Borrow from Japan to invest in crypto

Borrow from the government? Sure, I heard they are sitting on cash.

providenceventurer said:

Shinkin bank of Japan

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This is like saying that the credit union is the US gives loans. A Shinkin bank is about the same as a local US credit union. Check Wikipedia: "They are cooperative regional financial institutions serving small and medium enterprises and local residents. Anyone who lives, works, or has an office in the region served by the bank can become a member."

I don't think you qualify.

You may have to get a JPY valued credit elsewhere. Maybe ask you relationship manager at JP Morgan. They offered me one this morning too. I declined though.

providenceventurer said:

What about JVC or was it JBC or whoever lends in Japan.I saw the rates were very low.

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They don't lend to non-residents.

providenceventurer said:

How about with a fake id obtained from anyone in OCT.From those who sell fake ids here.This would be the ultimate stress test of a fake id as well.And what about a business getting it.Also might it be possible to get a resident id based on a digital nomad visa of Japan?

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No. You need a my number card.

Even with as a resident, you will have a very hard time at getting anything. And even with stand income from Japan.

providenceventurer said:

Hi
I would like to know if i can borrow a few million From Japan to invest in some crypto.Please let me know your thoughts.

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Short answer: NO.

Long answer: NOOOOOOOOO. But there are other options.

That 'digital nomad visa' is worthless in Japan, you'll not even get a rental apartment with that. There is a huge difference visiting Japan as a tourist and living there as a foreigner. It's easier to find a pet-friendly apartment than a place that accepts gaijin (that's not a joke, but personal experience).

The banking in Japan is stuck in the 80s, with hankos (rubber stamps) trumping over signatures, and almost everthing being done in person. A foreigner is seen as high risk, as they look at you as someone that will skip on the loan and leave the country (even if you have a well paid local job and long term visa).

To be eligible for a credit card alone might take > a year residency, a stable job, and multiple attempts (don't apply more than two times in 6 months if they reject you, as you get on a banking blacklist then, which is shared with all banks), to get a loan for a house in Japan you are required to be a permanent resident (visa status, 10 years in Japan (shortened to 3 years if you are married or get enough points in their high qualification person program).

So, forget about Japan, but it's not hopeless, you can get a JPY loan in other ways.

I know that people in eastern Europe have been getting JPY loans to finance property at their banks few years ago, as the interest rates were much lower (and many got shafted after Fukushima, as the JPY yen got stronger and their monthly payments doubled coz of FX).

If you have an IB account, you could take a JPY margin loan on your holdings and transfer the money to your bank account and to an exchange/P2P (or even just buy the Blackrock BTC ETF via IB, and get more margin loan on it, and buy more BTC ETF, and do it again and again - until you get liquidated, lol). You can see the rates here, they are even better than what you could get in JP on the ground:

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/margin-rates.php

Oh yeah, there is the FX risk, but I'd see it as negligible, and in my non-expert opinion the yen is dead anyway, and heading to >200 JPY / $ in a less than 3 years timeframe.


PS: No financial advice of course, all just imaginary.

Perfect.

@providenceventurer gaijin 外人 means foreigner in Japan.

@cryptofriendly can this nomad visa get a my number card or driving licence? I highly doubt but maybe you have a firm answer on this?

daniels27 said:

Perfect.

@providenceventurer gaijin 外人 means foreigner in Japan.

@cryptofriendly can this nomad visa get a my number card or driving licence? I highly doubt but maybe you have a firm answer on this?

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No, you can not get the my number card with a digital nomad visa.

Please, just forget about their digital nomad visa. It's the perfect example of Japanese bureaucrats hearing about something from abroad, and trying to duplicate it in a Japanese way, practically creating something that has no advantages but just disadvantages. Seriously, it's the most useless digital nomad visa in the whole world.

You need to provide lots of paperwork for nothing (min 10 million jpy income, docs about your remote employment, etc), wait until one day they actually grant it (probably they'll ask you for more documentation first, lol), and what you get for all that trouble is a 6 months visa, which doesn't allow you to do anything locally anyway. As no normal landlord will rent an apartment to you without a job in Japan, all you can get are hotels or short term serviced apartments (well, and love hotels and overpriced share houses for the desperate).

If you got an EU passport, you can just skip all of that, buy a flight, and you'll get a 3 months stay permission on arrival, which you can extend for 3 more months at the local immigration office in Japan (You need to state a reason, so just write: "I like Japan." on the visa extension application form). Voila, you can stay 6 months without anything, as easy as it gets. And if you need more time, get a cheap return flight or ferry to Busan, and restart.

Both options, digital nomad visa and normal 'tourist landing stamp' don't let you open a bankaccount, nor work locally, nor anything. If you want something better, get a student visa (Japanese language, flower arranging, calligraphy, etc.), and you can work up to 28 h per week and get local banking, as well as the Orwellian my number card, health insurance, normal apartment, etc.

