The Monday Read: An Unexpected Pardon

Life is suddenly much much better

Accompanied my wife on her latest hospital visit to get the results of some tests this week, and… it seems like she is going to be okay.

I can’t describe how much my life changed in just a few minutes.

2025, all is forgiven.

RetireJapan TV

RetireJapan TV will be back on April 23rd from 20:00. We’ll be talking about how to navigate the health system here in Japan. Tune in live to ask questions or join the discussion.

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. Again no new videos this week but in my defence it’s been a pretty intense week. New video soon.

The Forum

Speaking of which, the Forum is doing well (40,730 posts so far). The forum rules are here. In essence, they are:

1. Be nice
2. Ask any question you like
3. 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 currently reading Carpe Jugulum (23/41). Really enjoying it.

This week’s links

1. This process is now probably self-sustaining. Japan is not going to be the same going forward: Japan Sees a Record Number of Foreign Residents in Japan in 2024
2. Derek answering the ‘Conan, what is best in life’ question: For
3. Tax office trials use of AI to audit inheritance tax filings, income tax next?: 相続税、AIが調査
4. Panic. What Will Japan Do If China Invades Taiwan?
5. This was happening before the earthquake too: Post-disaster Tohoku struggles with population decline
6. Did not know this about Daniel Kahneman: Meet Your Heroes also this: The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions
7. This was really good: The Importance of Temporal Diversification
8. I do about 20% of this. Excellent post: Digital hygiene
9. True dis: Never Root for a Recession
10. More on safe withdrawal rates: Should I “Reset” Retirement Withdrawals in Bad Markets?
11. I wonder what the rate would be in Japan: What is the UK safe withdrawal rate?
12. Great list from Derek (blush): Blogs You Should Read
13. This new semi-private shinkansen seat on the Tokaido looks so good: JR東海 東海道新幹線一部車両に半個室座席 2027年度から導入へ
14. Interesting read: A little house in the ruins of Tokyo
15. I like this classification into default and elective activities: The Best Things in Life Don’t Make Themselves Happen

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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