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Buying a home in Japan sounds like a fantasy until you meet the people who actually make it happen.
YukiHomes Presents is a show about Japan... its houses, its regions, and what it really takes for a foreigner to own a piece of it. From the snow country of Hokkaido and Nagano to the cities, coasts, and small towns in between, it's a look at the country through the eyes of the people who help others put down a stake in it.
Every episode goes deep on one thing. Sometimes that's property: what an akiya is and why old Japanese houses sell for the price of a used car, how a foreigner actually buys and renovates a home, which regions are worth it and which are hype. Sometimes it's everything around the houses: the food, the seasons, the onsen towns and ski hills, the design and craft, the culture, and the parts of doing this that are harder than anyone admits.
Hosted by Nick and Derek, co-founders of YukiHomes, and Grant (YukiHomes PR & Media Lead). Along the way you'll meet the builders, guides, shop owners, and buyers who know this country better than any guidebook.
No top-10 travel lists. Just honest conversations about Japan, and what it takes to own a piece of it.
New episodes every other week.
www.yukihomes.com
www.nipponhomes.com
Vee (00:00)
police noticed that the tires
Nick (00:01)
Mm.
Vee (00:01)
were flat. So they stopped
Derek (00:02)
Yeah.
Vee (00:02)
me. So they were just like, where are you going? And I told them like where my area was. And then they literally just looked at me and started laughing in my face.
Derek (00:17)
All right, guys, welcome back to the Yuki Homes Presents podcast. This has to be what episode ten by now? I think we're getting double digits.
Vee (00:25)
Yeah.
Nick (00:25)
Definitely in the double digits. We got a couple throwaways out there.
Derek (00:25)
And we got we have a new
Derek (00:28)
co host here, Vee. We fired Grant 'cause he
Vee (00:31)
Hello
Derek (00:32)
he sucks.
Derek (00:32)
Sorry, Grant. yeah, Vee, introduce yourself, you know, give a little quick background story to the listeners.
Vee (00:38)
Hi guys, my name is Vee
Vee (00:40)
so my background is very similar to Derek's. I actually studied science at university
Vee (00:44)
but I've always loved languages and I'm a bit weird when it comes down to like challenging myself. I always have to do the hardest thing.
Vee (00:52)
So I ended up studying Chinese and not Japanese. I live in Japan now. So I came to Japan with zero Japanese knowledge actually because I ended up choosing Chinese at university. then I had the chance to study in China.
Vee (01:06)
after that experience I had the chance to visit Japan and completely fell in love with everything in Japan. after I graduated, I was working a normal corporate job and I just had this itch. I just had to leave, basically. I just I couldn't do what I was doing anymore. So in hindsight I was probably having a quarter life crisis.
Derek (01:25)
Ha ha.
Vee (01:25)
And then yeah, so I ended up just leaving everything behind in the UK and then coming to Japan. And one of the things that kind of kept me grounded while I was in Japan was my fitness and bodybuilding. So I ended up competing in Japan and then started documenting my journey. Yeah. So I started
Derek (01:38)
Sweet. I didn't even know that.
Nick (01:39)
wow.
Vee (01:41)
documenting. Yeah. that's when I kind of fell in love with social media and then kind of pivoted to more lifestyle content. then I met you guys.
Derek (01:49)
Sweet. That's awesome.
Nick (01:49)
Wow.
Vee (01:50)
Yeah.
Nick (01:51)
And then whereabouts in Japan are you? Or have you
Derek (01:51)
I was gonna say as you were talking sorry.
Nick (01:53)
always been in Chi in Chiba? Have you always been in
Vee (01:54)
Wanna say that again? No, so when I
Vee (01:56)
first came here I was actually located in Nagoya Yeah, so I was
Nick (01:59)
All right.
Vee (02:00)
working there as a teacher and then eventually moved to Chiba.
Nick (02:03)
The chicken wings there are unreal. Shout out Mr. Ishida
Vee (02:05)
Yeah.
Derek (02:06)
After hearing you talk, I was gonna say we should have did the first episode
Vee (02:08)
Mm.
Derek (02:09)
with you, like, you know, a backstory 'cause your story I think would resonate with a lot of listeners because a lot of wanna move to Japan and you you did it, you know. But we'll do that for another episode 'cause we kinda have a a different one planned.
Vee (02:14)
That's true. Yeah, yeah.
Nick (02:16)
Yeah, a lot of corporate grinders. What does it take type of thing?
Vee (02:20)
That could be a future future episode.
Vee (02:22)
Yeah.
Nick (02:22)
Yeah. I mean, this kind
Derek (02:22)
for sure.
Nick (02:23)
of works or works too because starting a business in Japan as a foreigner is like right up that alley. I mean, that's basically what you did.
Vee (02:27)
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Vee (02:30)
Yeah.
Nick (02:30)
Cool. I mean
Derek (02:31)
Can I say something funny,
Derek (02:32)
Vee, that every every time you talk
Vee (02:33)
Of course.
Derek (02:33)
every time you talk, I think of Skepta.
Vee (02:36)
Skepso. Why skepso? Just because it's British?
Nick (02:37)
Who's that?
Derek (02:38)
'cause the British accent. Cause that's like my only main connection with England is like listening to Skepta. So every time you talk I'm just I'm think I'm thinking about like the ASAP Rocky Skepta song.
Vee (02:45)
Skepta
Vee (02:49)
Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. I
Vee (02:51)
feel like I don't sound like Skepta though.
Derek (02:53)
No, not at all. But just like, you know, the accent.
Nick (02:56)
I feel I'm feeling kinda ugly.
Vee (02:56)
so today's topic
Nick (02:58)
got a bunch of pimples on my chin.
Vee (02:59)
Why?
Vee (02:59)
How'd you get it? From shaving?
Derek (03:00)
Which
Nick (03:00)
My girl my
Nick (03:00)
girlfriend well, I don't know. My girlfriend convinced me to do a face mask and literally I woke up the next morning and I'm just like nasty. Yeah, pretty pissed.
Vee (03:07)
no.
Derek (03:08)
Well I can't
Derek (03:08)
I can't see it. You look great.
Nick (03:10)
If you if yeah,
Vee (03:10)
Yeah, I can't see it
Vee (03:11)
either.
Nick (03:11)
most
Nick (03:11)
pe most people aren't on YouTube, so that's good.
Derek (03:13)
Yeah, that's true. They won't be looking at us.
Vee (03:15)
What kind
Vee (03:15)
of face mask was it?
Nick (03:16)
I have no idea. Some kind of mud dirt mud face mask.
Vee (03:20)
Fair enough. I remember when I was younger. yeah.
Derek (03:21)
Vee just made a video about so about
Derek (03:23)
about face Japanese like right?
Vee (03:24)
Different products.
Vee (03:26)
Yeah, you could check it out.
Nick (03:26)
Yeah. I should've used that. I think it was La
Nick (03:29)
Roche Pose, so
Derek (03:31)
Is that good stuff, Vee? That's
Nick (03:31)
I don't know.
Derek (03:32)
like fancy stuff, but is it good stuff?
Vee (03:34)
It is
Vee (03:34)
fancy stuff. It
Vee (03:37)
Yeah, I
Derek (03:37)
So it's
Vee (03:37)
would say so.
Vee (03:38)
depends on the products. I feel like the sunscreens are really good. But
Derek (03:41)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (03:41)
other products I have I've I've never tried before, so I'm not I have no idea.
Nick (03:45)
The history is pretty cool of like La Roche Pose and that whole area. It's about like a stream of water that people would use. And I think they like took claim to it. So it's some I don't I don't really know. I'm probably speaking completely wrong, but I met some
Vee (03:58)
Yeah.
Nick (03:58)
lady in a Sephora because I was buying some for my girlfriend. And she gave me this whole backstory about La Roche Pose and there's some other brand and they're actually locations where
Vee (04:08)
Wow.
Nick (04:08)
There's a bunch of like pure water or something like that, but that might be a tangent. Might be fake, honestly. She could have just been lying to
Derek (04:08)
Wow. Sounds fake. I don't know it. I have no idea.
Vee (04:15)
Selling your dreams, like this amazing water. Yeah.
Nick (04:18)
Yeah.
Nick (04:18)
And look at me now. Disgusting. Hiding
Nick (04:20)
behind the internet.
