I’m getting tired of trying to make lemonade
2025 is really trying its best to defeat me.
Have an unexpected trip to Europe this week, hence the lack of new content here on the blog and on YouTube this week. Apologies.
I’ll be back in early March and hopefully get back into the swing of things.
Take care of yourselves out there, and get in touch with your loved ones. You never know when they are not going to be there any more.
Tokyo Real Estate Summit Spring 2025
The very popular Tokyo Real Estate Summit is back! It will be held in the Tokyo Forum in (above?) Tokyo Station on April 12-13 and also online.
Check out the announcement video here.
The RetireJapan Bite-Sized Podcast
I’m still publishing this fairly regularly ( episodes so far). A reader asked us to add it to Pocket Casts and we did here. If you can’t find it on your favourite podcast provider please let me know.
RetireJapan TV
RetireJapan TV Season 3 Episode 4: psychological tricks, Ben’s new job, iDeCo increases, and higher medical costs was a lot of fun! Catch the replay on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform.
We’ll be back on March 17th from 20:00.
YouTube
Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We did not publish any new content this week.
The Forum
Speaking of which, the Forum is doing well (40,363 posts so far). The forum rules are here. In essence, they are:
- Be nice
- Ask any question you like
- 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 Men at Arms (one of my favourites). May end up reading all the way to London (it’s a 14 hour flight now).
This week’s links
- Always remember mortgages in Japan are not the same, so advice from other countries does not apply 100% here: Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Before Retirement?
- Gated communities growing in Japan? Nature vs Ebisu Flower Park
- Emil with the mortgage rates for February: February Mortgage Rate Update – What It Means for Homebuyers in Japan
- Some nice Nagoya photos in this lifestyle blog from Derek: Crane Week
- Interesting. What happens to price if demand falls? Lab-grown diamonds: should you buy them?
- Save more money is a fine goal. Always enjoy Sean’s posts: Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025
- We are rich but not yet super rich… from being broke and unemployed in 2008. This demonstrates why you should be investing in Japan: Assets of Japan’s wealthiest jump to a record $3 trillion
- I like the conclusion to this: Is $1 Million Still a Lot of Money?
- Yes. Money is a tool: The Misery Value Of Money
- Nice write up by Trung (but the Apple stuff at the end is the best): OnlyFans Sticky Business Model
- Ooof. The news organisation seems most to blame here: How A Viral Lie in Japan Fed Male Hysteria About False Rape Charges
- Interesting Reddit thread: I successfully transitioned from eikaiwa to an IT position – AMA
- Ouch. All too familiar: Productivity Rain Dances
- Can’t imagine a Japan with 15% immigrants: How Spain’s radically different approach to migration helped its economy soar
- Hope he succeeds: Kobe lawyer fighting discrimination against foreign-born attorneys in mediation system
- I have contingency plans for lots of things, but not for this: Japan, South Korea, and Poland need nuclear weapons immediately
- So true: Garbage
- This was a fascinating read for me: Should Long-Term Investors Be 100% in Equities?
- Was not aware of this: That’s All Yolks
- Yikes: Bump In Inflation Entirely Due to 9% Jump In Food and Energy
- This new book by Barry Ritholtz looks interesting: Beliefs, Misconceptions & Behaviors
- Uh oh. Economist Warns That Elon Musk Is About to Cause a “Deep, Deep Recession”
What do you think? Anything interesting in there?
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