power, Belonging, and Meaning.

Explore the world with a focus on power, belonging, and meaning with CD Damitio. Art, fction, culture, and philosophy with a healthy dose of long term travel, satire, and even some world-building.

By CD | INDIGNIFIED

CD is also developing his own philosophical framework, Baoism, while writing about artificial intelligence, decentralized technology, creativity, and the changing relationship between individuals and institutions.

CD describes himself as a “philoso-viber,” “story nomad,” world coder, and Xcrol boss.

Suffice to say, CD is not your typical expatriate, and I don’t really know where this live house tour may end up—what better reason do you have to come along for the ride!

On the agenda

Real Gaijin1 started with a question many people considering life in rural or regional Japan have asked themselves: Can you really buy a livable house in Japan for less than the price of a used car?

CD has done it twice.

We explored what attracted him to Otaru, how he found these properties, and what made him purchase the second one without inspecting the interior.

We discussed the practical realities of restoring aging Japanese homes, including hidden costs, structural surprises, bureaucracy, local contractors, and the difference between buying a bargain and inheriting an expensive problem.

Key takeaways

• Japan’s 800,000-yen houses are real, but the purchase price is just the beginning: CD bought his second abandoned house (akiya・空き家) in Otaru, Hokkaido, for only ¥800,000 (about US$5,000). However, restoring the property required hundreds of hours of hands-on work and an additional $8,000–$10,000 in renovation expenses. From frozen plumbing and rotting floors to rooms packed with decades of abandoned belongings, his experience demonstrates that buying a bargain-priced Japanese home is only the beginning of the investment.

• Hokkaido’s harsh winters can make or break an akiya investment: Owning an inexpensive house in Hokkaido comes with extraordinary maintenance challenges, particularly during winter. CD describes enormous snow accumulation, the necessity of clearing roofs and protecting windows, and the danger of frozen pipes that can cause catastrophic water damage. His own property suffered extensive flooding when a water heater froze and burst. His experience highlights why prospective buyers must consider climate, structural condition, accessibility, and ongoing maintenance costs before purchasing.

• Foreigners can own property in Japan, but ownership doesn’t grant residency or business rights: Although CD owns two houses in Otaru, he does not have Japanese residency and divides his time between Hokkaido, Hawaii, and Chiang Mai, Thailand. He explains how his visitor status limits his ability to operate a business or manage commercial activities in Japan personally. Instead of opening a commercial teahouse, he has organized free community gatherings and explored noncommercial hospitality. His experience illustrates an important distinction: Purchasing Japanese real estate does not automatically provide the right to live or work in Japan.

• Building trust with Japanese neighbors is as important as renovating the house: CD emphasizes that successful integration into a Japanese community requires participation, humility, and consideration for local customs. By allowing neighbors to deposit cleared snow on his property, participating in local activities, offering free English lessons, and asking for guidance on everyday matters, such as garbage sorting, he has developed goodwill despite his limited Japanese proficiency. His weekly “Ideas That Matter” gatherings also bring Japanese residents and foreigners together, demonstrating that meaningful community relationships develop through practical contributions rather than language proficiency alone.

• Japan’s abandoned homes offer opportunities beyond financial investment: CD’s first Otaru house is a personal sanctuary that he hopes to pass on to his daughter. His second house was purchased partly as a potential investment amid growing foreign interest in Hokkaido property. Yet his ambitions extend beyond possible appreciation. He wants to preserve the character of these older homes, share them with travelers, and create spaces for community interaction. CD’s journey from Hawaii to Hokkaido demonstrates how Japan’s abandoned housing stock can provide opportunities for affordable ownership, cultural preservation, and personal reinvention. However, this is only possible if buyers approach the experience with realistic expectations and a willingness to contribute to their communities.

Timeline

Substack does not yet have the functionality to allow you to use a link to jump to a specific section like YouTube’s “chapters.” Please refer to the times listed below to navigate through our hour-long conversation. Thank you for your understanding.

Links

Substack: https://indignified.substack.com/

Baoism: https://www.baoism.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.damitio.1/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-damitio/

Worlds Unlimited: https://www.w3wu.com/

X: @cd_damitio

Xcrol (pronounced “Scroll”): https://xcrol.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@indignified_cd

Additional resources

• Book about “van life” written by CD cited in the interview: Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond

• Proximity to approximately 20 ski resorts within 60 ~ 80km:

  • Otaru City

    • Otaru Tenguyama

    • Asarigawa Onsen

    • Snow Cruise Onze

  • Akaigawa / Niki area

    • Kiroro Snow World

    • Consadole Niki Ski Park

    • Niki Chomin Ski Field (仁木町民スキー場)

  • Sapporo / Ishikari side

    • Sapporo Kokusai

    • Sapporo Teine

    • Sapporo Bankei

    • Sapporo Moiwayama

    • Fu’s Snow Area

    • Takino Snow World

    • Dynasty Ski Resort (Kitahiroshima)

  • Niseko / Kutchan area

    • Niseko Grand Hirafu

    • Niseko Hanazono

    • Niseko Annupuri

    • Niseko Village

    • Kutchan Asahigaoka Ski Area (倶知安町旭ヶ丘スキー場)

  • Borderline / slightly over 80 km

    • Rusutsu

  • Additional very small / sometimes-listed local hills

    • Shakotan Town Outdoor Sports Forest Ski Area (or similar tiny municipal spots in the wider Shiribeshi fringe — status can be irregular)

Leave a comment

#CDDamitio #JapanRealEstate #LifeInJapan #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/

https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack

https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin

https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wilt-kennedy/

My sugar-free (really?) Kirin Ichiban certainly satisfied my thirst—even though its price was probably determined in a back-room collusion session with Kirin’s age-old competitors Asahi, Sapporo, and Suntory!

Key Takeaways

While we enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion that included a review of several recently published Real Gaijin articles, the three most significant stories were probably the following:

• Japan Inc. Is Quietly Retreating from the Countryside: Japan’s shrinking population is reshaping corporate strategy. Major companies, such as Daiwa House, Uniqlo, and MUFG, are concentrating their resources in larger urban markets while reducing their rural presence. This isn’t necessarily a response to poor financial performance. Rather, it’s a calculated recognition that Japan’s demographic future increasingly favors major cities, which could leave rural communities with fewer services and economic opportunities.

• AI in Japan is addressing labor shortages rather than simply eliminating jobs: While much of the overseas debate focuses on AI-driven layoffs, Japan faces a different challenge: too few workers. Companies such as Sompo Japan are using AI to improve productivity and automate routine tasks, allowing headcounts to decline through natural attrition rather than dismissals. The emerging model is less about replacing existing employees and more about maintaining operations without replacing everyone who leaves.

• Japan’s economic recovery isn’t reaching everyone equally: Despite positive real wage growth, many Japanese households remain reluctant to spend. Smaller companies may struggle to match wage increases at larger employers, and retirees are excluded from wage statistics altogether. Meanwhile, younger families face rising childcare costs and limited access to the wealth held by older generations. The discussion highlighted proposals to increase Japan’s annual gift-tax exemption from ¥1.1 million to ¥3.3 million, which could help transfer financial resources to families in need.

🍺 I’m already looking forward to the next “Beers with Real Gaijin“ at the end of November, which is the best time of the year to see the fall foliage down here in Kyushu. The invitation will be sent out soon…

🎉 P.S. I look forward to meeting you in person at the upcoming “Japan Substackers IRL Meetup in Tokyo” on November 5, 2026, if you’re able to make it. Including me and Alex Dwyer, at this point a total of 17 Substack authors (and counting) will be on hand to interact in real life (IRL) with you!

Related articles and podcast covered in this episode

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Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

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Click on the graphic/link below to watch or listen to the podcast.

What happens when an American writer buys two aging houses in Hokkaido, Japan, one of which he has never been inside? Join us for a conversation about Japan’s abandoned homes, unconventional living, and the search for belonging.

What would you do with an 800,000-yen (approximately US $5,100) house in Japan—especially one you’ve never inspected?

For American author and world traveler CD Damitio, the answer was simple: Buy it, restore it, and document the adventure.

In 2024, CD purchased an old house in Otaru, Hokkaido, for less than $30,000. Then, in March 2026, he doubled down by buying another house for just 800,000 yen—without ever stepping inside.

He’s now restoring both properties while documenting the challenges, discoveries, and unexpected rewards of breathing new life into neglected Japanese homes.

But there’s much more to his story than inexpensive real estate.

Meet (CD Damitio).

Who is he?

CD Damitio is an American author, travel writer, entrepreneur, and self-described “Story Nomad.” His unconventional journey has taken him across continents, cultures, and careers.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran (🦅 🌎 ⚓), he studied anthropology at the University of Hawaii and has spent more than 25 years writing and exploring the world. CD has authored more than 30 books and has lived in Morocco, Turkey, Hawaii, and Japan.

Currently, he divides his time among several countries, including Japan, where he spends part of each year in Otaru, a historic port city on Hokkaido’s western coast.

CD’s latest adventure involves restoring two aging Japanese houses, including the remarkably inexpensive second property featured on his YouTube channel, Indignified with CD.

Yet CD’s interests extend well beyond home renovation.

He founded Xcrol (pronounced “Scroll”), a small, advertising-free social network, and created Indignified, a Substack publication exploring the intersection of power, belonging, and meaning.

INDIGNIFIED with CD Damitio. Power, Belonging, and Meaning.

Explore the world with a focus on power, belonging, and meaning with CD Damitio. Art, fction, culture, and philosophy with a healthy dose of long term travel, satire, and even some world-building.

By CD | INDIGNIFIED

CD is also developing his own philosophical framework, Baoism, while writing about artificial intelligence, decentralized technology, creativity, and the changing relationship between individuals and institutions.

CD describes himself as a “philoso-viber,” “story nomad,” world coder, and Xcrol boss.

Suffice to say, CD is not your typical expatriate, and I don’t really know where this live house tour may end up—what better reason do you have to come along for the ride!

On the agenda

Real Gaijin1 will start with a question many people considering life in rural or regional Japan have asked themselves: Can you really buy a livable house in Japan for less than the price of a used car?

CD has done it twice.

We’ll explore what attracted him to Otaru, how he found these properties, and what made him purchase the second one without inspecting the interior.

We’ll also discuss the practical realities of restoring aging Japanese homes, including hidden costs, structural surprises, bureaucracy, local contractors, and the difference between buying a bargain and inheriting an expensive problem.

However, the conversation won’t stop at real estate.

CD has spent decades moving between countries and cultures, writing books, building online communities, and questioning conventional assumptions about work, success, and belonging.

This raises some intriguing questions:

• Does owning a house create a sense of belonging, or does belonging come from something else entirely?

• Can Japan’s growing inventory of vacant homes offer foreigners an unconventional path toward a more affordable and meaningful life? Or are the apparent bargains hiding risks that outsiders routinely underestimate?

• What can someone who has lived in Morocco, Turkey, Hawaii, and Japan tell us about how different societies approach community, individual freedom, and the meaning of a good life?

We’ll also explore CD’s interest in alternative social networks, artificial intelligence, and his philosophical concept of Baoism.

After all, someone who describes himself as a “world coder” probably has a few unconventional ideas about how the world should work.

Please ask questions!

Remember, today’s “live video” is an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session. So, please don’t hold back! This is your chance to ask CD anything.

🕵 Rest assured that we won’t read your name aloud to ensure confidentiality. You can assume that every listener is simply “asking for a friend.”

Although we plan to meet for an hour, CD and I are flexible. We promise to answer every question, no matter how long it takes.

Mark your calendar!

📌 Join Real Gaijin on Tuesday, October 27, at 2:00 p.m. Japan time2 for an open conversation in English with CD.

You will…

• Discover the realities of Japan’s bargain housing market: Learn what it’s actually like to buy and restore aging Japanese properties, including one purchased sight unseen for just ¥800,000;

• Explore an unconventional approach to living in Japan: Understand why CD chose Otaru, and learn how his experiences reveal insights into affordable housing, community, and the challenges of putting down roots;

• Rethink what it means to belong: Hear how decades of international travel and living across cultures have shaped CD’s views on identity, freedom, and finding meaning;

• Go beyond real estate: Discover his work as an author, his philosophy of Baoism, and his experiments with building alternative digital communities; and

• Ask questions in real time (AMA): Bring your curiosity, skepticism, and perhaps your own dream of buying an old Japanese house.

