—message sent anonymously to moderators, requesting removal of a post about inheritance tax
The second year of a subreddit’s life is said to be its most challenging. Fortunately, that hasn’t been the case for r/JapanFinance, with both subscribers and engagement growing throughout 2022, accompanied by an abundance of enriching posts and discussions.
To begin, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the sub over the past year. It has been nice to see new usernames become regular contributors, alongside those who have been active in the sub since its launch.
The purpose of this post is to look back on the most memorable moments from the past year, name and shame a few of the sub’s most valued users, and share a bit of data. As always, feedback on all aspects of the sub and its moderation is most welcome.
Most Popular Posts
At the start of 2022, there was no war in Europe and 1 US dollar only cost 115 yen. This meant users had time to do things like update the pension section of the wiki, which @rogueebear announced having done in this post from January. It wasn’t long, however, before Russia invaded Ukraine, the S&P500 began to crash, and the yen weakened against the US dollar.
Users’ initial reaction to the weak yen was curiosity, as expressed in this post from March. But curiosity had turned into panic by April, when a post containing merely a screenshot of the exchange rate attracted 95 comments.
By June, panic had turned into despair, as @taxidermy’s post about how the Japanese economy might be circling the drain attracted a huge amount of attention, and ended up being the most upvoted post of the entire year.
One user was so disheartened that they wondered whether anyone actually makes more than 10 million yen, while others were concerned that the weak yen had triggered a software developer shortage. To make matters worse, news broke that Interactive Brokers had stopped accepting new customers.
@phillev cheered everyone up a little in July, by pointing out that the Japanese pension fund is actually performing pretty well, while another user optimistically suggested that Mexican bonds might be the solution to the downturn in global equity markets.
Not everyone was suffering financially though, with one user facing the enviable challenge of moving 30 million yen in cash from Japan to the US. The sub's users leapt to the rescue, with recommendations of everything from gold smuggling to crypto trading, and the obligatory reminder about something called “smurfing”, of course. Meanwhile @jennaf was concerned about their increasing income causing “lifestyle creep”. But most people seemed to agree with the sentiment expressed by @prabakaran: life is short and it’s ok to enjoy your money a little while you’re young.
The perennial topic of home ownership and mortgages was popular throughout the year, with some of the most memorable posts being this one about fixed vs. variable interest rates (featuring an epic comment by @victoria37 that is essential reading for anyone in the market for a mortgage), this thread about apartments vs. detached housing, and this thread about the pros and cons of various building companies.
In September, a high-income user looking for tax minimization tips inadvertently sparked an intense debate about whether the best Japanese tax minimization strategy is to simply move to Singapore. Then again, when @brad0037 asked people to share their personal finance hacks two weeks later, none of the 87 replies even mentioned the idea of moving to Singapore, so the jury may still be out on that one.
By October, people were no longer panicking about a weak yen and were instead confused by a strengthening one, while also becoming significantly concerned about inflation. Fortunately, users had @g_jio’s heartwarming tale of opening a Rakuten Securities account after 15 days of rejections to distract them from the macroeconomic uncertainty.
One of my favorite threads of the year was this one at the end of November about how the owner of a one-person company should structure their remuneration. I recommend bookmarking it if incorporation is something you’re considering. I also enjoyed the wide range of opinions in this thread from December about how much money you need to retire.
Finally, a round-up of the year’s posts wouldn’t be complete without mentioning @oksana126. The sub’s second most-popular post of the year was Miso’s furusato nozei reminder thread in December, but other notable contributions include the King of Convenience series from earlier in the year, and a post in which they let the sub decide which charity they should donate to.
Megathreads and Polls
In 2022 a residence tax questions thread was added to the existing roster of megathreads (tax return questions thread, year-end adjustment questions thread, and furusato nozei questions thread). All megathreads seemed to be well-received, but with a record 356 comments, the tax return thread was undoubtedly the most popular.
There were also 52 weekly off-topic discussion threads (1,681 comments in total) and 18 poll threads. The most upvoted poll was the one about side hustles, while the poll with the highest number of participants was the one about monthly food expenditure.
Thank You For Your Service
In accordance with tradition, I will now present an undoubtedly incomplete list of users who have made significant contributions to the sub over the past year. Many thanks to: @idontknow-Toiro, @revstockton, @rogueebear, @nicoleb07, @victoria37, @ethzz, @hark, @doks, @subaru17, @brad0037, @blueskye30, @reflectionsbythewater, @fritzwoodruff, @iamhope, @jandolphrohnson, @taxidermy, and @oksana126.
I would like to especially single out @idontknow-Toiro in recognition of their efforts maintaining and improving the wiki, as well as @nicoleb07 for managing to promote the sub in the Japan Times.
Who's Behind The Curtain?
The mods through most of 2022 were myself and @dee436. I would like to take this opportunity to thank @dee436 for their hard work and support over the past year. A couple of days before the year ended, we added @phillev to the team. I would like to thank @phillev for their efforts to date as well.
Data
Subscribers as of December 31
11,962
+149%
Average Monthly Unique Visitors
12,746
+98%
Average Monthly Pageviews
156,906
+91%
Total Posts
1,888
+49%
Posts Removed (excluding spam)
13
+0%
Total Comments
18,022
+36%
Comments Removed (excluding spam)
43
-9%
Bots Banned
18
-5%
Humans Banned
7
+133%
Final Reflections
I'm hopeful that we can increase the number of users contributing to the wiki this year. It's clear that there are lots of users who have great knowledge of specific topics, and I would encourage everyone with relevant expertise or experience to consider adding a few paragraphs. Even taking a moment to add a link to a useful comment or post made by someone else is valuable. And if you do make a significant contribution, be sure to let us know so we can reward you with a flair.
On a related note, I would strongly encourage everyone to use throwaway/single-use accounts where necessary, instead of deleting your post. There were a number of interesting threads last year that ended up being deleted, which makes it difficult for other users to learn from them or refer back to them. Using a throwaway account enables others to benefit from your post in the future, while still protecting your privacy.
I'm looking forward to another big year of discussion and collaboration. With the new invoice system coming in October, and a dramatically expanded NISA system to prepare for, I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about!
