The Mule

@ValiantVenus @UziCryptoo LOL. Whenever I stay at a hotel in NYC they charge me an internet fee ("Resort Fees") as though it's still the 1990's.

@UziCryptoo *me checking into 100$ hotel. No cleaning fees, parking, or other hidden fees. Plus complimentary breakfast and coffee* Why do people insist on using Airbnb??

I know I'd been warned, but I think Airbnb is over for me -- a host is angry with us because we didn't *vacuum*. mind you, we paid a $185 cleaning fee, stripped the beds, and took the trash to the local trash center

@gricorealism @zellersamuel @miyakofanyi Give it up and stop being a tool. They have 3 years to comply.

I'm so sorry for the situation you are facing right now. It’s so fucked up that you should be required to provide six times the capital simply because you’re a foreigner. And when I think of all the hardships you’ve endured up to now, it truly breaks my heart. We, too, continue to protest against this government’s tyranny on a daily basis, but it just leaves us feeling utterly disheartened every single day.

You save money for years You learn Japanese, you train as a barista You move from your country to Japan You invest all your money into starting a cafe The place is successful, 4.5 stars avg rating on Google You hire a full time Japanese employee And now you have to leave... all because Japan force existing business owner to comply to the new law of 30M ¥ of capital (189'000$) It's real and it's happening all across the country

@Bbaker1321 @EndWokeness @MeghanMcCain Gerrymandering has been going on since 1812 🤡

@EndWokeness @MeghanMcCain Blame republicans! They started this gerrymandering scheme…. Democrats will fight fire with fire! Don’t cry now.

Dems will now control 90% of districts in a state they only won by 5% For the sake of "fairness"

@Shuyaftw @Arin_Yumi This is made up or he's doing something illegal. Your 'friend' has 3 YEARS to comply with the new visa rules.

I have a friend who was forced to leave Japan last month because of this He owns an inn in Osaka and has been running it successfully for 10 years. He has welcomed over 10k travelers and built one of the top-ranked place on Agoda and Booking He invested more than $1M into the business over time But when he applied to renew his visa, he was told he no longer met the requirements His company was originally set up with ¥5M in capital, which was fully compliant at the time Under the new rules, he suddenly needed ¥30M before the end of the month to stay He didn’t have that kind of cash available on such short notice So despite a decade of proven success, he had to leave the country because the government doesn't care about small business owned by foreigners

The number of applicants for Japan’s Business Manager Visa after the stricter regulations have taken effect has dropped by 96% from a monthly average of 1,700 to just 70. The visa allows foreigners to live in Japan while starting or managing a business, but it is now far more restrictive, with the capital requirement raised from ¥5 to ¥30 million, new qualifications requiring at least three years of prior management experience or a master’s degree (or equivalent) in business management, a requirement to employ at least one full-time staff member, and a business plan that must be verified by a certified Small and Medium-sized Enterprise management consultant. Of the roughly 41,600 current holders of this visa, only about 4% meet the new ¥30 million capital requirement.

@Ninapresh @Bluezfc_ She died in the real world.

@Bluezfc_ And then wat next ?

@tanpukunokami It gets worse at home. Gives salary to wife who gives him an allowance. Kids don't know him or hate him. Wife has extramerital affair.

This might be hard to believe, but in Japan, a salaryman wakes up at 6 AM. He commutes for an hour. Standing. In a train so packed he can't move his arms. He works 9 to 6. Then he stays until 10. Nobody leaves before the boss. Then he drinks with his boss until midnight. Saying no is a career decision. He catches the last train home. Falls asleep standing up. He gets home at 1 AM. He wakes up at 6 AM. The Japanese word for "death from overwork" is karoshi. It needed its own word.

