The Monday Read: Getting Away From It All

A change of air can be as good as a change in circumstances

Sometimes it’s good to get away.

For my wife and me, a quick trip to the edge of Miyagi, just past Ishinamaki and opposite the holy island of Kinkasan, is our favourite way to do that.

What’s your favourite staycation?

YouTube

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The Forum

Speaking of which, the Forum is doing well (38,258 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

Started reading Transition, by Iain M. Banks. Don’t know why I hadn’t read it before. Really interesting (non-Culture) sci-fi.

This week’s links

1. Inspiring! 88-year-old former pet shop owner is being hailed as Japan’s Warren Buffett, built a $14M fortune with stocks
2. Big fan of raising minimum wage: Japan’s Minimum Wage Miracle
3. I am being priced out too. Going abroad is too expensive, staying in Japan is also too expensive… Japan’s tourism dilemma: Japanese are being priced out of hotels
4. I am so “Guy who takes pride in never holding the handholds on the subway”Mundane Halloween
5. This seems interesting: A new start after 60: I wanted to live cheaply – so I bought a boat, moved in and began travelling the world
6. Not intuitive at all: “the top 4% of stocks create essentially all stock market returns”: 5 Reasons to Simplify Your Investment Portfolio
7. Can’t believe he’s still alive, but very glad to hear him on this podcast: Jonathan Clements: ‘Life Is Full of Small Pleasures’
8. He’s right, I did not realise that. I’ll be 122 at the end of this century though (YouTube): “People Don’t Realize This” about Climate Change, Elon Musk Says
9. This was an interesting discussion (Reddit): Defining LeanFIRE, FIRE, ChubbyFIRE, FatFIRE amounts : r/JF edition
10. Not enought PhDs in companies? Japanese Companies Losing Their Ability To Exploit New Technology, Part 2
11. Pretty shameful: The rights and safety of Okinawans, especially women, are being sacrificed in the name of national security
12. Not sure why, but I really enjoyed this short and simple video -will definitely make the sandwich too (YouTube): Trying James Beard’s Famous Onion Sandwich
13. Gold! Stocks, Rates & Gold: What’s Going on Here?
14. This is really scary stuff if you have children. I’ve already had several chats with my granddaughter about it: Sophisticated Criminals Recruit for Shady Part-time Work in Japan
15. Sensible career advice: Before You Quit
16. Big contrast to Japan: Walking Phnom Penh

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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