The Monday Read: Finding Peace
Sometimes you just need a bit of a break Well, I am back at home and enjoying gettting back into my regular routine. It’s amazing how much difference a week or so off can make. The trip was great, I had a really good time in Shikoku and will certainly be going back again. Shodoshima […]
The Monday Read: Cross that Bridge
Screw your courage to the sticking point Was in Shikoku this week and it turns out I like it a lot here. More details in the video below, but it’s been a great trip so far. Have also managed to talk with my wife about what we’re going to do going forward, and am much […]
The Monday Read: Off to New Waters
Ten days in Shikoku might be the cure Just finished work (Saturdays are brutal in the eikaiwa world -for most schools that is by far the busiest day). Heading off to Shikoku tomorrow morning. Back in a week and a half. See you then? YouTube Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. […]
The Monday Read: Shikoku Calling
All work and no play makes Ben… It’s my 20-year wedding anniversary this year. We had a ridiculous trip to NYC and Iguazu Falls for our 10-year anniversary, and were planning an even bigger trip for this year but… life got in the way. Rather than a Star Alliance round the world ticket in business […]
The Monday Read: Back to Work
For everything a season This Golden Week has been wonderful. We’re kind of used to them now, so we planned things in order to completely avoid crowds. And it worked: Stayed at some cabins run by a town near Sendai on the evening of the 29th (next day was not holiday, so it turned out […]
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 […]
Don’t move to Japan
And if you’re here already maybe you should leave Coming to live and work in Japan could be a grave mistake for young people now. And if they are already in Japan, unless they are already 100% committed to living here, it might be better to leave while they still can. The weak yen, stagnant […]
The Monday Read: Golden Week approaching
The longer I live here the more I appreciate Golden Week For anyone on the Japanese annual schedule (year starts in April), these first four weeks are exhausting. So the gods (or previous Japanese governments, I guess) have given us Golden Week to make up for it. It is perfectly timed, arriving majestically just at […]
The Monday Read: Take a deep breath
Halfway to Golden Week Today was glorious in Sendai. Wonderful weather, warm, cherry blossoms are still out. Went to jiu-jitsu in the morning and had an okonomiyaki party at the in-laws’ in the afternoon. We’re halfway to Golden Week. These first couple of weeks of the year are always brutal (classes at my wife’s school […]
The Monday Read: Full-time work and RetireJapan
There are only so many hours in the day Had my first week of full-time employment, and I drastically underestimated how exhausting and time-consuming that would be. Despite my best intentions, I was not able to publish a new blog post, nor upload a new YouTube video. Now, some of that was due to the […]