Retirement Benefits?

Alright... here we go. My first attempt at a monthly newsletter.

As of today, I've officially been in Japan for 4 years, 6 months, and 12 days. Sounds pretty respectable when you say it that way. Then you do the math...

1,654 days. 39,696 hours. 2.3 million minutes. Nearly 143 million seconds.

Good Lord.

Time isn't flying anymore. It's traveling at hypersonic speed. You blink, and another year disappears.

This July I'll turn 69. According to statistics, that's better than about 24% of the male population. The women, of course, are still winning. Apparently I'm only about 15% ahead of them. They probably live longer because they don't spend weekends arguing with power tools.

What really got my attention was this: when I was born in 1957, the average life expectancy for an American male was 66.4 years.

Sixty-six point four!

Statistically speaking, I should've wrapped this thing up a couple years ago.

Back then, if you made it to 69, you could expect another 12 years or so. Today, a 69-year-old man has a decent shot at reaching his mid-80s.

My dad missed his 92nd birthday by a day and a half. Mom made it to 88.

Not bad.

Although at some point the goal changes from "living longer" to "remembering why you walked into the kitchen."

So what's the lesson?

Don't waste the time you've got.

Take the trip. Call your friends. Eat the dessert. Laugh at stupid things. Tell people you love them.

Because years are made up of weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. One day you realize those little units of time were your life.

So enjoy every one of them.

After all, they add up to years.

And that's a pretty good thing.

My Retired Life In Japan (YouTube)

Well, I'm back.

I'd love to tell you my absence was due to some exciting adventure, but the truth is I got trapped in a cage match between U.S. taxes, Japanese taxes, visa renewals, doctor changes, paperwork, stamps, signatures, and enough bureaucracy to make a grown man start talking to himself.

But I survived.

So expect some changes, a lot less administrative whining, and a lot more F'n FUN.

Because if retirement turns into nothing but paperwork, what's the point?

ADDING A NEW CHANNEL (YouTube)

Speaking of having a little F'n FUN...

I'm excited to announce a second YouTube channel: "Japan Through My Lens."

This one comes directly from my lifelong love of photography and the incredible beauty that surrounds me here in Japan.

No deep analysis. No visa renewals. No tax forms. No bureaucratic adventures.

Just Japan.

The purpose of the channel is exactly what the name suggests: Japan Through My Lens. A chance for me to share what I see and how I see it. From ancient temples and shrines to quiet neighborhoods, city streets, festivals, nature, and those unexpected moments that make you stop and appreciate where you are.

Photography has always been a way for me to slow down, pay attention, and enjoy the moment. This channel is an extension of that idea.

I hope you'll join me as I explore Japan one photograph at a time.

Stay tuned for next month's newsletter!

We'll dive into more adventures in retirement, life in Japan, cultural oddities, photography, travel, and the never-ending process of adjusting to a country that I've been visiting since 1986 and still can't completely figure out.

Apparently, retirement doesn't mean you've got all the answers. It just means you've got more time to realize how many questions you still have.