Best July ever
I am loving the perfect temperatures so far this July. Long may they continue!
We have a new feature for you in today’s Monday Read: new threads from the Forum and interesting ones from other sites. You’ll find them after the usual links and before the reading list.
Here are this week’s links
- This is great. Hopefully it will accelerate too: For First Time, Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix
- This video is very basic but might be interesting: Buying an Abandoned House in Japan — for Free?
- I have high cholesterol too: I have heart disease. GOOD.
- Classic Sivers: doors and windows and what’s real
- Substantial fines at last: New law takes effect, banning smoking in gov’t buildings, schools
- We’ve talked about some of these on the blog before: How to Fight Against Climate Change Living in Japan
- Good points: Most Books Won’t Change Your Life (But You Should Read Them Anyways)
- I’m already finding this difficult: When It’s Time to Stop Saving for Retirement
- Not for the pedantic arguments: Why You Should Study Philosophy
- Let’s do this: Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential’ to tackle climate crisis
- A huge problem with healthcare here: Getting sick and needing a doctor, hospital, or ambulance in Japan – learn from my experience
What do you think? Anything good in there? #3, #4, and #7 are my picks for this week.
And here are this week’s discussion threads:
- Interesting discussion on the move towards cashless payment methods in Japan (RJ).
- Things to consider when buying a manshon (RJ).
- Links to sites about buying houses in the countryside (Reddit).
- Some changes to tax laws in Japan (Reddit).
- Is iDeCo a good idea for dependent spouses? (Reddit)
And finally, books
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein. First time for me reading this classic work of science fiction. So far so good. Strange to think it was written almost 60 years ago!
- Conspiracy, Ryan Holiday. Really interesting book about how Peter Thiel destroyed Gawker, the website that outed him. Just started this one.
- Can I See Your Hands, Gav Schneider. This book on self-defence was pretty disappointing. Came highly recommended, but I found it neither interesting nor useful.
A huge problem with healthcare here: Getting sick and needing a doctor, hospital, or ambulance in Japan – learn from my experience
A lot of people don’t know this. Master used to be the chief of an ER (ER specialist) in a large hospital here in Japan, so I happen to know this rather illogical fact. Triage in many ERs are run along these lines:
Arrives in an ambulance – Urgent
Arrives in a taxi – Priority
Arrives on foot – Non-urgent
Most of the ERs have no ER specialists. Ambulances have to find a hospital that is willing to accept you – hence the great wait – but the accepting specialists are in most cases not even au fait with emergency medicine: Much better at time-to-consult-the-books-first incidents.
I like the addition of the discussion threads.
Number 8 was interesting for me, while number 11 is a good reminder for non-Japanese to improve our language skills.