The Story So Far

Let's get a proper intro out of the way.

I've already explained in my past post who I am, but what am I doing here? Why the website?

My wife and I, after a long period of contemplation, have decided that we'd like to move to Japan, in pursuit of starting our own business! I thought it might be a good idea to blog about the process, since we're applying for a relatively rare visa type and there's very little info out there about how to do it.

Let me start by answering the question I get the most from my family: why Japan? Well, it's hard to point to any singular factor, but the short answer is that we like it there. The public transportation, affordable cost-of-living, and interesting culture have won us over in the near-decade since we started visiting. And we have visited a lot.

In 2016, my wife and I embarked with two friends on what could only be described as a journey worthy of Homeric legend. We had a sprawling 23-day itinerary that somehow included both Hiroshima in the far west as well as Sapporo way up north.

At the end of the trip, we were all feeling a little bummed to return home, but I think we'd all been affected enough to admit we'd be back to Japan someday!

My next trip came in March 2020. It was, to say the least, a weird time to be traveling internationally. We had booked two weeks in total, but by the time my wife and I made it to Osaka from Sendai, the US State Department was asking us to come home.

Sad days ahead after all that, I'm sure I don't need to tell you.

Japan snapped shut to tourists for nearly three years, so to pass time in quarantine my best friend and I made plans to bike the Shimanami Kaido after my 40th birthday in late 2022.

Incredibly, my wife and I had two opportunities to return in 2023, once for the Sapporo Snow Festival, and again for a road trip with friends across Shikoku.

All told, I've been fortunate enough to visit about half of Japan's prefectures over the years, and at a certain point you've just got to take an honest look at something and decide if it's worth making it permanent!

So let's talk business.

I mentioned earlier that my wife and I were starting our own business in Japan. This website is one part of what we're planning to do, and I can't reveal everything just yet, but we want to start a tourism-oriented business that is focused on the following:

• Providing travel consultancy services to anyone who wants to visit Japan from overseas (and who might be interested in avoiding any areas afflicted by overtourism)
• Supporting regional Japanese economies by encouraging tourists to explore areas outside of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka
• Eventually, running a vacation rental in Sendai city

We're applying for a visa through one of Japan's Startup Visa programs, for foreign entrepreneurs who are interested in opening a business in one of a few designated areas. We chose Sendai as our first pick because it's essentially the de facto capital of the Tohoku region, which is our favorite region in Japan! It also has a somewhat similar climate to Seattle, where we're moving from, and we feel it's very underrated as a tourism destination.

As of this week, we've submitted a first draft of our Business Plan to the Sendai city government, to ask for feedback! So I'm nervously checking my email a lot this week, but with a little help I suspect we'll be looking at moving sometime this Spring.

We've also got a product launch (our first!) coming up in the next month or so. Consider signing up for our newsletter if you're at all interested in Japan travel, so you don't miss it.

Thanks for reading this far! More updates soon, and maybe even some posts from my wife!