gurgle
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Posts posted by gurgle
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Originally Posted By: rider69You can quailify for a Visa if you have invested money into Japan.
Don't really want any type of visa that may mean resident taxes, etc. Perhaps when I am older and spend more time there, but not now. -
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Originally Posted By: grillerI guess the answer to the 2nd one is "if the driver has a valid licence and the car is insured for a 3rd person to drive", it will be ok. (?)
Probably, but the obvious in Japan is not always so, fme... -
Some questions that I have. I am sure there are plenty more out there;
Car
- Can a non-resident own a car in Japan ? (I think the answer is "no").
- If not, can a non-resident drive a car owned by a resident and still be covered by their car insurance ?
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Nice piccies guys....look at all the people in Zao - About as busy as Happo back country....!!!
Where do you work Matt ?
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Thanks for the pics and vid Matt..........thinking about next time helps the deskbound get through the day .......
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Any Hakuba pics this morning guys ? I am hearing good things....
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Great pics Matt and good to see you guys are still getting good conditions this late in the season.
Are those the tree runs back in to the Cortina resort, or through the gate and down to Norikura ? Wish I was there......
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Completely off topic....but...
When I sent to Saipan(near Guam) a few years back we met some mainland Chinese that were living there. They were all working in factories making Tee-shirts and stuff like that.
All a bit strange for sure, the reason apparently is so they can put "made in the U.S.A." on the products.
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On the planks I see people riding these days you could have about 1cm "bottomless....(depending on your definition of course........)
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Originally Posted By: tripitakaWell, there you have it. "As long as prices keep going up," so it's effectively a Ponzi scheme
More like a tontine than a ponzi scheme I reckon..... -
Originally Posted By: tripitakaOriginally Posted By: MamabearI really don't understand Trip.... how is the Aussie property market much different from the US Market, the Canadian Market, the UK Market, the NZ Market...and at east a few European markets?
I don't actually think it is that different Mama, particularly when you think of its explosive growth due to a credit bubble.
There are some differences for sure, mostly to do with taxes. The aussie "model" if you like, is to keep buying a bigger and more expensive house as you can afford it and then sell it when you retire and live off all those tax free capital gains. It's a good model from what I can see! As long as prices keep going up like they have. It does not really explain the investment property side of things, but I think that's a bit of a hangover from the first thing, or perhaps it really is tax effective as well (GN ?). The UK is similar, but the US has CGT on your own home, and if I am not mistaken, property tax for just living in it...
Transaction costs in aust are probably quite low too, compared to a lot of places. -
Originally Posted By: Go NativeIn Australia, historically prices have always gone up even if there has been a period of stagnant or negative growth. The next peak has always been more than the previous one.
There is no denying, the price appreciation in real terms in australia since 1955 has been phenomenal (3% real p.a.). It is hard to see that changing any time soon with the immigration and all the other things in status quo, rates, employment, credit, etc.
Originally Posted By: Go Native
People should really understand though that the property market here is no longer the sole domain of the Aussies. As I said earlier most of the recent sales are to SE Asians who still seem to be extremely cashed up. Hanazono and Niseko Village have recently both been sold to large SE Asian companies. Australians had their little dabble in real estate here but now the big boys from Asia are really moving in.
It also looks to me like Niseko is past the point of being a "bubble" and is well on the way to becoming the International Ski resort of Japan.
However, I must point out that neither of the above is a certainty, which I think many people believe it to be. Expect the unexpected. -
Originally Posted By: MamabearBut over time they SHOULD appreciate.
Why ? If there is less demand than supply, prices will not appreciate and probably go down. Australia has had a lot of population growth and recent years, a great economy, historicaly low interest rates and high credit availability. That is why prices have done well in Australia and a lot of those same things have obviously had an impact on Niseko.
If those things were to all reverse, I suspect prices will go down. I doubt prices ever got back to their historical highs (in real terms) in the spice islands, Great Zimbabwe, Tenochitlan, Babylon, Athens or Rome.
Sounds silly doesn't it ? My point is there is no mathematical constant that says prices WILL always appreciate.
Think about this the next time the @rse falls out of the market, which it will.
(MB - this is not a direct dig at you - just at those general sentiments that many hold - prices always go up) -
Originally Posted By: Go NativeNot really, the bulk of the investors over the last 12-24 months have been from SE Asia not Aus.
Really ?? I live in Singapore and have met plenty of people that own places in Niseko. All expats (mostly Aussie) and not one Singaporean. Is it mostly expats buying ? -
It really would depend on whether property prices are about to collapse in Australia, wouldn't it ?
I doubt that is about to happen......
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Honestly it reminds me of Glengarry Glenross.
People I have not spoken to for years ring me up and say "Hey mate you used to live in Japan, right ? I have been shown a great investment opportunity in "Nersiko" in Japan. Some place called "Heraffuu". Whadya think ?"
So far, they have all been right (or lucky ?) though.....
My memories of the place are thigh deep powder and thick aussie accents.....but not as many as thought I would hear.
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Wow, that must have been interesting work, to say the least.
The violent discipline sounds very efficient, even if not particularly "pc".
So unless they come in without a culture of violence, which is unlikely, you don't think much else would work ?
Is it still the way things are run these days IYO ?
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Originally Posted By: JynxxYou know what? I'd rather not have a law against racists. That's right, I mean it because I feel much safer when I seek for service like dentists or lawyers, that I'm getting proper service.
When I first went to Australia in '76, There still was the air of White Australia Policy lingering. I knew what I was getting and where things stood, and can tell people who were "racially sensitive". Now, you never know. People are wearing masks, being politically correct for publicity, and it's illegal to be racist. FkMeDead, how can you put a law against peoples feelings. I'd rather have it in open, so there's an opportunity to talk, inform and educate ...
