RetireJapan

…Of which I am not one! Better to assume the state won’t pay you anything, and yeah, I DO believe means testing will be a thing… Anyhow, the government has set up a callback request form via the Future Pension Centre, whereby you can request a callback. If you put in the callback request before Apri...

I found the Hiragana Times to be useful for basic and intermediate level. Very down to earth dialogues and passages with entertaining stories and skits. Also, I don’t know if the Japan Times’s “An introduction to Modern Japanese” is still in print. That was useful when I first set out. Learning Japa...

I wonder if they came across as high quality..many FAs serving foreigners come across as pretty shady. Might be good if people know what they said to you or were trying to sell to you. When I see their name now, it just makes me laugh… When I was down on my luck, a long time ago, I tried applying to...

Back in the 80’s, I was told that the Telegraph was one of the quality papers in the UK. It had a reputation for being right wing, and you may or may not agree with its views, but the journalism’s quality seemed fine. For their site, they have an online paywall so I can’t read any of their stuff now...

I’d say gold has a hell of a lot going for it.

It has varied industrial use, is popular for use in jewelry, and its beauty will always be attractive to people.

And further, most importantly, over the long term it tends to protect you against inflation. Unlike some things…

There seems to be news coming out concerning the UK looking to Australia for state pension ideas. But I don’t know if the source, GB News, is considered a reliable one or not.

Some further thoughts and questions… Curious to know..in the housing/care context, who was taken to court by whom, and for what reason? What are the huge reforms the NHS is undergoing? Another thing that struck me about this whole pension debate, is that the “triple lock” tends to be referred to as ...

Wow, what a sudden surprise this political debate is…and the fact that it is happening at all raises the likelihood of means testing in future. There are now elements in both major political parties advocating means testing. It’s out in the open, and no longer a taboo subject! Looking at the current...

Kuma, thank you again. I’ve sent you a PM

Kuma, thank you again for your detailed response, which I’ve been poring over with my tea this Saturday morning…a lot of pertinent and interesting facts and I’m going to have to read it again later! JimmyK, your situation reminds me a lot about myself. I too came to Japan twice, although I was alway...