My new retirement plan

Despite free land, no cry of northward ho in Japan - International Herald Tribune

Let's all sing now: (to the tune of "North to Alaska"):

"North, to Hokkaido, a-go north, the rush is on

Way up North, (North to Hokkaido)
Way up North, (North to Hokkaido)
etc"

Actually, I thought the words to that song were different, but I haven't heard it for decades. (And perhaps some of my younger readers will never have heard it.)

Here's an added bonus: with global warming, the weather will probably be nice on the (currently very snowy) Hokkaido within 30 years.

I'm seeing glasses half full today.

The International Herald Tribunal also ran an article last week suggesting that Japan had pretty reasonable prices for real estate now. I had a quick look around some websites, but it's hard to tell. Certainly, you can't beat the interest rates for mortgages:

Fixed interest rates for terms of more than 10 years can be as low as 2 percent at leading Japanese banks, with average rates standing around 3 percent. At GE Consumer Finance, interest rates vary depending on customers' credit profiles, but the top rate now is 4.6 percent.

Now, if only they will have people to run the country in 40 years time, everything would be fine.