Moving country can be complicated with a lot of moving parts. Most of which don't justify posts of their own, so here is a little running blog of how the move is going. I'm updating it each month until I land so please check back every now and then!
I have since reformatted this post so that the newest entries are at the top for those who check back for updates. New readers please start at the bottom.
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| An old Phone photo from years ago of a place I can't remember... |
June
11th June
I am here in Japan, and time to wrap up this post. I arrived on the 8th and spent some time with friends in Chiba before heading South to Kumamoto. I'm currently in the process of getting settled in and then my journey proper to Japanification can begin!
4th June
The Cats have finished their 40 hour Journey from Auckland to Kumamoto much to the relief of all of us. This was the single biggest concern I had around our whole move, so it's certainly a weight off of my shoulders. All that remains now is to complete my final cleaning and clear-out of the house before I move into an airport hotel for the following two nights and flying out to Japan on Sunday. Almost there.
The Pet Transport company on the Japan side sent us this rather heartwarming video of our Cats whilst transiting at Haneda Airport:
1st June
I got wind (forgive the pun) of a Typhoon in Japan this week, it makes landfall in Kyushu tomorrow and it will track along the pacific coastline. Wednesday evening, when the cats are due to land in Tokyo coincides when the Typhoon will be sitting on Tokyo. Fantastic. I'm now going to spend the next two days in an anxiety induced stated at the prospect of severe complications to my meticulously laid plans.
What happens if the flight gets cancelled? I may have to re-do all the various checks the cats went through, not to mention I'm due to move out of the house this Friday having finished final cleaning in preparation for sale - something I cannot do when I still have Cats hanging around. I made my plans with an allowance of 1-2 days delay in the Cats being able to leave but it all certainly put a tonne of pressure on my own timeline and stuff I have to do before I can leave.
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| Typhoon Jangmi showing over Tokyo on Wednesday |
May
30th May
The Cats had their 'fit to fly' vet inspections today. Pretty straightforward except for Preston always turns into a psychopath and tries to murder everyone in the room whenever we go to the vets. I took my snow gloves for protection. Luckily they don't need worming or vaccinations for Japan as that just would not have been possible with him today.
Yesterday was also my last day physically at work. I signed my new part time remote contract that goes until the end of the year and will start toward the end of June. I'm technically on leave for the next 3 weeks so I can get settled in after the move, but I'll be keeping my work stuff ticking over. We went out for drinks with the Team last night which is always a good laugh, and my leaving card generously including 25,000 Yen which will be handy - cash is still the most common form of payment in Japan.
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| The Cats testing out the PP30 Carriers that they will spend 2 days traveling in. |
28th May
This is my last week physically at work with another week to go before I depart. I've been spending my evenings relentlessly preparing the house. This has involved deep cleaning every inch and nook and cranny, as well as plastering and sanding getting ready to paint. And there's a lot to paint due to many many years of dings and whatnot to the walls and skirting boards. As it stands it's just the painting to go. In the meantime I will pivot my attention to the Cat's whom have their pre-flight Vet appointment on Saturday followed by MPI export checks on Tuesday before flying Wednesday. I'm hoping to get the painting finished over this weekend at least so maybe just maybe I might get a day or two off over the next week!
25th May
I sorted out my travel south from Narita to Kumamoto. I really dislike the domestic flight we usually take despite it being under 2 hours. It's just a really awkward flight - the seats are super narrow and low and for some reason they pitch forward slightly, so I lean forward for the whole flight in addition to my pale almost-bald head literally being visible for the whole plane given I am always head and shoulders above the normal occupants of this flight. The landings always seem to be a bit sketchy coming into Kumamoto for me too and I dislike flying enough as it is. Anyhoo, with that little rant over I decided that I would take the train all the way South. I'll be staying with friends in Chiba for a few days first, then will board a train from Chiba station to Shinagawa station where I will get onto the Nozomi Shinkansen to Hiroshima, then change to the Sakura Shinkansen to take me to Kumamoto. I booked Green Car (the nicer seats) with an oversized bagged allowance seat. The journey will take almost 8 hours in total and cost $400. I'll definitely write about it later!
