Singaporeans love travelling to Japan. Everyone has their idiosyncrasies they fall back on while they are in the Land of the Rising Sun - like a well-used sofa that has absorbed its owner’s body shape. And here’s mine: I have taken to buying personal finance books whenever I’m in Japan.

(Yes, I can read books in Japanese.)
(No, I don’t actually read them. Every time I return to Singapore, I would feel so sieged by everyday demands that I would turn to English books if I can find the time to read.)

But ya, I never learn my lesson. I think what I yearn from these books is a Japanese perspective to the art of growing money. Reading money management books in English is well and fine but they inevitably contain an Eurocentric point of view.

Over time, I have come to buy books that are written by lady homemakers. Japanese women wear the pants in the house because they control the household finances (and their husbands’ purse strings). These books typically come in short paragraphs and photographs and captions - all useful features to navigating a book that isn’t written in my native language.

Buying this book turned on a switch in my head. It’s written by an anonymous lady who set up an Instagram account, amassed thousands of followers and became so influential that she got to write this book. I’m thinking, why not me?

As a struggling Sensei, I mayn’t earn the most bucks, but I’m the most resourceful person I know. Pre-COVID times, I had a way of winning free movie tickets/hotel buffets/vouchers, basically solving all my entertainment needs. Two ex-students have also messaged me to explicitly ask me how I manage my money. If this random homemaker can gain a following by sharing her money management insights, so can Kai Le Sensei!

Watch out, 2024. Here I come.