The Final Stretch

A lot's been happening over the last few days!

During my last visa update, I mentioned that we'd submitted a Business Plan to the Sendai City Hall for visa consideration. That initial email seemed to go well, and City Hall got us in touch with a Business Consultant in Tokyo to help us brush up our plan and make sure it got put together in proper Japanese. Luckily, there was no cost associated with this, but progress took a little longer than I suspect it would have if we'd hired a scrivener.

We finally got word at the end of last week, after several iterations of our plans and application documents, that we are finally ready to apply for a visa! So I'm working out the final details with our Tokyo-based Business Consultant before submitting all the paperwork in-person here in Sendai.

Complicating things somewhat, the national government here has expanded the Startup Visa Program to include ALL regions of Japan, not just Special Strategic Zones. I suppose we might be among the last foreigners admitted under the old system, but it sounds like things will be easier for others in the future, which is great for certain types of entrepreneurs hoping to move here.

As soon as I get approval from our Consultant to proceed, I'm going to load our application documents onto a thumb drive, get everything printed and signed at the closest combini, and it'll be off to the races.

So, what else have I been up to, when I haven't been stuck inside all day working on the visa application? I've been looking at houses.

Well, we didn't leap straight into houses. I spent a week carousing around Tohoku with my best friend. But once the party was over, we headed back to Sendai, feasted on gyutan, and got in touch with some realtors about a week ago.

Interesting trivia, most real estate agencies here are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays! This is functionally so that people who only have weekends off can do their house hunting on Saturdays and Sundays, but there's a traditional reason for it as well. My realtor explained that Tuesday ("火曜日" in Japanese) is written with the kanji for fire (火), and Wednesday uses the kanji for water (水), so it's unlucky to view new houses on those days.

I found a great realtor, by the way. She speaks perfect English, having worked in Canada for a few years as a home design professional. Her insight has been really helpful and I'm learning a lot about Japanese home maintenance.

We toured a house yesterday that was nearly a perfect fit, actually. I don't want to give too much away, as it's far from a done deal yet, but it's the best fit for us by a mile. It may well be that I do a "house tour" entry in a couple months, but again, this is all very visa-dependant.

For a short summary, things are going quite well on this side. I do miss my wife dearly, and I am excited to pet Sunny again, but I've had an incredibly productive time here and it will surely pay dividends when it comes time to actually move!