Life in Osaka with Julie and Charlie Pierce

This is a repost, just a little reminder about the blessing's of friends and travel. I'm deeply grateful to Julie and Charlie for this wonderful insight to a Japan rarely seen by the casual traveller or tourist.

My friends Julie and Charlie Pierce bought a little holiday house in the suburbs of Osaka and spend Spring and Autumn there...They are learning the language have made connections in the community and are working their way through the many varied and complex layers of Japanese life.

So Why Japan ? Why did you guys buy a holiday house in Japan?

JP: "First off we enjoy being there. It started when my eldest daughter Alice was about 12 she used watch a show on TV and decided that she absolutely loved Japan and some years later we were going on a family holiday and we went on our first trip to Japan because Alice wanted to see it and I thought OK why not yeah and then we all fell in love with it.

Since then we’ve been back every year or year and half or a couple of years at the very least. I’m not sure why specifically I love it so much it’s a bit of a mystery, it’s not the easiest country it can be quiet confusing, culturally, but probably what interests me the most is the Japanese aesthetic and their investment in craft and art how seriously they take it, how long they study it. Their perfectionism that is probably the biggest draw card for me ... the Japanese aesthetic and art.

It’s also an easy country to travel in, the people are generally very polite and helpful its safe its clean, its an easy country to get to from Australia, its not expensive. It’s a great place if you want something different from somewhere -like the Gold Coast - it’s a great place to have a holiday house."

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2157.html

Comments 10

Ian Mortimer

June 6, 2022 at 4:55 pm

Hello.
i love this story. My wife and i also fell in love with Japan and want to buy a home there just like Julie and Charlie. We would dearly love to be able to contact them and learn more from them . We have seen a lot of japan over the years and its great to now others share our passion., Could you please pass on my email to them. we would be soooo grateful.

Reply

Charlie
June 18, 2022 at 10:09 am

Hey Ian, Just saw your comment. Julie’s email is japierce.newtown@gmail.com and mine is charlie.pierce.newtown@gmail.com. Buying a house is easy with one caveat, you need to have an Australian Notary Public, within Australia indicate that you are the person that your passport states you are. After that just go to a real estate office, find a house and buy it. There are many inexpensive houses to select from but the real estate people, especially ones aimed at foreigners will try to only show you the more expensive houses.
Charlie