Case 1:  Bhakta

My husband and I decided to immigrate to Okinawa in November 2019. There are two reasons for choosing Okinawa as our migration destination. Firstly, we have three cats, so we were wanting to have a shorter flight travel time for them.  Secondly, it allows us to be able to go back to Hong Kong visiting our parents more often. Since we had this plan, my husband started to do some research about it.   Unfortunately, at that time, there were not many immigration companies having experience with migration to Okinawa, and even if they did, they only suggested us to run a B & B business or buying a property for renting out. Since I am a psychotherapist, a part-time lecturer at a university in Hong Kong, supervisor for practicum social work students as well as counselling students & training kindergarten teachers, both my husband and I were not very keen in running a B&B business. After a few screenings of some immigration companies, my husband had two preferences and had selected the final two - Wingate and another immigration company, as we felt that they were very responsible and their fees were reasonable. In the end, we chose to use Wingate, as Wingate’s colleagues were even more sincere and willing to listen of the two.

During the initial stage, Wingate’s colleagues worked on our proposal very seriously. In particular, the Administrative Procedures Legal Specialist, who did not know much about our industry, therefore he enquired from us many times, trying to understand my occupation and business more accurately and kept revising the plan.  He even researched information for us behind the scenes. In the end, the proposal we received from him had absolutely impressed us. It was just like a personal annual report that clearly listed our development over the years and was supported by substance-rich information. After that, the proposal was submitted to the Japanese authorities, in just two months, the COE (Certificate of Eligibility) was approved in February, 2021.  Unfortunately, due to the epidemic, we had to wait until March, 2022 for the border to re-open.   While waiting to enter Japan, WINGATE had been continuously giving us advice and support, and were constantly assisted us during the uncertainty of entering the country. I am most grateful that no extra fees were charged.  Compared to some immigration agencies used by our friends, who were constantly charged extra fees, I am so glad that I chose WINGATE.

In regard to my business, as the main applicant of the company, my jobs main responsibility is dealing with counselling and arranging various exchange courses. I have also designed a theme cartoon character (OKINIE) and a series of his group of family OKINIE BOND for my company.  I have also launched a picture story book creation of this series and been selling related products. OKINIE is also registered as a trademark in Japan, it contains a lot of counselling elements.  So, I hope to introduce this cartoon character to every one of you and give you some heart-warming inner support. In addition, as my husband can speak some Japanese, he helps our company from time to time to provide support to those who have immigrated to Okinawa.

In addition, as we are only a few points away from achieving the Highly Skilled Foreign Professional visa, which allows us to be able apply for permanent residency much sooner if we meet the standard, WINGATE’s colleagues are even more anxious than we are about this, and they have been frequently helping us analyse what else we can do to achieve this target. We are really appreciative of their support which empowers us to try to reach this goal.

Facebook (Okinawa Hongmao): www.facebook.com/bhakta.ryan

Instagram (Okinawa, GO together): www.instagram.com/okinawa_igo23

Website (Counselling Work): https://innerguides.wixsite.com/sandplayigo

The following are Bhakta’s personal designs, services and products.

Okinie has landed in Japan and been made into different beautiful products, for the time being, it has products of wooden signs and customized postcards. OKINIE also has its own picture story book, and it is an honour to be invited by a Hong Kong social service organisation to share the story of growing up OKINIE that at the same time, encourages the personal development of young people.

Grief Healing Service: Graduated Furry Angel Painting provides grief healing services for graduated furry friend owners.

Psychotherapy: Connecting Your Unicorn

One of BHAKTA’s articles on personal development in Sandplay therapy applies CARL JUNG psychological theory to the theme of Unicorn. The Unicorn paintings and the psychological state of the client are thus used as the basis for the therapy.

Case 2:  Ajito

Feeling upset about the social climate?

How does the significant change of Hong Kong's education affect our children?

How can you adjust to the changes and get back to normal daily living?

These are the questions that I used to have on my mind, and maybe they are the questions that you all have been wondering about too.

Hello, my name is Ajito, I have been working in the comic book industry in Hong Kong for over 20 years and now my family has moved to Tokyo, Japan.

Like many people in Hong Kong, we have always been fond of Japanese people, culture and things, and we often traveled to Japan for holidays. In recent years, I have realized the environment in Hong Kong is not ideal for our family and I would like my two sons to have a healthy upbringing, able to live in a free, happy environment that they enjoy.

Although I have a BNO which provides me an option to move to the UK, as for a place to settle and live for a long time, it has to be a place where we genuinely love and understand it’s culture and background.  No matter where we move to in the world, we can’t avoid facing many obstacles in life, in starting a new business or work.  So, why did we end up choosing to move to Japan?  How did we overcome all these obstacles when we moved to a new country?

At a dinner party with friends, Michael, whom I have known for many years, suggested that he could move to Japan.

One time at a friend’s dinner party, we were talking about our future prospects when Michael whom I have known for many years, suggested that we could move to Japan. I realized that he has been in the business centre industry for more than 20 years as well as being an immigration service provider for more than 10 years, specializing in Japan immigration.  As his company has been doing business with the Japanese for more than 20 years, and has helped Japanese people come to Hong Kong to develop their business, as such he has an extensive business and personnel network in Japan.

Michael himself is especially fond of Japan, so if he immigrates, he will choose Japan. As such, he hopes to help people wanting to move to Japan as much as he can.  Since immigrating to Japan is such a big decision for every family, and they have to endure a lot of changes in their lives and the pressure of work, after chatting with Michael, I decided to immigrate to Japan, as I trusted that he would help me along the way.

Now, we have been living in Japan for more than 2 months, due to the language issue, I have encountered a lot of obstacles, such as renting an apartment, finding an office, opening a bank account, applying for certificates, finding a school for my sons and so forth.  So fortunately, I was able to solve all of these problems one by one with the support of the Japanese colleagues of Wingate Immigration.  In addition, I have been able to manage all my Hong Kong’s company affairs with the professional clerical and secretarial services provided by Wingate Business Centre, so that I do not have to worry about anything while I am overseas.

Right now, I am so glad to see my two children love to go to school here in Japan, their classmates always take the initiative in helping them out and they have found no study pressure at all here.  It’s exactly like what I used to have, a happy childhood.

Furthermore, the quality of clothing, food, accommodation and transportation are quite a lot better here.  The living space is especially larger, but the rent is so much less expensive than Hong Kong. The environmental planning and facilities are more well planned and comprehensive.  For food, it is so fresh and cheap.  The air is so refreshing and the environment always feels so comfortable.  As a result, I have noticed my health has improved a lot after moving here.  Also, my asthma hasn’t recurred at all, and my son's nasal allergy is also gone, which is such a big bonus for us.

In the past couple of years, many immigration companies have suddenly appeared on the internet that offer immigration to Japan. For me, immigration is a major life decision, so you really need to find an immigration consulting company which has a good reputation and does real work for you and it can really help you in your immigration life, work and business. You should know which one to choose from.

If you are interested in knowing more about my life in Tokyo, you can check out my Facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/chihung.ho.52