🡻 How can you tune in? Download the Substack app. If you enable notifications, the app will notify you when we’re live. Just tap it, and you’re in!

See you soon!

Mark

P.S. What if you miss it?

▶︎ Don’t worry! Substack automatically saves the live recording. After a little editing, I’ll send it out as a regular podcast post for subscribers who weren’t able to attend and want to watch it asynchronously later.

P.P.S. Calendar Scheduling

📅 The following link may sync with your calendar (upon giving Substack access to your calendar). Please give it a try.

https://open.substack.com/live-stream/424790

If necessary, you can paste it directly into your calendar to save the event.

P.P.P.S. (“Is that a thing?”) Upcoming Opportunity to Meet IRL

🚨 Clear your calendar for the evening of Thursday, November 5, if you’ll be in Tokyo. Check out this upcoming event, where you can meet several Japan-based Substack writers and readers, in person. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t wait to purchase yours!

If you are having trouble downloading the Substack app, please follow these steps:

1. Go to your mobile device’s Apple or Android app store and search for Substack. Alternatively, you can click this link on your mobile device to get there.

2. Download the Substack app.

3. Sign in with the email address you use for Substack - the email to which announcements from Real Gaijin are sent.

4. Substack will send a verification email to your mobile device to complete the login. All you have to do is open your email application on your phone, find the email from Substack with the subject line “Finish signing in to Substack,” and you’re almost there. Tap the orange button in the email to finish signing in to the app.

5. If you’re new to the app, you’ll go through Substack’s standard onboarding process. This will take a few minutes but is easy to complete. If you don’t have the app yet, you’ll probably want to do this sooner rather than later, or at least 15 minutes before we go live.

6. Once you’ve successfully signed in, you’ll be taken to the app’s home page. When we go live, my live video will be the first “post” at the top of your app. All you have to do is click on it to join the livestream. Below is an example of what the app looked like when Chris Best, Substack’s CEO, did a live video.

Note: If you don’t see me in your app, I probably haven’t gone live yet. Just wait a few minutes, and I will show up. If, for some reason, I am not showing up in your app, use the search icon to search for Mark Kennedy. You can join the live video from there, too.

#CDDamitio #JapanRealEstate #LifeInJapan #RealGaijin #リアル外人

TL;DR

• A documented medical leave case reveals how employer procedures can delay access to sickness benefits. A four-month affordability model suggests that 35–50% of single-person households in the two income groups examined report financial assets below an illustrative 1 million yen (US $6,400) threshold.

• Japan’s sickness allowance replaces roughly two-thirds of eligible employees’ insured earnings, subject to remuneration ceilings and special rules for short insurance histories. However, living expenses, taxes, and social insurance contributions continue while employees wait for payment. A benefit payable later does not necessarily make leave affordable today.

• The bigger question is whether Japan’s income-protection system should be judged only by how much it eventually pays or also by whether employees can survive financially while waiting.

What’s new

Japan’s sickness allowance can replace roughly two-thirds of an eligible employee’s insured earnings. But what happens when the paycheck stops before the benefits begin?

In one documented case, an employee on medical leave was required to settle mutual-aid contributions and submit receipts before a claim could proceed. The employer then estimated approximately two additional months before payment.

National household data suggest why such delays matter: under a modeled four-month, ¥1 million funding gap, between 35% and 50% of single households in two income groups report financial assets below the required threshold.

The problem isn’t simply whether Japan provides sickness benefits. It’s whether financially vulnerable workers have enough cash to wait for them.

By the numbers

• ¥295,440: Average monthly regular employment income for one-person employee households in 2025.

• ¥191,523: Average monthly consumption spending for the same household category, including housing.

• ¥1,000,000: The amount required to finance four months without salary or benefits under the ¥250,000 monthly budget.

• 49.5%: Share of surveyed single-person households with positive annual take-home income below 3 million yen ($19,100) that report having financial assets below ¥1 million.

• 35.1%: Corresponding share among surveyed single-person households with annual take-home income of 3 million yen ($19,100) to less than 5 million yen ($31,900).

• 41.3%: Share of Kyokai Kenpo sickness allowance cases attributed to mental and behavioral disorders in its October 2025 survey.

The 49.5% and 35.1% figures are survey-based estimates of households falling below the model’s asset threshold, not percentages of employees who experienced a four-month delay in benefits.

The ¥1 million problem

Consider a hypothetical employee living alone who earns approximately ¥295,000 per month in regular pay.

Japan’s 2025 Family Income and Expenditure Survey provides a benchmark for everyday spending: ¥191,523 per month for one-person employee households.

For this scenario, add 58,477 yen ($375) per month for continuing social insurance contributions, resident taxes, and other non-consumption payments. This is an illustrative allowance, not a measured average for employees on medical leave.

This results in a monthly cash requirement of ¥250,000.

The cash required for three, four, and five months without income is ¥750,000, ¥1,000,000, and ¥1,250,000, respectively.

The assumption is that no salary, sickness benefits, other income, or outside financial support will arrive during the modeled period.

The model also assumes that the household can use its reported financial assets to cover expenses.

Therefore, four months without income would require ¥1 million in available resources.

Even after the money arrives

Even after benefits begin, an employee receiving approximately ¥200,000 a month against modeled expenses of ¥250,000 would face a continuing shortfall of roughly ¥50,000 per month.

That means the financial challenge has two dimensions: finding enough cash to survive until the first payment and covering the difference between benefits and expenses thereafter.

Faster payments would address the first problem. They would not necessarily solve the second.

Can ordinary households afford it?

The Japan Financial Literacy and Education Corporation (J-FLEC) surveyed 2,500 single-person households through an internet panel in 2025. Its annual take-home-income categories include pensions and other income as well as employment earnings.

Applying the ¥1 million threshold to their reported financial assets produced striking results.

The same ¥250,000 monthly budget is applied to both income groups for comparison. Actual expenses will vary considerably, particularly among lower-income households.

For households in the positive-income category below ¥3 million, nearly half reported financial assets below the modeled four-month requirement.

Even among those taking home ¥3 million to less than ¥5 million annually, more than one-third fell below that threshold.

Yes, but

A statutory entitlement cannot pay next month’s rent if the household has no accessible funds while waiting for the benefit.

These results require qualification. J-FLEC’s survey includes single-person households aged 20–79 and does not exclusively include employed sickness allowance recipients. The survey’s definition of financial assets includes some investments and insurance products while excluding cash and deposits held for everyday spending.

The two national surveys also cover different populations. Combining the results creates an illustrative affordability scenario, not a directly observed rate of medical leave hardship.

Because reported financial assets are not identical to immediately available cash, the survey cannot determine precisely how many households could meet the modeled obligation without borrowing or liquidating investments.

Average savings tell the wrong story

Financial vulnerability becomes clearer when comparing the mean and median assets.

The substantial gap between mean and median assets illustrates how wealthier households can make average savings appear far more substantial than the resources available to a typical household.

For someone near the lower-income median, a four-month ¥1 million cash requirement would exceed their reported financial assets.

How it works

Japan’s sickness and injury allowance generally covers employees who are insured through employee health insurance and cannot work due to a non-work-related illness or injury and receive no salary or salary below the applicable benefit. If some salary is paid, the allowance generally covers only the difference between that salary and the applicable benefit.

For Kyokai Kenpo, the main rules are:

• A three-day consecutive qualifying period, with benefit eligibility generally beginning on the fourth day of incapacity.

• Income replacement of approximately two-thirds of the applicable standard remuneration, subject to statutory calculations.

• A cumulative maximum payment period of 18 months for the same illness or injury.

• Employer certification of earnings and medical certification of incapacity.

• Applications can generally be submitted for completed periods of leave rather than waiting until the entire illness ends.

Under Kyokai Kenpo, for an employee with a qualifying standard monthly remuneration of approximately ¥300,000, 30 payable days would result in a benefit of about ¥200,000 under a simplified calculation.

There are important limits. Kyokai Kenpo uses standard monthly remuneration, capped at ¥1.39 million, rather than uncapped salary. At the ceiling, the statutory calculation gives about ¥927,000 for 30 payable days.

Where the relevant continuous insurance history is shorter than 12 months, Kyokai Kenpo uses the lower of the employee’s average standard monthly remuneration and ¥320,000 for benefits starting on or after April 1, 2025. This limits the allowance to about ¥213,000 for 30 payable days. The test concerns insurance history, not simply service with the current employer. Other insurers and mutual-aid schemes can use different averages and calculation rules.

This provides meaningful income protection.

However, the allowance is not necessarily paid when the employee’s regular salary would have been received.

The waiting-period distinction

The case that prompted this article involved a specific employer-administered procedure requiring payment of mutual-aid contributions and submission of receipts. The employer estimated approximately two additional months before payment. These requirements should not be confused with Kyokai Kenpo’s general application procedures.

This experience should not be mistaken for a nationwide standard.

Kyokai Kenpo states that claims found payable after review are paid within ten business days of receipt. The organization also recommends submitting applications monthly around payroll cutoff dates because employer certification is required.

Kyokai Kenpo has offered electronic applications since January 13, 2026.

The crucial distinction

Insurer processing time begins after an application is received. An employee’s period without income may also include the time needed to complete a claim period, obtain documents, satisfy employer procedures, and submit the application.

Therefore, three to five months is a stress-test scenario, not a typical waiting period across Japan.

The statistics cited here do not measure the full interval between an employee’s final paycheck and their first sickness allowance payment.

Who falls through the cracks?

Not every worker in Japan has the same level of protection.

Eligible employees enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance generally have access to sickness allowance.

However, many self-employed workers, freelancers, and people enrolled in municipal national health insurance lack an equivalent, nationwide, statutory income-replacement benefit.

Employer arrangements also vary. Some companies provide additional paid medical leave, financial assistance, or flexible collection of employee insurance contributions.

Others offer considerably less.

The result

Two people facing the same illness can experience very different financial consequences depending on their employment status, insurance coverage, savings, and their employer’s practices.

Entitlement to a sickness benefit is also separate from the question of how long an employee’s job is protected during medical leave.

Zoom out

Kyokai Kenpo recorded 193,435 sickness allowance cases in its October 2025 survey, up 7.7% from 179,680 in October 2024.

Mental and behavioral disorders accounted for 41.3% of cases, up from 39.2% a year earlier.

These are monthly snapshots of benefit cases within Kyokai Kenpo, not annual nationwide applications, nor are they evidence that processing delays caused the increase.

Nevertheless, the composition of claims raises an important question.

For employees recovering from depression or other mental health conditions, financial uncertainty and the administrative responsibilities associated with taking leave can create additional burdens during an already difficult time.

The issue extends beyond mental health. Workers recovering from surgery, serious illness, or other disabling conditions may face similar financial constraints.

The hidden consequences

When household savings are inadequate, an interruption in income can create difficult choices.

Workers may need to borrow money, use up their investments, rely on family members, cut back on essential expenses, or seek financial assistance.

Financial strain may also create pressure to postpone leave or return to work before fully recovering.

These are potential consequences, not frequencies of occurrence attributable to sickness allowance delays.

Commentary

Japan’s sickness allowance provides meaningful income protection, and published processing standards should not be confused with the longer delays encountered in individual cases.

However, the household data expose an important inequality. Two employees receiving identical benefits can experience very different financial consequences depending on their savings, employer arrangements, and access to support.

My concern is not simply how much the system eventually pays. It is whether the workers who need protection most can afford to wait for it.

What could change?

The most useful measure of progress will not be the number of digitized application forms. Rather, it will be whether workers can predict when their first payment will arrive and how they can meet essential expenses until then. Insurers, employers, and policymakers should ask whether their existing processes provide that certainty.

A more accessible system would focus on the entire journey from stopping work to receiving the first benefit.

• Transparency: Publish end-to-end first-payment timelines, not just processing standards after complete applications are submitted.

• Employer coordination: Make certification requirements, contribution payments, and submission procedures clearer and more predictable.

