What would I change? Looking Back 20 Years in Japan.

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[@gwenhie1]

Saturday morning I'm looking forward to finding out Paul's videos these days. This time Paul is walking from Yokohama station to the west and he ended this video near Miiyagaya primary school. I always enjoy Paul's videos because I feel he tries to enjoy the life in Japan and to improve his life. PEACE👍

[@Exjapter]

Thank you, I always enjoy reading your comments, too. Since you probably know Yokohama better than me, any recommendations of places I should try to film a video?

[@gwenhie1]

@@Exjapter Yokohama means ‘near the beach’ ‘beside the shore’ . So I recommend seaside For example Hakkeijima八景島, Umino Koen海の公園、金沢工業団地=福浦、幸浦 almost 170 years ago Commodore Perry came to Japan and conclude the treaty in Yokohama. The memorial square is now a small park in 中区NAKA ward日本大通NIHON Ohdori　開港kaiou広場hiroba公園kouen. Near the historical cite, there’s another historical park. It’s Yamashita park. In 1923 the Kanto great earthquake occurred. Then most of, lots of houses, buildings broke and burned down. Huge amount of rubbles were carried and filled up the seashore. Then Yokohama city maintained as a park. Indian drinking fountain is in the park. It was presented to the city of Yokohama because people in Yokohama helped Indian merchants. Inside of the ceiling is so Beautiful.

[@flynomadic999]

Another great vid Paul👍 I’m with you 500% on the language study. Hit it hard and hit it early. Wish I had! 😭 Don’t feel bad about missing out on Tokyo nightlife (it was bonkers back then I watched it chew up and spit out a great many) nor having not seen much of the country yet. Even Japanese seem to save domestic travel for their golden years. Our generation was scooting around Asia, Thailand, India, Laos, Cambodia. Historically it was much easier and more economical. Korea, Taipei, Cebu etc are easy weekend or weeklong trips with the fam. Malaysia is great, The Maldives incredible. Convenient and cheap compared to Hawaii. I schedule a trip each quarter two domestic and two Intl every year, but always return to Tokyo with a renewed appreciation for what we have here. 🎌

[@Exjapter]

Yes...need to travel...must travel... I just want to try the food of so many places, if I am being honest. Maybe I am strange, but I am much more interested in the daily life of people in different countries rather than the sightseeing aspect.

[@ojisan03]

22 years?! Wow! 6 years for me and still assimilating. I enjoy your comments. Very articulate, insightful, and intelligent. Keep up the excellent job because, "itsumo genkiwo moratte imasu".

[@Exjapter]

Thank you for the comment! Any particular things that stand out in your first 6 years of assimilating?

[@enidtrinidad8192]

Your comment of studying the language early on caught my attention. I've been studying since 2020, and because I have not had much practice speaking it, I have not made any true progress. I may look into an intensive program once out there. Thank you again, Paul!

[@Exjapter]

Honestly, I think I would be served well to go through an intensive course too, at least for reading and writing!

[@seanrm]

Brit here - 35 years living in Japan. What do I miss? I miss going to the vending machine on a piping hot summer day and getting an icy cold drink for ¥100. Oh, hang on a minute...

[@stayseesea7340]

I have lived here for almost exactly the same duration(21 years). I also had no aspirations to stay at first, but after deep consideration, renewed my contract year after year. It was such a steep learning curve that it is stupid to go home after the first couple of years. When I was engaged to marry, I enrolled in one month of J-school. When I was pregnant, I added another couple months of full-time J-school. From year two or so, I also have been doing weekly meet ups with volunteer Japanese teachers at international centers. I think I need a full year of full time Japanese language school- but I lack passion for it and I love many other aspects of my life. The cost is very high for both doing that and not doing that. All this time I have been in smaller cities. Thank you for sharing- I nod my head as I listen. The hardest thing has been raising a child. Today is the first day back to public school. He is tested all day in all subjects today then going to cram school (15 y.o)

[@Exjapter]

Your situation sounds very typical - a lot of people are in the same camp. Good luch with your ongoing study!

