Day 10 of 366. Finally got an internet connection installed in the new place. The dining chairs arrived, the apartment is coming together.

Day 9 of 366. Took my son to his Japanese school today and got him registered. His first day is Thursday. I don’t know how he is going to get on as it’s quite a traditional school and he doesn’t speak much Japanese yet. Could be a tough first few months.

In other news the new house is nearly ready to move into. The Internet gets connected on Thursday. My bed arrives on Friday and the curtains on the weekend.

A new start is coming.

Day 8 of 366. 2% of the year is already gone.

Day 7 of 366. Worked until 9am putting furniture together then slept all afternoon.

Soba with the family for dinner and back to the apartment to put together more stuff.

Day 6/366. Visited Cosmo world and then spent the whole evening building IKEA furniture.

Day 5/366. The new vaccum cleaner and microwave were delivered. Starting to look more like a home now.

Day 4/366. More white goods purchased. School clothes for the little guy picked up. 1% of 2024 is already over…crikey.

Day 3/366. Not a bad day. The two months’ deposit for our apartment in Singapore was – with minor agreed deductions – returned. Helpful. A friend who was holding my last few items in Singapore has found a buyer for most of them.

We picked up a vaccum cleaner, a microwave, a rice cooker and a washlet.

Additionally, after a painful hour on the phone we ‘may’ have an Internet connection in two weeks’ time. 300 meg rather than 1 gig fibre – due to the age of the property – but wired and open. This means I can use my own DNS and set up proper firewall rules.

So ‘getting there.’ Next will be my ‘spousal visa,’ a local bank account and then some form of employment.

Day 2/366. Got the little guy’s Nintendo Switch repaired, got him some new shoes and ordered a new duvet.

After the earthquake yesterday a horrendous air crash happened at Haneda earlier today. 2024 is shaping up to be bloody.

Day 1/366 of 2024 is over. Thoughts so far on the plus side:

1. Family. Japan was a great move for the family.

2. Mental health. Japan is much better for overall mental health than latter day Singapore.

3. Environment. Four seasons which you don’t miss until you don’t have them. Mountains, oceans and forests you can lose yourself in.

4. Costs. Rent is 75% cheaper and a beer is 50% cheaper minimum.

On the other side of the equation:

1. Absolutely dire for my old career. Very few US and EU firms run an APAC business from Japan so getting hired here for a regional role will be tough. So a rethink is in order after the 4th of January.

2. Tinkering and crafting. Unlike Singapore where apartments are concrete and steel Japanese apartments are very lightly constructed to deal with earthquakes. You can’t install patch panels or run ethernet as I did before. Additionally, woodworking with power tools on a balcony will be impossible and whole home audio will just annoy the neighbours so that’s out.

Overall getting out of Singapore was a smart move and we should have done it a year earlier. Costs were becoming ridiculous rents almost tripled, visas for mid-career jobs became hard to obtain.

So let’s see what 2024 brings. Right now it’s a big question mark over everything but at least the financial bleeding has stopped.