Progress Report 2023
The Progress Continues It’s the blog post none of you have been waiting for 😉 This year once again I am publishing my personal financial progress report post. You can see last year’s post here (and follow the chain back through time if you are interested -the first was in 2017 or so). I find […]
The Monday Read: You Win or You Learn
I learned something last week. (that’s the positive way to look at it, and I’m a fan of seeing the positive in every situation) I booked three nights in one of my favourite hotels. It’s an old school place on the coast of Miyagi near Kinkasan, about an hour and a half drive from where […]
The Monday Read: Happy Birthday to us
RetireJapan is ten years old today! On December 4th, 2013 the first blog post was published on this site. This post is #921. At this rate, we should hit blog post #1000 sometime towards the end of 2024. The blog was the first thing on RetireJapan, and in many ways it is the heart of […]
Thoughts on the Weak Yen and Inflation
Focus on the things you control We’ve been dealing with a weakening yen for the last couple of years. And accelerating price inflation recently. But we don’t have control over either of these things, nor can we accurately predict them. An expensive lunch I met a friend for lunch yesterday. We went to a Chinese […]
The Monday Read: Meeting the Community
Had another very pleasant random encounter this week. I was having lunch with my wife and her cousin and his wife in a hotel in Nagoya, and I had just walked over to the buffet to get some more lasagne when a guy came up to me and asked if I was the guy from […]
The Monday Read: Late Summer in November
I’m not complaining exactly, but it is still t-shirt and shorts weather here in Sendai. In November. This is not remotely normal and makes me increasingly anxious about the future. For now at least it makes walking to work quite pleasant… Japan Times Article I endorse this article in the Japan Times 🙂 YouTube Thank […]
The Monday Read: Miyako Calling
Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. I’m in Miyakojima for a couple of weeks. It’s pretty good down here. I first visited in June, but liked it enough to book a second trip in October! Primary goal was for my […]
The Monday Read: Life is Good
Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan. It’s been a busy week, but life is good. Getting out of the heat of summer has made everything better. I am more productive, have more energy, sleep better… Incredible how much difference it […]
I can’t afford to [do the thing]
Can you really not afford that thing, or is it just not that much of a priority?
Japan Pension Update 2023
Back to the postcard 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, usually 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 I […]