21st May
Tomomi and Hinata left for Japan today and I now won't see them for 3 weeks. The house is emptier than ever with just a pair of cats for company for the next 2 weeks before they then leave. In the meantime I'm still working until the end of the month and I have a fair bit of work to do around the house; touching up paint, cleaning, throwing stuff out. I am down to a single fold up mattress to sleep on so although i'm no longer going to be woken up at 6am even on a weekend, I probably won't sleep very comfortably in the meantime.
13th May
My Visa had been issued so I made a hasty trip to the Japanese Consulate in the city to collect my passport. For more info on the Visa application, see my post here. Whilst I was in the city I had to pop by Tomomi's law office to provide some ID and proof of address so that the lawyers can process our property sale whilst we are overseas and unable to sign documents in person.
8th May
It's a busy time now, updates coming thick and fast. Had confirmation the cats are booked on a flight for the 3rd of June, with their export checks all booked too. From there I was able to book my own flight for 7th of June along with 2 nights in a hotel near the airport, just so I have adequate time to work on cleaning and clearing out the house. I've booked 3 weeks leave from work so that I finish work at the end of May, and if I sign a fixed term contract to carry on my work, I would get a little break before starting on the 20th June. Phew. Can relax a little bit now and focus on enjoying the two weeks we have left before Tomomi and our daughter leave.
5th May
Real estate agents are signed up and organized to sell the house once we leave. I'll do a separate post for this as it will be interesting, most agents weren't interested in selling at the price we want, and the ones that were, that we signed with, somehow have supreme confidence that they can get the price. At Auction of all places, where for the last 2 years 66% of properties have been passed over at auction likely due to declining prices in the eyes of buyers but not sellers. But at least it's another thing ticked off the list. We budgeted to keep paying the mortgage for another 6 months so we don't have to be too worried.
3rd May
We finished packing our belongings. We only wanted to take what would be useful or irreplaceable and my target was always a single pallet. It ended up being just half a pallet - everything could fit in the back of our car! Around 140kg all up of mainly clothes and books plus a bunch of random stuff. As I work with a lot of import and export for work, it was easy enough for me to pack the pallet up and wrap securely, then send an email to our freight agent with a packing list and all the details and ask them to sort. We are opting for sea freight to keep costs down though it obviously takes a lot longer than airfreight: 6-8 weeks vs 1 week.
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| Shipment of our belongings |
1st May
Some good progress today - I had my appointment at the Japanese Consulate General to submit my Visa application. I thought I may have to reschedule as I was waiting for the COE to arrive in the post from Japan this week but luckily it arrived yesterday, just in time! In other good news, seems everything with the cats has been smoothed over and they are all but set to travel on the 3rd of June. Once their flight is confirmed and booked next week I can start making my own travel arrangements!
April
28th April
The Cats have thrown a spanner in the works. Well they haven't, but the Import procedures have. When importing Cats into Japan you need to submit an 'Advanced Notification for Import' at least 40 days in advance of travel, and I was told that It could be done well in advance so we did this in December. Turns out it's also only valid for 40 days (which I cannot find any supporting reference to), but either way, it has to be done again and it will be 40 days from when this is re-submitted meaning the cats will likely travel at least 2 weeks later than planned, which in-turn will delay by own departure by a similar time.
25th April
More good news, Tomomi had a meeting with her Boss and will be continuing her current job - she was already full-time work from home, so being in a different country isn't a huge difference.
We aren't messing about now. Tomomi and our daughter have booked their flights for only 4 weeks away. I'm waiting on confirmation of when the Cats will fly, hopefully a week after Tomomi so they have someone at the other end for them, and then I can book my flights for 1-2 weeks after that depending on how much margin for error I need to ensure everyone gets away safely and I can empty and sort out the house.
I've booked an appointment at the Japanese Consulate for the 1st May to apply for my entry Visa, but we are still waiting for my physical COE to turn up as I need it to be able to apply. You can use a digital COE (I didn't get one) or a scan (has to be both sides, I only have 1 side).
21st April
Success! I received my COE today, and it's a 5 year one which from my research is just about unheard of for the initial period, I feared I'd get a 1 year and forever be renewing yearly. 5 years is massive and means we don't have to think about immigration stuff for quite a while once in Japan. Next steps are for Tomomi to book her flights for around a months time (has to give notice for her job) and then we can start arranging everything around that. Exciting times ahead!
