long term business trips out of Japan

Hi,

in the next few years I expect to be going on long term business trips outside of Japan more or less regularly. Trips will be around 2-6 months long.

I would like to avoid keeping my apartment during the longer trips in particular.

Maybe others already have experiences with such trips and can shed some light, give advice, warnings about pitfalls etc...

Here is what I am aware of at the moment:

There are two main options:

1) register a temporary overseas address when leaving Japan and re-register at the new address when coming back.

2) try somehow to keep a fixed address at a friend or a really cheap apartment.

For either option I am considering using the service by tokyomate to get mail rerouted to a Tokyo address and digitalized while I am away (or maybe just always).

Option 2) would reduce administrative issues considerably but if the friend moves (not unlikely) then it also can cause trouble (e.g. if I happen to be far away at the moment). Nonetheless if somebody did this and has some tips / knows some issues I'd be happy to hear them.

For option 1) I am wondering how much of a hassle it is. Can I just go to the ward and say I am away for say 5 months and leave the other organizations in the dark for the time being (e.g. health insurance, pension system, driver's licence, bank...). I will be getting their mail anyway and my company should keep paying my health insurance and pension. I guess for this case I am mostly interested in things that can go wrong that I may not be thinking about. But any advice is very welcome. I will probably go with option 1) for the upcoming trip to check it out and then see if it is worth sorting it out more permanently with something like option 2).

Sorry for such a long question but I am hoping there are others with similar situations and this can collect some information that is quite hard to find on the web.

"my company should keep paying my health insurance and pension."
I don't understand why you think they "should" do it.
which do you mean about "my company", the company you own, or the company you are working ?

in either case, if you think they "should" do it, I think you can register your "present address" to the company's address.

generally speaking, if you go abroad by the order of your company, you keep your position in your company. it is quite common that they take care of miscellaneous things, when you are absent.

@ken

Interesting point, thank you very much for your answer!

So first some clarification: "my company" is the company I work for. I should have said they "will" pay instead of "should" pay for health insurance and pension.

I also now realize that "business trip" is kind of loosely defined in my case. I am pretty much free to choose when and where to go. You could also say that I work remotely during this time.

So generally I would like to keep administrative burden low also for my company since it is kind of a freedom they grant me and also it isn't a big company.

Anyway, if registering my address at the company address is a possibility this still could be a great solution. Is this common practice? Does this mean I can generally have a commercial address as my residential address? Will my boss be the head of household?

I tried to find the regulations on residential addresses online but I couldn't find them so any hints in this respect would be great!