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Da Nang is Vietnam's remote-work sweet spot — beachfront, dirt-cheap, with surprisingly fast fibre and a mellow pace that Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City lack, plus charming Hoi An next door (though it floods in October–November). Timing matters: the central coast gets typhoons and flooding September–November and Hanoi turns grey and drizzly January–March, so the south is the dry-season bet November–April. Avoid arriving around Tet (Lunar New Year, late Jan/Feb) when much of the country shuts for a week, and note the new 90-day multiple-entry e-visa has made longer stays far simpler than the old border runs.

Japan runs on routines that catch newcomers off guard: many small businesses are still cash-only, and standard apartment leases demand key money, guarantors and Japanese paperwork — so furnished monthly rentals or share houses are far easier for stays under a year. Fukuoka is the quiet nomad pick (cheaper, startup-friendly and the fastest hop to the rest of Asia), while Kyoto's famous sites are increasingly over-touristed and Tokyo is pricey. Skip the humid June rainy season and sticky August; late-autumn foliage (November) and the dry, mild winter are underrated, and keep a pocket-WiFi or eSIM since public Wi-Fi is patchier than you'd expect.