Derek (04:20)
You know you know
Derek (04:21)
what I've been doing for skincare? I don't I don't know it's real is like the peptides. I don't inject myself with peptides, but there's like a peptide,
Vee (04:27)
okay, okay.
Derek (04:28)
it's like copper peptide, and apparently it's
Nick (04:30)
yeah, like chalk.
Vee (04:30)
Mm.
Derek (04:31)
really good for your skin. So I've been I have no idea if it's doing anything, but I put it on my face every day for like a month. I think my skin looks better.
Vee (04:37)
I've heard peptides are good.
Vee (04:38)
Yeah, I've I've heard peptides are good. So I think you're doing something right.
Derek (04:41)
Skincare's so tough 'cause like it's so hard to notice the the actual differences, you know?
Vee (04:45)
That's true. I feel like hook.
Derek (04:46)
And I'm getting older by the
Nick (04:47)
Two biology
Derek (04:47)
day,
Nick (04:47)
students.
Derek (04:48)
I'm fighting time.
Vee (04:49)
When I was younger I used
Nick (04:49)
Father Tom.
Vee (04:50)
to do like the ten step Korean skincare routine, but now I do not have the time or the energy to be doing that. I literally just put in cream and sunscreen, that's it. Bare minimum.
Derek (04:59)
Yeah.
Derek (04:59)
Yeah.
Vee (05:00)
Yeah,
Vee (05:00)
I feel like that's all you need. Peptides
Derek (05:02)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (05:02)
are good though, I've heard they're pretty good as an addition.
Derek (05:05)
Nick's shooting him up his butt. Not up his butt, in his butt. I didn't mean to say that.
Nick (05:08)
Yeah. I
Vee (05:09)
like the actual
Vee (05:10)
peptide peptides?
Nick (05:11)
yeah. I actually I mean I could divulge this information. I
Nick (05:15)
was on like it's called BPC one five seven and TB five hundred and I swear like s my s I have like a couple skin tags and they're like also
Nick (05:23)
growing faster, but it was supposed to like regrow cartilage in my hip. I have like zero percent cartilage in my hip and
Nick (05:28)
I tore my labrum.
Nick (05:29)
So like carrying a pack actually is like one of the things that really hurts my lower back. And
Vee (05:33)
Mm.
Nick (05:34)
I've I'm like definitely better. I don't know. It's it's been like a three year injury recovery journey, but I do think it's worked. But I was putting needles
Vee (05:41)
Yeah.
Nick (05:41)
in my butt literally every day for six weeks. I finished now, but yeah, pretty scary. I'm not a doctor.
Derek (05:46)
Ha ha.
Vee (05:47)
I don't know how like easily available
Vee (05:50)
peptides are in Japan actually. But I've been curious to use them for like recovery.
Derek (05:52)
I would think hard, right?
Vee (05:54)
Yeah, they're very strict with a lot of things here.
Derek (05:57)
Yeah.
Vee (05:58)
And like with my bodybuilding.
Derek (05:58)
All our peptides come from China.
Vee (05:59)
for real?
Derek (06:00)
Yeah, so they're like made in China and then compounded in America or something. Cause none of are allowed to be
Vee (06:05)
Well
Derek (06:05)
made in America.
Derek (06:06)
some I don't know, there's some there's
Derek (06:08)
stuff changing about it. I don't know.
Vee (06:09)
Yeah.
Derek (06:09)
It's
Derek (06:10)
it seems to be changing by the day, this peptide stuff.
Vee (06:13)
I'm scared to use anything in Japan because like they're so strict with their rules and
Nick (06:17)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (06:18)
they will come for you. Especially if you're
Derek (06:19)
For real, I feel you.
Nick (06:20)
Yeah.
Vee (06:21)
a foreigner, they will come for you. I just try
Vee (06:24)
not to do anything here. Staying pure as much as I can.
Derek (06:26)
It's funny, our one
Nick (06:27)
Probably a good idea.
Derek (06:28)
of our coworkers, we were anime NYC last weekend and one of our
Vee (06:31)
Mm.
Derek (06:32)
we flew in one of our coworkers, she lives in Tokyo, and she would not jaywalk.
Vee (06:35)
Mm, mm.
Derek (06:37)
And we're like, we gotta go, we're gonna be late. She's like, I'm not doing it, I'm not
Vee (06:39)
Ja
Derek (06:40)
getting I'm not getting arrested. I'm like, this is New York, no one cares. And we had to like force her across
Vee (06:43)
It gets so inbuilt into you.
Derek (06:45)
the street. It was funny.
Vee (06:46)
To be fair, I've just existed walking on the streets here and I've been stopped by police about three times now.
Derek (06:52)
Wow.
Vee (06:53)
Yeah. So
Derek (06:53)
For what? Just
Vee (06:54)
the f
Vee (06:55)
I literally just walking down the streets and then they'll like
Derek (06:57)
Wow.
Vee (06:58)
ride past in the car and then they'll just be like, there's a foreigner there and then they'll stop and then they'll ask you for ID.
Derek (07:04)
Wow.
Vee (07:04)
they'll
Nick (07:05)
wow.
Vee (07:05)
they'll just ask you like, what what are you doing?
Vee (07:07)
Where are you going? And I'm just like, yeah, I'm just going to like the town or what this was when I was living in Nagoya, it's never happened in Chiba,
Vee (07:13)
when I was in Nagoya, it happened quite frequently. So they're just like, I'm just going into town. They're like, okay, what do you do? And then while I'm like scavenging my bag for my ID and like, I swear I'm here legally.
Derek (07:23)
Ha ha ha.
Nick (07:24)
Wow.
Vee (07:24)
Yeah. But
Nick (07:25)
pretty wild.
Vee (07:26)
the the first time it
Derek (07:26)
Did they seem nice?
Vee (07:27)
happened was my fault. The
Derek (07:29)
Was it more just like them trying to be nice,
Vee (07:30)
The first
Derek (07:31)
you think, or just like actually trying to press you?
Vee (07:33)
The first two were nice ish. The
Derek (07:36)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (07:36)
third one was kind of I think he just wanted something to do.
Vee (07:40)
So the first one was kind of my fault.
Vee (07:42)
So when I first came to wanted a bike.
Vee (07:45)
I looked on Facebook market and I found a bike that was like somewhat cheap, but I wasn't familiar with the area yet. So I didn't realise that the place that I wanted to get my bike at was like an hour away. So
Vee (07:55)
I literally came straight from work. It was like ten, eleven PM, straight from work to that place. I was like, Okay, the time's getting a bit late now and there was no trains and I don't want to take my bike on the train.
Vee (08:06)
So I was like, I have a new bag, let me just ride home, which took about two hours. My phone was like
Derek (08:10)
my god.
Vee (08:10)
on 3%. So this was when I had zero Japanese at the time as well. I didn't realize that the back of the tire of my bike was flat. So as I was riding home,
Vee (08:19)
police noticed that the tires
Nick (08:21)
Mm.
Vee (08:21)
were flat. So they stopped
Derek (08:22)
Yeah.
Vee (08:22)
me. So they were just like, where are you going? And I told them like where my area was. And then they literally just looked at me and started laughing in my face.
Vee (08:29)
And they were like,
Derek (08:30)
funny.
Nick (08:30)
Wow,
Nick (08:30)
you had a far way to go?
Vee (08:30)
but that's like
Vee (08:31)
Two hours away and I'm like,
Vee (08:33)
And they're like, you
Vee (08:34)
know what? Yeah, fine, just sort out your attire and go. I
Derek (08:38)
Wow. They didn't even give you a pump or nothing.
Vee (08:38)
I think they just felt so bad for
Nick (08:39)
That's awesome.
Vee (08:40)
nothing. They just felt bad and they were like, you what, just go.
Derek (08:43)
That's crazy.
Vee (08:44)
So that was my first interaction. The second one, kind of my fault because I was walking at night at like 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. so at the time my gym was about
Vee (08:53)
45 minutes away from my house and I always thought, okay, let me just get my cardio in by walking to the gym.
Derek (08:58)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (08:58)
And I wasn't going throughout the time. I just wanted to go to the gym at like 1 a.m., 2 a.m. because I can and I couldn't do that back
Nick (09:03)
Well
Vee (09:03)
in the UK. And then I think they might have thought I was like a night walker or something. So they So they were just like, Okay, let me just
Nick (09:09)
I mean that's reasonable.
