The Monday Read

30-50 Feral Hogs Edition

A couple of weeks ago 30-50 feral hogs (actually a boar and her… boarlets?) invaded my in-laws’ place and dug up their lawn.

As a consequence, last Monday I spend all morning helping my wife and a friend of hers build a boar fence to secure the yard.

I’m not convinced this fence is going to work, but at least it made my mother in law feel a bit better.

And it was nice to get out in the sun and do some exercise.

YouTube

The RetireJapan YouTube channel is still creaking along. Our fourth video was late but came with a few upgrades (background music, images, pin mic). Check it out 🙂

If you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see on our channel, feel free to post them in the comments on this post or on YouTube.

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (21,325 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

I’m still enjoying the Will Smith autobiography, Will (written by Mark Manson).

There is one line about halfway through where he talks about getting some advice from someone about working in the movie business “you can disagree with someone, but don’t put your hands on them and you’ll be okay” which seems like foreshadowing…

Was also reminded of Atul Gawande’s masterful Being Mortal by the trailer for Plan 75 (link below), so I’m going to reread that.

This week’s thing

I’ve been using kleen kanteen water bottles for years (I have three of them). Made from stainless steel, they are durable, safe, and great to carry around all day. I fill mine from our water filter at home.

You can tell I got a lot of use out of this one!
(dents not included with a new bottle)
  1. I’m glad we live on a 3rd floor manshon: High anxiety
  2. The Accumulator seems to be enjoying it: FIRE update: one year anniversary
  3. New Asthenic track (YouTube). I love writing to these.
  4. Don’t always agree with Nat Eliason, but he’s always thought-provoking.
  5. An interesting prediction: A very British 2050s
  6. Enjoyed this short podcast: The Best Advice from Mr. Money Mustache
  7. This story of one person’s experience with their spouse dying and family contesting inheritance is pretty terrifying: A torii, time for reflection and an end to legal troubles
  8. This changed my mind: In Praise of Memorization
  9. Some intersting numbers on yields in Japanese rental properties here: The Most Important Factor When Investing in Real Estate: Yield
  10. This is SO nice! I Built My Dream House in Japan
  11. The other other retirement plan: Plan 75
  12. Pretty convinving: Should I Invest in Real Estate in Japan? Three Arguments For

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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One Response

  1. I feel like the whole world of expat Japan saw Dogen’s house. It is utterly gorgeous and he is a very hard working fellow. It was a very happy and encouraging video.