The Monday Read: Shrines in Japan
A constant theme in Japanese life This is Shiogama Shrine. It is over 1200 years old and one of the most important shrines in Tohoku. It’s just down the road from us. I got married there. We go there a couple of times a year, for life events and to get blessings. We were there […]
The Monday Read: Glorious Autumn
My favourite season in Japan by far Spent today at one of Miyagi’s 自然の家s. These are public facilities for schools, groups, families, and others to spend time in, learn about, and enjoy nature. They are wonderful. The one we visited was quite old, but well maintained. It has dorm rooms for about a hundred and […]
The Monday Read: Do the thing, then get motivated
It’s not the other way around Fans of the YouTube channel (yes, all three of you) may have noticed we haven’t published any videos since mid-July or so. My excuse for this is layered. First I got busy trying to hire a new teacher for my wife’s school. Then I took a trip to Europe. […]
Your First Ten Million Yen
Why our course might be the key to you unlocking tens or hundreds of millions of yen I started RetireJapan in 2013 to help people learn about personal finance. A friend of mine had been telling me about the investments his ‘financial advisor’ had sold him. It was the usual overseas insurance policy offshore pension […]
The Monday Read: Japan is a high trust society
It’s one of the best things about living here Last Saturday I realised I didn’t have my wallet. Looked for it everywhere. Didn’t find it. Was calm at first but the longer I looked the less calm I felt. It had some cash in it (meh). My cashcard (yikes). A credit card (not sure which […]
The Monday Read: Uninvited Guests
Time for a little autumn cleaning perhaps The shift in the weather caught me off guard this week. We went from AC on to “hmmm, might need a light jacket” in what seemed like minutes. Very welcome though, especially if that was the end of the humidity. Found this fine fellow in my office today. […]
The Monday Read: The Paradox of Aging
The better you get, the less time you have left I’m almost 50 (which seems completely unbelievable to me), and I recently started training jiu-jitsu again somewhat regularly. I’m a mediocre blue belt in jiu-jitsu. I foolishly started at the age of forty, and got pretty into it before I knew what I was doing, […]
The Monday Read: Hospitalised
Japanese Health Care is Accessible at Least I’ve had a bit more experience with the health care system in Japan than I would like, mainly due to my taking up jiu-jitsu at the unwise age of 40. It’s not perfect. There seem to be a lot of doctors who aren’t quite as good as you […]
The Monday Read: Momentum
Even better than compound interest? In personal finance, everyone is (understandably) obsessed with compound interest. Eighth wonder of the world, and all that. But I find momentum might be even more important. I’m just starting to get my life back in order after a slightly chaotic and unproductive July and August, and I’m rediscovering the […]
The Monday Read: Jet Lag
Living life at the wrong speed For much of last week I felt kind of dislocated, like I was living life at the wrong speed. It wasn’t pleasant. Almost felt kind of depressed, which is not a state I enjoy. A lot of it was jet lag. Some of it was coming back to work, […]