Transition to a Minimalist Lifestyle In light of the future stagnant Japanese economy

essay
essayThis year's goal

昨日書いた今年の目標の中にひとつだけ抽象的なものがありました。それは「ミニマムな生活」を始めるということです。

It is not too much to say that this is my goal not only for this year but also for the next few years.

I’d like to take a moment to address what that means.

What is minimalist living?

Simply put, it’s living without owning anything but the bare essentials. You could roughly call it a frugal lifestyle, but the nuance might be a little different.

There are a lot of things that are different from what I have in mind, but in general I’m very much referring to Chikirin’s entry here.

(Reference blog)

The global economy with an unclear future

Certainly, cutting down the overall cost of living is a major objective, but more than that, the main reason is that I no longer have any hope for the Japanese economy or the company.

First and foremost is the movement of the global economy. In the end, the economic activities of individual companies are not important, and unless the debt problem in Europe is resolved, investors will not be able to invest with a proper vision.

Recently, the news about the market trend has been in a rut, repeating the same thing day after day: « stock prices go up → European debt concerns ease », « stock prices go down → further European debt concerns emerge »…. I really feel like there is no more news. There are some small movements based on the trends of macroeconomic indicators of each country, but in the end, they try to put this issue to rest.

There is nothing we can do about it. To put it bluntly, there is absolutely no way to solve the European debt problem at this point.

The Japanese economy is becoming more and more stagnant

In such an environment of the world economy, Japan is also not doing so well.

This is just a quick list of some of the things I’ve seen.

  • 結局のところ、欧州債務問題が解決しない限り身動きも取れない株式市場と為替市場
  • 全く魅力のないメーカーの製品
  • 異様とも言えるネットビジネス、オープン化、新規参入への拒絶反応
  • 原発問題

It’s a bit more of a personal interest than a general one.

  • コーポレート・ガバナンスに対する意識の薄さ
  • 政治家やマスコミの世代間格差への言及のなさ
  • 著作権ビジネスに対する時代遅れな発想
  • 事なかれ主義、過剰コンプライアンス

It’s not something that makes me feel heavy either.

The Japanese economy does not have the momentum it once had, and the manufacturing industry that used to represent Japan does not seem to have the power to drive the economy. As a result of unnecessarily pursuing high functionality, Japan has fallen far behind Apple and other manufacturers that develop products based on innovative design concepts.

When I look around me, I notice that there are no more products made in Japan in my room, whether it is cars or home appliances.

Most of the things I bring to my parents’ house are made in foreign countries. Most of the things I bring to my parents’ house are made in foreign countries, and the only thing that is made in Japan is a game machine that I haven’t used recently.

Because it is not attractive made in Japan.

By the way, I read this interview article. I’m so sick of Japanese companies…

In light of the external economic environment and Japan’s uninteresting economic activities, those of us in the securities and financial industries, where the economy itself is the source of earnings, cannot expect bonuses or even salaries.

As a member of an organization that cannot make decisions

Even so, as long as we are employed, we have no choice but to rely on the company. I’m already in my late 30s, so I can’t just change my job title. In fact, I may be able to change it, but in any case, it is obvious that my salary will go down for taking the risk.

So, as long as I don’t have enough savings to play around with at the moment, I have no choice but to hang on to the company in order to make a living.

Even though we are still managing to survive, the structure of this organization is completely incapable of making decisions, which is why it is really not worth relying on.

This is, of course, the fault of the individual companies themselves, but if anything, it is already a problem of Japanese society as a whole, an influence from the whole, and I don’t think it can be blamed solely on the companies.

This is another useless sense of stagnation, and I think it is also the cause of the stagnation of Japanese society and economy.

The first time I felt this sense of stagnation to the point of disgust was during the earthquake. Let’s include the typhoon in autumn.

At the time of the typhoon in the fall, people were saying that the Tokyo metropolitan area was in trouble, and even though I suggested that everyone should go home, they didn’t mind saying that they would make a comprehensive decision after the trains stopped….

Fortunately, I’m in a position where I can leave at my own discretion as long as I’m not interfering with my work, which is fine, but I really feel sorry for those who don’t.

Well, but I think this kind of workplace is very common in Japan.

Can you survive in an increasingly stagnant economy in an environment where you can’t make decisions like this?

What’s the point of being a manager if you can’t make decisions and can’t grow your salary?

On the contrary, I think that if you live in this kind of atmosphere and common sense, you will not be able to make decisions when you are in that position.

If so, what’s the point in going that far to become a manager?

As mentioned earlier, we can no longer expect significant economic growth. If the Japanese organization that cannot make decisions is maintained in spite of this, then salaries will undoubtedly hit the ceiling. I don’t think there will be a big difference in salary between a manager and an ordinary employee.

If you don’t take risks, your salary won’t increase. However, the organization and the atmosphere make it impossible to take risks. Therefore, your salary will not increase.

You can’t make decisions at your own discretion, and you don’t get paid more. Forcing yourself to become a manager or trying to get a promotion will only lead to stress, less free time, and not being able to make the most of that less free time at all.

I’m not ruling it out as an option at all at the moment, but I think it’s best to avoid forcing yourself to focus on getting ahead.

I thought I would be much happier doing what I want to do with a limited income and securing freedom of time.

There’s no minimalist life without the intangible asset of creditworthiness.

I think this is the basic premise of minimalist living. Even if you don’t have it, I think it’s important to have the « potential to have » and the « potential to borrow ».