Vee (09:10)
check. Yeah, yeah. So the second time was kind of my fault. And then the third time was literally I walked five minutes from my house. It was broad daylight and they just stopped me for some reason.
Derek (09:19)
You can work out at one. When I work out at one, I'm like liar.
Vee (09:22)
Yeah.
Derek (09:23)
I can't sleep.
Vee (09:23)
Really?
Derek (09:24)
Yeah, I gotta do early morning workouts.
Vee (09:26)
no I I can literally work out any time and conk out. Yeah.
Nick (09:29)
When I was younger I used to not be able to sleep and I'd go outside and like run sprints and then get back inside.
Vee (09:34)
Seriously?
Nick (09:35)
I don't know, it was something I did probably fifteen to twenty times.
Derek (09:39)
I couldn't sleep. I ran five miles. I was sleeping at Hank's house.
Nick (09:42)
That's crazy.
Vee (09:42)
What?
Derek (09:44)
I ran five miles at 2 a.m. And I run a lot. So like five miles wasn't like a lot crazy. But I
Vee (09:49)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Derek (09:50)
was like fuck it. I can't sleep.
Vee (09:52)
You gotta get it done. No excuse.
Derek (09:53)
well let's dive into the episode.
Vee (09:55)
wanted to talk about starting a business in Japan and specifically as a foreigner. imagine a foreigner visiting Japan or someone like me who's been living here for a while and I've come across your swanky new
Vee (10:07)
cafe in Otaru and I noticed that there's a co-working space go up there, decide to
Vee (10:12)
Finally start working on my lifelong dream and then I realize I actually want to open a business in Japan. What advice would you give me? Where would I start?
Nick (10:20)
All right, where would you start? That is very open-ended, but I would probably say from our experience at least, Japan is a lot more, and this is a saying that they say, like
Nick (10:31)
the hammer hits the nail that's sticking out. So I do think having your ducks in a row before you just start going crazy and selling whatever it is that you want to sell is pretty important.
Nick (10:41)
for example, like what Derek and I did to start Yuki Homes with the Reddit post that went viral, and basically within two weeks we were taking on paying clients. Probably shouldn't or probably wouldn't typically happen in Japan. And,
Vee (10:54)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (10:54)
you know, from talking with lawyers and accountants and scriveners, it does feel like as long as you're trying your best to do the right thing, at least in the early stages, that's what's pretty important.
Nick (11:05)
But obviously we're at the point now where we do need to like tighten things up. But if we were just gonna say starting from have no business and I want to do X, Y, or Z, like I want to help consult with whoever chip companies in Japan on American things if you're coming from America. I do think like a Godo Kaisha is probably important. They're relatively cheap. It's like an LLC. I would say that's like number one. number two.
Nick (11:25)
I don't know, it's very like business specific. I guess I'm kinda like lost for words, but do you think,
Derek (11:29)
Yeah.
Nick (11:29)
Derek?
Derek (11:30)
I think a few different out routes people could take is if especially if they're foreigners, and this is in every country in the world, me and Nick have spoken to them. They're called Jetro, G-E-T-R-O, and they're a
Nick (11:39)
yeah. That's a good idea.
Derek (11:40)
government-funded nonprofit that w is helping people bring business to Japan. There's actually an office in New York City. Me and Nick have met them. They told us they're like in most countries across the world, and they'll do a free
Nick (11:51)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (11:52)
consultation if they like your business idea.
Derek (11:54)
They can give you basically what Nick said, advice to do everything, to set up a GK. can give you a Scrivener, accountants.
Nick (11:59)
lawyer.
Derek (12:00)
So they can really like get you set up to start a business. So I think Jetro is really cool, specifically for foreigners. I think general business advice, was gonna say the opposite of what Nick said, which is funny. I was gonna say just don't think too much and just do it.
Derek (12:13)
I get crippled.
Derek (12:14)
And I'm like, let's just do it and obviously do it legally, of course, but I think just send it mostly.
Vee (12:20)
Yeah,
Nick (12:20)
hard
Nick (12:20)
to start a business
Vee (12:20)
yeah.
Nick (12:21)
when all you do is think. Like analysis paralysis is totally a thing. I literally was talking to one of our subcontracted employees yesterday who's trying to grow their
Vee (12:30)
Mm.
Nick (12:30)
business. And it just sounded like they were thinking about how they were going to hire, how they were going to train. Did they need to have documents in place and like standard operating procedures and all these things, sure, are great once your business is actually a business, but
Nick (12:44)
They're not really important typically for taking like the next step. And I really think I guess like taking country or where you are out of it, figure out what one step forward looks like and do that.
Derek (12:55)
For sure. You
Vee (12:56)
Yeah.
Nick (12:56)
then, you know, eventu Go ahead.
Derek (12:56)
know, it's like a prime example. me and Nick
Derek (12:58)
are building this coffee shop, and this is a perfect example. Me and Nick are taking it literally step by step and not thinking in too
Derek (13:05)
far into the future at all. And we have we found someone who is awesome, who like is likely gonna run our shop for us. They're gonna,
Derek (13:12)
you know, get an ownership stake as it grows.
Derek (13:14)
like he sent us a message of like a million things he wants to do. And
Nick (13:18)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (13:19)
I was like, those all sound awesome. But like step one, let's just make the best coffee we can make. And then we could talk about like selling merch. And then we could talk about having DJ events. And then we could talk about all these other things. But like step one, let's just sell the best coffee possible and then go from
Vee (13:33)
Yeah, yeah.
Derek (13:34)
there, you know?
Vee (13:35)
So basically just do it and just take it one step at a time.
Nick (13:38)
Yeah, I really do think that's the biggest problem in any country anywhere.
Nick (13:43)
And like maybe even because people are a little bit scared of starting a business or doing business in Japan, it's even harder or even more paralyzing to take that first step. But without step one, you're never gonna even get to step ten. And maybe step four is nail down all the legality and legal stuff. But there's still a step one before that. So
Nick (14:01)
I don't know, I I really struggle when I'm talking to people and it sounds like they have all these good ideas and
Nick (14:06)
they just haven't even taken the first step, which it it's such a simple thing to say, but it's so hard to do in practice.
Vee (14:12)
Out of curiosity,
Derek (14:13)
For sure.
Vee (14:14)
since we're setting up the coffee shop, what has been more challenging to set up the coffee shop or Yuki Homes? Cause it's very different.
Nick (14:21)
Yuki Homes,
Nick (14:22)
they're very, very different. Yuki Homes is an American entity. So we're based in the US.
Vee (14:26)
Yeah
Nick (14:27)
A lot of US laws apply to us. We basically operate as a consultant research group. we do like different analysis on locations and we help people find properties. So we recently opened a GK or a Gotokaisha in Japan to help us acquire licensing, do things like
Nick (14:44)
hire employees, pay contractors in country, pay taxes in country for things like generating revenue on rental properties. And there are like some weird various licenses that you need to run Mimpaku versus Ryokon. So that's been like a that's been definitely a a bear, but for us, the company started as a, I think the easiest way to describe it is like a research company for clients who want to buy overseas, specifically in Japan.
Nick (15:08)
So we, I think, are a little bit lucky in that we did generate some revenue before we had to jump into the Japanese law stuff. but as far as the coffee shop, it feels easy to me personally because Derek's doing a lot of the jumping in.
Vee (15:22)
Yeah.
Nick (15:22)
but really it has been there's this house. It's what was it, 18,000 USD.
Derek (15:27)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (15:27)
Let's do it. I said.
Nick (15:29)
Thumbs up. And then
Derek (15:29)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (15:30)
it was, well, we have this great interior designer. don't really know what I want it to look like. Maybe we should just give her full creative control. That is harder than it sounds, but you know, physically easy.
Nick (15:40)
we already had a contractor in place. He's already gutted the place. He works really fast, really well. So I mean, I don't know. I think we're just kind of giving away some control because we kind of have to.
Nick (15:50)
Which maybe makes
Vee (15:50)
Yeah.
Nick (15:51)
it a little bit easier. But if it was the first thing we were doing, I would be a struggling a lot more, I'm sure.
Derek (15:56)
Yeah, I agree with you. Even doing more of the coffee shop stuff, I think the other business is way more challenging and complicated. Like
Vee (16:02)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (16:02)
American
Derek (16:03)
law, Japanese law, all the moving
Vee (16:04)
Yeah.
