Canadian Family Escapes Hot Bubble, Buys Japanese House Blindly
Brendan Pon, a 36-year-old ex-Toronto accountant turned recruiter turned semi-professional expat, ditched Canada in May 2024 for a "slower life" abroad, dragging his family (and dog) along. First stop: Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they quickly realized living in an expat bubble with sweat-inducing eternal heat wasn't the dream. So, in a move Elon Musk might admire, they bought a 49.8 million yen ($320k) house remotely in Osaka without actually living there, and officially moved in July 2025. Kids are toddler under-five models of resilience, biking and skipping car ownership like it’s a midlife crisis. Language barrier? Bureaucracy? They’re hoping kindness and Japanese neighbors will sort that out. Still cycling toward family bliss on two wheels.
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Why just move to another country when you can leapfrog continents twice in a year, buy a house sight unseen for $320k, and still pretend a 98% Japanese neighborhood with no car is 'slower life'? Realism called; it wants its expectations back.
Sure, they escaped Canada's rush only to face Thailand's sauna and a Japanese paperwork maze. You call that getting away from it all? Sounds like a global game of 'where's the chill'.
Bought a Japanese house online like ordering socks on Amazon, all while chasing 'slower' life. Meanwhile most of us are sweating at the DMV waiting for our driver’s license renewal.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 11/7/2025 | Author: Amanda Goh
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