tristanj
A large number of Airbnb hosts were using this Business
Manager Visa as a way to stay in Japan.People in China
realized they could just buy/lease a guesthouse in Osaka /
any tourist hotspot, and rent it out on Airbnb. Then they
become a "business manager" and get a Japanese resident
visa within 3 months. All you needed is to invest 5million
yen, which is like 31k USD, which isn't much. People wrote
entire online guides on how to do this. They even had
brokers/agents helping people with the process
[0].Approximately half of all business manager visas went
to Chinese nationals. In Osaka, 41% of all short-term
rentals were operated by Chinese individuals [1]. The visa
practically turned into an Airbnb host visa.It's not
surprising at all that Japan made the rules stricter.[0]
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/06/05/japan/immigra
ti...[1] https://chinatravelnews.com/article/186285/
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> fc417fc802
I feel like letting people buy their way in to visas
is actually a pretty good system from a strictly
pragmatic standpoint but 5 million yen seems far too
low.
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> > torben-friis
>I feel like letting people buy their way in to
visas is actually a pretty good systemThat depends
of what you're hoping to prevent.If you want to
filter out people who can't sustain themselves,
petty crime or the like, it works. But it can open
the door to a lot of unwanted effects.A foreign
national that just extracts capital by capturing
real state and collecting rent is a great example,
this person is a large net loss for the country.
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> > > rwmj
> A [person] that just extracts capital by
capturing real state and collecting rent is a
great example, this person is a large net loss
for the country.Even to their home country.
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> > TFNA
A number of European countries have allowed this;
the 2010s were the heyday of this path. But it
turns out that a lot of the people with big money
to buy residence, got their money from organized
crime, and it isn't always easy to vet applicants
(or corrupt officials could overlook the
applicant's background).
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> shevy-java
It's not just business related though - Japan has
gotten more hostile to foreigners.
And no, it is not restricted only to chinese
foreigners:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGAmKqTWjxU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXLOsYTfl7k(These two
videos are quite recent at the time of writing this
here.)Don't get fooled by the deliberate (but
misleading) title(s). This is a narration of more and
more restrictions coming. So the article here also
taps into this 1:1.In some ways it reminds me of Nigel
Farage in the UK, though in Japan it is not quite as
tied to an individual person.
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> missingdays
A guesthouse in Osaka is 31k USD?
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> > tristanj
5 million yen is the company capital requirement.
They would form a company, invest 5 million yen
into it, then the company would lease an apartment
and rent it out on Airbnb.Rent would cost
¥60,000-120,000/month, they would list it on
Airbnb for ¥20,000/night, then assuming 50%
occupancy the return is ~¥200,000/month.It was
very profitable. The payback period for the ¥5
million was 1.5 - 2 years.
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> > Reubachi
The visa requires licensing/registrations and
token investments, all aside from the cost of
purchasing a home in Osaka.
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> > > cucumber3732842
>all aside from the cost of purchasing a home
in OsakaWhich they were almost certainly
divvying up. A bunch of people invest $32k
each. Some management company buys the home,
pays them all a cut of airBNB proceeds, etc.
You don't "do" anything beyond put up $32k for
your $31k piece of paper.
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> > whizzter
Iirc there's a scrap-n-build culture in Japan,
houses are not really valued compared to land (due
earthquake, quality, culture,etc).
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Shank
> In one case, investigators in Kanagawa Prefecture found
that a Sri Lankan national had set up roughly 600 shell
companies. He also allegedly submitted business manager
visa applications for at least six Sri Lankan nationals by
listing them as company presidents on paper, even though
they actually worked manual labor jobs.It shouldn't
surprise anyone that the government has a problem with
this practice. The problem is trying to create a system of
requirements that is both feasible to put on paper and
also testable. When the issue was raised, the income
requirements were changed as an immediate reaction, but
the ISA has broad authority to grant or deny based on many
circumstances.Put differently, acts like this were already
illegal, but difficult for the ISA to catch. So they
changed the base requirements which are theoretically much
easier to catch than the actual illegal behavior.
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ElProlactin
Many countries are tightening the immigration screws. For
example, Thailand just reduced visa exempt stays for most
countries from 60 to 30 days and have been going hard
after illegal foreign businesses set up under Thai
nominees.While there are usually political and economic
factors that contribute to these decisions, I've been
living overseas for almost two decades and have noticed
that rampant abuse is now almost everywhere you look in
any country that is interesting to foreigners. A few years
ago, I was sitting at busy bar near the beach in Bali and
a couple of guys were loudly discussing a scheme they used
to get KITAS investor visas without actually putting up
the required capital.This is just the beginning of this
type of thing methinks.
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> eloisant
That's pretty crazy when you see that in developed
countries, Japan in particular, population is aging
and declining.Countries should be competing for the
best immigrants, not closing their doors.
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> > ElProlactin
The problem is that identifying who the "best"
immigrants are for your country can be very
difficult when thousands upon thousands of people
are trying to game the system.Japan is a very
attractive destination for a variety of reasons
(highly-developed, safe, relatively "cheap", etc.)
so you have lots of people who are willing to jump
through some hoops and put up some capital for a
chance to live there.I wouldn't say that the
changes to the business manager visa are going to
help Japan attract the "best" immigrants. They
will definitely hurt some good people who are
contributing to Japan. But on the whole they will
probably be reasonably effective in weeding out
most of the abusers. Not all, but most.It's a
sledgehammer approach because a scalpel is very
difficult to use when so many people want to live
in your country.