Derek (16:05)
parts of growing a business and like fitting people in where they need to fit in and managing like our workload and everything that keeps coming. Like they're all great things because as we grow we're having more and more opportunities, but it's figuring out what to do with all those opportunities if we even have the time to do them.
Derek (16:19)
But I think I going back to like starting a business too, I think one thing me and Nick are really good at that I think help has helped us grow is like we really trust people we give people a lot of trust and put a lot of faith in people. And like for the
Vee (16:30)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Derek (16:32)
most part, of course, we've been burned by a few people, but that doesn't change our motto going forward. I think when you trust people and give them the ability to like work and do what they want to do and fulfill their role, people do a good job. And then
Derek (16:44)
You're not stressing about it and you're not trying to micromanage everything. So I think that's been a big part
Vee (16:48)
Yeah, that's true.
Derek (16:49)
of our success. And the coffee shop too. The guy who we were like giving full reins to run the shop, he was like in the call with us yesterday and he's like, You guys are insane. He's like, You're just you guys
Nick (16:57)
Yeah.
Vee (16:58)
Wow.
Derek (16:58)
just met me on a phone call and you're just gonna like give me full ability to run your shop. And like we do have
Nick (17:03)
Yeah.
Derek (17:03)
a past relationship with him. He's helped us with other stuff. So it's not like we just met this person, he's a stranger.
Vee (17:08)
It's not like completely new.
Derek (17:09)
But like it is relatively a new relationship, two months,
Nick (17:11)
Two or less.
Derek (17:12)
and he's like, You guys really
Vee (17:13)
Wow.
Derek (17:14)
are just gonna let me do this. And we're like, Yeah, if he fails, he fails, and then we would move on, but like
Vee (17:17)
You guys are insane.
Vee (17:18)
How did you meet this guy?
Nick (17:19)
you just got a cold DM, right?
Derek (17:20)
Yeah, so he DM'd me and
Vee (17:22)
for real?
Derek (17:22)
yeah, he DM'd me like two months ago. he lives in Sapporo, he's a snowboarder, he's been following
Derek (17:27)
us and he's like, Hey, like I see your guys' business and I have a really good friend who's a real estate agent. Would you guys want to like hop on a call and like maybe work together with some of your clients? So I called him on Instagram five minutes after that message. I was like, Hey, I'm available now.
Vee (17:39)
Wow.
Derek (17:40)
you want to just chat? I was in my garden like gardening. So we talked and he was like really cool. And we did a
Derek (17:46)
We gave him a client, we worked really well together. And then when I posted the coffee shop thing, he's like,
Vee (17:50)
Mm.
Derek (17:51)
I lived in San Sebastian for eight years and I went to culinary school. I've worked in a Michelin star restaurant. I would love to take this opportunity. And
Nick (17:58)
Pretty cool.
Derek (17:59)
I'm like, Okay, that sounds I'm
Vee (18:00)
he's literally perfect
Derek (18:01)
like, that sounds sick. Let's
Nick (18:01)
Literally. have
Derek (18:03)
let's get on a call. And then we got on a call and like it was awesome. And he's pumped, we're pumped, and we're moving forward.
Vee (18:09)
That's awesome. I really want to visit it once it's ready.
Derek (18:12)
Yeah, I'm so excited for it.
Vee (18:13)
Take a video
Vee (18:13)
of it.
Vee (18:14)
Hey,
Nick (18:14)
We're we're hoping w
Nick (18:15)
December. Yeah, December's like the
Vee (18:15)
come guys, come. December.
Nick (18:18)
the soft opening. I think we'll just have like coffee
Vee (18:21)
Okay.
Nick (18:22)
and I mean that's we're just throwing that out there. And he also jaw dropped when we told him that. So we'll see.
Vee (18:27)
Is there still a lot to do or is it almost done? Everything?
Derek (18:29)
Everything.
Nick (18:30)
The
Derek (18:30)
Everything.
Nick (18:30)
only thing
Nick (18:31)
that's happened is all the walls that we wanted to tear out are torn out.
Derek (18:34)
That's it.
Nick (18:35)
So it's just a mess.
Vee (18:36)
December, how many months is that? What is it now? Coming up September, October,
Nick (18:38)
Four, five.
Vee (18:39)
November. Four month Okay, that's possible.
Derek (18:41)
Our guy moves quick though. Suzuki's he's a beast.
Nick (18:44)
Yeah.
Derek (18:44)
So
Vee (18:44)
Okay, I'm excited.
Nick (18:45)
Again, we're putting a lot
Nick (18:46)
of faith and trust into people.
Vee (18:48)
What has been the most confusing or frustrating Japanese bureaucracy you've had to deal with with setting up Yuki homes or even the cafe?
Derek (18:56)
Yeah, I guess the the lack of clear defined rules is for me the biggest frustrating
Vee (19:00)
Mm.
Derek (19:01)
thing. We have talked to numerous scriveners, lawyers. I have a new lawyer that I'm talking to who's a friend of a friend who's in Japan and we're just trying to get so many opinions because it seems that what we're doing is maybe a little new and they're not really sure of what is allowed. Like we're really making sure
Derek (19:18)
Everything we're doing is okay. We're getting as many opinions as possible. And it doesn't seem
Vee (19:21)
Mm.
Derek (19:21)
like there is a black and white answer. And that there is some
Vee (19:24)
Yeah.
Derek (19:25)
like, this hasn't been really done before. Like, you know what's
Nick (19:27)
Discretion.
Derek (19:28)
a great example is social media, right? So
Vee (19:29)
Mm. Mm.
Derek (19:31)
filming social media on a tourist visa is kind of okay, but is it technically okay? The government is still like debating these things. Is is your YouTube
Vee (19:39)
Mm.
Derek (19:39)
channel monetized?
Derek (19:40)
Is it not monetized? That could be a key difference. No one's ever gotten trouble for filming social media on a tourist visa, but it's something that like has be is being discussed to understand what the right way to go forward with it is. Because if you're filming a movie in Japan, you need to get a working visa. So like
Nick (19:55)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (19:55)
is YouTube different and it's just so nuanced and it's stresses me out. So I'm trying to figure everything out,
Nick (20:00)
Yeah.
Vee (20:01)
Yeah.
Derek (20:01)
but it's tough to, you know, that's been the tar the most confusing part.
Nick (20:03)
And I mean, the
Nick (20:05)
reason I think that they would want to put something like that into law too is just so that you can pay taxes on work that's being done in Japan, which is completely
Derek (20:12)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (20:12)
Mm.
Nick (20:12)
understandable. And, you know, we're going l lengths to make sure anything we do in Japan, money we make in Japan is being subject to Japanese taxes. So if you have a business and you are already in Japan, starting a business in Japan, this would probably a lot less of a worry.
Nick (20:27)
We don't want to be paying US taxes and Japanese taxes because they are reciprocal.
Vee (20:31)
Yeah.
Nick (20:32)
So things that we do have to pay tax on in Japan, we can do that. But then we would bring that back to our US accountant where we would actually deduct the amount that we paid Japan and then we would pay the rest to to the US. So if if those percentages were different. I'm getting kind of like in the weeds with that, but that's I think why it's so stressful, not to mention like we just want to make sure things that we're doing are legal and okay.
Vee (20:52)
Yeah.
Derek (20:53)
Mm. And something you mentioned too about if you're in Japan, you wouldn't have to worry about this is true to an extent. So like we hired one of our people full time now under our GK in Japan. And it was important, our scrivener said that she is doing rel work related to the visa she got accepted to Japan for. So that
Vee (21:09)
yeah, yeah.
Derek (21:10)
so that is something they do care about a lot. Like that you are staying in your lane, essentially, your visa
Nick (21:13)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Derek (21:15)
lane. you know.
Vee (21:15)
Yeah.
Nick (21:16)
gonna I was gonna say there's a startup visa too. And I think that's where someone should probably truly start if they wanted to live
Vee (21:22)
Yeah.
Nick (21:23)
in Japan and start a company. And and like this Jetro program, it's very clear
Vee (21:27)
Mm.
