The Monday Read

Heading Overseas Edition

Heading to Canada this week at short notice, so I had to look into entry restrictions in Canada (none as of October 1st) and Japan.

Spent a couple of hours today trying to find, download, and fill in the MySOS app. Is it just me, or is the whole thing a prime example of how badly Japan does software?

The app was clearly made for something else (providing first aid information and the location of AED machines) and the name and *description on the app store* have not been updated. It is published by some company I have never heard of, instead of by Government of Japan, or Ministry of Health. The official immigration pages mention it but don’t link to it. There is no official source of information that is clear and easy to understand.

What part of this description tells you this app helps you clear immigration in Japan?

I hear it works quite well in practice, but why not take the extra bit of time to get all the details right?

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We published a video on regular NISA last week. Please like, share, etc. ๐Ÿ™‚

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (23,804 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

No new books this week! Still working through my backlog ๐Ÿ˜‰

This week’s links

  1. Everyone loves Andrew Huberman: Lessons From the Badass Muscular Neurobiologist
  2. I quite enjoy these takedowns of internet conmen (video): Applying for the BRIAN ROSE DeFi Academy
  3. Links within links: deep links. J- Links of Interest
  4. Long-term, things are looking pretty good! Getting Long-Term Bullish
  5. This is pretty gloomy stuff (and one reason I buy global stock indexes instead of S&P500 ones): CNBC Transcript: Duquesne Family Office Chairman & CEO Stanley Druckenmiller
  6. And the counter-argument: Could We See Another Lost Decade in the U.S. Stock Market?
  7. This video is really clear, unlike the J-gov website: How to enter Japan
  8. What are you giving up? The opportunity cost of everything
  9. How did I miss this incredible advert until now? Matt Damon hawking cryptocurrency… Fortune Favours the Brave
  10. I still need to build in the hour of exercise per day into my life: Known Costs, Unknowable Benefits
  11. I approve. Wages need to rise a lot more in Japan, especially for min wage workers: Minimum wage rises to exceed central government proposals in 22 prefectures
  12. I liked him even before I read this article: Brandon Sanderson Built an Underground Lair in Suburban Utah
  13. Craig Mod has a new pop-up newsletter. The last one was incredible, so I really recommend signing up for this one: Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Hantล
  14. Disgraceful. Hopefully we’ll see ever-greater citizen opposition. Japan Unlikely To Meet 2030 Goal For Emissions Reduction
  15. Damn. Some perspective: Mike Conner v. The Pain
  16. Undervalued Japan with a new stock analysis: Yodogawa Steelworks: A J- Net Beauty

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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20 Responses

  1. Not surprised about the website troubles at all. This is Japan. So far ahead in the future and so far behind.
    Iโ€™m in the process of trying to adopt and each time I need to fax the papers. I canโ€™t take them in or email them. I have to fax them.

    1. It’s weird because once you have it, the MySOS app works quite well, and I hear the procedures at the airport are pretty streamlined now.

      But no one thought to update the name and description on the app stores, or link to the app from the government websites… it’s like the people in charge don’t understand how smartphones or apps work ๐Ÿ˜‰

      1. Just be happy that this year (well, since September) is sooooo much better than last year. Once you get that blue screen it’s smooth sailing. From getting off the plane to clearing customs took about 10 minutes vs. about 2.5 hours previously.

        1. … until tomorrow, when tourists return en masse, and the airports realise they don’t have the capacity to deal with the increased numbers ๐Ÿ˜‰

          We leave on Thursday. Classic timing!

    2. I know this is off topic. But as an adoptee I really implore you to read, at the very least, “The Primal Wound.”

      Your child will have trauma and the better you understand it and the sooner they do, the better you will both be equiped to deal with it. I have been suffering from C-ptsd my entire life and only recently came to understand it all stems from being ripped from birth mother. Every adoptee experiences this “primal wound truama.” When my sister and I were adopted I’m the 70s and 80s it was not even hinted at. Only in the 90s were psychiatrists starting to realize this. Society and the medical professionals (see the DSM) don’t recognize this. But more doctors are. I wish my parents understood this. And I wish my doctors understood this when I was growing up. Instead I’m facing the origin of my pain of my truama at 41.

      I’m not trying to talk you out of adopting. It has its place in society. It’s not perfect. But much of the time it’s better than many of the alternatives. I just want you to have a better understanding of your child’s inevitable pain than my parents did.

    3. Would love to hear more about the process of adopting in Japan. What criteria you needed to meet and hoops you had to jump through.

  2. You don’t even need the SOS app anymore.

    You need vaccine proof for sure! Another app if you have your (new plastic) my number set up.

    You can use your SOS app to speed things up when you land in Japan. But unless it perfect (turns blue) then you have to go to a different line anyway and show your vaccine proof.

    1. My wife and I both have blue screens now. Whether that is enough to get through the ‘fully operational airports’ later in the month remains to be seen ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. I haven’t left Japan since the pandemic started in March 2020. The thought of quarantine and testing was too stressful. But now I am ready.
    I have been vaccinated three times and have the papers and QR codes to prove it. I have a MyNumber card (for what it’s worth). But nothing digital.
    So does the MySOS app import that data or must I install another app?
    Something straightforward like scanning my QR code into an app … but that may be too simple :-/
    Thank you.

    1. My understanding is that the MySOS app is an optional way to streamline processing at the airport.

      My experience is that (once you find and install it) it works quite well.

      You need to enter all your information (name, address, passport info, travel plans) and upload a picture of your passport and vaccination certificate (you can use a doc generated by the official Japan vaccine app). If it is accepted your app turns blue and you get to skip the procedures at the airport.

      1. It’s called ใ€Œๆ–ฐๅž‹ใ‚ณใƒญใƒŠใƒฏใ‚ฏใƒใƒณๆŽฅ็จฎ่จผๆ˜Žๆ›ธใ‚ขใƒ—ใƒชใ€. Icon is a red clipboard with four symbols in a square. You need a plastic My Number card to use it.

        2. ” You need a plastic My Number card to use it.”
          Is that a new requirement? I’ve entered 3 times with the SOS app and I don’t have a plastic card.

  4. Thank you.
    ” the official Japan vaccine app” … Can you provide the app’s name so I can find and install on my iPhone?

  5. The name is all kanji… none of which I read but “shin”
    If you go to the app store and type in “Japan Vaccine app” it should pop up.
    red icon, with a clipboard and what looks like a very simple QR code on the clipboard.