[@DiscoCallum]

I'm a relative newcomer to your channel, but your videos have been instrumental for me in setting clear expectations. I'm going to be moving to Japan in around a year or so. I've spent a few months "living" there as a tourist already, so I'm not totally unfamiliar with the day-to-day and cultural nuances at least. Your videos have been really important for me to keep my expectations grounded and for understanding what future challenges that might pop up. Thank you, keep it up!

[@Exjapter]

Thank you for the comment! Is there anything in particular that you have trepidation about regarding moving here?

[@DiscoCallum]

@@Exjapter Thanks for the response :) I'm coming from the UK, and I guess my biggest uncertainty is about finding a career in Japan. While I'm slowly learning, I only speak very basic Japanese at the moment. My goal is to continue my IT career in Tokyo at an English-speaking company like Rakuten or Google. I have 8 years of experience already in the IT field, but I took a mid-career break to complete my bachelor's degree. A couple of years ago whilst researching a potential move I realized that not having a degree, which isn’t a big issue for IT careers in the UK, could be a significant barrier in Japan for many reasons, so I decided to take the steps (and significant cost!) to address that and make this move happen. I'll soon be graduating with first-class honours. I guess my hope is that my first-class degree in combination with existing experience, might make me a little more appealing for employers. I'm quickly approaching 30 though (i.e. the age cut-off for the 1-year working holiday visa) and at the moment my focus is on whether it'd be worth applying for jobs outside of Japan, or whether it'd be worth getting the working holiday visa to get properly situated there and find the career whilst I'm living in Tokyo. It has it's risks, such as eating into my dwindling savings and not being able to actually find a job that would sponsor the visa change which would result in me needing to leave again, but my thinking here is that someone who's already located in Japan might be far more appealing to employers when compared to someone living outside of Japan? If you wouldn't mind, I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on this :)

[@Exjapter]

​@@DiscoCallum I am not sure I am the best person to give this sort of advice. If it were me, I would maybe test the job market from abroad with applications for a few months to see how that goes. For IT companies I would think they would be able to sponsor your visa and virtual interviews are pretty common these days, so being in Japan wont necessary (unless you cant wait to live here). Also, you could maybe try a head-hunter company like En World to find opportunities. If you can, hit the Japanese language study to increase your chances. Best of luck!

[@HaiTomVlog]

The language study definitely has to be my #1 thing! Some days the motivation just isn’t there - then I hear my wife speaking to a friend and I can’t understand a thing they’re saying! 😅

[@Exjapter]

I have my good days and bad days. Sometimes I will come out of conversation and think "My Japanese is much better than I thought." And the next day I will find myself totally lost!

[@scruffy2629]

I really enjoyed this, very interesting content,my favourite expat channel by far! Thanks for the great insights and advice, hopefully i will be able to put a lot of it into practice soon.We live in the bush in Nz, and are hopeing to move somewhere in the Nagano/Gifu, countryside, early next year to be closer to family ,these Vids are gold ,thank you! :)

[@Exjapter]

I would drop everything and live in Nagano in a heartbeat if the right job came along. I love that prefecture. Gifu I have only visited once (Takayama), but I feel I would really love it there, too. Why those two for you?

[@scruffy2629]

@@Exjapter we have friends living there, and iv lived in the hills for 17 years as a trapper, my wife's ( Japanese) lived here for 11 years, so I think we won't be able to live in a city , I really love Japanese mountains, forests, wildlife, and I'm in my 50s so it might be easier to assimilate somewhere smaller ,my daughter,10, is pretty wild too, 😆

[@EvgenyUskov]

also been living in japan for about 20 years... 1. wish i didn't spent so much time as a sort of hikikomori just sitting in my room, and watching anime 2. wish i studied more to get some qualifications like a "tourist guide" (通訳案内士 - you really need to study a lot about history and geography) or bookkeeping (簿記) 3. wish i started my kanken studies earlier when i still had a better brain (which we all do when we are young)

[@Exjapter]

In a weird way, I wish I had watched more anime... I only recently started watching anime again after a long hiatus (I watched a few back when I was in university). Basically I missed almost every anime from 2008 to 2019.....