That is how you advertise watches…

@hexgeta @aakashgupta "The Japanese, in general, take extreme care of their homes and have kept up with renovations needed, usually to the tune of multiples of Xs what they are listing the house for sale for." No, they don't. They know the building will be worth 0 in less than 30 yrs time and spend 0

As someone who owns a $10k home there, which is perfectly nice, here's my 2 cents: - You don't buy these houses for resale or investment in mind. You buy one to live in full-time or as a holiday house. I think most foreigners get this and are cool with the idea of not being able to easily resell it. They are still a deal. The Swedish guy is investing into houses there. Very risky, but he made it work specifically because he's doing short-term rentals to foreign tourists. - The idea that all of these cheap houses need tons of work done to them is a myth. The work needed is usually very obvious when you see the images of the home. The Japanese, in general, take extreme care of their homes and have kept up with renovations needed, usually to the tune of multiples of Xs what they are listing the house for sale for. Having said this, do most of the work yourself. Hiring professionals in Japan isn't cheap, and another reason why the Japanese don't want these houses. - There are free government houses and financial support for renovation, but honestly, just ignore those and don't look at the bottom end of the market $0-$10k. Look at $10-50k, and you literally find perfectly normal houses that would be $200k-400k in other 1st world countries. - The other myth is that rural Japan is like moving into a ghost town. This is true in Spain, Italy & Portugal and it makes life hard. You can't find a roofer, a plumber a good mechanic if you live further out. There are no shops, and there is no restaurant near you. Everything shuts early or doesn't work properly. In Japan, it's not like this. Unless you live like in the mountains or an island. There are convenience stores everywhere, even in rural Japan. You are always a 5-10 min drive from a supermarket. Their town planning is exceptional, and you can zip anywhere fast. The best ramen restaurant you've never heard of is down the street from some abandoned house that's on the market right now. You basically just need to look at any city that's not Tokyo and look at houses 10-20 mins out of the city, and there's plenty of awesome houses for cheap that have great access to everything you need. If anything, smaller cities are easier than Tokyo or Osaka because in those cities, you have traffic and too many people to get around fast. Big driving culture in smaller cities makes things so so easy. There is a massive arbitrage here for those who work remotely, and love Japan, and I'm happy to be one of those people. To many other foreigners and me, it's crazy that these houses are so cheap and feels completely illogical. Here are the reasons why this arbitrage exists: - New houses are also very cheap in Japan. $100-200k making buying an old house for $50k less attractive. - The Japanese detest old things in general. They hate it. - Japanese are raised to NOT do anything they are not qualified for or have permission to do. Hence, there is no DIY culture, and the cost of renovation using professionals makes buying these homes financially unfeasible. So yes, if you like DIY and don't mind a "used" perfectly fine house, you can pick one up for the price of a car like I did.

Japan is the only major economy where a house loses 50% of its value in 10 years and hits zero in 22. By government statute. The reason 9 million homes sit empty has nothing to do with "overlooked opportunity." Japan's tax code charges 6x more property tax on vacant land than land with a structure on it. Owners keep rotting houses standing because demolishing them triggers a tax penalty. The akiya crisis is a tax distortion, not a buyer's market. The renovation math is where most foreigners get wrecked. A $15,000 house in Kyushu needs $30,000-$80,000 in renovation. Japanese banks won't give you a mortgage without permanent residency or years of employment history in Japan. You're paying cash for a structure the Japanese government officially considers worthless. Then the resale trap. If a house was hard to sell in the first place, selling it again later is equally difficult. Rural Japanese land doesn't appreciate. The population in these areas is declining so fast that some villages will literally cease to exist within 20 years. You're buying into a market where your only potential buyers are other foreigners who saw the same viral tweet. One guy who actually made it work, a Swedish model turned renovator, spent $110K total on purchase plus renovation for a single property. It brings in $11K/month in short-term rental revenue now. But he learned Japanese, moved there full-time, built community relationships for years, and got a minpaku license that caps rentals at 180 days per year in most areas. The Italy comparison tells the real story. Those €1 homes came with mandatory renovation commitments of €15,000+ within three years or the town claws back the property. Japan's version is gentler but the underlying dynamic is identical: governments paying people to repopulate areas that economics has already abandoned. The opportunity is real for a very specific person. Someone who wants to live in rural Japan, speaks or is learning Japanese, has cash, and treats the purchase as a lifestyle decision with a negative expected financial return. For everyone else reading this as a real estate arbitrage, the 9 million empty houses are empty for a reason.

