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The original was posted on /r/japanlife by /u/Gloomy-Sugar2456 on 2023-08-10 16:08:28.

Have been reading up on various posts dealing with the issue of keeping your PR status while being outside Japan for an extended period of time. However, what remains unclear to me (and maybe someone can share her/his personal experience) is the following:

1. Let’s say I need to be back in my home country to take care of my ailing parents for potentially more than 5 years. My Japanese wife and our son would come with me. I get my 5 year re-entry permit, cancel our apartment, and de-register at the Kuyakusho. What will happen to my still valid residence card? Will the Kuyakusho or Immigration put a comment on the back of the card saying something like ‘no address’ or ‘moved overseas’?
2. Can you actually (and legally) have no address in Japan (not talking about a friend’s paper address) while holding a PR and being overseas for up to 5 years or more?
3. What do I do if I need to get a further 5 year re-entry permit, come back to Japan for a week or two to apply for it, but obviously have no address? Is that legally possible?
4. What do you do, if at any time during your stay overseas, you need to renew your residence card while not having an address in Japan?
5. Bonus question: can you renew your driver’s license with a valid PR and a valid residence card that potentially states ‘no address’ on the back (assuming the renewal notification postcard is mail forwarded to a friend’s address)?

I contacted two immigration/visa agencies with these questions and the only answer I got from both was ‘uh, not sure, talk to immigration.’ Before I do that, I wanted to see if anyone out there was in a similar situation and how he/she went about it. Yes, I could keep a paper address with a friend or give up my PR and go the spousal visa route later on, but this is not what I’m asking for above.

Thanks for any valuable input/experiences.