Nick (21:27)
all over the world that the Japanese government is investing in foreign businesses investing in Japan. Their
Derek (21:33)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (21:34)
main goal is to have any accepted business into the Jetro program to open up an office in Japan. So
Nick (21:40)
Just the fact that like that exists and it's really kind of everywhere. There's another one in LA that's the closest one to me, is a good sign. And, you know, they definitely are looking for new businesses and entrepreneurship in Japan. And the discretionary legal understanding, I think, is what does seem to scare people, you know.
Vee (21:57)
Yeah.
Derek (21:58)
Vee what's
Derek (21:58)
what's your experience? Like what visa are you on and what's your experience getting to Japan on a visa and all that stuff?
Vee (22:02)
Yeah, yeah.
Vee (22:03)
I am here on a humanities visa, so it's based on my education basically, so having like a degree and things like that.
Vee (22:10)
I still have to work within certain boundaries. of course like teaching and things like that. But if you do end up doing something else that's outside your visa, you
Vee (22:19)
first have to tell your company that you're working for that
Nick (22:21)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (22:22)
you're gonna try and do other work and if they are
Vee (22:24)
agreement with you doing that then you can proceed. But
Derek (22:26)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (22:27)
I think you also have to tell government basically that you're planning to do other work. not sure exactly if you need to apply for like a different visa or
Vee (22:35)
get like a certain you're you're allowed to basically do this job.
Derek (22:38)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (22:38)
But they
Vee (22:39)
are very strict on like the kind of things that you do here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Nick (22:41)
Wow. So like side hustling is sort of illegal.
Derek (22:45)
Mm. Well.
Vee (22:45)
Yeah, basically. So as long as if you're side
Nick (22:46)
Wow, that's tough.
Vee (22:47)
hustling and it's within your, you know, visas categories, then it's okay. But if you're, for
Nick (22:51)
Visa, right. Right.
Derek (22:51)
Umbrella, yeah.
Vee (22:54)
example, you're a teacher and you're trying start a new business doing whatever, then you have to tell the government, I'm starting a business and you have to do
Derek (23:00)
Mm.
Vee (23:00)
the process of actually
Nick (23:02)
Wow.
Vee (23:02)
starting a business. Yeah.
Derek (23:03)
Okay.
Derek (23:04)
How hard was it for you to get
Nick (23:04)
I mean that makes it harder.
Vee (23:04)
And I think
Derek (23:05)
humanitarian visa or humanitarian visa?
Vee (23:07)
The humanitarian visa is actually pretty easy to get. So I think as long as you meet certain criteria like you have X degree. I think any degree is fine as long as it's in a foreign country, I believe.
Derek (23:18)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (23:19)
I think it's of this year, July, they've changed the rules a little bit. So the cost of applying for a visa has just skyrocketed.
Derek (23:27)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (23:27)
So for example,
Nick (23:28)
Yeah.
Vee (23:29)
getting a permanent residency, it used to be like ten thousand yen maybe?
Vee (23:33)
something along
Derek (23:33)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (23:34)
that. But now it's gone up to like a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand.
Derek (23:37)
Wow.
Vee (23:37)
And
Vee (23:37)
then even for my visa
Nick (23:38)
Wow, twenty times?
Vee (23:39)
went,
Vee (23:39)
yeah, it's crazy.
Vee (23:41)
And even for my visa, it used to cost me about six thousand every year to renew. but
Nick (23:46)
Yeah.
Vee (23:47)
they changed the rules. So before it used to be maximum three years and now they change it to three to five, so it's increased now. And that's also increased to like sixty five, seventy thousand yen.
Derek (23:56)
Wow, that's a big
Nick (23:56)
Whoa.
Derek (23:57)
jump.
Vee (23:57)
Yeah.
Vee (23:58)
It's a big jump.
Nick (23:58)
Ten to twenty times
Derek (23:58)
But it seemed like it
Derek (23:59)
was it
Nick (23:59)
price increase.
Derek (24:00)
seemed like it was almost too cheap before, right?
Nick (24:02)
Yeah.
Derek (24:03)
Six thousand yen is like what, thirty bucks or something?
Vee (24:03)
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, six thousand yen.
Vee (24:05)
So I think they're just doing that to
Derek (24:06)
That seems
Vee (24:07)
help with the economy, I'm assuming.
Derek (24:09)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (24:09)
It's funny
Nick (24:09)
too. I mean, who knows when that law was put into place, but six thousand yen could have been a lot more money. Like in the nineties, who I don't know.
Vee (24:15)
That's true. Yeah.
Derek (24:16)
Yeah.
Derek (24:17)
You're right.
Vee (24:17)
That's true. think they've noticed that there's a difference between Japan and other countries. So they're trying to balance it out.
Derek (24:23)
Yeah.
Nick (24:23)
Yeah,
Vee (24:23)
So even
Nick (24:23)
that's fair.
Vee (24:24)
people visiting as a tourist, I think they've also increased the price to enter. So I think
Vee (24:28)
it's everyone in general coming to Japan. Yeah, yeah.
Nick (24:29)
No, sure.
Derek (24:29)
They're they're coming straight after
Derek (24:31)
you, Vee.
Vee (24:31)
They're coming for me.
Derek (24:32)
Our town, our town did the
Vee (24:32)
They don't want me.
Derek (24:34)
same thing this April.
Vee (24:35)
oh for real?
Derek (24:36)
yeah, so all of Hokkaido now has a hundred yen per night tourist tax,
Nick (24:40)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Derek (24:40)
and then Otaru has a 200 yen per night tourist tax. So every tourist who comes there to our town will have to collect that as the Airbnb owners.
Nick (24:49)
Mm hmm. Managers.
Derek (24:49)
So 300 per night per guest.
Vee (24:50)
Wow.
Nick (24:52)
Yeah.
Derek (24:52)
And
Derek (24:52)
which is honestly it's a fair amount. Like it's not a lot. It'll bring s
Vee (24:55)
it's not lot.
Derek (24:56)
revenue to the city and the city like earmarked
Vee (24:58)
Mm.
Derek (24:59)
it for infrastructure so they can reinvest and like make the city better, you know?
Nick (25:01)
Yeah, we were doing
Nick (25:03)
the math. I think based on the numbers, OTAR should bring in like another two million
Nick (25:08)
Or is it U it might have been USD. Yeah,
Derek (25:08)
USD. Yeah.
Nick (25:10)
another two million USD
Vee (25:10)
Mm, wow.
Nick (25:12)
this year compared to last year. So I mean that's a lot of money,
Derek (25:15)
For sure.
Nick (25:15)
I feel
Nick (25:15)
like.
Vee (25:15)
Yeah. Has that rule always been around or is it just a new rule that they've introduced? just April?
Nick (25:19)
There has always well, there has always been a tourist
Derek (25:19)
April.
Nick (25:21)
tax, but it
Derek (25:22)
No, there's
Derek (25:23)
never been one even in Hokkaido. Maybe a different
Nick (25:25)
really?
Vee (25:26)
wow.
Derek (25:26)
one,
Derek (25:26)
but this is all new.
Nick (25:28)
you're talking about the infrastructure one specifically.
Derek (25:29)
Yeah.
Vee (25:30)
that's news to me.
Derek (25:31)
Yeah. I know like Disneyland does like double pricing or something, right? That's a new thing.
Nick (25:35)
in Tokyo.
Derek (25:36)
Yeah, if you're a foreigner you pay like a higher price. Yeah.
Nick (25:36)
Yeah. Yeah,
Vee (25:37)
For real?
Nick (25:38)
foreigners pay more at Disneyland. That's true.
Derek (25:40)
I wonder if you're good like if your visa gets you the discounted price. I wonder.
Vee (25:44)
Yeah, I've always
Vee (25:45)
wondered this because whenever they introduce new rules for
Nick (25:47)
Probably.
Vee (25:48)
like tourists, if you live in Japan and they just see that you look like a foreigner, are they just gonna assume or am
Derek (25:52)
Ha ha.
Nick (25:53)
Ha ha.
Vee (25:54)
I just gonna have to like wear my residency card on my head and be like, I swear
Derek (25:58)
Ha ha.
Vee (25:58)
live here, don't charge me more
Nick (26:00)
That's crazy.
Derek (26:00)
That's
Derek (26:01)
funny.
Vee (26:01)
Yeah,
Vee (26:01)
so that's something I have no idea about actually. So maybe
Nick (26:04)
Yeah.
Vee (26:04)
I'm assuming just if I gave them like ID, they'll know Yeah. Yeah.
