What is money for?
The million dollar question Your answer to this question determines how you spend your money, your chances of financial success, and even how happy you can be. So what is money for? In personal finance, I believe that attitudes towards money are more important than habits, and habits are more important than knowledge. I used […]
The Monday Read: Myaku Myaku Fever
Is the Osaka Expo going to be a huge bust? I saw the other day that the Osaka Expo is starting in less than three months. Is anyone planning to go? The website to buy tickets is a complicated mess (you need to book in order to enter a lottery in order to book?). I […]
Guest post: My Akiya Story
For the right person it can be a great option This is a guest post adapted from a comment on one of my YouTube videos (used with permission). It was so good that I thought it was worth sharing here. A balanced and positive view of the possibilities opened up by buying an akiya (empty […]
The Monday Read: The future of Japan
Is likely to be different to how it is now Just spent a few days at Appi Ski Resort in Iwate with my wife and granddaughter. We’ve been coming here for a few years now and there have been some massive changes during that time. The first big one was when the hotels were rebranded […]
The RetireJapan Master Plan 2025 part 2
Replies to Feedback -Thank you! My favourite thing about RetireJapan is a selfish one. It is an incredibly effective place to get feedback and refine my thinking. After last week’s post, I got a lot of very constructive feedback, comments, and advice. In this post I will go through some of it and add my […]
The Monday Read: Brighter Skies Ahead
Sometimes all you need is a bit of perspective This week I published a slightly gloomy blog post. I was feeling a bit down, feeling like I wasn’t making progress, feeling frustrated. I got a lot of nice comments and suggestions, which helped me look at the situation from a new perspective. And I also […]
The RetireJapan Master Plan 2025
The Master Master Plan This is the fourth RetireJapan master plan post (you can see the previous one here and from there go back in time fractally). It’s been a couple of years since the last one, so I thought you were due an update. A lot has changed, and at the same time, not […]
The Monday Read: More and more
Medical hijinks and a scam artist I had more new interesting medical experiences this week (just some tests, nothing serious) which I may write up on the blog in the future. And my wife received a call from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare informing her that she was suspected of buying illegal drugs […]
iDeCo vs Fuka Nenkin
Which makes more sense for you? This post is just for people who pay into kokumin nenkin. Regular employees, who are likely enroled in kosei nenkin, don’t have to worry about this. Neither do dependent spouses. And if you pay into kokumin nenkin kikin, you already pay fuka nenkin as part of that. Phew. The […]
The Monday Read: Influenza
That’s when I knew I messed up Last Sunday I got back to Japan after the tiring and very stressful study abroad trip to The Philippines. Finally I could relax. Big mistake. On Tuesday my granddaughter was crying in the morning. I asked her what was wrong but she didn’t answer. We checked her temperature. […]