The Monday Read

Oh Canada Edition

Well, it seems like I’m in Canada, eh?

First time here, we started with a couple of days in Vancouver. Lovely city, and we had incredible weather while we were there.

Next up is Calgary, then Toronto.

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We published a video on iDeCo last week, and a very short one on the MySOS app and (re)entering Japan. Please like, share, etc. 🙂

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (23,911 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

I actually finished some books this week. Finally finished The Ink Black Heart, by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling), which finished as it began: not very well. It felt like there was a bit too much autobiographical content crammed into it, along with a lack of understanding of a lot of the subject matter. Wouldn’t recommend.

Also read Brilliance, by Marcus Sakes, and the second book in the trilogy, A Better World. Really enjoyed these. They are sci-fi, kind of like an adult version of The Hunger Games, with elements of John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids. Very enjoyable, with some unexpected twists (heh, inside joke) and great world building. Definitely worth checking out if you like that kind of thing.

This week’s credit card

I’ve been using the Marriott Bonvoy (stupid name) Amex card for a while now, and it’s my main card because I can use the points for hotel stays with Marriott and also transfer them to air miles with various airlines.

This is a good card for someone who travels a lot and wants to use miles and points to stay in nice hotels and fly in more comfort. It is not a good general use card.

You get a free family card which is nice, although the annual fee is not cheap.

If you sign up through this link I’ll get some points for referring you 🙂

This week’s links

  1. I like the Swiss Cheese model. Makes a lot of sense: The marked contrast in pandemic outcomes between Japan and the United States
  2. I quite like this guy’s NISA and iDeCo progress videos. Simple explanations about new developments too (YouTube in Japanese): NISAとiDeCoを8年やった結果こうなった
  3. Anything to make family life easier is welcome: Miyagi Prefecture to grant workers leave to take care of grandkids
  4. Kind of obvious, but I haven’t seen it put like this before: What Would Happen to You in a Book?
  5. Makes sense. They’ve been trying to put photos on health cards for years now: government moving forward with merging health insurance cards, driving licenses, and zairyu cards with My Number: 紙の健康保険証24年秋に原則廃止、マイナンバーカード事実上義務化へ　あさって政府発表
  6. And the same story in English: Japan to scrap current non-digital health insurance cards in 2024
  7. Snippets of wisdom from Morgan Housel: Little Rules about Big Things
  8. Love this story about Bram Stoker: On Vampires and Method Writing
  9. I’m pretty sure my career is over, but good stuff here: Your Career Is Just One-Eighth of Your Life
  10. The reason Japan has a minimum number of shares you have to buy: “Sokaiya”: Japan’s Corporate Racketeers
  11. Save your money, man. That hit single don’t last too long: The Savings Imperative
  12. Good advice: The Worst Kind of Financial Advice

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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3 Responses

  1. Generally good reading in #1-12, and I’m more than a tentative supporter of tying things to the My Number card–one thing that would be nice is if your allowed medical costs (and then any deduction) would all happen automatically, instead of having to save receipts and then work it out (and file for it) on your own. Or get something like a ‘gensen’/源泉徴収 for the year’s medical expenses–which you could similarly submit when filing taxes.

    On the negative side, I’m put off by a few of the statements in #11. The author’s presumptions about japan/japanese and what ‘they’ think and feel, are too prominent/strong.

    1. Also, one of our kids did a year of study abroad at UBC, and really enjoyed it. Due to the nature of the exchange program, it worked out to be a cheaper year there than if they’d done that extra year here in Japan.

  2. #1 is missing something important I believe. 40+% of Americans are obese. Not just overweight but obese. Japan’s much, much less.

    The Swiss cheese method might benefit from having something about general healthcare. Get your exercise, sun, cold plunge, etc (refer to your post last week from Huberman) 🙂

    The US is pioneering a sick care system where I believe Japan is a staying a bit closer to a healthcare system.