Regarding driving license: if you are from

• Switzerland
• Germany
• France
• Belgium
• Monaco
• Estonia
• Taiwan

You can drive with you original license and a translation for up to one year in JP.

Getting a local license from scratch isn't cheap, and they like to make foreigner fail a few times.

If you have a license from a 'civilized' country (if US, only a few states count as that, lol), and can prove that you have been residing in that country for >3 months after getting the license, you can convert it to a JP license in about 4 hours (vision test, photo, sitting for an hour listening to some rules - no test).

Anyone with a Zairyu card (Residence card) can convert his original driving license. You get that residence card only if you have a permitted stay >90 days in Japan, here we go, that's actually the only advantage of the digital nomad visa vs. tourist status.

Keep in mind, the JP driving license is valid for a year first, then two, then five (that's the gold license, if you haven't had any accidents). Every-time when it expires you need to spend half a day at the local driving license center to renew it (cops testing your eyes, and talking about an hour or two about new rules and how dangerous driving is).

TL;DR: Get a tourist visa and extend it, if you want to do more locally in JP, get a student visa or a JP girlfriend. For banking you can actually use Revolut or Wise, they are in JP too (with the usual limitations), and give you free withdrawals/good rates. There used to be plenty of crypto ATMs, but all they pretty much disappeared now.

Before you even think about doing that, keep this in mind:
A permanent resident is a resident who is a Japanese national or who has a living base in Japan or resided in Japan for more than 5 years in the last 10 years. A permanent resident is subject to income tax on worldwide income regardless of source.

P.S. They implemented the EU 'travel rule' for crypto as well now. They copy all the worst stuff from the west.

providenceventurer said:

Hi
I would like to know if i can borrow a few million From Japan to invest in some crypto.Please let me know your thoughts.

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Congratulations, you have discovered carry trading, the first step towards financial ruin. Ref. 2008.

JohnnyDoe said:

the first step towards financial ruin

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maybe JPY is a risky choice however in general it's not a bad idea to borrow shitcoins if possible in countries like Argentina, Turkey, Lebanon, Sri Lanka - especially if it's long enough loan (5+ years, or rather 10+) - don't you agree? please elaborate

cryptofriendly said:

Please, just forget about their digital nomad visa. It's the perfect example of Japanese bureaucrats hearing about something from abroad, and trying to duplicate it in a Japanese way, practically creating something that has no advantages but just disadvantages. Seriously, it's the most useless digital nomad visa in the whole world.

You need to provide lots of paperwork for nothing (min 10 million jpy income, docs about your remote employment, etc), wait until one day they actually grant it (probably they'll ask you for more documentation first, lol), and what you get for all that trouble is a 6 months visa, which doesn't allow you to do anything locally anyway. As no normal landlord will rent an apartment to you without a job in Japan, all you can get are hotels or short term serviced apartments (well, and love hotels and overpriced share houses for the desperate).

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I recently has a long discussion with a Swiss dude who wants to work for 1 month in Japan. In the embassy WhatApp group. And you know what? The girls there recommended him not to work for his Swiss company while in Japan (for 1 month) unless he has this bs visa. Thank god, they had bureaucrats for other bureaucrats.

Do you know if I can renew the driving licence without a visa?

cryptofriendly said:

If you have an IB account, you could take a JPY margin loan on your holdings and transfer the money to your bank account and to an exchange/P2P (or even just buy the Blackrock BTC ETF via IB, and get more margin loan on it, and buy more BTC ETF, and do it again and again - until you get liquidated, lol). You can see the rates here, they are even better than what you could get in JP on the ground:

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Yes, as I told him. Just talk to his RM at "JP Morgan Stanley" they can help. I just signed a 4M CHF loan to some client. Told im to get JPY but he believed the JP Morgan Stanley bs that JPY will go to 120.

And btw, you may not need to go through the hassle to borrow so much. Just speculate with 100x leverage on Binance.
https://www.binance.com/da-DK/square/post/14727573260185

daniels27 said:

I recently has a long discussion with a Swiss dude who wants to work for 1 month in Japan. In the embassy WhatApp group. And you know what? The girls there recommended him not to work for his Swiss company while in Japan (for 1 month) unless he has this bs visa. Thank god, they had bureaucrats for other bureaucrats.

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Haha, Swiss and (Tokyo) Japanese, they love to follow rules, even if there is no enforcement.

daniels27 said:

Do you know if I can renew the driving licence without a visa?

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I had to research that myself now: Yes, it's possible to do it, even without a residence card.
Thank god. I actually expected to lose mine in a few years, but it's easy to keep it going by just visiting the 運転免許センター, even as a non-resident.