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You will need to do some serious homework regarding financing. It is close to imposible to get a Home Loan (mortgage) on a house as a foreigner from a Japanese bank unless you have Permanent Residence Visa status to reside in Japan. A Spousal Visa, which can be valid for up to 5 years max, will not be sufficient. Although after 3 years living in Japan under a spousal visa, you can apply for Perm Residence.

Your wife as a Japanese national would not have this problem, but if she has been living in the U.S. for 20 years, she will not have any work record. But in general one needs to show a minimum annual income of JY 5,000,000 per year in order to qualify for bank loans. Some sources say JY 7000000 so it may vary by bank.

You can google all this and plenty of info available on line. As an example:

japanese-architects.com/articles/house-loan

As far as the actual purchase goes, Japan has no restrictions on foreigners purchasing and owning real estate in Japan. But that is completely independent of Visa status. Owning property in Japan has no bearing on immigration status. Although Japan does not allow bank accounts in joint names, ownership of houses/real estate can be in joint names. In Japan, a formal seal (Jitsu-In) is used on contracts to authenticate signature. If you do not have one, there is an form you can get from the nearest US Consulate or Embassy that certifies your signature, and in most cases real estate transactions can use this as a substitute. Note that with a house, in Japan property and house itself can be sold separately, although in some cases they are owned by the same seller making everything easy.

A good Real Estate broker is a must. Although there are several who cater to foreigners, if you, your wife a fluent in Japanese then you can use any broker of your choice.

It's not an impossible barrier to buy a home and live in Japan. There are 130,000 American civilians living in Japan, (apart from the 50,000 US servicemen and women and their families).

Thank you very much for that reply. It pretty much substantiates what I've been researching the last couple of days.

I think I have two substantial choices, number one being utilizing one of her family members as a guarantor/co signer.

The second is just keep it simple and pay cash. It would be nice to take advantage of the low interest rates, but I have to pay cash, I will. Thanks again.

@Toekeeo8

I went with cash. With the USD/JY exchange rate being what it is, I felt I was already getting a pretty good deal.

I concur. I think we'll just alleviate all the BS and go right to a cash purchase.

Do you know anything about the driver's license requirements? My being 70 years old is that going to be a problem getting a license there? I have a motorcycle and a car I'd like to ship there but I wouldn't bother if I can't even get licensed.

If you are 70 or older, you will need to sit through a "safe driving" lecture when you renew. But not for your first license. If you have a valid D/L from the states of Hawaii, Washington, Virginia or Maryland you can get a Direct License Conversion by getting a translation of your D/L done by JAF (Japan Automobile Federation), their equivalent of the AAA. If you have a valid D/L from any other US state, you will have to go through the Gaimen Kirikae (foreign license switchover). This entails an extremely simply written test (mostly common sense) and after passing, a driving test done on the premirses. While this is easy in principle, many Americans fail and have to to repeat it multiple times because (1) the steering wheel is on the right side and you drive on the left. This is very disorienting especially making turns at intersections. And (2) the testing instructor will give all instructions in Japanese. Although it's not too complex. It is worth signing up with a driving school as they will let you practice on the test site and you can get use to the left hand driving. It will cost a couple hundred dollars but it is definitely worth it. If you do NOT have a valid US D/L, either go back and get it in your home State and apply for the Gaimen Kirikae, or, apply for a Japanese D/L from scratch which is a major ordeal, classes written test and road test.  Again, a Driving School will be a necessity in preparing you for the tests.

You can bring a car from the US for use in Japan. There are plenty of left hand steering wheel foreign cars in Japan, although they may be tough to pay the toll collector on an expressway. But Japan has different and stringent safety and emission standards, and there will be customs duties and taxes. Also, in Japan when you own a car, you have to have registered place to park it, be it your own property or parking lot rented on a monthly basis. Because of these standards, it is simpler to have a dealer who handles foreign cars take care of the whole thing and get your car Japan road worthy.

In my case I didn't want to bother so I sold my car in the US and bought one in Japan.

I would assume that a Motorcycle would follow pretty much the same guidelines. If you have a Harley, there are plenty of Harlet dealers who could probably help you out as they are very popular in Japan. I've even seen Triumph dealers here.

Thank you very much, very informative.