Derek (26:05)
I think you need to hit Disneyland figure it out.
Vee (26:07)
I've not been to Disneyland yet. I've been to Disney Sea, not Disneyland yet.
Nick (26:11)
Disney Sea Is that like is that like Sea World?
Vee (26:11)
Hey. Disney Sea.
Nick (26:13)
Like there's animals there?
Vee (26:14)
ki kinda
Vee (26:15)
is there animals? No, there's no animals I think. But they have like the like Moana Yeah.
Derek (26:18)
Is it like water parks? okay.
Vee (26:21)
So that kind of stuff like Moana da da da da da da da. But I feel
Nick (26:23)
yeah, yeah.
Vee (26:24)
like Disney Sea is made more for adults because you can drink alcohol in Disney Sea, but in Disneyland you can't. So
Derek (26:29)
Wow.
Vee (26:30)
you get more adults
Nick (26:30)
I didn't know that.
Vee (26:31)
in Disney Sea. if you ever get a chance, go to Disney Sea and get wasted.
Nick (26:34)
Got
Nick (26:34)
Go get wasted at Disney Sea.
Derek (26:34)
That's cool.
Vee (26:36)
is there a workaround or a piece of knowledge you wish you'd known about sooner that would have made everything easier to set up?
Nick (26:42)
I don't know. I mean at this yeah.
Derek (26:43)
think administrative scrivener have you should bounce ideas off always.
Vee (26:46)
Mm.
Nick (26:47)
Yeah. I was gonna say having someone with a scrivener license is probably the number one thing that has made our lives easier because we just can get to the truth quickly. They have even submitted documents that I think often if you're starting a business in Japan, you would go to the municipality or the city hall to submit yourself
Vee (27:04)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (27:04)
and
Nick (27:05)
They've made that process a whole lot easier. and I don't know if this is necessarily
Nick (27:09)
a workaround, but for real estate transactions specifically, having brokerage that's able to send digital signatures or like digital copies of documents
Nick (27:18)
makes all of our clients' lives so much easier. There are
Derek (27:20)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (27:21)
still some brokerages that they'll fax or they'll hard copy, like send mail to your address.
Nick (27:27)
in Europe or wherever you are and know, dates have been missed, mail has been lost,
Vee (27:31)
Mm.
Derek (27:31)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (27:32)
that type of stuff does happen. So, you know, even just making sure you're working with someone who is up to date with like new technology, which sounds like
Vee (27:39)
Yeah.
Nick (27:39)
you wouldn't have to even think about, but it's something that we definitely have to work around.
Vee (27:43)
I feel like especially in Japan there's still some places that are very old fashioned in how they work.
Nick (27:48)
If it ain't broke.
Derek (27:48)
For sure.
Derek (27:49)
For sure. think also like
Vee (27:50)
Yeah, that's true.
Derek (27:51)
I guess this isn't even really a workaround. It's something kind of is. Like be social and like use the resources you have. Like
Vee (27:57)
Mm, mm.
Derek (27:58)
there's been points where we like didn't ask questions that we could have just asked and it would have saved us so much time, you know?
Vee (28:04)
Yeah.
Derek (28:04)
And
Derek (28:05)
like we didn't want to bother people and ask them questions that, you know, because we're paying them and they're
Derek (28:09)
We're working together in a business relationship. So you don't want to like
Vee (28:11)
No.
Derek (28:12)
ask people like free questions. But, know, generally people like wanna help and you wanna help people and it goes both ways. And
Derek (28:18)
there's definitely been points where I just we asked a question finally and it was just like, was so much easier than than we imagined.
Vee (28:23)
Yeah.
Nick (28:24)
That's true.
Vee (28:25)
You never know unless you ask, right?
Derek (28:26)
Yeah.
Vee (28:27)
Yeah. How would someone go about finding a scribner in Japan?
Nick (28:31)
How did we find? I think we found ours through like a connection of a connection. there is a website. Maybe we can like post
Vee (28:36)
Mm.
Nick (28:37)
it in the show notes, but
Derek (28:38)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (28:39)
there's a website where you can find it's almost like Indeed or like Craigslist for those who are in American
Vee (28:44)
Mm.
Derek (28:44)
Upwork.
Nick (28:45)
America. But yeah, there's a website called like Zehitomo. There's a couple different Japanese websites that you can go to, and it's basically like a place where people list.
Nick (28:54)
Hey, I'm available for hire, like Task Rabbit or whatever.
Derek (28:57)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (28:57)
Yeah,
Vee (28:57)
yeah. Okay, that seems pretty easy.
Nick (28:58)
that probably
Nick (28:59)
would be the best, yeah. Like
Derek (29:00)
We could
Derek (29:01)
recommend R Scrivener,
Vee (29:01)
Yeah.
Derek (29:02)
he would probably be pumped. TJ?
Vee (29:03)
Yeah.
Nick (29:03)
Yeah.
Nick (29:03)
Yeah, if if people are curious about working and starting businesses, let us know and we can connect you to people that have been doing doing good work for us. Yeah.
Vee (29:09)
There you go guys. You have
Vee (29:11)
connections here.
Nick (29:12)
Exactly.
Derek (29:12)
When me
Derek (29:13)
and Nick got stopped at immigration, we told TJ, and TJ's like, anytime that happens, just call me. He's like, tell them you're coming to
Vee (29:20)
Awww.
Derek (29:20)
my house, call me, put me on the line. I'm
Nick (29:21)
Yeah, it was really nice.
Derek (29:23)
like, damn, that's amazing. Like, you're the man. He's helped us with so much stuff. And he helps with literally everything. He can help people get visas, start businesses.
Derek (29:30)
help with hiring. So he's just like such a wealth of knowledge and that's
Derek (29:34)
why I would recommend scriveners like find a scrivener that you can trust and they could
Nick (29:37)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (29:37)
get most of your questions answered for sure.
Vee (29:39)
Wow, that's amazing. so one thing that we do to support people is setting up their properties in Japan for long and short term rentals. So why should someone consider setting up a business in Japan?
Nick (29:49)
that's a good question. I would say if they're gonna buy multiple properties and they actually do wanna have business operations in Japan, it might make sense. You are going to be paying taxes in Japan if you're generating revenue on a property. However, most countries have a reciprocated tax, like I was talking about earlier. And you'll just report your revenue with an accountant in Japan. They'll understand what you owe to the Japanese government, and then you'll basically take that, it's like a receipt.
Nick (30:14)
To your accountant in your home country, be it Australia, the US, or wherever, and can do it that way. I typically recommend, and like we're not financial advisors at all, but I typically recommend if you're gonna set up an entity, like say you're sharing a property with a friend or a spouse or whatever, to just set up an LLC or the equivalent in your country because it's just easier to understand like the ownership structure. Really, I think the GK would be like.
Nick (30:39)
If you're looking to really like invest and deploy capital in Japan, then maybe jump jump in and do that. But in terms of like real estate for our clients and purchasing homes, I don't really think it's the easiest path. Like there's there's nothing
Vee (30:51)
Yeah.
Nick (30:52)
helpful about it. If anything, it makes it a little more difficult.
Vee (30:54)
Yeah.
Derek (30:54)
Yeah.
Derek (30:55)
think one the main reason a lot of people used to want to do it is to get a business manager visa. That's like way harder
Vee (31:01)
Mm.
Derek (31:01)
to do now.
Derek (31:02)
But I think reasons you should start a business in Japan is one, because if you're listening, you probably love Japan. two, I think there is a lot of opportunity because the same problem that's happening in Japan with homes is happening with businesses. So
Derek (31:14)
There's a lot of businesses that don't have like a successor. So a lot of profitable
Vee (31:18)
Mm.
Derek (31:19)
businesses in Japan are closing down. I forgot the stat. You can Google it. X amount of businesses a ye a year in Japan shut down that are profitable
Vee (31:25)
Yeah.
Derek (31:26)
just because they don't have a successor, which means there's a lot of opportunity for young people from other countries to keep those businesses alive. Or, you know, a similar one that does a similar thing that fills that gap. So I think loving Japan, getting a business manager visa, like
Derek (31:40)
And also the cost to enter the market is so much
Vee (31:43)
Mm.
Derek (31:43)
cheaper. Like opening a coffee shop in America is insane. You have to be rich.
Vee (31:47)
Really?