At least Pauline Hanson did do some service to the community in that respect. In the words of my friends dad, a builder who once got ripped off by a Korean which didn't help his racial sensitivity, took me aside at his BBQ and told me that she's just a ghost in a closet but some people feel the way she did.
I remember an old aboriginal guy on tv during the Hanson days, "I am glad to see that they have all come out of the closet where we can see them." I had a strange similar feeling when I saw all that Cronulla cr@p, my biggest worries about Sydney/Aust were kind of proven to be right.
One more thing, I find I have tolerance and almost expect racism here in Singapore or back in Japan when I lived there, but I have absolutely no tolerance for it from Australians. I, unrealistically perhaps, expect better from my own people. Just an observation. -
Originally Posted By: JAOriginally Posted By: gurgleA couple of things;
The last time I checked Cronulla and Sydney were both in Australia.
But the "cronulla incident" was not, and never would be, related to surfers. Mostly just a mob of drunken yobs from the "westies" who thought it would be a good idea to "have a go" at some people who were different.
You only have to flick through the photos on google to see that there is obviously a mix of yobbos AND surfers involved. It's utter denial to think that locals from Cronulla were not at all involved.
Originally Posted By: JA
Just because some idiots act up when away from home (and they do it here too - take a look at the "schoolies" thing if you want an example) does not mean that we are ALL the same.
I am not for a moment suggesting that we "are ALL the same". I am however suggesting that the numbers are larger than we would all like to think they are - I sincerely hope I am wrong. -
A couple of things;
The last time I checked Cronulla and Sydney were both in Australia. They may have unique problems like gang related violence and not neccessarily racism, but they are still part of Australia. I can't believe the amount of "Cronulla denial" I hear, even from people in Sydney, let alone elsewhere in Australia. The debate on whether the aggression and violence is gang related or racism is an interesting one and I don't really know Sydney well enough anymore to know the answer. I only know how I feel when I am in the surf there and I don't like the feeling. When I see Australian surfer visitors in Bali behaving the same way I don't like that either. Yes, there are plenty of nice people in the water, but there are so many knobs too. Maybe the knobs make a deeper impression on me and maybe the Cronulla thing makes me think worse of the knob surfers than I should.
If anything the Cronulla incident just made me think of how naive we are about our societies. I now think those sort of incidents are possible anywhere, the other cities in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, (surely not Japan, but maybe) pretty much anywhere that I have lived or spent any time. It just takes one group to get p!ssed off enough and they will do anything to the other group. Race, religion, gang, I guess it doesn't matter what the actual differences are. As long as there are different groups of people by whatever definition, if it happened in a suburb of Australia it can happen anywhere.
As far as it all being Sydney and nowhere else. May I remind you of that other embarrassment to Australia and Australians, Pauline Hanson and her followers were NOT from Sydney. (Yes, JWH was...).
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Originally Posted By: MantasOriginally Posted By: gurgle
Aussie surfers are GENERALLY speaking, pretty narrow minded and quite racist.
What experiences are you basing this statement on? Did you spend some time in Cronulla or something?
I've been part of the surfing community for nearly 40 years in Australia, that's surf clubs, board riders clubs ect. and I've never heard such rubbish. Most surfers I've encountered are GENERALLY open minded and well travelled. Guys like Indo and myself married foreign women through our surf wanderings, so have a lot of my mates. Sure there are some red necks in the surfing community but don't tar us all with the same brush.
Mantas - I thought that statement would ruffle some feathers, but I have to stand by it and yes, as you suspect, it was Cronulla that pushed me over the edge. I grew up on the Northern beaches of Sydney, Long Reef to be exact. I have been a surfer all my life. Like you guys I also have a foreign wife and I hope to go back and settle in the same area, but when I see things like the Cronulla riots in the news, I can only (sadly) think that nothing much has REALLY changed back there since my childhood. Yes, there are plenty of open minded surfers and many are well travelled, but I still think most are white, narrow minded, eggheads who don't like foreigners or things foreign and are secretly happy with what went on in Cronulla.
When I was younger surfers and clubies used to fight all the time. It didn't turn into national news or a riot though, I supect because it wasn't racially or culturally motivated.
I honestly hope you are right and I am wrong on this one, but it's going to be hard to convince me. Do you really think Crounlla would have boiled over to the extent that it did if the red-necks were just a small percentage ? That was seriously out of control and I think a strong reflection of real attitudes in Australia towards "outsiders". -
Originally Posted By: JA
Not quite sure what you're saying here. Tonight, I am somewhat affected by alcohol (as most evenings, as it happens, by this time.) I have had a beer after work, a glass of wine with dinner, and an after dinner drink. I do not believe I'm "pissed" by any stretch of the imagination.
To me, pissed is when you lose control of your body (and consequently your brain).
I don't really want to go on about this, but I will. You may not be "pissed" by your definition, but statistical evidence suggests that you are more likely to be violent. So perhaps you need to stretch your imagination a little. I think most Australians struggle to do this when questioning whether the society has major issues with alcohol consumption. Yes, even little bits. I like a drink as much as anyone, but I know what I am doing when I have a drink. I am taking a drug which will effect my judgement, this has been scientifically proven. That is why we are not allowed to drive our cars after only TWO drinks.
Here is a study on alcohol and violence, http://marininstitute.org/alcohol_policy/violence.htm
The "own a place in a Japanese ski resort, but live outside Japan" thread
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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I mean resident taxes, not property taxes. I would presume you only pay the resident taxes if you hold certain visas, although I have no idea if some categories of residency do not require any resident taxes to be paid, for e.g., retirees.
If you only ever enter for holidays, obviously you do not have to pay and resident taxes. All the overseas owners of property that I know enter on holiday visas.