Luke.
All I can say is " may the force be with you"
The Ajx guys flying the schedules now and indeed, for the past year or so, have seen what it s all about. They were given the option to move across, a very generous offer was made, more money and immediate payout of some bonuses, etc. So far the response has been lukewarm (to be generous). I would venture to say that very few, if any of the guys have "rushed forward" to take advantage of this generous offer.
The new hires will be on a "C" scale salary with some issues, rebate travel, etc still unclear. As you quite rightly state, the residence and taxation issues are also very unclear. One of the contract companies is advertising the flexibility in the future with reduced rosters being an option. They omit to mention that this offer is at the company's discretion, i.e. when they have too many pilots. I don't see this happening for a looong time to come.
The operation will be out of at least 3 or more Japanese airports, Kansai, Haneda, Narita, Nagoya for sure now. The pilot wil be positioned between the airports. Positioning will take place by air, by bus (for which he will receive no credit towards overtime). This ground transport positioning does not feature in duty time and one can expect to position by bus, a/c then by bus again,chweing up 4 hrs or more, THEN, having to do an all nighter, 2 sectors or more.
Little thought is given to the effects of overnight flights and time zone changes. Rostering does not allow for adequate rest between duties and fatigue management is non- existant
All I can say is, be careful. This contract, as good as it sounds and as good as it can be, is at present very tough and could get a lot worse.