Derek (31:48)
Or like take out a massive loan, you know? I'm sure London or
Nick (31:51)
Yeah.
Derek (31:51)
the UK is very similar, right? because real estate is so expensive.
Vee (31:52)
yeah, for sure.
Nick (31:53)
We did a comparison.
Nick (31:54)
Yeah, I mean, we did a comparison with one of our friends. I'm actually wearing his hat right now at DreamWave
Vee (31:58)
nice.
Nick (31:59)
coffee shop. And he was basically his the floor space and the floor plan is very similar.
Vee (32:05)
Mm.
Nick (32:05)
Walk-in, bar on left, merch on right, tables in the back, type of thing. And just the regulation alone, he was spending, I think, up to about half a million dollars. And
Nick (32:15)
Before we opened our coffee shop, we have a really good friend named Mon who has a coffee shop in Sapporro
Vee (32:18)
Mm.
Nick (32:19)
And he told us his all in cost I think was like, know, under a hundred thousand dollars. So
Derek (32:23)
It was thirty grand.
Nick (32:24)
I didn't wanna like I didn't wanna say that, but but yeah, but yeah. It's it's
Vee (32:25)
Wow.
Derek (32:28)
I mean that's crazy, thirty G's.
Nick (32:30)
insanely different, com completely different.
Vee (32:32)
Ja
Nick (32:33)
And it's cool because it makes me feel like Japan is in incentivizing entrepreneurship and like making it easier.
Vee (32:38)
yeah.
Nick (32:39)
So that's exciting to me and I think there's a lot more opportunity than people give Japan credit for, even to local Japanese.
Vee (32:46)
Yeah.
Derek (32:47)
Yeah,
Derek (32:47)
for sure. And like even if you take in the salary, like wage difference, that I think the average wage in Japan is somewhere around thirty thousand. So to open
Vee (32:56)
Mm.
Derek (32:56)
a coffee shop cost him thirty K, which is about a year's wage, where the guy in California, his San Diego shop. Obviously this isn't every shop in America, but his shop cost somewhere half a million dollars, maybe more. I mean that the average salary in America is probably
Derek (33:11)
eighty thousand. that's five or six
Vee (33:12)
Yeah.
Derek (33:13)
six or seven times a your yearly salary.
Vee (33:15)
More.
Derek (33:15)
So it's, you know, huge difference.
Vee (33:17)
It seems more manageable in Japan, in that sense. It kinda remind me of a random side note. But there was a guy that I've come across on Threads and he is based in Chiba and he's foreigner living in Japan as well. he used to volunteer at a farm. I don't know if you've ever come across this guy before. I think the person that
Vee (33:35)
Owned the farm, really liked him that he gave the farm to him. So now he's
Derek (33:38)
Wow.
Nick (33:39)
Wow.
Vee (33:39)
running a business r because of this farm. And I think he's just like in the same in the same journey, he's just trying to figure out like what to do with the farm and like trying to do events and things like that.
Derek (33:47)
Yeah.
Vee (33:48)
But
Nick (33:48)
Circle
Vee (33:48)
it's just insane that like it's they just have no one to pass their stuff on to, that they're just giving it away to anyone.
Derek (33:54)
Yeah,
Derek (33:54)
it's crazy. It's sad. It is honestly sad when you think about
Vee (33:55)
It is crazy, but it's so wholesome at the same time.
Derek (33:58)
it. Yeah, that story's
Vee (33:59)
Yeah.
Nick (33:59)
This is like
Derek (34:00)
wholesome.
Nick (34:00)
this is not related at all. But do you
Vee (34:02)
Mm.
Nick (34:02)
think because when I'm in Japan, like people don't even really make eye contact, whereas like in
Vee (34:06)
Mm.
Nick (34:06)
America, I say hi to everyone that I pretty much walk by. you think that leads to like less social interaction? Maybe like less people that they quote unquote trust and less people to pass things on to? I mean, I know there is like a population issue as well, but
Vee (34:18)
yeah.
Nick (34:20)
I don't know, it's just like a weird interesting thing.
Vee (34:21)
That's a hard one.
Vee (34:23)
Yeah.
Derek (34:23)
What's it like in the UK
Derek (34:24)
are people generally like waving to each other on the street?
Vee (34:26)
So I've lived in the UK both in London and more countryside area and I've noticed that of course people in the countryside area are a lot more welcoming. They'll actually like walk
Nick (34:35)
Yeah.
Vee (34:36)
past you and say hello. Whereas in London
Derek (34:37)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (34:37)
if you look at me, I will fight you. So I've kind of noticed the same thing here in Japan as well.
Derek (34:41)
Which one are you?
Vee (34:42)
I used to be that if you look at me, I will fight you. Now I've
Nick (34:45)
man.
Vee (34:46)
calmed down.
Vee (34:46)
Since moving to Japan I've calmed down quite a lot.
Vee (34:48)
this is why I have to go to the gym, okay?
Derek (34:50)
Ha ha.
Nick (34:51)
I get it.
Vee (34:51)
I've noticed the same thing in Japan as well. So I've lived in Nagoya, which is a bigger city. I've visited the big cities Tokyo and Osaka quite a few times, and
Vee (35:01)
It's kind of an exception because they have their own kind of like subculture there where they're very friendly
Nick (35:05)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (35:05)
and they will like talk to anyone and they're kind of like separate from the rest of Japan. But in Tokyo I've noticed that people are kind of similar to people in London where they're kind of just like
Derek (35:15)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (35:15)
keeping to themselves, just
Nick (35:16)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (35:16)
like they they have somewhere to go and they just wanna get there and do what they need to do. Whereas when I moved to Chiba, people here are so friendly. I would literally walk past them, they'll look at me and be like, that's a random foreigner there.
Vee (35:28)
Which they
Derek (35:28)
Yeah.
Vee (35:28)
probably to be fair, when I see a foreigner where I live, even I'm shocked. I'm like, there's
Nick (35:33)
Yeah.
Vee (35:33)
one of me
Derek (35:34)
Ha ha ha.
Vee (35:35)
So it's
Vee (35:36)
vi it's so nice that they'll notice me and then they'll like, it's a foreigner and they'll still like, hello, good morning. Like they'll
Derek (35:41)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (35:41)
literally just
Nick (35:42)
Yeah.
Vee (35:42)
go out of their way to like, there's a person passing by, let me say something And I feel like that's yeah.
Nick (35:46)
That's why I like Hokkaido. It's a lot more like that.
Derek (35:46)
Yeah.
Vee (35:48)
So I feel like that's one of the reasons why
Vee (35:50)
that situation happened with the guy with the farm because it was countryside area and
Nick (35:53)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (35:54)
they kinda like developed
Derek (35:54)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (35:55)
that relationship and they he probably felt like, you know, I can trust this person with my farm.
Nick (35:59)
That's so cool.
Vee (36:00)
Whereas
Derek (36:00)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (36:00)
imagining that in Tokyo it probably wouldn't
Derek (36:03)
Yeah. That's
Derek (36:04)
funny how that's kind of a universal thing. City people, like
Vee (36:06)
Yeah. Is it the same in the US?
Derek (36:07)
for sure, New York
Nick (36:08)
Definitely.
Derek (36:09)
people are generally like in the city, obviously, like on a mission. And then out, you know,
Vee (36:13)
Really?
Derek (36:13)
where I live is like suburbia. Like everyone knows everyone, everyone says hi.
Derek (36:17)
I personally say hi to everyone, so
Nick (36:19)
I hate LA.
Derek (36:19)
my neighbors who don't
Vee (36:19)
I still
Vee (36:20)
get nervous but
Derek (36:20)
want to talk to me, I
Derek (36:21)
one neighbor who
Derek (36:22)
like doesn't like to talk.
Derek (36:23)
And I'm like, I gotta say hi to this guy no matter what. So I
Derek (36:26)
force him to talk to me. I don't know if he
Nick (36:28)
I do the same thing.
Derek (36:29)
likes it or not. He might honestly hate me.
Vee (36:32)
He's forced into it, he has no choice.
Vee (36:33)
To be fair, here
Vee (36:35)
I actually know my neighbors and the neighbor that lives next to me, he works at the supermarket. So every time I see him at the supermarket, it's just like, you're my neighbor. But
Derek (36:42)
Yeah.