[@EvgenyUskov]

@@Exjapter "psychopass" and "ajin" are absolute must watch

[@OnlyOneNights]

This week's video is a great one. I studied Japanese a bit while in high school, nothing formal just independently, and I really wish I would have dove into it seriously back then. So I definitely identified with your perspective regarding the language learning. Outside of the things that you would change, there's actually quite a bit of solid advice in here. I've also heard about people finding jobs by going directly to the organization's site and not just relying on places like GaijinPot. Oh, and before I forget, I hope everything for you and yours were okay during the hurricane. The news that hit the states about it was sparse, but it sounded serious. Stay safe!

[@Exjapter]

Thanks for the well wishes. I realized as I was putting together my ideas for the video that they doubled well as actionable advice, so I tried to make that one of the angles of the video.

This past January is my 20 year mark/anniversary too and I definitely wish my Japanese was better. My head just doesn’t retain it. I live in Hokkaido 19 years and Kobe one…love Hokkaido, Kobe was too hot and humid with too many people. Couldn’t imagine living in Tokyo.

[@Exjapter]

I have only been to Hokkaido once, and as I took the train from shin-chitose to Sapporo, passing the fields and the cows, I thought "this reminds me of Wisconsin..." I am pretty sure I would be very happy living there.

[@Loaded87IROCZ]

My wife and I were in Yokohama earlier this week and kept our eyes peeled for you. 😁 We lived in Japan for a few years (we currently live in the UK) and agree with so many of your observations. Keep up the good work!

[@Exjapter]

How did you like Yokohama? Hard to run into me these days in the heat - I am outside only in the morning for my run and once a week to film a video. Too hot to be out and about otherwise!!

[@Loaded87IROCZ]

@ExJapTer It was great! We'd been there plenty of times before as we previously lived in the western part of Tokyo but this was our first time staying there. We stayed at Minato Mirai and we even treated to some amazing fireworks from the Smart Festival on our last night there. It was hot, though. 😅

[@香料國境]

I miss the old Japan.

[@Exjapter]

What do you miss the most?

[@Bashir000]

what changed?

[@Daze-lq8hj]

I think I miss the old mom and pop stores that specialized in just selling fruits and vegetables.. I am thinking Yokohama 30 years ago. I think there are still a few but most people go to the big grocery stores nowadays.

[@tatsumasa6332]

We (Japanese) also DO need to learn Japanese language as well instead of communicating in silence to each other.

[@commentarytalk1446]

I thought Japanese had special invisible antennae (that twitch and pick up non-audible signals, context cues and unspoken rules and feed those directly into the brain) which allows for semi-telepathic communication instead and spoken Japanese and non-verbal cues fill in the rest? ;-)

[@tatsumasa6332]

@@commentarytalk1446 Nah, you should know that we are NOT that high-tech people by now.

[@Exjapter]

Especially in the city - everyone is in their own world all the time.

[@GOATPoets]

I keep on forgetting your first point - and the necessity of keeping up study. Your second point is duly noted too ... who intends to stay more than one or two years? Time passes and things change. Love your videos and I trust someone who has been here 20+ yrs !

[@Exjapter]

Thank you for the comment. Good point, I wonder how many people come here actually planning to stay long term - probably not too many!

