Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan.
Last week I needed to drive somewhere and my wife was using her car.
There is a Toyota Rentacar just down the street, so I booked a car through them. You get a slight discount (10% off) for being a member, so I signed up.
Now normally I would just book the cheapest car, and that would have been fine in this situation too. But then I remembered that I am trying to have more fun this year, so I booked a Crown instead.
I’ve always wanted to try one, and my father in law apparently really wanted one but never bought one, so I thought it would be nice to take him for a ride in it too. They gave me a brand new Crown Crossover with 1500 km on the clock, and I really enjoyed driving it for a day. My wife got to try it too, we took my in-laws to the supermarket in it, and got a lot of enjoyment out of what could have been a very normal experience.
Yes, it was a bit more expensive (I think the cheapest option was about 8,000 yen and the Crown cost 29,000), but well worth it this time.
It was really fun to drive around in it, but fortunately I don’t need to own it (they cost about 6m yen to buy). I could rent one 200+ times and still be ahead 😉
The next day I jumped on my bicycle again and it was just as much fun in a different way.
A lot of the time it might make more sense to borrow or rent things instead of buying them. Your money goes a lot further that way, and you don’t have to store/maintain/insure/look after the things either. This works for holiday homes, boats, ski equipment, private airplanes, and a whole bunch of things that haven’t even occurred to me yet.
RetireJapan TV
This month’s episode will be broadcast at 20:00 on July 24th. We’ll be joined by special guest Derek Wessman, who I am in awe of. Volunteer firefighter, political intern, entrepreneur, bar owner, community leader, he truly is a master of really living in Japan.
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Video Podcast
I was invited onto the Tokyo Living Podcast last month and the episode just came out. Check it out on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform.
YouTube
Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We published four new videos this week!
- How much money do you need to retire in Japan?
- Supplementary medical insurance (医療保険) in Japan
- Dealing with the police in Japan
- Japan’s Junior NISA accounts in 2023
If you watched them, which did you like and why? For me #3 was definitely my favourite, even though it is a bit off-topic for the channel.
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The Forum
The Forum is doing well (28,453 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:
This week’s books
No new books this week again, I am finishing some old ones and yet again too busy making videos 😉
This week’s links
- I’ve been refused accommodation a few dozen times, but this is even more serious: Dead reckonings and also Panel begins mission to end anti-elderly bias in housing
- GMT+10 sounds good, but multiple timezones in Japan? No thank you: The Land of the Rising Sun Rises Much Too Early
- This actually makes the birthrate numbers look better than they are, eh? Media watch: Newspaper reveals that fertility rate isn’t what it’s cracked up to be
- A rare positive Reddit thread: What is the biggest advantage of life in Japan to the rest of the world?
- I love this idea: Spanish minister proposes €20,000 ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18
- Some interesting detail in here: Divorce in Japan (case of Japanese and non-Japanese couple)
- Being born with dual nationality is ignored in Japan, but actively acquiring one as an adult means you lose Japanese citizenship (or the one you had before becoming Japanese): ‘You’re living in Japan illegally’: Woman shocked at sudden loss of Japanese nationality
- I don’t really drink any more either: 6 Things I Learned From Not Drinking For 1 Year
- Really interesting: Japan Turns to Ultra-Efficient Cargo Transport to Keep on Truckin’
- Good. ‘Revolutionary’ solar power cell innovations break key energy threshold
- This is a good short read: Shaan Puri’s ‘money wisdom’ (Twitter thread)
- Loved rereading this old post: Get Rich With: The Position of Strength
- Several people sent this to me this week, so I guess it is trending or something? Computer says ‘no’: Can Americans in Japan use NISA accounts?
What do you think? Anything interesting in there?
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I don’t like the idea of #2 at all. Why do we need to change our daily lifestyles based on what time financial markets open and close elsewhere in the world? Terrible article. Besides, all those super-early morning elderly walkers would never agree to it.
Fair enough! But I would rather have daylight be 5-20 or 6-21 rather than 4-19…
Getting in some cycling (or a walk) before the day starts for the world is great. Cool, fresh, no traffic (or bugs), sun not yet strong–a wonderful time of day.
“Hours of productive daylight are largely wasted” – ok mate maybe you are wasting daylight but I’m up at 4:45 getting s**t done before I have to go out and fill someone else’s pockets. Feel free to pop in to the office at 5 AM if that’s your flavour but you will be waiting a few hours to say good morning to me.
I don’t know, personally I would rather daylight be 6-21 rather than 4-19, but fair enough ^-^
#2 Yes, I agree, should be changed. Even one hour would be great. I get up at 5am to run/workout and it’s already too hot in summer. Getting up at 4am would mean having to try to go to sleep at 8pm to get the ideal 8 hours sleep and that’s impossible with young kids who have naps at pre-school and are wide awake until at least 9pm..
Also I get woken up when the sun rises so would appreciate an hour of extra sleep… 4am is ridiculous.
I don’t think many people would disagree with a one hour change. Still plenty of time in the morning for early risers and a bit more time at night for people who want to enjoy that time more productively.
Time changes within Japan a definite no-no though.
#6 Really think she should put a warning about the child abduction issue in Japan in here. Some people mention divorce to their partners and their partners take their children and they never see them again. I know the article is about procedures but it is a very important thing to be aware of if you are a parent looking at divorce over here.