• Early assistance: Provide employees with a named contact, timely guidance, and referrals to legitimate hardship support.

• Bridge financing: Examine whether safe advances, provisional payments, or other temporary assistance could help financially vulnerable workers without introducing disproportionate administrative costs.

These measures would require careful design. Advances can create repayment risks if claims are rejected or approved for less than expected.

The bottom line

Japan’s sickness allowance provides meaningful income protection. But the financial challenge has two dimensions: surviving until the first payment arrives and managing the difference between benefits and ongoing expenses.

Under the four-month model, 35–50% of single households in the two income groups examined report financial assets below the ¥1 million threshold. That does not establish how many employees experience prolonged payment delays, but it illustrates why timing matters.

A safety net should be judged not only by how much it pays, but also by whether people can afford to rely on it when they become too sick to work.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://imaikemcl.com/%E3%80%90%E5%82%B7%E7%97%85%E6%89%8B%E5%BD%93%E9%87%91%E3%80%91%E4%BC%91%E8%81%B7%E4%B8%AD%E3%81%AE%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB%E8%B2%BB%E3%82%92%E3%82%B5%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E5%88%B6/, https://snabi.jp/article/1022, https://media.bizmeshi.jp/articles/unpaid-leave/, and https://www.a-sas.ne.jp/blog/17831/.

Additional Sources:

1. Statistics Bureau of Japan. 2025 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, Table 2, single employed households

2. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare. Medical leave and return to work guidance

3. J-FLEC. 2025 Household Financial Behavior Survey, single households, tables 4 and 74

4. Employer correspondence. Written instructions reviewed for this article; identifying details withheld. The payment estimate was approximate and subject to document arrival and review.

5. Kyokai Kenpo. Sickness allowance application and payment timing

6. Kyokai Kenpo. Sickness allowance frequently asked questions

7. Kyokai Kenpo. FY2025 cash benefit recipient survey, October 2025 snapshot, pp 1 to 3

8. Kyokai Kenpo. FY2024 cash benefit recipient survey, October 2024 snapshot, pp 1 to 3

9. Financial Services Agency. Warning about online loans between individuals

10. World Health Organization. Suicide fact sheet, updated 28 August 2026

#MedicalLeave #SicknessAllowance #傷病手当金 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

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https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

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It’s that time of the month again! Given the timing, who can resist the temptation to have a little extra fun and get into the Halloween spirit 🎃? Feel free to wear a costume for this episode, although we’ll have to use our imagination to see you (probably won’t be difficult after a few beers).

Please join me as I turn on the camera, crack open a beer (which brand will it be this time?), and chat about recent Real Gaijin1 articles, Japan-related news, and anything else you’d like to discuss. There’s no formal agenda. No presentation. It’s just a chance to interact directly, ask questions, challenge an argument, raise a topic, or simply join the conversation. Use Substack’s chat functionality to interact live.

The live chat will be open to all Real Gaijin subscribers, both free and paid.

Grab a beer, coffee, tea, or whatever you prefer, and join me for the third “Beers with Real Gaijin.” 🍺

P.S. What if you miss it?

Don’t worry! Substack automatically saves the live recording. After a little editing, I’ll send it out as a regular podcast post for subscribers who weren’t able to attend and want to watch it asynchronously later.

P.P.S. Calendar Scheduling

The following link may sync with your calendar (upon giving Substack access to your calendar). Please give it a try.

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If you are having trouble downloading the Substack app, please follow these steps:

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4. Substack will send a verification email to your mobile device to complete the login. All you have to do is open your email application on your phone, find the email from Substack with the subject line “Finish signing in to Substack,” and you’re almost there. Tap the orange button in the email to finish signing in to the app.

5. If you’re new to the app, you’ll go through Substack’s standard onboarding process. This will take a few minutes but is easy to complete. If you don’t have the app yet, you’ll probably want to do this sooner rather than later, or at least 15 minutes before we go live.

6. Once you’ve successfully signed in, you’ll be taken to the app’s home page. When we go live, my live video will be the first “post” at the top of your app. All you have to do is click on it to join the livestream. Below is an example of what the app looked like when Chris Best, Substack’s CEO, did a live video.

Note: If you don’t see me in your app, I probably haven’t gone live yet. Just wait a few minutes, and I will show up. If, for some reason, I am not showing up in your app, use the search icon to search for Mark Kennedy. You can join the live video from there, too.

#BeersWithRealGaijin #LifeInJapan #LiveChat #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

TL;DR

• Japan’s annual gift-tax exemption has remained at 1.1 million yen ($7,000) since 2001. Meanwhile, substantial household wealth remains concentrated among older generations, raising questions about whether tax policy should encourage earlier transfers.

• Younger households often face their greatest financial demands when buying homes, raising children, and establishing careers. Earlier access to family wealth could help finance these milestones and potentially stimulate economic activity.

• Raising the exemption could help younger families, but it would disproportionately benefit those with affluent parents. The challenge lies in encouraging intergenerational transfers without reinforcing inherited economic inequality.

What’s new

Japan last increased its ordinary annual gift-tax exemption in 2001, raising it from 600,000 yen to 1.1 million yen ($4,000 to $7,000)1. Twenty-five years later, that threshold remains unchanged—even as the economic circumstances of younger households and the age distribution of household wealth have evolved.

However, Japan’s broader gift tax framework has changed somewhat. Reforms introduced in 2024 made an alternative system more attractive for transferring wealth during one’s lifetime.

The question remains: Do these changes go far enough, or would increasing the standard exemption make it easier for older generations to transfer assets to younger households when they need them most?

By the numbers

• 1,257 trillion yen ($8 trillion): Estimated financial assets held by Japanese households headed by people aged 60 or older—approximately 62% of the comparable household financial asset total.

• 648 trillion yen ($4.1 trillion): Estimated financial assets held by households headed by people aged 70 or older, according to the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

• 25 million yen ($158,000): The cumulative special deduction under inheritance-time settlement taxation, subject to eligibility and subsequent inheritance-tax treatment.

• 7 years: The eventual pre-inheritance gift inclusion period under calendar-year taxation, fully applicable from 2031.

How it works

Japan has two main systems for taxing lifetime gifts.

Calendar-year taxation (rekinen kazei・暦年課税)

Recipients can receive up to 1.1 million yen ($7,000) annually without paying gift tax. This exemption applies to the recipient’s total gifts from all donors, rather than to gifts from each parent or grandparent separately.

Gifts exceeding the threshold are not prohibited. The excess amount is generally subject to progressive gift tax rates, and the applicable rates and deductions depend on the circumstances.

Inheritance tax rules also matter. Gifts made within a specified period before the donor’s death may be added back in when calculating inheritance tax for certain recipients.

Recent reforms extended that period from three to seven years, with transitional provisions and a limited exclusion for part of the extended period.

Inheritance-time settlement taxation (sozokuji seisan kazei・相続時精算課税)

This alternative generally allows eligible adults to receive gifts from parents or grandparents aged 60 or older under a different tax framework.

It provides a cumulative 25 million yen ($158,000) special deduction, plus a separate annual 1.1 million yen ($7,000) basic deduction that was introduced in 2024.

Amounts covered by the new annual basic deduction are excluded from the donor’s eventual inheritance tax calculation. Larger gifts generally enter that calculation, and any applicable gift tax paid is credited against the resulting inheritance tax liability.

The important trade-off is that choosing this system for a particular donor is generally irreversible.

The distinction matters because Japan does permit substantial lifetime transfers. The debate is about how those transfers are taxed, how easily families can navigate the rules, and whether existing incentives encourage the movement of wealth early enough.

Another door closes

Japan has also ended its special lump-sum educational gift exemption for new arrangements after March 31, 2026.

Previously, qualifying parents and grandparents could provide up to 15 million yen ($95,000) for educational purposes under a dedicated tax-free arrangement.

Existing qualifying arrangements remain subject to their applicable rules, but new contributions cannot use the expired exemption.

Importantly, this does not mean that ordinary educational support has become taxable. Necessary education and living expenses paid by family members with a legal support obligation can still qualify for an exemption when provided and used under the relevant conditions.

Nevertheless, the expiration illustrates Japan’s changing approach to targeted gift-tax incentives, even as the broader challenge of financing younger households remains.

The economic argument

There is a straightforward case for allowing older generations to transfer more wealth during their lifetimes.

A retired household with substantial savings may have relatively modest additional consumption needs. Meanwhile, their adult children may be managing mortgage payments, childcare expenses, or the costs of starting a business.

Economists describe this difference through the marginal propensity to consume: the proportion of additional income that a household spends rather than saves.

The economic benefit depends on whether a higher exemption encourages transfers that would otherwise be delayed or forgone—not simply whether families pay less tax on gifts they already intended to make.

Consider two parents wishing to transfer wealth to their two adult children. Under Japan’s ordinary calendar-year rules, each child can receive 1.1 million yen ($7,000) annually without gift tax, allowing the parents to transfer a combined 2.2 million yen ($14,000). Tripling the exemption to 3.3 million yen ($21,000) would raise that combined allowance to 6.6 million yen ($42,000) annually—an additional 44 million yen ($278,000) over ten years, before considering applicable inheritance-tax rules.

Yes, but

Making it easier to transfer wealth does not necessarily make society more economically equal.

Consider two young Japanese couples who earn similar salaries.

One couple has parents with substantial financial assets. A higher gift-tax exemption could allow them to receive significant financial assistance toward buying a home.

The other couple’s parents have limited savings. This reform offers them little direct benefit.

Although both couples belong to the same generation, only one can take advantage of the additional exemption.

A higher threshold could reduce financial pressure on some younger households while widening wealth disparities between families.

The numbers reinforce this divide. According to the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, 37.8% of single-person households headed by someone aged 70 or older have financial assets of 2 million yen ($12,650) or less. Japan’s older generations are far from uniformly wealthy—and higher gift-tax exemptions offer little direct benefit to families with limited savings.

There are broader economic uncertainties, too.

Additional family money could stimulate spending, but it could also flow into financial investments or increase demand for housing in markets where supply is limited.

The fiscal consequences would depend on how the exemption interacts with inheritance taxes and whether the reform generates sufficient additional economic activity to offset some of the lost tax revenue.

These concerns do not invalidate the case for reform. Rather, they establish the conditions under which reform should be evaluated.

Commentary

Japan’s 1.1 million yen ($7,000) annual gift-tax exemption, which has remained unchanged since 2001, appears increasingly modest compared to those of several other OECD countries.

In the United States, the 2026 annual federal gift-tax exclusion is $19,000 (3 million yen) per donor–recipient pair. Two parents can therefore give one child a combined $38,000 (6 million yen) annually.

Germany allows each parent to transfer €400,000 (71 million yen) to a child tax-free every ten years, and France permits €100,000 (17.8 million yen) per parent every fifteen years. The Netherlands offers a smaller, annually renewable exemption of €6,908 (1.2 million yen) for gifts from parents to children.

The Netherlands also permits a larger, one-time tax-free gift of €33,129 (5.9 million yen) to qualifying children aged 18–40, illustrating how exemptions can be designed around the financial needs of younger generations.

These countries have different inheritance tax systems, so the figures are not directly comparable. Nevertheless, they demonstrate that Japan’s relatively low annual exemption is not the only way to balance intergenerational transfers against tax avoidance.

Japan’s unchanged threshold deserves reconsideration, not only because 25 years have passed, but also because its demographic and economic circumstances have changed. A higher exemption could help families transfer assets when younger generations have greater financial needs while simplifying long-term gift planning.

However, raising the exemption would disproportionately benefit families with substantial wealth to transfer. The appropriate test is whether reform would generate additional consumption, productive investment, and economic opportunity or primarily make it easier to pass along existing family wealth.

Japan should judge gift-tax reform based on the economic opportunities it creates rather than the amount of inheritance tax it allows families to avoid.

What to watch

• Tax reform proposals: Whether business organizations, tax policy specialists, or lawmakers advance concrete proposals to increase the standard 1.1 million yen ($7,000) exemption.

• The 2024 reforms: Whether evidence emerges that the revised inheritance-time settlement system is increasing the volume or changing the timing of lifetime gifts.