10th April
My Mother-In-Law called the immigration office to get an update on the COE application as originally they had said 'after April'. It turns out they can't give updates, it's done when it's done. The quoted time frame is 1-3 months with the official number is at 98 days on average - that average includes immigration offices that are notoriously busy and often take 6+ months so we were hoping that quiet little Kumamoto would be at the faster end. It's only been 6 weeks and I'm getting impatient!
2nd April
Oh wonderful, another global crisis. The timing isn't great for us at all, but at least we are far away from getting bombed and shot at so there is that. I'm having a little panic again due to the fuel crisis and wether we will even be able to travel to Japan - will there be flights available still? Flight prices have skyrocketed and travel insurance doesn't cover circumstances that are due to war, and as evident from the COVID era when Air NZ cancelled lots of flights, they were neither helpful or efficient in giving money back to customers. How we navigate that I am not sure.
Then there's our Cats - their travel is going to cost a considerable amount, probably a lot more than that the $10k I was quoted late last year, and what happens if their flight is cancelled? I don't dare ask the Pet transport company in case the answer is something I don't want to hear. Best to stick my head in the sand and hope this all blows over soon...
So even If I get my COE, as of right now, if the fuel doesn't start flowing again very soon, not only might we be stuck in New Zealand potentially months longer, but that means my 3 month validity period for the COE might lapse and we start the whole process again, and stuck in NZ for even longer. Sigh.
To top it off, instead of interest rates coming down they'll go back up, and the economy is slowing down even more thanks to the war and associated inflation, which means we will have a much harder time getting a decent amount when selling our House. We have decided to not list it until we have vacated and we will just have to be patient. We moved the mortgage to interest-only to reduce the cost and are budgeting to cover those costs for up to 6 months, in the hope the house can sell for at least the lowest of our expectations.
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| A picture of Chelsea to pay my overdue Cat Tax |
March
16th March
The exchange rate peaked at 93/94 JPY to NZD so we exchanged some more money. We keep an eye on the rate and make the most of it when we can - however we still need to keep some savings in New Zealand so we can only move so much at the moment.
We didn't wait idly though. We started in earnest clearing out belongings and furniture that we didn't need, selling them online or giving them away to friends. We committed though - we sold things like our Couch (replaced with some cheap Ikea chairs), our Bed base (mattress is now on the floor), Dressers (clothes that don't fit in wardrobes are in boxes and suitcases) and cupboards (our living room now doesn't have any safe places to put things out of a toddlers reach which is fun). I'm not yet ready to let go of the TV yet, otherwise what would we point our new Ikea chairs at?
Compared to what we had, our house is now minimalist, but in a state whereby we could live fine for a few months comfortably - let's hope it's not much more than 2 months.
9th March
Everything is up in the air until the COE is approved. What if it takes too long, what if it is somehow rejected? Nothing we can do but wait, which is one of my least favourite things to do but I know when something is well and truly out of my hands - never stress about things you cannot control!
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| I took our own Real Estate photos |
February
28th February
I also did my own Real Estate photos for our house. Instead of having photos of an empty house (or worse, AI staging) I made sure we had photos whilst it was still furnished and before we started selling off furniture. I bought the excellent (and cheap) Viltrox 14mm f/4 just for this. The photos were all single exposures with bounced Flash on my Nikon Z5II and they came out OK. Even with tight spaces and limited natural light I never felt the need to do multiple exposures and HDR merging - so many Real estate photos look overdone and fake. Modern cameras have plenty of dynamic range. I ended up shooting everything at 14mm and it was the perfect focal length.
15th February
Panic stations a little bit as I read somewhere that a COE application can sometimes take many months, whereas we were planning around it taking one month - apply in March, receive April and move May/June was the plan. We hurriedly completed all the COE application documents so that my mother-in-law, who was visiting us in NZ for a week, could take back to Japan where she then submitted my application at the Kumamoto immigration office.
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| Auckland Harbour viewed from the Sky Tower |
January
12th January
We started the COE application documents so that everything would be ready for my mother-in-law to take back to Japan when she visits next month.
1st January
It's happening! I can finally say we are 'moving to Japan this year' which means all the waiting and just carrying on with life as normal ends, and we can start planning and actively working on the move. Exciting but also daunting. There's a lot to do and a lot of it has to be done at certain times - I'm a man of action and just want to get things done RIGHT NOW, but alas that is not possible.
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