@realpeteyb123 Which airlines and are there any infants in business class?

I have a long flight! Ask me anything, and I’ll quote some replies.

@GovEvers Voter ID is not illegal.

This is bullshit. And it’s illegal. We'll see President Trump in court.

@GrampsToolshed true

Hey, since Japan Twitter is going crazy, does anyone know - Is this actually true, or just something Americans believe because it sounds good? TIA !!

@Chansoo @elonmusk @teslajapan I would definitely buy one if they did!

@elonmusk Can we get Cybertrucks exported to Japan as well? @elonmusk @teslajapan

Tesla is making a big investment in Japan with service & Superchargers. Many of the parts in Teslas are made in Japan. Panasonic has been our biggest strategic supplier over the past 2 decades.

@elonmusk Was at a Tesla dealer here and the govt gives up to 1.3m yen rebate. Total cost starting for a new Tesla is around 4m yen or US$25k.

@ChinaNow24 Pretty biased for a news agency, don't you think? 😆

The Japanese government should apologize to China.

@TheCleanCarClub Lazy research. Cars don't get scraped at 3yrs. After the 3rd yr, cars here in Jp have to go through an inspection every 2 yrs called shaken. Cost depends on engine size, type and age. Can be cheap for 3 cyl engines The 2nd hand (used) car market is huge, especially at auction.

In Japan, at 3 years of age, cars start to become subject to a quite expensive Roadworthy test. Most owners buy a new one at that stage and there isn't really a second hand market. Those 3 year old cars are either scrapped or become “grey” imports to other countries.

@TKT_tobe @DaStraatosphere @WallStreetMav Yeah, Japanese girls.

@DaStraatosphere @WallStreetMav Japanese girls

Are all of these hot Japanese girls in my timeline real? Why is the birthrate falling in Japan? There is no way you guys in Japan shouldn't be knocking out a few babies each.

@janjrgsxr1000 @zerohedge @EPA @epaleezeldin @DOGE_EPA You shouldnt use ethenol in small engines at all. In NYS, stewarts sells 91 oct non-ethenol gas.

@zerohedge E15 is terrible and damaging to non Flex Fuel engines and voids warranties. Also, small engines for lawn mowers and whatnot will be damaged by E15 @EPA @epaleezeldin @DOGE_EPA

*TRUMP: SEEKING CONGRESSIONAL ACTION TO ALLOW E15 ALL YEAR ROUND

@bk1022 @PeterSweden7 No it's not. Electing legislators to represent citizens is a Republic. And one restricted by a constitution is called a Constitutional Republic. A democracy is where citizens vote directly, without legislators, on laws and policies.

@GraceAloneSaved @PeterSweden7 A constitutional republic that uses voting as a means of electing legislators is in fact a democracy.

86% of left-wing voters in Sweden believe the USA isn't a democracy anymore. 52% of right-wing voters in Sweden believe the USA isn't a democracy anymore. In Sweden, people are very brainwashed.

@zerohedge From 60 to 65 they will lower their pay and make them part-time which means they won't get benefits as a full-time employee.

*MUFG TO RAISE RETIREMENT AGE TO 65 FROM 60 FROM APRIL 2027 Japan just realized it has 35 million gerontocratic workers who wouldn't mind working a few more years until AI replaces them all

@PeterBerezinBCA OR These new homes are cheaply built and used homes are not.

For this first time ever, the median price of a new home is lower than for a used home. There is still a lot of denial among homeowners about what their house is worth.