Vee (36:43)
when I was living in Nagoya, I have no idea and I've never met my neighbors before. Like anyone in my building I've never seen before. And the second you kind of like cross paths with people at the lobby, they will literally run away.
Derek (36:56)
Yeah.
Vee (36:56)
Yeah, it's cra the difference is crazy.
Nick (36:56)
That's weird.
Vee (36:58)
do you have any in s this might be a difficult one? you have any insight on the difference between finding a commercial space compared to finding a home here in Japan?
Nick (37:06)
We've helped a couple of people find commercial spaces.
Nick (37:08)
I guess in terms of as a foreigner, we don't have our application built to pool commercial spaces because they are listed on so many different private listing sites, whereas like re residential homes are all listed publicly and we can kind of get that data a lot more easily. but we do have partnerships with different realtors who have actually expressed that they're more interested.
Nick (37:29)
In helping foreigners, even specifically buy commercial space in Japan. So, you know, I think I don't even know if this sale ever went through, but we were helping someone find like a massive garage because they were obsessed with those like drifting cars. And we're
Vee (37:43)
Yeah yeah.
Nick (37:43)
helping with that. So we have helped people find commercial
Derek (37:46)
Yeah.
Nick (37:46)
space, but I do think it's more difficult if you don't speak Japanese. There's not like a translated English website like Nippon Homes is for residential homes.
Derek (37:54)
Mm.
Vee (37:54)
Yeah.
Derek (37:54)
I think we just have less experience with it too, you know? Yeah.
Nick (37:57)
Yeah, definitely.
Vee (37:58)
Yeah.
Vee (37:58)
That's fair enough.
Vee (37:59)
It can be intimidating starting a business, let alone one in a foreign country like Japan.
Vee (38:04)
So if someone is listening and had an idea for a business but is too afraid to start, what's one piece of advice you would give?
Derek (38:10)
Just don't think at all.
Vee (38:12)
Just don't think.
Derek (38:13)
if I thought too much, none of this would have happened, you know?
Vee (38:16)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (38:16)
It was just one of those things where it was like everyone in, you know, everyone has ideas and they tell their friends. And then the idea usually just dies. And this was just an idea. I called Nick, and Nick's like, just do it. I mean, I've called Nick and told him ideas, and we've bounced ideas hundreds of times. And this one was just like.
Derek (38:32)
just do it and for whatever reason I listened that time and we had like a decent idea to like post to like post it on Reddit
Vee (38:37)
Good job, Nick.
Derek (38:39)
and we posted on Reddit and we had that immediate traction that I think gave us the confidence to
Vee (38:44)
Mm.
Derek (38:44)
really go all in.
Nick (38:45)
Yeah.
Derek (38:46)
But you know, I was like pretty pumped on the whatever. For whatever reason things just aligned and my mindset was like, I'm gonna do this. And I think it could
Vee (38:53)
Yeah.
Derek (38:54)
have easily been like another idea where I just didn't commit and
Derek (38:57)
I would still be doing a job that I hate, you know.
Vee (39:00)
Yeah.
Nick (39:00)
Yeah. I mean, you probably get this because you were into bodybuilding and stuff like that. Like
Vee (39:05)
Mm.
Nick (39:05)
motivation comes and goes all the time. Some
Vee (39:08)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nick (39:09)
days I wake up and I'm like, I'm gonna grind, like I'm the man today. And then
Vee (39:14)
Yeah.
Nick (39:14)
and I get shit done. Or whatever. I lift a bunch of weight in the gym. But other days I'm like, I don't even want to be here. This sucks. And you just need to like adhere to the checklist or whatever, the workout that
Vee (39:26)
Yeah.
Nick (39:26)
you gave yourself the
Nick (39:28)
You what you need to do. Like Derek's a pretty good example of he doesn't want to post on Instagram every day. And now we have help. But
Vee (39:35)
Mm.
Nick (39:35)
for the first, let's say 300 days, there was a new post on Instagram every single day. Whether it was good or bad, the
Vee (39:42)
Good job.
Derek (39:43)
Yeah.
Nick (39:44)
the
Nick (39:44)
movement and like the action and like like
Vee (39:45)
Yeah, yeah.
Nick (39:46)
I was talking about, the step was happening. And
Derek (39:49)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (39:49)
I don't think you can sit down ever in your life and say,
Nick (39:53)
I'm gonna do this one thing every single day for the next five years, no matter what. But every day, if you wake up and actually do it, your business is gonna grow. Like I I just have
Vee (40:02)
Yeah, yeah.
Nick (40:03)
a really hard time believing, you know, like the stats. One in 10 restaurants fail, one in whatever,
Vee (40:08)
Mm.
Nick (40:09)
only 5% of businesses ever make it. I really think it's just because the person doing sure, there's stupid business ideas, but like.
Vee (40:16)
Yeah.
Nick (40:17)
If if you're committed and you're gonna do the things that it takes to actually push the ball forward every day, like you don't need motivation. You just gotta show up. I guess commitment I is what
Vee (40:25)
That's true. Yeah.
Nick (40:27)
the word I'm looking for.
Vee (40:28)
Yeah.
Derek (40:29)
My
Derek (40:29)
wife tells me every day, she's like, you don't need to post every day on Instagram anymore. And I'm like, you don't get it. Like I'm posting it
Derek (40:36)
every single day. And like I like Nick said, I don't think about it 10 years down the line. I just wake up and I'm like, okay, I'm posting today. You know, like I think over like
Vee (40:43)
Today I have to do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nick (40:44)
That's pretty crazy.
Derek (40:47)
thinking too far into the future. You know what's another thing I think about too? A great piece of advice is
Vee (40:53)
Mm.
Derek (40:53)
don't try and do it alone. Doing things
Vee (40:55)
true.
Derek (40:56)
Doing things alone is harder. One. And like I think a lot of people are afraid to like give up control. And
Derek (41:02)
this business would not be possible if I did this alone or Nick did this alone. I think having us together is huge. Like someone to talk to and
Vee (41:09)
yeah.
Derek (41:10)
all the other people we have involved in the business too have become, you know, essential to us. Like you're becoming to us as well. Like you need
Vee (41:16)
Yeah.
Derek (41:17)
people. Don't try and do it alone.
Nick (41:19)
Yeah.
Vee (41:19)
Yeah.
Nick (41:19)
I do want to say though, because people come to me all the time. I go to like a lot of these startup events in San Diego and around here. And people always say, Man, how'd you find a co-founder? Like I need a co-founder. And a lot of them won't start their business without a co-founder. But in
Derek (41:34)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (41:34)
reality,
Vee (41:35)
Really?
Nick (41:35)
I think that's a big reason why people don't want to start their business. Because sure, it is scary to do alone. But I truly think like, let's just say you're gonna start a restaurant.
Nick (41:44)
If you start
Vee (41:45)
Mm.
Nick (41:45)
working in the restaurant, find other people that work in restaurants, work together, like you're not alone if you can see other people doing the same thing, even if it's your
Derek (41:53)
Mm-hmm.
Vee (41:53)
Yeah.
Nick (41:53)
business
Nick (41:54)
and your business only. I think that like trips people up in their head where if they don't have a co-founder, they just don't think it's possible, which may be true in
Vee (42:01)
Mm.
Nick (42:01)
three years, but again, you're thinking
Derek (42:03)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (42:03)
in the future. And, you know, people will come by if you're doing the
Derek (42:06)
For sure.
Nick (42:07)
same thing every day. And you just gotta.
Vee (42:08)
Yeah.
Derek (42:08)
Trust me, like we know,
Derek (42:09)
if you're succeeding, dude, everyone wants to jump on.
Vee (42:12)
I feel like those are really, really useful advice though. once you do something, it's literally just keeping up that momentum makes such a huge difference. Like I understand that posting everyday situation because the second I stop for like more than two weeks, the motivation just like dwindles down.
Nick (42:27)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (42:27)
For sure.
Vee (42:28)
But when you're just like continuing, even if you have no motivation but you're just pushing through, you're more likely to continue because you're doing it already.
Nick (42:34)
Hundred percent.
Vee (42:34)
yeah, I
Vee (42:35)
definitely agree with that.
Derek (42:35)
Absolutely.
Nick (42:36)
How do we close these? I I don't even really remember.
Derek (42:38)
everyone please like us and give us five stars. That's the end.
Nick (42:41)
Bye.