The Monday Read

Bubonic plague edition

Well, not only is winter very much not coming, we also have all the fun of a new potential pandemic. I go from thinking it is probably nothing to thinking it might be quite serious to thinking it is probably nothing again.

I think we don’t have enough information to know if the new Coronavirus is worth worrying about, so I am mainly trying not to think about it too much at the moment.

My wife’s friend just sent her a message saying there has been a case in Sendai, but I suspect that is just unhelpful scaremongering. Stay safe everyone!

This week’s links

  1. This seems like common sense: don’t require guarantors from people moving into municipal housing… Alone again naturally
  2. So that’s why I can’t lose weight: Wealth Is What You Don’t Spend
  3. Not particulalry impressive, but I guess 1500 yen is 1500 yen: PayPay announces 40% bonus points campaign
  4. This should be the case everywhere: North Carolina will require high school students to take personal finance course to graduate
  5. Not particularly convincing, is it? ‘Hostage justice?’ Japan fights back with an internet FAQ
  6. I think we need more of this, not less: More depopulation panic
  7. Important work: Behind Bars in Japan: Fighting to Improve Prison Conditions and Inmate Treatment
  8. I wouldn’t come here as a CEO: Ghosn’s Flight Leaves CEOs Thinking Twice About Japan
  9. Really interesting view of asset performance: Asset Allocation Quilt Redux
  10. Was surprised they can build a hospital in two weeks: China building a hospital to treat virus; expands lockdowns to 25 mil people
  11. Blast from the past: Wedding celebrants in Japan
  12. To buy or not to buy, that is the question: Owning a Home is Not For Everyone
  13. My favourite place in Sendai is a river like this: Mountain Biking: Nagoya Urban MTB・名古屋 MTB
  14. I am totally an abstainer: Moderators and abstainers
  15. Maths! Apply Zipf’s Law to Your Finances
  16. Seems legit: The Wuhan Virus: How to Stay Safe
  17. Where’s the national strategy: Ambitious Zero Emission Tokyo plan wins praise, but begs for action
  18. It’s already too late for me: I have to get my granddaughter to program the TV 🙂
    Why you’re doomed to techno-befuddlement by the time you’re 70

Phew. Anything good in there?

6 Responses

  3. Re #7: Last week the JFBA issued a notice to the superintendent of Kurobane Prison, demanding that a 2012 ban on prisoners doing yoga in their cells be removed. This is just one example of the arbitrary powers the wardens wield in the name of “maintaining discipline and order”. As a very generous concession, silent meditation is exempted from the ban.

  4. #13—For those interested in bikes, here are some other cycling resources.

    For casual weekend rides with a variety of people in the tokyo area: https://halffastcycling.com

    For rides in Kanto and beyond—road, gravel, some MTB, some racing, and a wealth of information: https://tokyocycle.com (more serious riders from Tokyo who go west into the mountains, or sometimes over to Chiba, average of 100-200km)

    A quieter group of very serious riders, plus lots of info/reviews: http://positivo-espresso.blogspot.com (probably a 20+ year history for that blog)

    If you really want to go the distance: https://www.audax-japan.org/en/audax-japan/

    Two much older sites, both out of the 90s, but still quite valid for ideas–KANcyling still gets updates, I don’t think JCN does:

    http://www.kancycling.com/KANcycling/Welcome_to_KANcycling%21.html

    http://www.japancycling.org/v2/cguide/

    Finally, some pics from one person (Steve) who has ridden throughout Japan and used to post on tokyocycle.com.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/stantopia/sets/72157607282985550/show/ and https://stantopia.wordpress.com

    And, he’s the only person I’m aware of who rode a bike to Japan: http://www.turnrightforjapan.com

    (Personally, I’m kind of over the hill, and I only have three bikes. But as they say, the proper number is n+1…)