The Monday Read

Autumn is here edition

And it feels great. Really enjoying the cool, dry weather, sunny days, and wonderful evenings. Definitely my favourite time of year in Japan.

Went to Koganeyama Shrine on Kinkasan in Miyagi again this year for the ‘get rich ceremony’. Allegedly if you participate three years in a row you will become rich. Last year was going to be our third year, but there was a typhoon so all boats to the island (and the ceremony) were cancelled.

According to my granddaughter this resets the clock for us, so I guess this was year one again.

The ceremony was packed this year. At the end of it, they call everyone up by name to come and make an offering, and when they call they include where you are from and which company you are representing.

Lots of hairdressers this time, as well as the usual engineering companies etc.

Kind of unsurprisingly, but still disapppointingly, about 80% of the people called were not from Miyagi. Maybe half were from Tokyo, and the rest from other prefectures including Kochi, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Osaka, Aichi, etc.

I for one am looking forward to the government allowing us to travel to other prefectures as long as we are vaccinated, as they have been discussing on the news for the last few weeks 😉

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (15,791 posts to date). Here are the latest active threads:

RetireJapan Online Conference (save the date)

The inaugural RetireJapan online conference will be held on Labor Thanksgiving Day (November 23rd). It will be free and held through Zoom. More details nearer the time. Recordings will be made available for people that can’t make it on the day (where possible) but do come and join us if you can.

This week’s books

This week I started rereading the Dune series, in preparation for seeing the new film on Oct 15th. Dune was as good as ever, and I am now slogging through Dune Messiah so I can get to the later books in the series.

Also started The Napoleonic Wars, by Alexander Mikaberidze, which is meant to be very good.

This week’s links

1. This is an interesting short Twitter thread: the technical and psychological design rationale behind everyday things
2. I really like Derek (Taipei TED talk): The “good enough” life choice
3. Great overview of the LDP leadership race: They Are Off!
4. Wonder how high this number will get? Seniors account for record 29.1% of Japan’s population
5. I don’t know why Japan doesn’t focus more on this: Geothermal energy is poised for a big breakout
6. I got a cold last week (or maybe something more): My Experience Getting Covid
7. Another timely reminder: The investor’s lifecycle
8. I definitely need to have a plan every day: Abundance & Scarcity: The Enemies of Appreciation
9. There is always a cost: History’s Seductive Beliefs
10. Try to see the other side: Defending change (or the status quo)
11. This is kind of the way I see things now (Twitter thread): the best way to frame financial goals
12. Are things going to improve by the end of the year? Vaccination benefits eyed to stimulate Japanese economy
13. Really interesting brief history of Egypt: The Dictatorship of the Nile
14. This is a great example of someone making their hobby into a lifestyle that pays their way (also I’m in it for about 3 seconds, at the 13:40 mark): The Gentle Art of Travel
15. A reason not to overweight the US going forward? Tuning in to reasonable expectations
16. I love this, and it’s kind of what we did for the last 15 years: Go big, then stop
17. Another sleazy investment product: Promising Stock Market Returns Without Market Risk
18. Loved this interview: Confessions of a Michelin Inspector
19. Time to buy some VTV? Mr. Market Is Offering Us a Second Bite at Value Stocks

What do you think? Anything good in there? Pretty good selection this week, even if I do say so myself!

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