The Monday Read: 2024 Awaits
The end of the year, the start of the new one. They are just normal days like any other but we imbue them with meaning. In Japan the whole country shuts down from December 29th to January 3rd. People go home, spend time with family, do big cleans, and think about the future. I don’t […]
2023 Roundup
All in one place This is the RetireJapan roundup post for 2023. We’ll be going through some successes and failures, as well as my lists of favourite blog posts and videos. Here is the 2022 post if you want to see what that year looked like. 2023 was the year of rapid evolution I finally […]
The Monday Read: Merry Christmas
Happy holidays to one and all. I hope you are enjoying the end of the year and have some time off. I hope things are going well for you, financially and otherwise. I hope you are optimistic about the future. We had our Xmas dinner last night as usual (Christmas Eve, Spanish style) so today […]
Progress Report 2023
The Progress Continues It’s the blog post none of you have been waiting for 😉 This year once again I am publishing my personal financial progress report post. You can see last year’s post here (and follow the chain back through time if you are interested -the first was in 2017 or so). I find […]
The Monday Read: it’s the little things
I believe the big things matter. Security, freedom. But it’s the little things that make life pleasant. Eating really good noodles. Reading a book to a kid when they ask you to (even if it’s the 74th time). Looking at the clouds. Relaxing into a hot bath. Taking a walk somewhere green. Sadly a lot […]
Letting things go
as we forgive those who tresspass against us I’m pretty good at moving on. I think it is an incredibly valuable life skill. Wasting time and energy on unwinnable fights is something I have trained myself not to do. Whenever I am vexed, I try to answer four questions: Most of the time, the answers […]
The Monday Read: You Win or You Learn
I learned something last week. (that’s the positive way to look at it, and I’m a fan of seeing the positive in every situation) I booked three nights in one of my favourite hotels. It’s an old school place on the coast of Miyagi near Kinkasan, about an hour and a half drive from where […]
RetireJapan Stories
Let us know how we are doing RetireJapan turned ten years old this week. Seems pretty incredible to me, and thinking back I can’t believe how far we have come. From blog to information website, forum, social media, publications, live events, online events, coaching, courses, YouTube, and most recently video courses. What’s coming next? I […]
The Monday Read: Happy Birthday to us
RetireJapan is ten years old today! On December 4th, 2013 the first blog post was published on this site. This post is #921. At this rate, we should hit blog post #1000 sometime towards the end of 2024. The blog was the first thing on RetireJapan, and in many ways it is the heart of […]
A moment of silence
Maybe we just need to subtract to get ahead For the last couple of weeks I have been trying a new habit. So far I am finding it really helpful, and it has transformed my working days. So what is this new habit? Sitting in silence and doing nothing at the start of the day […]