Notes

Hi Terrie,
Thanks for your offer, it's really interesting as for me. There are some concerns I want to clarify:

1. I'm quite confused with the 9-15 months, and 15+ months. Can you explain a bit more on this? For example, how about the salary if I'm on:
a. First month after probation
b. 7th month after probation
c. 9th month after probation
d. 15th month after probation

2. I saw only the tax row in the excel file.
a. Why it's 15% on the "All cash" option, but 12% on the Assisted option?
b. How about the health insurance, does it have any assistance from company for this? I don't know how Japanese's companies apply this insurance but in almost companies I have worked on, they bought an extra health insurance for employees beside the required one (issued by goverment).
c. Does it have any different of tax and issurance between single and married status?

3. I saw in the Excel, it is 80.000 for the appartment covering. Does it include the other fees like electric, internet or TV cable? I hope it will be included in this part, because it will be great for me if I can exclude some kinds of this stuffs out of my head.

And please see my comments below:

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Major points:
A. BEFORE DEPARTURE
1. If you accept the offer, you can start any time. I'm assuming that you need to give 2-4 weeks notice, so tentatively you can start sometime at the end of October.
[Tuan Duong]
- My current contract will be finished on 03/11. I'd like to have some days to refresh myself, so it's better for me if we can start at 15/11/2015.
- I will have a short trip to US in the end of this year, so I'd like to take some days off on that periods. I'm preparing for the visa but my plan in US is from Dec 13th to Jan 4th.
- It's great for me if I will go to Japan after Lunar New Year - It's our traditional holiday and I want to go to my hometown with family. So I think I can go to Japan around Feb 14-15th.

2. While waiting for your 3-year multiple re-entry work visa, which will take 6-12 weeks to receive, I would like you to work at Thanh's office in HCMC, working on projects that we set for you prior to your departure for Japan. You'll be working alongside Guilhem, who is used to dealing with team members who are remote workers. Please let me know if that will be acceptable.
[Tuan Duong]
Sure, I have no idea with this.

3. We will take care of all visa issues, including payment for it. You will need to prepare some paperwork per our requests, that will be submitted to Immigration. We have brought in over 100 engineers in the past, and I'm very positive that there will be no problems with your visa.
[Tuan Duong]
Sure, thank you.

B. ACTUAL OFFER
1. Offer is presented in two different ways, and you need to choose one: firstly as all-cash, and you will look after his own major expenses (flight and accommodation). Or, secondly as "Assisted" which means we give you a little less cash, but we cover the major upfront costs and also pay the apartment out of our pocket (thus this becomes tax-free for you). So that you can understand the benefits of both methods, I have roughly calculated the after-tax savings you can enjoy from both method. It is easy to see that the lower tax required for "Assisted" results in your retaining more savings.
[Tuan Duong]
- Thanks for your suggestions, the 'Assisted' one sounds good as for me. It's not easy for live on the first time of new place, so I don't want to take too much time on other stuffs.

2. "Assisted" in particular means that we look after your apartment, including the deposit. If you take the "all-cash" option, you will be responsible for this.
[Tuan Duong]
- As my above comment, I think "Assisted" is the best choice for me.

3. Salary progression is arranged according to your place of work and duration of service. In Vietnam, we assume you already have somewhere to live, so are offering "cash-only". Pay rises happen once you're in Tokyo.
[Tuan Duong]
- Sure, agree.
4. You will be basically on probation in Vietnam, while we wait for your visa. However, company policy means that we need at least some probation time in Japan as well -- to make sure that you and the rest of the team get along. Normally we do 3-month probations, however, Thanh suggested to me that we reduce this, and I agree. Therefore, we're only asking for a 1-month probation period In Tokyo. After the probation, your salary will increase as shown -- with the final amount depending on whether you take Option 1 or Option 2. There will be another pay review 12 months after that. I haven't shown what happens after 15 months, because it could be that you would like to move back to Vietnam and set up a satellite office for us there, which I am OK with, so long as things go well in the first year. Alternatively, you might like Japan (it's an easy place to live), in which case we will do annual pay/performance reviews.
[Tuan Duong]
- Sure, I agree with this.

4a. Your contract will be one-year renewable contract with no limit. Since your visa will probably be for 3 years (12 months is shortest Immigration provides, 3 years is standard), at least we'd like you to consider working for us for 3 years. Ideally I like long-term relationships, and my senior developer, Guilhem, has been with me more than 6 years (although now working in Hong Kong for us).
[Tuan Duong]
- Yes, there is no concern from me.

4b. In contrast to the 1-year renewable contract, there is another type of contract that Japanese locals prefer, which is called "Sei-shain" or Regular Employee contract. You could be on this type contract if you like, but it requires you to contribute to the Japanese social insurance system -- which means we would have to deduct an additional 18% from your salary. I think that since you may only be in Japan for 12-15 months (i.e., if you/we decide to set up a Vietnam office), I think this is unnecessary. Maybe if you decide to stay in Japan, we can talk about it then.
[Tuan Duong]
- Yes, agree.

5. The return airfare is shown on a monthly basis in "1/12ths" -- this is just for convenience of showing the amount on a monthly basis. In reality, we will of course pay the airfare in advance.
[Tuan Duong]
- Agree, thanks for that.

6. Public transport is important. We pay for this to get you to/from work, which means: a) you don't need a car -- a huge saving over being somewhere like USA or Russia, b) Actually we pay "at cost" so we will cover any amount up to JPY20,000/month. I think that commuting from 30mins away should cost you about JPY15,000/month, c) in Japan, public transport is cheap, frequent, reliable, and very safe.
[Tuan Duong]
- Yes, agree.
C. BUDGET ITEMS
1. These are of course not income, but just an indication to you of what things cost in Japan. If you take the "All cash" option, one thing not shown is the deposit for an apartment, which is usually 6 months. We would be prepared to lend you the money for this deposit, but of course you will need to pay it back over the following months. If you take the "Assisted" option, we cover the deposit completely.
[Tuan Duong]
Yes, I will choose "Assisted", so no problem from me.

2. Food costs are just basic and assume that you're mostly buying (Asian) food from supermarkets. Japan is pretty cheap (compared to Europe or USA) and JPY2,000/day will buy a fairly decent diet. If you want to save even more, it is possible to live on about 2/3 of that.
[Tuan Duong]
It's nice to know. I will balance my spending on this.

Lastly, since you will be in Japan, we will be paying in Japanese yen. Thanh asked me what would happen if the Japanese yen devalues. I think there will be little variation in the yen against the dollar (and thus the VND), since most of the major moves against the yen have already happened. Other countries like China and Korea wouldn't allow the Japanese to devalue the yen significantly more, and probably it is near the bottom of its range. If anything, it's more likely the yen will strengthen again, and settle in the JPY100-JPY110 to the dollar range.
[Tuan Duong]
Thanks for your information. I agree with this.