The Monday Read: Happy Birthday

This is not a metaphor.

The Monday Read is five years old!

RetireJapan TV

This month’s edition of RetireJapan TV will be live at 20:00 tonight (Monday 20th). Hope to see you there, and if you haven’t subscribed to the channel yet, what are you waiting for?

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We published a video on saving money in Japan this week.

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (25,946 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

I started reading Oversubscribed, by Daniel Priestley, this week after watching the interview with Ali Abdaal below. It blew me away. One of the best books on entrepreneurship I have read. Could not put it down. Really really recommend if you are self-employed, run a business, or do marketing.

This week’s links

  1. Cal Newport vs. Ali Abdaal. Now that is a podcast (YouTube): Cal Newport: Lifestyle Design, Slow Productivity and Contrarian Writing
  2. This seems almost more useful than ChatGPT: Whispers of A.I.’s Modular Future
  3. Saw this first hand in Appi the other week: the resort seems moribund without Chinese visitors… Japan’s skiing industry hits bumpy patch
  4. I think I need to be stricter with myself in the morning: The Psychology of Writing and the Cognitive Science of the Perfect Daily Routine
  5. Finally. But too late? Toyota’s next CEO says management will lead aggressive push on EVs
  6. What about the current generation? Japan’s Lost Generation: The Silent Sufferers that Grew up in Post-Bubble Japan
  7. Just in the fourth quarter? GDP Disappoints in Fourth Quarter
  8. Ouch. The more I experience, the more I think that money is just the start of things. If you don’t have enough obviously that matters, but once you have enough it makes very little difference to your happiness compared to other things. Lifestyles of the rich and famous
  9. This was REALLY good. If you run a business well worth your time. If not, probably worth it too (YouTube): How Anyone Can Develop The Mindset Of A Multi-Million Dollar Entrepreneur – Daniel Priestley
  10. Started a few months before RetireJapan did: 10 Years of A Wealth of Common Sense
  11. My version of this was a veranda of a Thai hotel that no longer exists, but it was a wonderful place to work overlooking the Andaman Sea: Pliny the Younger on Happy and Honorable Seclusion
  12. Found an interesting blog in English about Japanese taxes and laws
  13. Being detained in Japan is a pretty terrifying prospect: Security footage shows shocking treatment of Sri Lankan who died in Nagoya detention cell
  14. Enjoyed this and could relate: Failing at Early Retirement
  15. Another perspective on AI (YouTube): I tried using AI. It scared me.
  16. This makes so much sense. It updated some of my mental models: Everything You Can’t Have
  17. Ramit also makes a lot of sense (podcast): Ramit Sethi – How to Spend (and Actually Enjoy It)

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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9 Responses

  2. #8 – We just flew into San Jose, kind of the south end of silicon valley. As we came in, I could see maybe 8-10 sleek business jets parked in one area.

  3. #12 is a fantastic find! Not just for taxes but also legal issues related to visas and corporate law also. Bookmarked!

    1. While I have very serious concerns about Japan’s legal system, you’d have to be pretty unlucky to fall foul of it.

      And the US/UK are no better with recent police scandals etc.

      1. Ben, regarding your comment, “And the US/UK are no better with recent police scandals etc.”
        Here in the UK there are plenty of Police scandals in the media, but Police do not staff either the Border Agency or Immigrant Removal Centres.
        The management of a majority of UK IRCs is outsourced to private companies including Mitie, GEO Group, G4S and Serco.

        1. Oh, I was referring to the legal system in general, but outsourcing enforcement to private companies is even worse in my opinion. I’ve seen plenty of horror stories about how they treat people in their care.