Happy New Year!
Well, that is the end of 2018. How was it for you? Personally it was a very mixed year (a ‘calamitous year‘ according to Japanese tradition) but not all bad. I’ll be doing my annual review today and thinking about the new year ahead tomorrow.
Patrick Sherriff (Our Man in Abiko) is a writer and teacher working in Japan. He was kind enough to interview me for his blog this week. I think it turned out pretty well!
There is an updated version of The Expat’s Guide to Growing Old in Japan available. If you bought the first edition ebook you can get the new one by updating through Kindle. It’s a very readable guide to pensions, health care, nursing homes, inheritance and all those other things we’ll have to think about eventually. Here’s our interview with the author.
We’re still looking for chances to promote the new RetireJapan site. If you have editorial control of a newsletter, blog, or website and would like to interview RetireJapan or run a guest post please get in touch.
Here are this week’s links:
- Great news. I just hope the Japanese car manufacturers get with the program soon: VW embarks on $50 billion electrification plan
- I haven’t really given much thought to the stock market movements, to be honest. Just keep to the plan with regular purchases: Buying When Stocks Are Down Big
- I would love to see this law changed, but I don’t think it will happen. May end up naturalising anyway: Dual nationals feel cast adrift in Japan
- The new year sales started early: Tokyo stocks plunge in Christmas rout amid fears over US economy
- I’ll refer to this the next time I take a shot at the FP exams: Why You Cram for Exams (and How to Stop)
- Hear, hear. 100 years ago Japan’s population was 50m. It peaked in 2010 at 128m. Let’s plan for a gradual decline back to 19th century levels: Falling total fertility rate should be welcomed, population expert says
- Unimagined consequences: Why the last snow on Earth may be red
- So that’s what bonds are for: 5 Thoughts on the Market Downturn
- Spent all our money this year so nothing left for bargain shopping: Japan stocks are a bargain but there are few takers
- Priorities: Brexit, Trump, Putin… but the biggest threat to our future is climate change
- Never been to a Disney park and have no intention of changing that, but I do own the stock: Working More Magic at Disney
What do you think? Anything good in there?
And here are the books I bought/read/finished this week:
- The Wanted (Robert Crais). This is an Elvis Cole/Joe Pike book. They all seem to end the same way, but I enjoy them all the same. Hardboiled detective stories set today.
- 5 Rules for White Belts (Chris Matakas). Another Brazilian jiu-jitsu book. This was a very short book for the price. It was good, but seemed very expensive for what you get. Some good quotes and the ‘rules’ are sensible.
- 5/3/1 (Jim Wendler). This is a weightlifting program I saw recommended on Reddit. Seems promising, and an upgrade from Stronglifts 5×5.
- The Greyskull LP (John Sheaffer). Another weightlifting program from Reddit. Seems very simple and efficient.
Thanks for reading to the end! Happy New Year and all the best for a happy and successful 2019 🙂
#2
That other Ben,
comes thru again.