• The seven-year rule: the transition toward the longer inheritance-tax inclusion period, which will be fully applicable in 2031, and its potential influence on family financial planning.

• Intergenerational Inequality: Whether earlier transfers stimulate spending and investment or widen wealth disparities among younger households.

The bottom line

Japan’s challenge is not simply that older generations hold substantial wealth while younger households need capital. It is finding ways to encourage earlier transfers without making economic opportunity even more dependent on the financial circumstances of one’s parents.

Raising the annual gift-tax exemption could be part of the solution. However, the measure of success should not be how much wealth families can transfer tax-free. Rather, it should be whether those transfers generate additional spending, investment, and opportunity that would otherwise be delayed or lost.

The goal should be to accelerate economic opportunities, not merely inheritance.

What do you think?

Japan’s wealth is aging while younger families need capital.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.tkfd.or.jp/research/detail.php?id=4125, https://www.zenkokuhojinkai.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/zeiseiteigen_r8.pdf, https://www.jsri.or.jp/publish/other/pdf/014.pdf, https://www.nta.go.jp/about/organization/ntc/kenkyu/ronsou/61/04/pdf/61-4.pdf, https://chester-tax.com/encyclopedia/dic02_032.html, https://www.tiu.ac.jp/about/research_promotion/pdf/kiyou_humanities_3.pdf, and https://www.dlri.co.jp/report/macro/495378.html.

#GiftTax #WealthTransfer #贈与税 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

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TL;DR

• The estimated lifetime childcare time per child increased by about 51%, from 0.74 to 1.12 years, among Japanese women born between 1951 and 1955 compared to those born between 1971 and 1975.

• Approximately 69% of the additional childcare time went to children aged 0–5, challenging explanations of intensive parenting centered on university entrance competition.

• Japan’s parenting challenge involves more than education costs. It also concerns how families, employers, and public institutions divide the time and responsibilities of raising young children.

By the numbers

Researchers Takashi Unayama, Yuta Takahashi, and Naoki Takayama analyzed government time-use and household expenditure surveys to estimate how parenting investments changed across generations.

• Childcare time per mother increased by about 43%, from 1.08 to 1.54 years over a mother’s child-rearing lifetime.

• Childcare time per child increased by about 51%, from 0.74 to 1.12 years.

• Expenditure per child increased from approximately 6.99 million to 7.72 million yen (approximately US $44,200 to $48,800) in inflation-adjusted terms.

• Early childhood: Children aged 0–5 accounted for 69% of the additional childcare time, while children aged 6–9 accounted for an additional 23%.

• Formal daycare: The proportion of working mothers with children aged 0–3 who paid daycare fees increased from 49% to 71%.

The bigger picture

Completed fertility declined from 1.98 children among women born in 1951–1955 to 1.40 children among those born in 1971–1975.

These figures describe historical birth cohorts and estimated lifetime parenting investments, not annual fertility rates or the behavior of today’s mothers.

The paradox

Greater use of paid childcare coincided with mothers spending more, not less, time caring for their children.

Where did mothers find the additional time?

Researchers found that daily housework declined by about 41 minutes, while direct childcare and personal care increased by about 12 minutes. Sleep and leisure time remained relatively stable.

Rather than substantially reducing sleep or leisure, mothers appear to have accommodated additional childcare through changes in how they allocated household time.

The study does not fully establish whether this reflected greater household efficiency, outsourcing, changes in fathers’ contributions, or reduced domestic work.

Greater reliance on formal daycare coincided with a shift away from informal family childcare, including care provided by grandparents. This transition helps explain why measured childcare expenditures increased, particularly during the preschool years.

This does not necessarily mean that daycare increased their burden. Formal childcare enables parents to remain employed while changing how they allocate time outside of working hours.

Beyond the time measured in the study, working parents must also coordinate childcare with employment schedules and everyday household responsibilities—demands that may not be fully captured in conventional time-use statistics.

In fact, separate RIETI research published in 2023 found that increasing daycare availability could lead to more marriages and higher fertility rates. This suggests that institutional childcare may help families manage competing demands rather than simply imposing additional costs.

Commentary

One conspicuous omission from this discussion is the role of Japanese fathers. Although men have become more involved in childcare, Japanese mothers still bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid childcare and household responsibilities.

Long work hours, commuting, and deeply ingrained expectations about gender roles complicate the division of parenting responsibilities. However, the RIETI study does not establish how fathers’ contributions influenced the increase in mothers’ childcare time.

The bigger question is whether Japan can make raising children more manageable without expecting mothers to do most of the heavy lifting.

Conventional wisdom

Japan’s education system is often linked to expensive cram schools called juku (塾), competitive entrance exams, and significant parental investment.

However, the study found little evidence that rising university preparation costs explain the increase in intensive parenting.

University enrollment rose from 39% to 55%, increasing average tuition expenditures. But reduced financial support for students living away from home offset much of that increase, leaving total university-age household expenditures relatively unchanged in the researchers’ estimates.

The researchers found no statistically significant increase in parental childcare time among children aged 16–18.

This does not mean that education costs are insignificant or that entrance exam pressures have disappeared. Rather, they are insufficient to explain the particular shift documented in this study.

The missing link

Does intensive parenting cause lower fertility?

The relationship between smaller families and greater investment per child is consistent with what economists call the quantity-quality trade-off. Parents with fewer children may devote more resources to each child.

But which comes first?

Do rising parenting demands discourage families from having more children? Or do smaller families simply allow for more investment in each child?

The researchers do not establish causation.

Moreover, a separate 2026 study by the same research team estimates that Japan’s decline in completed fertility reflects three developments of roughly equal importance: rising lifetime non-marriage, increased childlessness among married women, and fewer children among women who become mothers.

That distinction matters. Changes in how mothers raise existing children cannot, by themselves, explain why growing numbers of people never become parents.

The policy implication is that education subsidies alone cannot address the full range of constraints affecting family formation.

Accessible daycare, predictable working hours, parental leave, fathers’ participation, and the compatibility of employment with family responsibilities also deserve attention.

Higher expenditure on formal childcare should not automatically be interpreted as a worsening burden. Paid services can replace unpaid family care while enabling parents to maintain employment and household income.

The bottom line

The research does not establish whether more intensive parenting contributes to Japan’s declining fertility. However, it exposes an important blind spot in the demographic debate: Education subsidies alone cannot resolve the daily challenges of combining employment with raising young children.

Japan’s intensive-parenting shift begins long before the entrance exams—and understanding it requires looking beyond the cost of education.

What do you think?

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/nts/26j040.html and https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/26j040.pdf.

#IntensiveParenting #ParentingTrends #徹底的な子育て #RealGaijin #リアル外人

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TL;DR

• As it has for more than a millennium, the famous Kebesu Festival, or Kebesu-sai (ケベス祭) in Japanese, took place without much incident earlier this week on October 14th, which was somewhat surprising considering that it gives new meaning to the phrase, “If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.”

• Watch as the demon Kebesu tries to get past the flames while avoiding third-degree burns. He is performing in front of an audience of 300 to 400 people.

• If you time your trip just right, take a break from the hot springs in nearby Beppu or Yufuin and venture far off the grid to the northeastern coast of the Kunisaki Peninsula. Immerse yourself in Japanese history with this mystical experience.

What’s new (for me)

Ever since I moved from Tokyo to a rural part of Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu seven years ago, my friends from the area have been urging me to attend the Kebesu Festival. Like many other festivals in this part of Japan, it centers on purification through fire. They told me, “You just have to experience it for yourself! There’s nothing like it.” How could I say no? However, soon after I arrived in Kyushu, the pandemic hit, and the 1,200-year-old ritual was canceled for four consecutive years. Poor weather and other obligations prevented me from visiting for the next couple of years, but I was determined to finally attend this year.

Context

The “Kebesu,” who wears a strange wooden mask, is interpreted as a demon from another world.

During the festival, the Kebesu attempts to charge into a blazing pile of dried ferns. Meanwhile, the Toba (トウバ), men dressed similarly in white robes from head to toe who look like monks, try to stop the demon. Sparks fly across the shrine grounds and rain down on the worshippers during their battles. It is said that being showered by these sparks brings good health and happiness. The festival also includes a ritual to predict the success or failure of the following year’s harvest.

The Kunisaki Peninsula is a region where “Shinbutsu Shūgō” (神仏習合・the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism) has flourished since ancient times. Beliefs related to Shugendō (修験道・ancient Japanese nature and mountain worship with Esoteric Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto beliefs) and ogres from the Rokugo Mansan (六郷満山・a collective term for a group of six mountain Buddhist temples in the area) tradition remain as well.

The Kebesu Festival is thought to be connected to this religious culture. However, it has not been proven that Shugendō or ogre beliefs are its direct origins.

How it works

Everything gets underway at dusk, around 6 pm. However, because parking is limited, it is best to arrive by 5:30 p.m. You can have a picnic while you wait by the small harbor, which has space for about 100 cars.

The evening can be divided into three parts: a long, boring prelude; a crescendo featuring a reenactment of the demon Kebesu’s epic fight against a blazing pile of ferns and Toba; and finally, a chaotic climax—which is putting it mildly.

Pro tip: It’s highly likely that a smoldering hot ember will rain down on you at some point, especially toward the end, so it’s best to wear a loosely fitting, relatively non-flammable long-sleeved shirt (not polyester), a hat, and a towel around your neck like the locals do.

Go deeper

• Opening scene: The old saying “hurry up and wait” sums up the first hour or so, during which the crowds jostled for the best vantage point to watch Kebesu’s ordeals. The highlight was probably watching the father-son Toba duo, which made me question whether it was okay for such a young boy (maybe 3-1/2 years-old?) to play with fire. From my vantage point, I could not see what was happening inside the main Shinto structure, where several elderly men, likely former Toba well past their prime, were performing a secret pre-ritual (undoubtedly, aided by a ayahuasca-like adult beverage). After what seemed like an eternity without the standard matsuri-bayashi festival music, an ancient practitioner was handed a microphone and addressed the crowd with the perfunctory message: “Thank you for waiting. Please be careful during tonight’s festival.” That was it! He abruptly stepped down, apparently marking the end of act one. The entire crowd simultaneously seemed to utter under their breath, “Are you kidding me? You made us wait more than an hour for that?”

• Rising action: Luckily, the second act immediately became much more interesting. An especially overweight participant dressed in all white like the Toba appeared wearing a brown mask. He was playing the role of the demon Kebesu and held what appeared to be a spear. Kebesu was subsequently led around the inner grounds of the shrine toward a blazing inferno at one end. Encouraged by the audience’s chants of “Ganbare“ (頑張れ), meaning “do your best,” Kebesu play-fought with one or two of the Toba before rushing into the blazing pile of dried ferns in one corner of the courtyard. Somehow, his white clothing did not catch on fire. This process continued for about an hour, with Kebesu, the masked pyromaniac, battling the Toba and setting fire to the pile of ferns about ten times.

  Finally, the music stopped, and all the Toba gathered in front of the inner shrine and took up long poles.

• Climax: Almost immediately, the entire crowd—including me—seemed to utter a collective “WTF is going on?” The Toba used their poles—probably bamboo rods—to scoop up clumps of burning ferns. They threw them in every direction at the onlookers who had flooded the inner courtyard, as well as at those of us crammed under an elevated section of the shrine with a 100-year-old wooden roof, which could have caught fire in seconds. As you can see in the video, the performers pushed the flaming bundles of ferns dangerously close to the audience. In several cases, embers fell upon the onlookers. This was the intention, and the crowd welcomed it, eager to be purified by fire. Despite being exposed to enough secondhand smoke to show up on a chest CT scan and cause a scratchy throat the next morning, everyone seemed no worse for wear. This flagrant disregard for safety and the potential for third-degree burns was shocking, especially because in Japan you are constantly bombarded with warnings to be careful (e.g., “stay away from the edge of the platform” at a train station and “don’t get your fingers caught in a closing door”). However, it was also curiously exciting.

Even as the fires raged on, the festival finally died down and the crowd dispersed. On the way back to the car, I overheard several people talking about how surprised they were by how dangerous the grand finale had been, yet how invigorating it was. It was essentially a collective sigh of relief at having survived the evening.

