Japan Pension Update 2022
And now for something completely different! Everyone paying into nenkin should receive an annual update, called nenkin teikibin (ねんきん定期便). This will either arrive by post, in the form of a postcard, or (if you have selected the option) will only be delivered via the nenkin website. Personally I opt to receive the postal version as […]
Energy, Climate change, and long-term investing
A really thought-provoking guest post Today’s guest post is by a reader who got in touch and offered to explain a few things about the implications of climate change. I found the conversation so interesting that I asked him to write about it for the blog, and he came through in spades. Take it away, […]
The Monday Read
Happy Cake Day Edition Two good updates in a row -something bad must be about to happen 😉 My daughter and granddaughters made a carrot cake for me this week -and it only took a couple of weeks of whining on my part! Those red things are cranberries, which worked surprisingly well. Delicious. Sadly it […]
The Monday Read
Staycation Edition Managed to take a couple of days off last week, so took a short staycation at one of our favourite ‘local’ hotels (it’s about an hour and a half away by car, on the Oshika Peninsula opposite Kinkasan). The prefecture is running a travel promotion scheme (like the Go To ones earlier in […]
The Monday Read
30-50 Feral Hogs Edition A couple of weeks ago 30-50 feral hogs (actually a boar and her… boarlets?) invaded my in-laws’ place and dug up their lawn. As a consequence, last Monday I spend all morning helping my wife and a friend of hers build a boar fence to secure the yard. I’m not convinced […]
800th RetireJapan Post
Damn, when did that happen Actually, it happened on May 5th (it was a Monday Read). This is actually post number 808. I had meant to do a special post for the 800th post, but I kind of forgot and missed it. Oooops. I guess we’ll have to try to do something special for the […]
The Monday Read
Perfect Weather Edition Really loving the weather at the moment. Warm, dry, sunny. Just perfect for me. Wish it was like this for more than 4-5 weeks of the year 😉 This week’s photo We had a one-night stay in a cabin just north of Sendai last week, and it was wonderful. Great weather, fresh […]
Retiring in Japan
Health Insurance and Retirement Bonus Regular readers will be aware that my contract at the university I was working at finished at the end of March. I was supposed to be unemployed/retired now, but due to a series of unfortunate events will instead be helping my wife with her language school (and getting a small […]
Signing up for Kokumin Nenkin
Quick, grumpy, done on paper I went into the ward office to sign up for kokumin nenkin today (this is pretty much the only thing involving pensions you should do at the ward office -make sure to ask questions at a pension office or by calling the national helpline). The process must be done within […]
Another Nenkin Case Study Reloaded
Mostly Kokumin Nenkin Today we have another riveting nenkin case study for you. This time it is an example of someone who has mainly paid into kokumin nenkin (the basic pension) rather than kosei nenkin (the ‘salaryman’ pension). The person kindly shared their nenkin annual statement (年金定期便) with me, so we’ll just go through the […]