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> > boelboel
Do people starting an 'airbnb' business help with
the aging problem? Same thing with some of the
other immigrants. They're not really creating
economical value as much as they're competing with
natives taking the 'easy part'.
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> > Levitz
Countries are not concerned about a lack of
willing immigrants, and so they close their doors
so the ones they want are the ones that get in.
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> > aurareturn
Countries should be competing for the best
immigrants, not closing their doors.
Don't mistake what the elites want with what
working class people want. Elites want a higher
population - even if they're immigrants - so the
market grows bigger for their businesses. But
immigrants come with many problems for the working
class people.The elites aren't going to have a
house next to immigrants. They don't feel the
effects in their castle.Anyways, this change is to
target only the best immigrants. There are still
ways for them to immigrate to Japan. This change
just closes the loophole for lower quality
immigrants.
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> > jiaosdjf
There is no "competing for the best
immigrants".Anyone who is at the top of the ladder
(educated, wealthy) will move wherever is most
desirable, and thats pretty much only the US. You
can't fake it with incentives, America doesn't
have to offer immigrants anything it simply exists
as the global centre for tech, finance, medical
etc. - nobody is lining up to move to China, India
or Germany.Anyone who is at the bottom of the
ladder is, as Bernie Sanders put it, a pawn in the
Koch brothers conspiracy to reduce wages. These
countries don't care about quality they just want
to jack up housing demand and bottom out wages
because thats great for the asset class and big
business (until they automate and ditch all these
people)The immigration narrative is BS. The idea
that we're aging out so must desperately bring in
more UberEats riders is nuts. Nobody in my country
can afford to be a nurse - I know an eye doctor at
a major London clinic who is leaving this country
because after 20 years working for the NHS she
simply is not paid enough to live.We're absolutely
obsessed with immigration and all we are doing is
lining the pockets of corporates, brain-draining
countries that desperately need skilled people and
blurring the lines of social responsibility in a
globalist economy.
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> > > defrost
> I know an eye doctor at a major London
clinic who is leaving this country ..To go to
the USofA or to, say, Australia?
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> > kakacik
Yeah, but folks doing scams to get visas are
hardly the "best immigrants", rather amoral scum
that is largely incompatible with mentality and
moral values of host country. Clearly not the type
of immigration they desperately want, can't blame
them
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> bluealienpie
Fundamentally the issue is that visa requirements are
restrictive creating concentrated demand for labor.
There are countries with higher paying jobs that can
done online, but every position doesn't just shift
overseas. We put the onus on the individual to stop
illegal activity, but it's the business owners that
hire and sustain this kind of employment. A high
minimum wage would negate the need and desire for
irregular migration. It would also provide good paying
jobs for migrants who could afford to live in the
country.
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> aurareturn
For Southeast Asia specifically, they've been battered
by low quality, trashy tourists - more so after Covid.
Locals are respectful but many tourists are entitled
in SEA. You see plenty of videos on social media of
tourists starting fights with locals, being disruptive
in public areas, and generally doing something
illegal.Recent example in Vietnam:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DY_-NcwDTaJ/A lot of
trashy tourists are moving from Bali over to Vietnam.
I few sorry for the locals. Yes, they'll make a few
extra bucks a week from more tourists but at the cost
of seeing your society get destroyed slowly.Dear
Vietnam, please do not try to become the next Thailand
and Bali for tourism. Do not welcome sex tourists,
criminals, crypto bros, begpackers. Don't sell your
soul for a few extra dollars.
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Semaphor
Thought the name seems familiar: Jake Adelstein got his
2009 memoir Tokyo Vice turned into a (fun to watch,
apparently very dramatized, though that was already
criticized for the memoirs) 2 season HBO series in 2022.
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> rwmj
The book is far more interesting than the drama. In
fact I'd go so far to say that the drama has really
nothing much to do with the book besides the title and
some superficial characters.
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tecleandor
> The police suspect around 1,000 people may be working in
Japan illegally through these types of schemes.In a
country with a population of 123 million, that's a non
issue just for pleasing far right Nippon Kaigi friendly
voters.
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DiscourseFan
It will become increasingly difficult to police
international borders. On the other hand, commercial space
travel will create new states that can police there
borders. The borders don't disappear but they will change
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blueTiger33
that's a great decision, hope that country flourishes. no
compromise with violence
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shevy-java
I was surprised when I first heard of that. I actually
noticed this
on Paolo from Tokyo's youtube channel first. The vibe was
strange,
because Paolo seemed happy about stricter controls. I was
baffled
about that, since it ran counter to the rest of Paolo's
channel
(which is actually best with regards to the series "A day
in the
life of a japanese xyz"; this is actually insightful and
even
historically important). So Japan sending the message
"gaijin
leave now" kind of would make me reconsider where to go -
aka
not Japan. If it is in Asia, well, there may now be
friendlier
countries. And the technological gap isn't that huge
anymore;
South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan - these are almost equal to
Japan. Even some parts in mainland China (but who wants to
live in sinomarxistic-capitalism - that's such a weird
psycho
combination). Even Thailand, while it is not on the same
standard as the other countries, may seem friendlier now
than
Japan with his anti-foreigner's policies. It seems their
true mindset has never really changed. That may also
explain
why the english language is still regarded as a hostile
entity to many; contrast this to Singapore please.
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