Newbie in Tokyo looking for advice on how to start

[Harold Petty]

Hi All,  New to BPs and wanting some advice on investing from abroad.  I know this has probably been discussed in the past but wanted to see if anyone has some insights ( I remember hearing one of the podcasts I believe it was James Vermillion on episode #23). James had a partner he was working with and was most likely being paid in USD so it is a bit different than my situation. 

I currently live and work full time in Tokyo Japan for a recruitment consulting firm and have only recently started researching about real estate investment.  My overall goal is to start building of rental properties in order to generate passive income while I continue to live and work full time here in Japan.  Obviously, it is less than ideal as I will not be able to physically look at every property I am interested in, and not to mention the challenge of trying to get financing while living/working abroad. 

Has anyone had any experience with this or any clue where to begin?  Again, I am at the very start of all of this so ANY advice/tips will be really helpful. 

Looking forward to hearing from the community!