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๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ Taiwan /Economy & Trade

They thought retiring to the countryside would save money. After five years, this Japanese couple sold up and left

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • A retired Japanese couple spent 16 million yen buying and renovating a roughly 50-year-old traditional home in the countryside, expecting low living costs without rent or a mortgage.
  • They later found that transportation, property maintenance and gardening created substantial expenses, while access to hospitals, shops and family became more important with age.
  • The couple sold the house and car and moved back to Tokyo, where they pay 140,000 yen a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment within walking distance of essential services.

The couple thought owning a cheap rural house would make retirement affordable. Instead, after five years, they sold the property and their car and moved back to Tokyo.

The case, shared by Japanese financial planner Yuki Hata, involved a 68-year-old man and his 65-year-old wife. The man retired at 63 and left Tokyo for a location about three hours from the city. They paid 6.8 million yen for a roughly 50-year-old traditional house and another 9.2 million yen for renovations, investing 16 million yen in total.

They had about 45 million yen in financial assets and received a monthly pension of around 240,000 yen after deductions. With no mortgage or rent, and with plans to grow their own vegetables, they expected a quiet and relaxed life.

The right not to have to do anything.

· A.ๅ…ˆ็”ŸHe described what the monthly Tokyo rent now bought him after the couple left their rural home.

The reality included heavy dependence on a car. The supermarket stood about 15 minutes away by car and the hospital about 30 minutes away. Fuel, insurance, taxes, inspections and tires cost more than 400,000 yen a year. Maintaining the old house, including clearing drainage channels, trimming trees, controlling insects and servicing the water heater, brought the annual cost of the house and car to nearly 800,000 yen.

Gardening also required seedlings, fertilizer and tools, as well as work dealing with weeds, fallen leaves, snow and community activities. When the man injured his back at 67 and stopped driving for about two weeks, he realized that life there was impossible without a car. As they grew older, the couple valued walkable hospitals and shops, and easy access to their children and longtime friends in Tokyo more than quiet and nature.

Hata suggested that they reconsider retirement without assuming they had to own their home. They ultimately rented a two-bedroom apartment in Tokyo for about 140,000 yen a month including management fees. The rent cost more than their former rent-free lifestyle, but they no longer had to maintain a garden or car, and could walk to the hospital, supermarket and station. The man said he now viewed the rent as paying for โ€œthe right not to have to do anything.โ€ Hataโ€™s broader warning was that retirees should ask not only whether they want to live somewhere, but whether they could still leave if they wanted to.

If you want to leave, can you still leave?

· Yuki HataThe financial planner framed the key question for retirees choosing where to live.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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