The Monday Read

Typhoon Time: Stay Safe Out There

Week two of our resumed regular service. Seems like this might be the last gasp of summer: I’m looking forward to cooler and less humid days and nights once autumn arrives properly.

One exciting announcement: we’re planning a RetireJapan event in Tsukuba on October 26th, in collaboration with Tsukuba International School . It will be held in Tsukuba Bank near the station, from 10:00-13:00. There will be a fee of 1,000 yen for the event. More details here.

Tsukuba is only an hour by train from Akihabara, so popping up from Tokyo is very possible. Hope to see you there 🙂

This week’s links

  1. I may need some more hobbies: The Beauty of Labor Day
  2. Someday, I will do something like this: The Glorious, Almost-Disconnected Boredom of My Walk in Japan
  3. Are things changing? This is What Happens as Societies Become Wealthier
  4. Seems like we can’t trust any Japanese government figures: Japan real wages drop for 7th straight month in July

Forum posts and discussions

  1. How should a college student invest in their future?
  2. How do dividends and reinvestment of dividends work?
  3. Living in A but buying in B
  4. UK buy to let mortgages
  5. Leaving the country tax
  6. What does your investment portfolio look like?
  7. How much is a decent salary here?
  8. Monthly finance thread
  9. Surveying a besso before purchase
  10. Foreigner friendly credit cards for a freelancer

Books etc.

  1. Lisey’s Story, by Stephen King. Haven’t started this yet, but read an interview with King where he said this was his favourite book.
  2. Three Women, by Lisa Taddeo. Ditto, but has good reviews. Something a bit different for me (not SF or fantasy).
  3. Father Brown, the Complete Collection, by G.K.Chesterton. Enjoyed these a lot when I was at school, looking forward to rereading them.
  4. Alchemy, by Rory Sutherland. The extracts of this I have read were excellent.

8 Responses

  1. As for walking, here’s a fragment of a Navajo poem/prayer that I’ve had for a long time. I’ve seen different translations over the years, but this is the first one I came across–a version that I typed up back in the ’70s:

    With beauty may I walk.
    With beauty before me, may I walk.
    With beauty behind me, may I walk.
    With beauty above me, may I walk.
    With beauty below me, may I walk.
    With beauty all around me, may I walk.

    In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
    In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

    It is finished in beauty.
    It is finished in beauty.

  3. Hi Ben,
    Quite interested in attending the Retire Japan event next month.
    Where do we sign up (for non-Facebook users)?
    How do we make payment?
    Cheers, and thank you.

    1. Hi Dani
      Thanks! I’ll check with the organizer and post back here (will probably put it in next week’s Monday Read too).

    1. Thanks Bob. The timing this time is unfortunately determined by the (closed) workshop I am doing on Friday night. However, I would like to do some more live events in the future, and hopefully this one will help us figure out how to make them work. Maybe see you at the next one?