Fun fact #1

In 2000, the Japanese government designated the Kebesu Festival as a “National Intangible Folk Cultural Property Requiring Measures for Documentation” (記録作成等の措置を講ずべき無形の民俗文化財). As far as I could tell, not much has been documented about it more than a quarter-century later. (I’m doing my part as a taxpayer with this post!)

Fun fact #2

The Kebesu Festival used to be held on the 14th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar. Now, it is held every October 14 of the solar calendar.

Commentary

The Kebesu Festival was a stark reminder of how foreign Japanese culture can be for a Westerner like me. Just when I thought I was starting to get the hang of life as a resident foreigner down here in Kyushu, I was reminded that, even after 40 years of studying the culture and language, I am still just scratching the surface.

What is particularly intriguing is that the meaning of the name “Kebesu” and the origin of the masks have yet to be clearly established. It is one of the most enigmatic of Japan’s traditional festivals.

Logistics

Attending the Kebesu Festival requires advance planning, especially since it is quite far out of the way.

• Location: Kushiku Shrine (Iwakura Hachiman Shrine), Kushiku District, Kunimi Town, Kunisaki City, Northeastern coast of the Kunisaki Peninsula, Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan (大分県国東市国見町櫛来（くしく）地区、櫛来社・岩倉八幡社)

• Date and time: October 14 every year, starting around 6 pm

• Access: A car is best, but bus tours are available from the nearby tourist towns of Beppu and Yufuin.

Finally, just remember…

If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.

Leave a comment

#Kebesu #JapaneseFestivals #ケベス祭 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

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What can a cup of tea teach us about Japan—and about ourselves?

This week, the Real Gaijin1 AMA podcast welcomed a fellow Japan-based writer and student of all things tea—one of Japan’s most popular beverages for centuries.

Meet Alex Dwyer.

Who is he?

Alex Dwyer is an American writer and tea enthusiast. He is the creator of Tea w/ Dweez, a Substack publication dedicated to exploring the fascinating world of tea, including the people, places, and traditions surrounding it.

Tea w/ Dweez

Joyrides Fueled by the World’s Most Beloved Beverage

By Alex Dwyer

Alex’s passion for tea has taken him around the globe, from the Darjeeling region in India and China to Japan’s renowned tea-producing areas, including Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture. He has developed an international perspective on how different societies cultivate, prepare, and appreciate tea along the way.

Before settling in Japan, he explored the tea scene in Los Angeles and contributed an extensive guide to the city’s best tea destinations to L.A. TACO.

Since moving to Kamakura in January 2023, Alex has continued to document his discoveries and reflections on Japanese tea culture, everyday life, and the value of slowing down.

Through his writing, Alex approaches tea as more than a beverage. To him, tea is a gateway to cultural understanding, meaningful human connections, and a more deliberate way of experiencing the world.

On the agenda

In this conversation, we discussed what makes Japanese tea culture unique and how it compares to other traditions. We also talked about why Alex believes that tea should be accessible to everyone, not just connoisseurs.

We talked about his journey to Japan, his time living in Kamakura, and how tea can help us navigate a world obsessed with productivity and constant self-improvement.

Of course, we also touched upon the important question: Is Japan’s matcha craze bringing people closer to authentic tea culture—or turning a centuries-old tradition into just another fashionable commodity?

Key takeaways

• Tea is an invitation to slow down, not another productivity hack: In a world obsessed with efficiency, Alex argues that drinking tea should be an intentionally unproductive experience. Instead of rushing through another task, tea encourages us to disconnect, appreciate the present moment, and rediscover the simple pleasures of everyday life. Sometimes, doing nothing is the most valuable thing we can do.

• Japanese tea culture is deeply rooted in Zen Buddhism: It arrived in Japan from China during the Kamakura period and became closely associated with Buddhist monks. Initially valued as an aid to meditation, tea evolved into a cultural practice emphasizing mindfulness, hospitality, and contemplation. As Alex explains, the traditional Japanese expression cha-zen ichimi (茶禅一味)—tea and Zen are one flavor—captures this enduring relationship.

• Matcha, sencha, hojicha, and other teas share a surprising connection: Despite their dramatically different flavors, appearances, and aromas, these teas all originate from the same plant species: Camellia sinensis. The primary distinction lies in how the leaves are cultivated and processed, through methods such as shading, steaming, roasting, or grinding. Understanding these differences reveals the remarkable diversity of Japan’s tea traditions.

• The global matcha craze risks obscuring what makes tea special: Matcha‘s explosive popularity has transformed a centuries-old Japanese tradition into a fashionable global commodity. While Alex welcomes the growing interest, he questions the emphasis on convenience, commercialization, and productivity. He is concerned that consumers may embrace matcha‘s perceived health benefits while overlooking its deeper cultural significance and contemplative qualities.

• A simple bowl of tea can change the direction of your life: Alex’s journey from music journalism in Los Angeles to China’s tea culture ultimately brought him to Kamakura, Japan. A memorable experience drinking matcha at Hokokuji Temple inspired his decision to relocate there with his wife. His story illustrates how curiosity, travel, and seemingly ordinary encounters can lead to unexpected personal transformations.

Timeline

Substack does not yet have the functionality to allow you to use a link to jump to a specific section like YouTube’s “chapters.” Please refer to the times listed below to navigate through our hour-long conversation. Thank you for your understanding.

Pro tip

Although it’s generally considered best to brew matcha and sencha at around 60°C, you can’t really go wrong when boiling hojicha. Remember, you heard it here first! Just kidding.

Suggested references

Green with Milk and Sugar: When Japan Filled America’s Tea Cups by Robert Hellyer (Columbia University Press)

Tea w/ Dweez

Pusha Tea (Part I): Is Matcha The New Cocaine?

I have now gazed outside a 18th story hotel window, the blood rust ribs of Tokyo tower glowing at dusk, puffs of peach clouds sliding by like silly captions behind the skyscrapers, a crowd hooting in opposition of me and my lot toward a stage draped in hazmat orange, on the night before an election, downing my 6…

Read more

a year ago · 9 likes · 4 comments · Alex Dwyer

Leave a comment

#TeaWithDweez #TeaCulture #matcha #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join Alex, Mark, and a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

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TL;DR

• Japan’s real wages have increased for eight consecutive months. However, in August, household spending fell 3.1% from a year earlier, marking the ninth straight month of year-on-year declines.

• The disconnect runs deeper than mere consumer pessimism. According to a Bank of Japan (BOJ) survey released on October 13, 2026, 54.4% of respondents said their household finances had deteriorated over the previous year, while only 4.5% reported an improvement.

• The deeper issue is twofold: Real wage growth follows four consecutive years of declining purchasing power, while wage statistics exclude important household income sources, including pensions and self-employment.

By the numbers

• +1.5%: Real wage growth in August 2026, marking the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

• -3.1%: Year-on-year decline in inflation-adjusted household spending among households with two or more members in August 2026.

• 54.4%: Share of BOJ survey respondents who reported that their household finances worsened over the previous year, compared to 4.5% who reported improvement.

• 88.6%: Share of BOJ respondents expecting prices to rise over the next year, down from 90.4% in the previous survey.

Context

Slower inflation does not necessarily mean lower prices. According to the BOJ’s latest survey, 95.5% of respondents reported higher prices than a year earlier, despite easing expectations for future inflation. The financial squeeze persists for households whose incomes have not kept pace with accumulated price increases.

Japan’s real wages declined in each of the four years from 2022 through 2025, amounting to an estimated cumulative loss of roughly 5% compared with the 2021 annual average. Eight consecutive months of growth in 2026 therefore signal a recovery from years of eroded purchasing power—not necessarily a return to earlier living standards.

Consumer sentiment

The Consumer Confidence Index slipped marginally to 35.4 in September 2026. More revealing than this small monthly change were the diverging results of the survey: expectations for income and employment improved slightly, while assessments of overall living conditions deteriorated. The divergence suggests that, although consumers may recognize improving employment and income prospects, they have not yet experienced meaningful relief in their household budgets.

Friction point

Japan’s headline wage statistics track earnings at establishments with five or more regular employees; they do not reflect the financial circumstances of every household. They also exclude pension benefits and self-employment income. Consequently, wage increases among salaried employees can coexist with stagnant purchasing power among pensioners, the self-employed, and those whose pay has not kept pace with inflation.

How it works

In August 2026, Japan’s retail sales increased 2.7% year over year, with gains of 1.0% at supermarkets and 0.6% at convenience stores. However, inflation-adjusted spending among households with two or more members decreased by 3.1%. Although these measures cover different populations and transactions, their divergence illustrates why rising retail revenues should not automatically be interpreted as stronger household consumption. Nominal sales reflect both prices and quantities purchased.

Commentary

Japan’s wage recovery is encouraging, but it is not universal. Salaried employees receiving raises, pensioners relying on annual benefit adjustments, and self-employed shopkeepers facing higher operating costs experience inflation differently. For households whose incomes have not regained lost purchasing power, the consequences can be tangible: fewer restaurant meals, postponed travel, and smaller grocery budgets. The ultimate test will be whether rising wages provide enough financial breathing room for ordinary households to spend beyond necessities without dipping into their savings.

What to watch

Monitor whether sustained real wage growth leads to an increase in inflation-adjusted household spending, especially on discretionary purchases like dining out and travel. The next BOJ survey will show whether the share of respondents reporting deteriorating household finances falls below the latest 54.4%. Together, these indicators will help distinguish a temporary wage increase from a broader recovery in household purchasing power.

The bottom line

In a country where nearly one-third of the population is 65 or older, rising employee wages alone cannot ensure a broader recovery in household purchasing power. The decisive question is whether wage increases can offset years of accumulated inflation and lead to sustained consumer spending.

Japan may be winning the battle against falling real wages, but it has yet to win back its consumers.

Leave a comment

Links to Sources: https://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/stat/shouhi/gaiyou.pdf, https://www.boj.or.jp/en/research/o_survey/ishiki2610.htm, https://www.hanbaishi.com/news/23579, https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/f5797385e32a4db603aa04992a3ea0226b54bdd6, https://finance.biggo.jp/news/cd68bdd2-f046-4ba6-9373-fcda1fe693e5, and https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/c235040c0feb10c136fbd358aa120b1de6b493be.

#JapanRealWages #JapaneseConsumerSentiment #消費者態度指数 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

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What can a cup of tea teach us about Japan—and about ourselves?

In this week’s upcoming Real Gaijin1 AMA podcast, our guest—a student on all things related to one of Japan’s most popular beverages for centuries—will explore the intersection of tea, culture, travel, and everyday life.

Meet Alex Dwyer.

Who is he?

Alex Dwyer is an American writer and tea enthusiast. He is the creator of Tea w/ Dweez, a Substack publication dedicated to exploring the fascinating world of tea, including the people, places, and traditions surrounding it.

Tea w/ Dweez

Joyrides Fueled by the World’s Most Beloved Beverage

By Alex Dwyer

Alex’s passion for tea has taken him around the globe, from the Darjeeling region in India and China to Japan’s renowned tea-producing areas, including Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture. He has developed an international perspective on how different societies cultivate, prepare, and appreciate tea along the way.

Before settling in Japan, he explored the tea scene in Los Angeles and contributed an extensive guide to the city’s best tea destinations to L.A. TACO.

Since moving to Kamakura in January 2023, Alex has continued to document his discoveries and reflections on Japanese tea culture, everyday life, and the value of slowing down.

Through his writing, Alex approaches tea as more than a beverage. To him, tea is a gateway to cultural understanding, meaningful human connections, and a more deliberate way of experiencing the world.

On the agenda

In this conversation, we’ll explore what makes Japanese tea culture distinctive and how it compares with other traditions. We’ll also discuss why Alex believes tea should be accessible to everyone, not just connoisseurs.

We’ll also talk about Alex’s journey to Japan, his time living in Kamakura, and how tea can help us navigate a world that seems obsessed with productivity and constant self-improvement.

And, of course, we’ll ask the important question: Is Japan’s matcha craze bringing people closer to authentic tea culture—or turning a centuries-old tradition into just another fashionable commodity?

