The Monday Read
Obon Edition I had a very pleasant and restful break over obon this year. Had been hoping to go to jiu-jitsu class every day, but ended up hurting my hand so hung out with my wife instead 😉 Ate a lot, read a few books, thought about life. I hope everyone had some restful time […]
Digital Detox
Taking a day off the internet I’ve had a fairly serious internet addiction for many years now. I have had other addictions in the past, most of which I dealt with by going cold turket -just shutting off the behaviour completely. I’m very much an all or nothing person: I find it much easier not […]
The Monday Read
Retirement Round Two Edition Regular readers are probably tired of me whining about working as an emergency replacement teacher at my wife’s school from March. I am too! So it was with some degree of anticipation that I welcomed my replacement last Wednesday. I am tentatively going to ease into pseudo-retirement now, doing a couple […]
The Monday Read
Need to Deal with Twitter Again Edition Over the last few weeks I have found myself spending more and more time on Twitter. And not in a good way. This seems to happen to me every six months or so. I slowly end up spending more and more time on social media, finding myself posting […]
The Monday Read
Jiu-jitsu/Freedom Edition Well, I have another week of full-time teaching left. In early August my wife’s new teacher will start, and I will finally be able to transition to a more balanced schedule, where I have time for myself and RetireJapan as well as helping with my wife’s school. You cannot imagine how much I […]
The Monday Read
Happy Cake Day Edition Two good updates in a row -something bad must be about to happen 😉 My daughter and granddaughters made a carrot cake for me this week -and it only took a couple of weeks of whining on my part! Those red things are cranberries, which worked surprisingly well. Delicious. Sadly it […]
The Monday Read
Oh Happy Day Edition Last Wednesday our new water heater was installed, just under six months after it broke in January. Apparently there are still serious shortages of water heaters, toilets, and all sorts of other products in Japan. The reason for this is that they are/were manufactured in China, and the lockdowns/supply chain issues […]
The Monday Read
Staycation Edition Managed to take a couple of days off last week, so took a short staycation at one of our favourite ‘local’ hotels (it’s about an hour and a half away by car, on the Oshika Peninsula opposite Kinkasan). The prefecture is running a travel promotion scheme (like the Go To ones earlier in […]
The Monday Read
Heat Edition Here we are, breaking heat records again. I am a fairly optimistic person, but climate change worries me. I have felt Sendai’s climate change in the 22 years I have been here. Everything I read or learn indicates that things are going to continue getting worse going forward, unless we hit a tipping […]
The Monday Read
Travel Chaos Edition Seeing the news of travel chaos from airports in the UK/Europe, I’m no longer as excited about the idea of traveling later in the year. Had been hoping to take a trip to Europe after the summer, and now it looks like I might have to go to Canada in the autumn […]