The Monday Read: Green Shoots

Had a very busy week coming off my encounter with Covid, but we’re off to Appi this week for a couple of days of snow and relaxation so hopefully that will help.

Had some questions about when the coaching service will be back online and the answer is soon! Hoping to have an announcement in the next week or two.

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel.

I made a YouTube Short this week about saving an emergency fund vs starting to invest and a longer video about saving for children’s educational expenses in Japan.

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (25,760 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

I started reading The Pajama Game, by Mark Law. It’s about judo. Pretty good overview of the topic along with his experience of starting judo as an older adult.

This week’s links

1. Still not seeing any governments taking climate change seriously: We are ‘greening’ ourselves to extinction
2. This man’s story seems unbelievable to me (YouTube): Living Alone in the Wild Siberian Forest for 20 years (-71°C, -96°F) Yakutia
3. The other side of the argument: Population and big innovations
4. Your safe withdrawal rate for 2023 is… 3.8%: Retirement Income and Safe Withdrawal Rates in 2023
5. Good news, but I’d still like to see the minimum wage go up in Japan: Japan retailer Aeon to hike part-time wage by 7% for 400,000 workers
6. I love this: Reimagining cities in a few simple questions
7. Bureaucrats just don’t get it? Learning From the French Revolution In Startups
8. Some great photos in here: Shinjuku scenes from the 21st century
9. This take on automation is hopeful: Luddites
10. Enjoyed this video on travel packing. Took me back a few years (YouTube): Frequent flyer’s travel kit (after 200+ flights)
11. Getting rid of unwanted land in Japan (may have to do with with my in-laws’ besso plot in Iwate): Putting on heirs, Part 2
12. I wish the government would mandate decent insulation for new buildings and create subsidies to insulate current ones. Would make a huge difference to quality of life and energy use: Why are Japanese homes so poorly insulated?
13. Very clear explanation (YouTube): How Much To Save For Retirement

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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