[@vinyalonde]

I would not be too hard on yourself regarding travel to other countries in Asia. You will have time when your child has moved out and has become established. You will probably find that you see the new destinations through different eyes than your younger self but they will be no less interesting. I agree though about researching destinations before arriving. I too have learned this lesson. It is wonderful to see things in new places that I have read about. I thoroughly enjoyed this video and I have subscribed. I have only visited Japan three times. If I had chosen to move to Japan as a younger person, I would have arrived there in the mid 1980s (yes, I am that old) and I have no doubt it would have been a wild ride. I have no regrets though as I have lived a good life to date and one of my major pursuits in my retirement is travel. It is really interesting, as you say, to see daily life in the countries that I visit.

[@Exjapter]

Thank you very much for the comment. I am happy to take your advice to heart.

[@ilmarinen79]

Thanks for sharing! Great advice.

[@Exjapter]

Thank you, I appreciate the comment.

[@香料國境]

Huge changes over that time.

[@bonnolog]

Recently went to Japan for the first time, the culture shock is real!

[@Exjapter]

What struck you the most?

[@TkyoSam]

based

[@cooliipie]

You should collab with Chase in Japan! He's been there as long as you and makes similar style videos

[@Exjapter]

I recently came across his channel and wouldnt mind a collab. I believe he is in Kansai though, which presents a challenge.

[@StudioHoekhuis]

In a broader sense, these are general life lessons that apply out of Japan also 😎

[@Exjapter]

Good point. Thanks for the comment!

[@zmanthemercenary5378]

Not to rub it in your face Paul, but in my younger years i was able to spend a few really crazy nights in Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Roppongi. It was quite fun. Lol

[@Exjapter]

Dammit! lol

[@clydefugami544]

Paul, Great comments on your regrets! I think, though, you should look at your regrets in the context of the whole of your experience. If you had accomplished the wish of starting earlier in learning Japanese, etc., perhaps you would not be making this KZbin broadcast! Now that would be a shame for all of us! I want to emphasize, Paul, that there is a time limit to what we do on earth. It is best to travel NOW and not wait until later. Our bodies are limited to an amount of time that we cannot control. I am also glad at the end of the video you expressed some pride in having married and bore a child. Not a small accomplishment. The bridge you have extended from the West to Japan is incalculable and rich! Clyde

[@Exjapter]

Yes, I need to reorder some of my life's priorities and get traveling more. One key point is finishing my PhD, which will free up time, but more importantly (hopefully) lead to a better paying job. Fingers crossed!

[@massvt3821]

Consistently good channel.....

[@Exjapter]

Thank you, I appreciate the comment!

[@marypickens9559]

I agree with manga being a good way to learn conversational Japanese. Personally, i loved Doraemon. Still do.

[@Exjapter]

Doraemon is a great read for practice!

[@tonyalexander5643]

I ran into you on the day you filmed this. Good to meet you.

[@Exjapter]

Yes! Thank you for saying something as I walked past, it was nice meeting you. If you didn't make it to the very end of the video, I mentioned meeting you. Cheers!

[@RussellDavies-m1o]

The way he remembers the exact date of arrival makes it seem like a some kind of sentence.

[@Exjapter]

It was a day that changed everything, so kinda hard to forget!

[@commentarytalk1446]

