The Monday Read: 200th Edition

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. This is our 200th Monday Read on the new blog (here’s the first one, from 2018!). I don’t think we can claim 200 in a row, but we haven’t missed many Mondays in the […]

Financial Fears and The Pressure of the Blank Page

Retirement Update July 2023 Someone offered me a job this week and for a few minutes I actually thought about taking it. Then I came to my senses and realized how little I actually want that. Having to be at work by a certain time, five days a week, 200+ days a year? Needing to […]

The Monday Read: Noticing

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. I’ve been really impressed with my phone camera recently. Found this crab on the path on my way to work the other day and took a quick pic, but the quality is unreal. Funnily […]

The Monday Read: Finding Treasure

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. That dragonfly was just sitting on the fence when I got to work. I guess it was too hot for dragonflies as well as humans that day. Recently I find myself stopping to take […]

The Monday Read: Borrowing Nice Things

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. Last week I needed to drive somewhere and my wife was using her car. There is a Toyota Rentacar just down the street, so I booked a car through them. You get a slight […]

The Monday Read: little everyday joys

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. Photos cannot do justice to the sky we had on Saturday. It was breathtakingly spectacular. And gone in a few minutes. Noticing it, and taking a moment to appreciate it, was a tiny everyday […]

The Monday Read: Spending Time and Money

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musing, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. Well, I am enjoying being back in Sendai. It is home, after all. My diet has slipped, but I am going to get back on track tomorrow. Exercise is going well, I’m doing a […]

The Monday Read: Miyakojima

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musing, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. Spent the last four days on Miyakojima with my wife. It was my first trip to Okinawa Prefecture, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Miyako is great. Small, sleepy, not too many tourists (compared […]

The Monday Read: Natto for Life

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musing, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. This week, after 23 years in Japan, I started eating natto. I’m sure this had nothing to do with the fact that I recently kind of decided to naturalize here 😉 I had tried […]

The Monday Read: Health as Number One Priority

RetireJapan Monday Read logo and illustrative photo of newspapers and coffee.

I’ve decided my main priority at the moment is health. Not work, not family, not hobbies, not friends, not (gasp!) money, but health. After all, a healthy man wants many things, but a sick man only one. I’m still aiming to lose another 9 kg or so, to reach 77 kg (and stay there!) by […]