Arab News Japan

DUBAI: A Japanese man managed to retire at the age of 45 after he ate rice and vegetables for dinner every night for two decades.

According to the South China Post, the man followed the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) lifestyle by devising a plan to save 100 million yen (about $679,000 USD) as early as possible.

With an annual salary of about five million yen ($34,000 USD), the Japanese man worked for a company that required employees to work overtime and was constantly preaching: “Only by working hard and doing overtime can you achieve future happiness.”

He garnered a lot of attention of social media, under the online alias “The Man Who Will Definitely Resign,” with many followers being supportive.

For 21 years, he lived in the company dormitory, paying 30,000 yen ($200 USD) a month for rent, and thrifting all his furniture and home appliances.

A typical dinner of his, according to reports, included salted vegetables, a bowl of rice and a sour plum.

Occasionally, he would have just an energy drink, which he would get by using free points from convenience stores. He would also sometimes have soda and biscuits as his evening meal.

He never used air conditioning or heating in order to save on electricity. He instead opted to cool down in the summer with a wet t-shirt and warm up in the winter by doing squats.

He announced that his microwave had broken at one point, which led him to cooking sweet potatoes using the summer heat through his colleague’s car’s windscreen.

After 21 years of what some might describe as a ‘miserable way to live,’ the man was finally able to retire. Early this year, he announced on social media that he had finally saved 135 million yen (about $917 million dollars).

His simple lifestyle also inspired him to write a book on how to save money, which is now another source of income for him.

However, due to the yen’s depreciation since the beginning of the year, the man disclosed that his savings had decreased dramatically.

“If the yen keeps depreciating, I’ll never achieve financial freedom. What have I been working for these 21 years? It’s all meaningless, so tragic,” he said.