The Monday Read: Swimming Upstream?

When life is hard, keep going

This week I published a quick blog post on a topic I have been thinking about for a while.

For a laugh I gave it a clickbaity controversial title, and of course it has become the most successful post I have ever made on social media, getting hundreds of thousands of views, loads of extra followers, and a lot of clicks on the blog.

Despite the title, the content was genuine, and I wrote the post to see what kind of responses I would get, in order to get my ideas in order and maybe make a video about it later.

I still think it is an important topic so will be making that video at some point.

And don’t worry, though it is tempting to clickbait my way to internet success, that is not the way I see this site going.

Hope you’re having a great Golden Week!

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. We published a short vlog style update this week.

Drop in and leave us a comment! If you have any questions, they may become the next video 😉

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (35,081 posts so far). Excitingly, we now have over 2,000 registered members (2,162 currently). The forum rules are here. In essense, 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

I finished Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, which is EXCELLENT. Thanks for the tip, Daniel.

Then started Scott Galloway’s new book The Algebra of Wealth. If you like his writing style it is pretty good, if not, you won’t like it.

I’m also reading Man’s Search for Meaning, which is so powerful I can’t read it for more than a few pages or so. Not sure why I hadn’t read it before.

This week’s links

1. Philip Brasor is back with a look at the ‘new’ emperor: Media watch: Five years in, how does Naruhito stack up to his father?
2. These look amazing. Would certainly consider depending on the price: Japan bullet trains to offer luxe private rooms
3. Huge respect to these men for talking about this (YouTube): 「標本室は目の開けられないくらい･･･」731部隊の実態、元少年兵の目に焼きついた光景【報道特集】 | TBS NEWS DIG
4. Nice to see Nick is big in Japan: Invest for the Decades, Not the Years
5. So so true: Knowledge Alone Doesn’t Change Behavior
6. I like the thought process in this: A Dirty Business
7. I am also (very slowly) getting ripped this year: Why Everyone in Finance Is Getting Ripped
8. This was a very inspiring read: Adventure Before Dementia
9. I need to get back into this: How I Learn Japanese
10. Interesting. Not sure how I feel about this: Life in Japan: Lowering the drawbridge to accept immigrants
11. This is wild (and encouraging): Share of electricity generated by fossil fuels in Great Britain drops to record low
12. Painful to think about: A Tragic Cry
13. It’s affecting my confidence: Yen’s decline will inevitably affect confidence in Japan’s economy
14. Not only this, but also windfalls tend to be harmful for people who don’t have their finances in order already: You shouldn’t bank on an inheritance windfall: Many people discover they will get nothing, research discovers
15. The opposite take I had: How a Fading Japan Regained Its Superpowers
16. Nah, he’s still toast: A small bump for Kishida but the political situation still looks fluid
17. This is great. Hadn’t seen that news app before: How I Learn Japanese
18. Interesting. Not sure why shares couldn’t be traded 24/7: The city that never sleeps mulls midnight share trading
19. This could be bad news, or just the journalist speculating (govt considers making investment income count when calculating social insurance premiums: 自民党・厚労省が検討する「金融所得で保険料アップ」の悪手　「社会保険料は税金じゃない」の理屈で新NISAの配当金も標的になる可能性
20. And a great video explanation (YouTube): 投資家悲鳴！金融所得で社会保険料値上げ！NISA増税は？FIRE･配当金生活は終了か
21. Very gloomy: How Far Can The Yen Fall Before Japan Goes Bankrupt?
22. This is regrettable. Hopefully just a minority on social media: Japan sees wave of social media screeds attacking ‘their lordships with children’
23. Huge rant by Scott Galloway about young people: Young people have every reason to be enraged, says ‘Algebra of Wealth’ author Scott Galloway

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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