I fired them last year.I just opened my mail to find a notice from a COLLECTION AGENCY stating I owed them money.

"Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most".

Thanks in advance for your support. 

If you don't have to own your own residence though, why not invest the money in a profitable investment elsewhere and rent in Japan?

Multiple vehicles of storing money; fixed income, equities, crypto, alt investments, real estate, etc.What avenue makes the most sense for you to get into real estate?

You'd be surprised to learn that someone living in a rental or apartment, that has a family and is a successful small businessman, has the money and is willing to take that deal.

I left them recently like many others have in the last 5 months and even though our money was technically an investment and a limited partner contribution, they refused to give anyone their money back even after stating numerous times they would give people their money back if they choose to leave. 

Hope is a bad strategy.The only on market strategy that I think can work is paying cash/line of credit/hard money for a property that does not qualify for conventional financing.

Just underwrite a refinance assuming about 30-36% of the money you will receive goes to refinance closing costs at worst, and find discounts when you can.

We rarely have issues, but it seems like such a small investment in time and money to take one day to verify.