Join us for an informal conversation about Japan, culture, and the surprisingly profound lessons hiding in an ordinary cup of tea. Bring your questions—and perhaps a cup of your favorite brew!

Please ask questions!

Remember, today’s “live video” is an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session. So, please don’t hold back! This is your chance to ask Alex anything.

🕵 Rest assured that we won’t read your name aloud to ensure confidentiality. You can assume that every listener is simply “asking for a friend.”

Although we plan to meet for an hour, Alex and I are flexible. We promise to answer every question, no matter how long it takes.

Mark your calendar!

📌 Join Real Gaijin on Thursday, October 15, at 1:00 p.m. Japan time2 for an open conversation in English with Alex.

You will…

• Discover Japan through tea: Explore how Japan’s tea traditions offer a deeper understanding of its culture, values, and daily life;

• Go beyond the matcha craze: Understand what’s driving matcha’s global popularity and whether its commercialization is helping or harming Japan’s centuries-old tea traditions;

• Cultivate a sense of what it takes to slow down: Discover how a simple cup of tea can foster mindfulness, meaningful connections, and a balanced approach to life; and

• Ask questions in real time. (AMA).

🡻 How can you tune in? Download the Substack app. If you enable notifications, the app will notify you when we’re live. Just tap it, and you’re in!

See you soon!

Mark

P.S. What if you miss it?

▶︎ Don’t worry! Substack automatically saves the live recording. After a little editing, I’ll send it out as a regular podcast post for subscribers who weren’t able to attend and want to watch it asynchronously later.

P.P.S. Calendar Scheduling

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https://open.substack.com/live-stream/408419

If necessary, you can paste it directly into your calendar to save the event.

P.P.P.S. (“Is that a thing?”) Upcoming Opportunity to Meet IRL

🚨 Clear your calendar for the evening of Thursday, November 5, if you’ll be in Tokyo. Check out this upcoming event, where you can meet several Japan-based Substack writers and readers, in person—including both Alex and me. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t wait to purchase yours!

If you are having trouble downloading the Substack app, please follow these steps:

1. Go to your mobile device’s Apple or Android app store and search for Substack. Alternatively, you can click this link on your mobile device to get there.

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5. If you’re new to the app, you’ll go through Substack’s standard onboarding process. This will take a few minutes but is easy to complete. If you don’t have the app yet, you’ll probably want to do this sooner rather than later, or at least 15 minutes before we go live.

6. Once you’ve successfully signed in, you’ll be taken to the app’s home page. When we go live, my live video will be the first “post” at the top of your app. All you have to do is click on it to join the livestream. Below is an example of what the app looked like when Chris Best, Substack’s CEO, did a live video.

Note: If you don’t see me in your app, I probably haven’t gone live yet. Just wait a few minutes, and I will show up. If, for some reason, I am not showing up in your app, use the search icon to search for Mark Kennedy. You can join the live video from there, too.

#TeaWithDweez #TeaCulture #matcha #RealGaijin #リアル外人

TL;DR

• Japan has formalized a high-stakes partnership with Emirates to capture high-net-worth travelers from the Middle East as the halal tourism sector scales toward a US $1 billion valuation.

• This isn’t just about filling hotel rooms in Shinjuku; it is a state-level economic diplomacy play tied to energy security, sovereign wealth partnerships, and a strategic pivot away from raw headcounts.

• Hospitality operators must move beyond basic compliance and reconcile rigid service norms with bespoke Islamic accommodations to capture this elite demographic.

What’s new

The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Emirates to capture luxury demand from the Middle East. With visitor numbers from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries doubling over pre-pandemic baselines, Tokyo is treating the region as a primary source of high-yield capital.

By the numbers

• 94.7 billion yen (US $598.9 million): The estimated baseline value of the Japanese halal tourism market.

• 161.8 billion yen ($ 1.023 billion): The projected market ceiling by 2035, compounding at a 5.5% CAGR.

• 76%: The heavy market dominance commanded by international tourism segments. There were 55,924 visitors from the GCC in 2025. The targeted GCC demographic threshold represents annual household disposable incomes of $250,000 or more.

• Visitors from the Middle East spend over 480,000 yen (approximately $3,000) per person during their trips to Japan, which is more than double the global average for international visitors (approximately 227,000 yen or $1,450). Among all foreign nationalities, Middle Eastern tourists rank highest globally in per capita shopping expenditure in Japan. They make significant purchases of luxury brand goods, cosmetics, and premium electronics.

• On average, tourists from the Middle East stay in Japan for 12.5 nights per trip, which is nearly 45% longer than the global international average of 8.7 nights. The travel patterns of GCC visitors often include multi-day regional tours, such as visiting both Tokyo and Kansai or taking an extended summer retreat to Hokkaido.

Catch up quick

Did you really think Japan’s tourism boom was permanently bound to budget backpackers and regional tour buses? While public discourse remains fixated on crowded subway lines, a calculated economic realignment is steering elite global capital directly toward Japanese shores.

Context

Local businesses are shifting away from cheap, mass-market turnover to focus on visitors who demand premium accommodations, private dining, and highly curated cultural experiences. For travelers and operators alike, this means ground infrastructure—from airport logistics to ryokan (traditional inn) design—is rapidly adapting to religious and cultural requirements without sacrificing its distinct Japanese identity.

Conventional wisdom

The common assumption holds that Japan’s inbound economy is an assembly line for mass-market tourists from neighboring East Asian nations looking for accessible urban shopping.

Details

JNTO’s strategy explicitly targets affluent families and professionals aged 20 to 40 across Turkey and the GCC. To match this velocity, Emirates is expanding its direct routes to 28 weekly flights, layering in premium economy upgrades and dedicated airport transfers at Narita and Kansai. On the ground, accommodation services capture 38% of primary tourism revenue, while specialized food and dining experiences account for 28%.

Friction point

A profound sociological tension underpins this pivot. Japan’s service industry is built on rigid expectations of standardized conformity and subtle social cues. Introducing ultra-high-net-worth travelers who command personalized, exceptional deference places immense strain on a frontline workforce already buckling under chronic labor shortages. Ironically, solving the wealthy tourist puzzle requires bending the sacred Japanese principle of omotenashi—treating all guests identically—to cater to an elite demographic expecting special treatment.

How it works

Specialized tour operators and digital platforms bridge these operational gaps by deploying portable prayer kits, arranging pre-screened private dining networks, and curating multi-stop regional circuits that balance cultural icons with religious necessities.

Zoom out

This targeted acquisition of Gulf wealth reflects a broader national strategy to insulate Japan’s economy from demographic decline and regional currency swings. By upgrading its hospitality architecture to serve diverse international requirements, Tokyo is pioneering a blueprint for sustainable, high-yield luxury tourism.

Commentary

There is a fascinating irony to this playbook. Tokyo spent years publicly agonizing over overtourism in Kyoto while quietly engineering a parallel luxury track for the Middle East that entirely bypasses the backpacker economy—proving that state-level pragmatism always wins over aesthetic panic.

What to watch

Monitor regional airport expansions in Kyushu and Hokkaido, alongside the rollout of digital halal applications that map transit networks directly to verified sanctuaries and dining.

The bottom line

Japan is trading tourist headcounts for high-value yields, proving that sustainable growth belongs to those who cater to the world’s most discerning travelers.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.jnto.go.jp/news/info/20260930.html, https://sky-budget.com/2026/09/16/emirates-signs-new-mou-with-jnto-to-stimulate-demand-for-travel-to-japan/, https://www.jnto.go.jp/projects/overseas-promotion/marketing-strategy/middleeast.html, and https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/japan-halal-tourism-market.

#JapanHalalTourism #GCCAffluentTravelers #訪日中東観光 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

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https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

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TL;DR

• 72.7% of companies surveyed by the Japan Productivity Center have implemented AI company-wide, yet 93.9% report no change in total headcount related to AI.

• That may not last. 51.5% of companies expect AI to shrink their workforce within the next five to ten years, potentially through attrition and reduced hiring rather than mass layoffs.

• Companies need to invest in domain expertise and reskilling so that their workers can use AI to create value rather than simply automate existing tasks.

What’s new

Japan Inc. is rapidly adopting artificial intelligence. However, it isn’t firing people.

In a report released on September 30, 2026, it was announced that more than 70% of companies surveyed by the Japan Productivity Center have implemented AI company-wide, mostly within the past one to three years. Yet, almost all of them report no AI-related change in total headcount.

The striking number comes next: More than half expect AI to reduce their workforce within the next five to ten years.

The impact may be delayed rather than absent.

Catch up quick

Could Japan’s chronic labor shortage be the catalyst for an AI-native workforce? For decades, the country has struggled with population decline and weak productivity. Paradoxically, a technology that is feared globally for destroying jobs could help solve its workforce shortage.

The caveat is that this is based on a small corporate survey by the Japan Productivity Center with only 33 responses from 92 participants, which were heavily weighted toward large manufacturers with over 1,000 employees. It’s a useful snapshot of executive sentiment, not a census of Japan Inc.

Conventional wisdom

AI arrives. Machines perform human work. Companies need fewer workers. People lose their jobs.

However, Japan’s experience complicates this sequence.

Details

Although 100% of the surveyed firms cited efficiency and automation, and 66.7% pointed to business process transformation, their personnel response has practically been nonexistent. No companies have reported cutting new hires, offering voluntary retirement, or freezing replacements due to AI. Furthermore, 90.9% have taken no specific HR action. AI adoption is far outpacing workforce restructuring.

Friction point

That doesn’t mean jobs aren’t changing.

The change appears inside the job before it appears in employment statistics.

The Productivity Center concludes that AI’s impact first emerges in the structure of employment, specifically job content and talent demand, rather than employment volume.

Office equipment manufacturer Ricoh emphasized the ability to identify problems and formulate precise questions. Property and casualty insurance company Sompo Japan emphasized problem definition and creative work capable of transforming systems.

This creates an obvious divide between workers who can effectively use AI and those who cannot.

How it works

Sompo Japan offers a glimpse of this transition.

In January 2026, Sompo Japan rolled out its SOMPO AI Agent, based on Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise, to its domestic group companies.

Employees use the agent to search and summarize internal documents, produce meeting minutes, and analyze data. AI is also used for claims processing, fraud detection, and customer support.

However, Sompo isn’t using the time savings to cut staff.

Instead, employees are reallocating time toward higher-value work, including providing better customer service.

That’s augmentation before substitution.

Yes, but

Japanese firms can’t easily fire people, even if they want to. The lack of layoffs isn’t just because workers are scarce. It’s also because firing a permanent employee is culturally radioactive and legally hazardous. AI isn’t saving jobs out of corporate benevolence. It’s entering a system in which reducing headcount has to happen covertly (through attrition) because mass layoffs are illegal or socially unacceptable.

The retirement factor

Ricoh shows why Japan could ultimately follow a different path than countries with growing labor forces.

The company expects about one-quarter of its production and manufacturing employees to leave within five years through natural attrition, including retirement.

The challenge isn’t simply deciding whom AI can replace.

It’s figuring out how to perform the work when those employees are gone.

This creates a remarkably quiet path toward workforce contraction.

The employee retires. Some of their work is automated. The empty desk isn’t refilled.

Between the lines

The most consequential AI-related job loss in Japan may be a job that never gets created.

Sompo Japan expects to eventually curtail hiring for general administrative positions, although it has not yet reduced such hiring. At the same time, demand is high for mid-career workers with advanced AI and data expertise.

A company of 10,000 employees doesn’t necessarily need to fire 2,000 people to become a company of 8,000 employees.

Retirements, resignations, and fewer replacement hires can accomplish much of the adjustment.

The hidden danger

There’s a catch.

The routine work that AI eliminates may also be how younger employees learn.

The report warns that restricting the hiring of young workers can eliminate opportunities to gain practical experience—the very experience needed to develop expertise.

Call it the AI apprenticeship paradox: Automate junior work today, and you may eliminate the training ground needed to produce tomorrow’s experts.

Go deeper

AI could therefore make human expertise more valuable, not less.

Takuma Kimura of Showa Women’s University argues that domain expertise—deep knowledge combined with experience-based judgment—is critical to effectively using generative AI.

