My wife is Japanese and my research has shown me that Torrance has a very strong Japanese community, so our plan is to move there. 

the 2nd association it resonates is the highly consumption-driven society we live in. in my area (coastal, urban southern california) i'm surrounded by 2 distinct lifestyles. there's the majority: seems like 95% of the local population who are renters, driving luxury cars, sporting fancy clothes, jewelry, hairdos, etc but obviously living paycheck to paycheck as exemplified by hardly a day somebody or the other is spotted  getting their car repo'ed by a camera crew. the rarer are the landlords, who in this area seem to be of mostly asian demographics (chinese, koreans, japanese) who live obviously very frugally: old 80s model sedan, oldfashion business cloths, always eating simple meal from home, seemingly never splurging $$$ other than into expanding their portfolio), my observance is relatively very few landlords in the area own relatively huge portfolios, each.with the advent of these infomercials and the internet (ie, BP) more and more people want to get a 'piece of the REI pie' and more power to them. there does seem to be this dream of rags to riches and while its ok to dream, do most people actually expect their life to turn around like that, as portrayed in most of the infomercials or even in the everyday setting where the masses living paycheck to paycheck, are spending their last expendable dollars not on depositing into savings acount, but blowing $20 on scratchies etc. in summary, is my observation reminds me of my days when i worked on wall st and the 'ra trace' was so obvious with dime a dozen stock brokers makin 6fig salaries at some point but blowing it on recreational drugs apparently costing thousands of dollars a pop to the point the next week they are broke again and that $ wasnt invested but wasted.  

As a forgeiner your forgein credit score means nothing here, and they are hesitant to lend to non japanese.  

I am a single parent of two young children, mixed Filipino, Japanese and Spanish, 7th child of 7 siblings that grew up in Northern California, with degrees in Fashion Design and Psychology, 17 years of experience in Intellectual Property law, and owner of a California corporation.

Unless we go with the Japanese thing of only burying people for a year or two then putting them in a box and using the ground again.

If you want to see how extreme things can get in Hawaii, just look back to the 1990s (25 years ago) and look at the prices Japanese banks/investors were willing to pay for some assets.And then, there is the whole issue of historically low interest rates - real interest rates (after inflation) are essentially free, but that is a topic in and of itself.

But the same article says that in the US the average house is not demolished until 100 years. http://freakonomics.com/2014/02/27/why-are-japanese-homes-disposable-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-3/

Originally posted by @Chris Clothier:Chicago Cuts for SteaksCity Winery in the West Loop - Maybe able to catch a show while you're in ChicagoMomotaro* Izakaya- Coolest Japanese place in townNia Mediterranean- Great Mediterranean -  Great company.  

Local financing can be tricky,  having to speak basic Japanese and write your name and address in Japanese is not so easy.

Germany also offers stability due to its strict legal standards.Chinese investing in JapanChinese investing in Japanese real estate are mainly attracted by a 22 year low yen and potential capital appreciation which will result from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games like it previously has for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.