Low single digits in Sendai, still pretty nice out though
The photo is Nara seen from the hills above Nara Park. We were there last weekend and it was so warm we had the AC set to cold in the hotel room and the car.
Today in Sendai it was 4 degrees with a nasty cold wind. Night and day. Seems like winter is finally here after one of the warmest autumns I can remember in Japan.
It’s still nice enough out though, and I am walking again after tearing a ligament a couple of weeks ago (don’t start grappling in your 40s, it’s a stupid thing to do).
The turkey is ordered (I usually get ours from The Meat Guy) and I have to go Xmas shopping next week (six grandkids now). Before we know it it will be the year of the snake again (my year). Looking forward to it.
I’ll be cooking Christmas dinner and doing my annual review, as well as our usual roundup series of progress blog posts.
What do your end of year celebrations look like?
Your First Ten Million Yen
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The Forum
Speaking of which, the Forum is doing well (38,778 posts so far). The forum rules are here. In essence, they are:
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Here are the latest active threads:
This week’s books
Finished The Scar, by China Mieville, this week. It’s the second book in his rough trilogy (same world, different characters in each). It was great. Even better than the first one.
Now reading the third book, The Iron Council. Haven’t quite got into it yet, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
Service of the week
When electricity markets in Japan were opened up to smaller companies I switched to GreenA. After a few years they were bought by Octopus Energy from the UK (affiliate link).
I’ve been really happy with them. They have a simple website that is easy to understand (and even a new English beta interface), and our bills have been very reasonable (not going over 10,000 yen even in the summer, when we had the AC on 24/7 for months on end).
Switching electricity provider is a straightforward process that is handled by the new provider, so if you are looking for a change I definitely recommend Octopus.
This week’s links
- Damn, I should have gotten that PhD after all… Tokyo To Companies: To Restore Innovativeness, Hire More PhDs
- I don’t know whether the fact that it takes a bit more effort to read Derek’s recent posts, but I find myself concentrating more. Good stuff as ever: Travel-gazing
- Don’t worry be happy? Happiness Is a Choice
- I had no idea about this, really want to go there now: Diving Yonaguni Monument
- Insane story. This is why online brokers are better… Nomura execs give up pay after employee allegedly tried to kill clients
- Love this: The Tao of Cal (Newport)
- More market shenanigans from Martin: 2024 Final Boss
- Maybe, yes? Do We Need More Bubbles?
- I love these little interview snippets (also Chengdu was my favourite city in China when I went around in 1998): 2024-11 – Chengdu, China
- 65% now: U.S. Markets Are Swallowing the Rest of the World
- Worse than Japan: Singapore Gets Bad News Amid Sinking Birth Rate
- Errors emerge in My Number health card registrations: マイナ保険証移行作業で医療費の負担割合を誤登録 青森 六戸町
- Financial independence yes, early retirement no: A better alternative to the myth of early retirement
- This is scary (kind of like the plot of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo): Elderly man’s fight reveals problems in Japan’s adult guardianship system
- I want to start doing some walks in Japan: Why and how to walk 200 miles
- This is well worth a read: Are You on Track For Retirement?
- Izakaya’s a dying breed? Tough times for Japanese pubs as izakaya bankruptcies come at highest rate in more than a decade
- Hopefully not: Could the (UK) state pension end up being means-tested before I get it?
What do you think? Anything interesting in there?
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