Stoat - Where?

Two Certainties In Life

Three, if you include death. Firstly, taxes. I was landed today with a Japanese tax bill which informed me that I’m now considered enough of a long-term resident to pay local city taxes. Can I buy a house here, though? Don’t be silly. The form helpfully reminds me that this is still required even if I leave Japan, all written in perfect English. See, they can do it when it’s about money, but have them write about love and philosophy and it all goes downhill. The bill itself isn’t so bad, coming to ¥40,000 for the year, which is about £200. After you take into account that income tax is only £50 a month, you can’t really complain.

The second certainty in life, Jamie loses things. I’ve really been improving in the last few years, even at some stages approaching some semblance of normalcy (i.e. not being ‘totally random’, as some of my friends put it), but today I lost my keys. Ironically, on a bunch of 12 or 13 keys, the thing I’m most annoyed about is the bottle opener which I’ve had since the start of uni and has helped me out in all sorts of tight spots. The fact that I only use one of the keys hasn’t stopped me from carrying keys to 3 separate English front doors for the last 14 months. Mum, you might want to consider getting the locks changed, sorry! I left them on a bus on the way home tonight, so hopefully if I call the bus company tomorrow I’ll have a chance of getting them back. Even better, I’ll get a Japanese friend to do it, and then I’ll know for sure.