Knowing how to prompt AI isn’t the same as knowing whether its answer is incorrect.

However, the Japanese middle-management class is being hollowed out through quiet attrition. If companies stop hiring entry-level graduates and rely on attrition, who will pay the “shakai-jin” (社会人・corporate citizen) dues? The result is a bimodal workforce of hyper-expensive domain experts and automated task-takers, with a massive vacuum where the traditional Japanese corporate ladder used to be.

Japanese labor unions are responding. The Electrical Workers’ Federation collaborated with Microsoft for a year to develop AI training, particularly for workers at smaller companies that lack adequate access to such programs.

The goal isn’t merely efficiency. It’s also about employability and career development.

Reality check

AI isn’t a magic wand for demographics. Plus, Japanese surveys are notorious for corporate face-saving. While executives may expect attrition to handle it, can software really replace administrative back-office work when legacy mainframes from the Shōwa era still hold half of these companies together?

The Productivity Center estimates that workers using AI achieve an average 24.4% improvement in task efficiency. However, since AI only touches part of their work, the estimated overall productivity gain among AI users is 6.2%.

The estimated macroeconomic productivity effect is 1.4%, compared with a scenario without AI.

The lesson is that buying AI tools isn’t enough.

Companies also need human capital, expertise, and organizational redesign.

Zoom out

Japan faces two shortages: Too few workers and potentially too little expertise.

AI can help with the former.

However, if used poorly, it could exacerbate the second.

This makes Japan an important laboratory for studying the relationship between AI and employment. The question isn’t merely whether AI will replace workers.

Rather, it’s whether AI can arrive fast enough and be deployed intelligently enough to compensate for the workers Japan is already losing.

Commentary

Japan’s quiet assimilation of AI looks less like a sci-fi revolution and more like a pragmatic survival strategy.

The most interesting part is what isn’t happening.

There are no mass firings. There has been no immediate collapse in white-collar employment. There has been no wholesale replacement of humans.

Instead, AI is entering organizations while demographic pressure is removing workers from the other end.

Eventually, these two forces may meet in the middle.

What to watch

Watch new-graduate hiring, replacement hiring after retirement, and administrative headcount.

Also, observe the gap between AI specialists and everyone else. Companies expect AI-related staffing to grow even though they anticipate a lower overall headcount.

Also, watch organized labor. AI literacy may increasingly become a form of worker protection rather than merely another corporate training program.

What’s next

Japan’s AI debate may eventually move beyond: “Will AI take my job?”

A more useful question may become: “What will my job require that AI cannot do?”

• Problem definition

• Judgment

• Domain expertise

• Creativity

• Human relationships

These are precisely the capabilities that companies interviewed by the Productivity Center are increasingly emphasizing.

The bottom line

Japan isn’t using AI to cut costs; it’s using AI to save a sinking ship.

With 51.5% of companies planning to downsize within the decade, the absence of mass layoffs isn’t corporate benevolence—it’s structural math. Japan’s rigid labor protections make firing nearly impossible, so corporations are choosing stealthy methods: unreplaced retirees, frozen entry-level pipelines, and silent back-office desk disappearances.

By papering over demographic collapse with automation, Japan risks walking straight into the bimodal trap. The country is trading its historic social stabilizer, the broad, secure white-collar middle-class track, for hyper-efficient islands surrounded by a hollowed-out labor core.

The future of Japanese work won’t be defined by the drama of a pink slip. Rather, it will be marked by the quiet permanence of empty desks and the realization that, when the ladder is pulled up behind you, no one is left to climb it.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.jpc-net.jp/research/detail/008214.html and https://www.jpc-net.jp/research/assets/pdf/innocon20260930_nenji2026.pdf.

#LaborProductivity #ArtificialIntelligence #生産性年次報告2026 #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/

https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack

https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin

https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wilt-kennedy/

TL;DR

• Major Japanese corporations are abandoning their nationwide, uniform growth strategies in favor of a segmented, geographic model.

• A shrinking domestic population forces companies to reallocate capital exclusively to high-density metropolitan areas, regional hubs, and overseas markets.

• Investors and strategists must audit their exposure to low-density Japanese markets and track the pivot toward urban flagships and international expansion.

What’s new

From 2015 to 2026, Japan’s corporations underwent a quiet structural shift, moving away from treating the entire country as a single growth market. Now, enterprises are allocating capital, facilities, and management talent based purely on demographic and economic viability.

By the numbers

• Japan’s population fell by 3.097 million (2.5%) between 2020 and 2025, while the Tokyo metropolitan area grew to 36.99 million people, representing 30.1% of the entire country.

• Daiwa House reported that housing starts fell across owner-occupied, rental, and built-for-sale housing in fiscal year 2025. This trend accelerated its recently announced strategic pivot toward single-family home service areas concentrated in just 14 regional offices and 23 high-demand zones.

• Yamato Holdings anchored its Chugoku and Shikoku logistics consolidation on a massive, 38,389-square-meter Okayama facility equipped with 90 loading bays. The facility is designed to combat regional delivery inefficiencies caused by labor shortages and depopulation.

• Nitori outlined a long-term vision to open 3,000 stores globally, allocating 1,000 to Japan and 2,000 to international markets. The company plans to reach 214 overseas stores by mid-2026, basing this goal on 5-, 10-, and 20-year population projections.

• MUFG slashed its domestic physical branch network from 515 locations in fiscal year 2017 to 324 locations in fiscal year 2024, marking a 37% contraction over seven years, and then restarted selective urban openings.

Catch up quick

For decades, postwar Japanese business models relied on absolute saturation, blanketing the nation with identical storefronts, bank branches, and delivery routes. But what happens when the countryside empties out and the national consumer base shrinks by millions?

Context

Depopulation in rural prefectures has severe second-order consequences: public transportation fades, labor shortages intensify, and the fixed cost of maintaining fine-grained physical infrastructure surges. For companies operating labor-intensive networks, maintaining universal coverage shifts from a civic duty to a financial drain.

Conventional wisdom

Most observers assume that major Japanese brands expand or contract uniformly alongside national economic shifts, maintaining proportional footprints across all 47 prefectures.

Details

• Daiwa House: Japan’s largest homebuilder is slashing its domestic single-family network from over 80 branches to just 14 regional offices and 23 high-demand service areas. Daiwa House is abandoning broad provincial coverage to focus on highly viable urban cores, such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, while also exporting construction capital to the U.S. and Australia. Notably, Daiwa House is making this significant change from a position of strong corporate prosperity. The company is using its record earnings to proactively fund its retreat from provincial areas rather than reacting out of financial distress.

• Yamato Holdings: Having formally identified regional depopulation and acute labor shortages as core risks, the logistics titan is abandoning fine-grained rural distribution. Yamato is replacing local footprints with massive, high-capacity regional hub networks, such as the Okayama facility, concentrating long-distance transport into major commercial nodes.

• Nitori Holdings: Japan’s undisputed titan of home furnishings and interior retail explicitly uses 5-, 10-, and 20-year population projections to determine store locations, balancing the goal of 2,000 overseas stores against 1,000 in Japan.

• Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG): Japan’s largest financial institution is consolidating domestic branches while redeploying billions of dollars into high-growth Asian financial institutions, such as India’s Shriram Finance.

Friction point

Maintaining legacy rural infrastructure while labor costs rise and local customer bases shrink creates an unsustainable tension between social legacy and commercial survival.

When MUFG and Yamato restructure, they aren’t just going digital. They are deliberately abandoning rural areas faster than urban ones, and they are investing their expansion capital overseas or in regional hubs.

How it works

Firms are implementing a three-tier geographic sorting mechanism. They are shrinking and optimizing rural footprints for raw efficiency, consolidating regional logistics and retail into vital hub cities like Fukuoka and Sendai, and deploying aggressive expansion capital into overseas growth markets across North America, Europe, and ASEAN.

Zoom out

Japan Inc. is redrawing its economic map. This silent capital reallocation proves that the country’s demographic contraction is not just a social challenge; it is the primary driver of modern Japanese corporate strategy.

Corporate capital flight acts as an invisible hand, turning rural depopulation into a permanent downward spiral. In Japan, the decision to retreat from rural areas is not just a spreadsheet calculation. It sparks political and social conflict with local prefectural governors. Companies such as Japan Post and regional banks face intense bureaucratic pressure to keep “zombie branches” open for social welfare reasons.

Commentary

This is not a sudden crash, but a calculated retreat. Companies are quietly voting with their hard-earned yen, acknowledging that the future belongs to high-density clusters and foreign consumers.

Japan isn’t collapsing; it’s adapting and sorting resources. Tokyo’s hyper-concentration is a rational and highly efficient economic optimization strategy that other aging nations, such as South Korea and Italy, have already adopted or will soon adopt.

What to watch

The strategic maneuvers of Japan Post, regional banks, and major rail operators (JR East, JR West, and JR Kyushu), as they test the limits of their universal public service obligations amid accelerating rural depopulation.

The bottom line

Japan’s countryside is losing more than people—it is losing corporate capital, permanently altering the nation’s economic geography.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/eea1829f7d76d0e844d39b1e8b89e2600cd33b37, https://www.daiwahouse.co.jp/about/release/house/20260903153926.html, https://www.mufg.jp/dam/ir/presentation/2025/pdf/speech250715_ja.pdf, https://www.nitorihd.co.jp/en/special/03.html, https://www.yamato-hd.co.jp/news/2026/newsrelease_20260617_1.html, and https://www.yamato-hd.co.jp/english/investors/policy/risk.html.

#JapanCorporateStrategy #GeographicTriage #SupplyChainOptimization #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

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🍻 Thank you to everyone who joined the second “Beers with Real Gaijin” live stream on Sunday evening! Like last month, what started as an experiment—an informal conversation without an agenda about recent Real Gaijin articles, Japan-related news, and whatever else was on your mind—turned into the kind of lively exchange I had hoped for.

Key Takeaways

While we enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion that included a review of several recently published Real Gaijin articles, the five main points to take away were probably the following (see below for links to related articles):

• Japan’s foreign-resident population is growing larger, becoming more diverse, and growing in economic importance: Japan’s foreign population has grown to roughly 4.2 million, with the largest groups coming from China, Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, newer communities, such as those from Sri Lanka, are becoming increasingly visible. At the same time, foreign workers are moving beyond the traditional image of temporary, low-wage labor into higher-skilled, better-paid, and longer-term roles.

• Doing business in Japan still depends heavily on relationships, localization, and patience: The discussion of LinkedIn, Eight, and Tomomi Iwasaki’s experience highlights a persistent difference between Japan and Western markets: Cold outreach is relatively ineffective, while personal introductions and established relationships carry considerable weight. Foreign companies also need to temper their expectations of immediate results and be prepared to localize their products and approach.

• Japan’s economic recovery remains uneven despite stronger wage growth: Large Japanese companies are delivering wage increases that have finally begun to exceed inflation, producing modest real-wage gains. However, these benefits are not evenly distributed across the economy, which helps explain why households remain cautious and why consumer spending has not accelerated correspondingly.

• Japan’s demographic challenge begins well before childbirth—with marriage, relationships, and a shrinking pool of young adults: Falling marriage rates are particularly important in Japan because births are still largely associated with marriage. Combined with the already small population of young children, this suggests that Japan’s demographic contraction is becoming structurally embedded and cannot be addressed solely through policies aimed at supporting parents after children are born.

• Japan’s aging population is redefining what “retirement” looks like: The rapid growth of older workers taking seasonal resort baito (part-time work) illustrates both opportunity and economic necessity. Seniors can earn income while traveling and gaining new experiences, and employers can hire experienced, flexible workers. However, this phenomenon also exposes a deeper problem: many Japanese people may need to continue working well into their traditional retirement years because their pensions and savings are insufficient for a potentially decades-long retirement.

Q & A

Q1: Do the Japanese have a purity law for beer?