A simple example is « housing ».

You don’t have to own a house, but you do have to have a place to live. Renting is fine, but what you need is « creditworthiness » to do so.

No matter how much you want to live a non-ownership lifestyle, if you can’t rent a house, you can’t live.

It could be called the ability to borrow. For this reason, it is an advantage to work for a company with some track record.

Another thing is that having property is also a « creditworthiness ». The property itself can be used as collateral.

If you already have some wealth and are in your late 40s, you may be able to get away with enough. However, I think it is very difficult for a person in his or her 30s to live a life of total retirement and « lean » while maintaining creditworthiness.

In that sense, even if you are a Japanese company with a sense of stagnation, your « credibility » is still strong, and therefore just belonging to a company is quite beneficial.

Balance between increased leisure time and hobby-related spending

No salary growth, but more hours.

Naturally, it is also a waste to play with leisure time. After all, the expense by the hobby is necessary at least to enjoy it even if it suppresses spending a little.

However, if you don’t avoid spending as much as you have in the past when you think about the future further down the road, you won’t be able to draw up the life plan you want. You will need to be prepared for that.

Fortunately, my huge spending hobby is « travel », and just curbing this is quite effective. Of course, I don’t want to quit because it’s almost my life’s work now, but if the economy, companies, and salaries are really stagnant, I can’t afford to be extravagant, can I?

The other would be a car. You can save a lot of money just by not owning one. Cars will be discussed a bit in the next section.

To be honest, orchestral activities don’t cost that much. I have my own instrument, and the violin doesn’t cost much to maintain.

I’m going home.

I’ll summarize the flow up to this point. In short, this is the flow.

「ミニマム生活へ移行しようと思った背景」

  • 保有するって考えはもう古い
  • 日本経済、世界経済やばい
  • 社会全体の閉塞的な雰囲気変えられない
  • 給料増えそうにない。むしろ減る
  • 会社も閉塞感を打破できるほどのパワーも組織力もない
  • 苦労して出世してマネージャーになっても給料増えない、自由な時間が減る
  • だけど会社辞めるわけにもいかない
  • 会社員という信用力大事

therefore

「ミニマム生活移行への具体策」

  • 会社やめない　→　収入、信用力の確保
  • 実家に引っ越す　→　生活費削減　将来への貯蓄　余暇支出への余地確保

Minimalist living is more than just saving money.

Yes, my parents’ house is in the eastern part of Shizuoka, but it is in the countryside. If you take the Shinkansen, you can get there in an hour, and it’s not a problem at all to commute to work. It’s true that you have to pay for the commuter train, but it’s much more affordable than living in Tokyo.

しかし、勘違いしてはいけないのMinimalist living is more than just saving money.ということです。

« If it’s boring, it’s pointless. If it’s not interesting, it’s pointless. »

If you want to save money, just give up your hobbies. And if you want to take a risk, you can take a risk to advance your career.

Internet is the world of everyday life, there are few advantages to living in a city anymore.

Even so, the countryside is boring. Indeed. A few years ago, I would not have taken this option. But now it’s different.

For example, shopping. If you live in Tokyo, do you go shopping in the city or to department stores? Of course you do, but the opportunities to do so have decreased dramatically, haven’t they?

Clothes, CDs, furniture, most of it is done online. The only time I go shopping directly is when I go to the local supermarket to buy daily necessities, or when I go to a convenience store.

It’s also about community. It’s easy to find friends with the same hobbies and interests on the internet; you can even find an orchestra on twitter.

I think the biggest obstacle to living in the country is expanding your community. In the past, you could only socialize with a limited number of people in the area. Only the company on weekdays, only local people on weekends.

But it is clear that we are no longer in that era.

Fortunately, my place of work is in Tokyo. I buy a commuter train, so I can come to Tokyo on my day off and play and buy something. If I can’t catch the last train, I can take a hotel and stay there. Because of the deflation, the hotel charge is not so much.

While traveling, you can do internet on the bullet train. If you want to sleep, you can sleep.

Cloud, the impact of Google and Apple

As I wrote in yesterday’s diary, this is enough to live on in the countryside now.

  • 布団、衣類、本、カメラ機器（一眼レフ）、生活必需品
  • iPhone
  • iMacやMacBookPro
  • テーブル
  • チェア
  • 本棚
  • クローゼット/li>

  • 自転車
  • 自動車
  • 旅行用トランク1台
  • 楽器（ヴァイオリン、フルート）

I think I can live up to 6 tatami people with room to spare.

As you’ve already noticed, it’s still mainly iPhone and Mac.

Needless to say, Google’s services are essential in our cloud life, and Apple products are the main hardware to use them. Now I can’t live without their services. I think that’s why I was able to make the decision to move to a minimalist lifestyle.

自分が思い描いているミニマム生活って実は「クラウド生活」といったほうがいいかもしれませんね。

summary

The above is a long-winded description of the background and actual actions regarding my major goals for the next few years.

By going back to my parents’ house, I greatly reduce my living expenses, but still value my hobbies and time for myself.

With the lifestyle changes I’ve made over the past few years, and the new community I’ve found, I’ve finally found an environment that I enjoy very much and live a minimalist lifestyle.

I had no idea that my Google and Apple-centric life would change the way I think so much.

The actual action will be taken after six months due to various reasons, but we can’t be too carefree, so I would like to start working on the implementation little by little from now.

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