Japan

in Japan—where the population is forecast to fall from 127 million to 100 million or lower by 2049—one in every eight properties are already abandoned, forecast to rise to nearly a third of all housing stock by 2033. (The Japanese call them akiya, ghost homes.)

Meguro and Ebisu (目黒と恵比寿) Well known to expats and fashionable Japanese, Meguro and Ebisu are not tourist hotspots, but places that everyday people love to hang out at.

Being praised essentially means that one is receiving judgment from another person as “good.” And the measure of what is good or bad about that act is that person’s yardstick. If receiving praise is what one is after, one will have no choice but to adapt to that person’s yardstick and put the brakes on one’s own freedom. “Thank you,” on the other

Sabbath requires surrender. If we only stop when we are finished [our emails, our projects], we will never stop — because our work is never completely done.”