Maybe this is the meaning of life
My wife and I are heading off on a little trip this week, so we had to go through Tokyo today.
One of our former students (from ten years ago!) just finished university and was heading home for a few weeks today before starting work.
We agreed to have lunch in (above) Tokyo Station.
My wife found a teppanyaki place that took reservations, and although I was a bit unconvinced when she first told me about it, we didn’t have to queue, it was quiet, the service was impeccable, and the teppanyaki portion of the restaurant was very uncrowded.
Pricey, but we were able to sit there chatting in peace for four hours. The food was good but a little on the sparse side for my liking (was plenty for my wife and our former student).
It was so good to see her and see how she’s doing. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the day this much.
And maybe that is the meaning of life. Not the big goals and achievements, but having a nice meal with a friend you haven’t seen in a while.
Tomorrow we’re off. Maybe I’ll tell you about the trip next week.
What are you doing for Golden Week this year?
RetireJapan TV
Had a great episode of RJTV last week. I’m stunned at how active our live audience is now -thank you so much to everyone who joined us live on the stream to ask questions and comment. You really do make the whole thing worthwhile.
We talked about stock market volatility, how to navigate the health system here in Japan, the proposed kodomo NISA, buying business class tickets, how to use Mercari and Yahoo Auctions effectively as both buyer and seller, and anime pop up cafes and collecting Pokemon cards. Check out the replay here.
I’ve been posting a bit more on LinkedIn recently, so if you are interested in life in Japan and financial news updates you can also follow me there.
YouTube
Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. New video soon. Maybe.
The Forum
Speaking of which, the Forum is doing well (41,261 posts so far). The forum rules are here. In essence, they are:
- Be nice
- Ask any question you like
- Only answer questions when you have relevant knowledge or experience
Here are the latest active threads:
This week’s books
I am still on my Terry Pratchett binge! Bought all of his Discworld books on Kindle and am now reading Wintersmith (35/41). To my surprise, I am enjoying the Tiffany Aching books the most this time round.
This week’s links
- I went to boarding school from the age of 12. For me, it was a good experience. There were children there at the same time who did not enjoy it. Very much depends on the individual I think. My eldest granddaughter, for example, would not do well boarding. I don’t recognise much of this though: ‘Breaking our spirits was the plan’: the lifelong impact of having gone to boarding school
- Incredible stuff. Seems to be accelerating too: Humanoid workers and surveillance buggies: ‘embodied AI’ is reshaping daily life in China
- Damn. What could have been, what might be: Transit and techno-futurism
- Looks like we’ll be getting some big tax breaks this year: 2025 Tax Reforms Basic Deductions
- I used to be very partial to a quick Yoshinoya: Gyus and Dons
- Don’t know so I will just keep buying the world (including the US): Sell America?
- I completely approve of this, providing the police actually enforce it: Japan police announce cost of ‘blue ticket’ fines for cyclists
- I’ve seen a few articles/videos/TV reports about the Expo, but have yet to see a single thing that made me want to go there: Japan’s World Expo struggles with visitor figures amid slew of bad publicity
- Interesting Reddit thread: I got tax audited as a small business (Kabushikigaisha)
- I am agnostic: Are You Bullish or Bearish?
What do you think? Anything interesting in there?
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