A1: Japan does not have a German-style beer “purity law,” but its Liquor Tax Act strictly defines what can be legally labeled as “beer.” Beer must contain at least 50% malt by weight (not including hops or water), but, unlike the traditional German Reinheitsgebot, Japan allows ingredients such as rice, corn, starch, sugars, fruit, and certain spices and herbs. In 2018, the rules were significantly liberalized, lowering the malt threshold and allowing more flavoring ingredients. This gave craft brewers greater flexibility. Beverages that do not meet these requirements are generally classified as happōshu (発泡酒), or another category, rather than as beer.

🍺 I’m already looking forward to the next “Beers with Real Gaijin“ in October—our own little “October Fest!” The invitation will be sent out soon…

🎉 P.S. I look forward to meeting you in person at the upcoming “Japan Substackers IRL Meetup in Tokyo” on November 5, 2026, if you’re able to make it.

Related articles and podcast covered in this episode

Leave a comment

#BeersWithRealGaijin #リアル外人と飲む #ResidentForeigners #RealGaijin #リアル外人

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

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TL;DR

• The number of middle-aged and older adults taking on live-in “resort jobs” in tourist destinations in Japan has surged dramatically, rising up to 75-fold over the past decade.

• Faced with a severe national labor shortage and the economic realities of a 100-year life expectancy, Japanese seniors are redefining post-retirement life by blending income generation with travel, hobbies, and personal fulfillment.

• Policymakers and hospitality operators must adapt to an increasingly senior-driven workforce. Prospective older workers should carefully review employment contracts and living arrangements before accepting seasonal labor positions.

What’s new

Japanese seniors in their 50s, 60s, and beyond are increasingly taking on short-term, live-in resort jobs at hot springs, ski resorts, and tourist hubs nationwide. Once considered the exclusive domain of young people, these positions now attract a rapidly expanding demographic of older adults seeking adventure, social connection, and supplemental income.

By the numbers

• 9.43 million: The record number of working adults aged 65 and older in Japan, marking the 22nd consecutive annual increase and representing 13.8% of the nation’s total workforce.

• 4x to 75x: The exponential increase in older workers dispatched or referred through resort staffing agencies in recent years. Some metrics show a 75-fold increase compared to 2012 data.

• 52%: The percentage of ryokans (traditional inns) and hotels that report a shortage of non-regular employees in regional tourist markets, which drives intense demand for reliable senior staff.

• 1,100 to 1,200 yen (US $7.00 to $7.63): The typical hourly wage for part-time resort positions, which often include room and board, utilities, and access to hot spring baths.

Catch up quick

Is retirement a destination or just another transition? While Japan’s elderly population growth has effectively flatlined, rising by only 0.06% between 2025 and 2026, the senior employment rate continues to break records year after year.

Context

With living costs climbing and longevity increasing, sitting idle at home after retirement poses distinct physical and psychological risks. Resort jobs offer a cushion against these pressures by eliminating major financial hurdles like rent and utility expenses. This transforms what could be an isolating economic squeeze into an exploratory working holiday.

Some of these resort workers describe themselves as “migratory birds,” watari dori (渡り鳥) in Japanese. They seek live-in positions in Hokkaido during the winter ski season and resort/marine work in Okinawa for the rest of the year.

Additionally, Japan is filling a foreign labor shortage with its own elderly population. If channels for foreign labor tighten further due to currency depreciation, the rural ryokan ecosystem may become entirely dependent on semi-retired domestic seniors.

Conventional wisdom

In Japan, reaching the traditional retirement age of 60 has long meant permanently exiting the workforce and adopting a quiet, localized lifestyle centered around the home. Work and leisure were viewed as mutually exclusive stages of life.

This new trend flips that convention on its head.

Details

Workers typically commit to short-term stints of one to three months, handling tasks such as restaurant service, kitchen food plating, housekeeping, and front desk support. Employers often convert unused guest rooms into staff dormitories and provide perks like complimentary hot spring access or ski lift passes.

Staffing agencies like Dive connect applicants with hospitality operators across the country. Workers split their shifts, often working morning and evening hours with extended afternoon breaks, allowing them to explore local tourist attractions, hike, or pursue creative hobbies, such as digital video editing, on their days off.

Friction point

However, while seniors bring valuable life experience and professionalism, adapting to fast-paced hospitality environments or customer service roles can be challenging for those transitioning from corporate or manufacturing backgrounds. Furthermore, informal verbal agreements can lead to disputes over compensation, overtime, or injury coverage, so formal written contracts are essential.

Also, working split shifts (such as 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by sitting idle until the 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. shift) can be notoriously grueling. In Japan, this work schedule is a major reason why younger workers left resort jobs in the first place. The job might “get old” quickly.

Zoom out

Japan’s evolving senior labor market offers a glimpse into how hyper-aged societies can maintain economic dynamism without relying solely on traditional immigration or corporate retention. By repackaging manual and service labor as flexible, experiential lifestyles, regional tourism stays afloat, and a generation of retirees rediscovers purpose.

Commentary

Experience is invaluable. Younger workers often start during school breaks or short periods between jobs, but then they leave just as they start to hit their stride. Senior workers, on the other hand, have settled into their lives. If they enjoy the environment and the work suits them, they’re far more likely to stay through the next season. This makes it easier for hotel management to ask them to extend their contracts.

I suspect that the real story is that the rural Japanese hospitality industry is quietly crowdsourcing its survival to its retirees, transforming a demographic liability into a mobile domestic labor force. While “help wanted” ads tout the opportunity such jobs provide for “self-actualization,” the reality is underpinned by the quiet anxiety of fixed-income erosion in an inflationary economy.

What to watch

Keep an eye on how staffing agencies adapt their support systems and benefit packages to cater to an older demographic. Also, watch to see if regional municipalities officially court retired migrants as permanent assets for local revitalization.

The bottom line

Japan’s seniors are proving that the golden years don’t have to be sedentary. They’re turning labor shortages into an unexpected opportunity for personal reinvention.

Leave a comment

Links to Japanese Sources: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/20250620-OYT1T50139/, https://resortbaito-dive.com/columns/helpful-informations/age/details/senior, https://www.htb.co.jp/news/archives_33163.html, https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/2324889?display=1, and https://www.stat.go.jp/data/topics/pdf/topics149.pdf.

#SeniorWorkforceTrends #ResortBaito #シニアリゾートバイト #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

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https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wilt-kennedy/

So, what does it actually take to become proficient in Japanese—not just conversationally competent, but proficient enough to study economics at a Japanese university, conduct academic research, explore the history of kanji, and consider taking the Kanji Kentei (日本漢字能力検定) Level 1 exam1?

Real Gaijin2 recently interviewed the perfect guest—particularly for the Gen Z audience. He is destined to have an important career connecting Japan with the rest of the world.

Who is he?

Lloyd Allen been studying Japanese since his teenage years, and his experience provides a valuable perspective on the ongoing debate about shortcuts, apps, immersion techniques, and “fluency.”

Lloyd first came to Japan as a 16-year-old high school exchange student and has been moving between Australia and Japan ever since. He studied economics and Japanese as an undergraduate and spent time at Aoyama Gakuin University and Kobe University. He is now back at Kobe University as a full-time master’s student in economics. Japanese has been a constant thread throughout his journey. Today, Lloyd’s interest extends well beyond communicating. He writes about the Japanese language, society, and history on Substack and has delved into subjects such as the historical evolution of kanji readings. He is preparing to take the Kanji Kentei Level 2 exam, with the Level 1 exam potentially on the horizon.

Check out “Roido Does Japan” on Substack:

Roido Does Japan

Exploring Japanese society, culture, economics, and politics through on-the-ground observations, research, and personal experiences living in Japan.

By Lloyd Allen

On the agenda

The intention of this conversation was to move beyond typical advice about learning Japanese. We discussed Lloyd’s learning approach, effective versus ineffective methods, the differences between formal study and immersion, and how living in Japan improved his Japanese.

We also explored the role of “easy Japanese” (やさしい日本語)—what it is, who it’s intended for, and how it fits into communication and language learning.

Then, we took a deep dive into kanji: why Lloyd finds them fascinating, how he studies them, what the Kanji Kentei demands, and whether pursuing extremely advanced literacy has practical value.

Finally, we considered the bigger question: What does serious Japanese proficiency allow you to understand about Japan that remains largely inaccessible in English?

Key takeaways

• Make Japanese part of your life, not just a subject you study: Lloyd’s central advice is immersion. Find something about Japan or the Japanese language that you genuinely enjoy. Then, incorporate as much Japanese into your everyday life as possible: books, news, YouTube, podcasts, television, friendships, and classes, if available. His own progression accelerated when Japanese stopped feeling like “study” and became the language through which he did things he already wanted to do.

• Combine immersion with systematic repetition: Exposure alone is not enough. Lloyd maintains a vocabulary deck of roughly 15,000 flashcards and uses spaced repetition (SRS) to reinforce words before they disappear from memory. His approach is twofold: first, encounter vocabulary naturally through reading and listening; then, deliberately reinforce it through flashcards. Neither approach works nearly as well by itself.

• Tests are milestones, not the definition of proficiency: The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT・日本語能力試験) provides useful structure, motivation, and credentials, but Lloyd stresses its limitations—most notably, it does not test speaking or writing. Passing N1 does not mean that someone has “finished” learning Japanese. Learners who want to advance further face challenges such as the Kanji Kentei (日本漢字能力検定), which opens an entirely different level of mastery involving readings, writing, synonyms, antonyms, four-character compounds, and thousands of kanji.

• At advanced levels, progress inevitably slows, so consistency matters more than dramatic gains: Beginners can see rapid improvement because almost everything they learn is new. Advanced learners encounter diminishing returns and periods when progress feels almost invisible. Lloyd’s useful rule is that “one is greater than zero”: reading one page, learning one word, or doing a small amount of Japanese is infinitely more productive than doing nothing. The objective is to maintain exposure rather than waiting for the motivation to undertake a major study session.

• The real payoff from learning Japanese is access to people, relationships, and experiences that would otherwise be unavailable: Lloyd ultimately describes language as a tool rather than an academic achievement. When motivation wanes, he reconnects with the conversations and friendships that would not exist without Japanese. Greater proficiency progressively “unlocks” people, ideas, culture, history, and experiences that remain partly inaccessible through English alone. For Lloyd, this provides a more enduring reason to continue studying Japanese than passing another exam.

Timeline

Substack does not yet have the functionality to allow you to use a link to jump to a specific section like YouTube’s “chapters.” Please refer to the times listed below to navigate through our hour-long conversation. Thank you for your understanding.

Links

• Substack:

Roido Does Japan

Exploring Japanese society, culture, economics, and politics through on-the-ground observations, research, and personal experiences living in Japan.

By Lloyd Allen

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyd-d-allen/

• Kobe University Interdisciplinary Master Program (KIMAP): https://www.group.kobe-u.ac.jp/kimap/

• AJATT | All Japanese All The Time: https://alljapanesealltheti.me/blog/index.html

• Spaced Repetition System: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/exams-and-revision/best-ways-to-revise/spaced-repetition

• Japanese.io (more about Spaced Repetition, etc.): https://www.japanese.io/

• INPEX Scholarship Foundation Scholar: https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/en/search-for-scholarships/detail.php?lang=en&mid=5-00034519

• The New Colombo Plan (NCP) Scholarship Program: https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/new-colombo-plan/new-colombo-plan-scholarship-program

• Background about the Kanji Kentei Exam (日本漢字能力検定):

Unseen Japan

Kanji Kentei: Inside the Japanese Test That Even Japanese People Find Difficult

By Jay Allen…

Read more

a month ago · 21 likes · 4 comments

• Advice from Uskov Evgeny, a Russian native speaker who was able to pass the Kanji Kentei level 1: https://roshiajin.jp/

• Nihongo Kentei (日本語検定): https://www.nihongokentei.jp/

Leave a comment

#LloydAllen #JapaneseLanguage #LanguageLearning #RealGaijin #リアル外人

ICYMI

Please check this out! If you’ll be in Tokyo on Thursday evening, November 5, join Mark and a small group of Japan-based Substack writers and readers for a meetup. Get your tickets before they sell out!

If you found this post valuable, please click the ❤️ button and restack it. Restacking helps more than you’d think! Thanks!

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

Subscribe now

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/

https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack

https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin

https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wilt-kennedy/