You 'covered a lot of ground' in this video. Thank you for the reflection of your experience and lessons learnt and shared. I did a working holiday visa for a few years down under in Australia, and visited Japan but at the time was too inexperienced and immature to really appreciate the country aside from some basic tourist impressions and did not like the country much compared to my time in Australia, which was more laid-back and easy going, in contrast. As you say, preparation, research and one's own developed interests take one much further when travelling, which I only learnt, later on. Speaking of the big city life: In my 20s I did this (in Europe) but it's a rollercoaster, it only lasts 2-3 years before people move on and things change so, so quickly: Fun but over like the rollercoaster ride, in the blink of an eye. Looking back, I'd say above all else, it's important to learn what one's own real most inner, interests in life are: Sooner than later, if one can. What you love doing is the best thing to find out. I spent so much time doing different jobs in different industries not really finding that passion or vocation. If you find that, you're on the right path, no matter what is my best take-home. Looking back it's easy to see all the paths not taken instead of focusing on the quality of choices at each fork in the path one did make and can make and to try to keep improving the decisions in yet more forks in the paths still ahead! If I was to go back to Japan now, since then I took up the hobby of Go and there's loads of cool Go stuff in Japan I'd be interested in visiting. Back then I had no idea! I'd cuff my former self over the head, and say, angrily to myself: "Hey you! Why did you not go and visit that awesome Go shop that you were a few hundred metres away from?!" Jokes aside, you're right about reflecting either via video or journal, as it helps break out of as the French usefully say, "Métro, Boulot, Dodo" (Commute, Work, Sleep) where it's easy to fall into a hum-drum slightly sedate, daily routine and not make the most of each day? On that note, I've got some excellent learning resources for Japanese, so have no excuse to not crack on and take a leaf out of your book to start in ernest on the communication skills necessary so that one can investigate the culture and build a 'conceptual scrap-book' and a practical Japanese vocabulary, simultaneously.

[@Exjapter]

Good luck with the study. And honestly, I too have enough head slappingly dumb moments in my early days in Japan I can totally relate. Might need to turn those stories into a video at some point.

[@commentarytalk1446]

@@Exjapter Well you covered a lot of ground very constructively in this video already so thank you, already. I really need to redouble my efforts on the language starting today, not tomorrow (!) and be guided by passion for life.

[@bryandavidasuncion9515]

I have been studying japanese seriously for a few years now and I can probably read at aruond N3 level. And I took the N4 test recently. The first exam vocabulary was OK. The second part grammar was very easy for me, kanji and all so I was confident going into the listening exam. Boy was I in for a rude awakening. I don't have much practice with conversation and my listening practice is mainly short stories so I was poorly equipped to deal with the listening exam which consisted of only conversation.

[@Exjapter]

Are you in Japan? (i know you have commented before but I dont remember). If not, just immerse yourself in Japanese on KZbin and other sources of conversation like Japanese TV if you can get it.

[@bryandavidasuncion9515]

@@Exjapter Ah no which is why I am severely lacking in the listening department hahaha. Yeah I actually do listen to different stuff but I guess my head isn't fast enough to process short conversations like in the exams. For short stories I can at least get more context in later parts as I process the earlier parts, not really possible in the N4 exam I took. The conversation is over before I can process it properly and the questions get asked immediately hahaha.

[@martian-sunset]

As a lazy procrastinator, learning the language is my biggest challenge! Coming from 40 years living/working in NYC I love large metropolitan city life, so Tokyo is perfect for me (and 1000% better than NYC).

[@Exjapter]

I really do love Tokyo, but I like to have it at arms reach, if that makes sense. When I lived in Yamanashi I could get to Shinjuku in 90 minutes by bus, and that seemed perfect for me.

[@elenakursteiner4729]

It would be nice if you made a simple video about Earthquake and what it looks like: Evacuation from Air B&B.What is necessary to keep if you are Tourists for 2 or 3 months .By Hotels I assume it's organised? 🙏 👍 Thank you very much

[@Exjapter]

That's a very good question that I should look into - what emergency plans do places like hotels have in place for their guests? I did a video about disaster preparedness a few months ago, so I do share some ideas in there. I will look into the hotel idea though - that's a good point.

[@elenakursteiner4729]

@@Exjapter there is overload of Info about it but no single video existed about Tourist 3 month travel Experience of Unexpected Evacuation and just Simple necessary things you take.Thanks if you were Witnessing that and short experience. ❤️

[@beverlyhills7883]

Many people say making long-term friends in Japan is difficult. Is that true?

[@Exjapter]

Not necessarily. What I have found is there usually has to be some sort of mutually shared activity. House parties are not much of a thing in Japan, so getting together with people is usually going to involve being out somewhere. My best long term friends are people who I have connected with through specific hobbies. For example, I will go hiking over Obonn with a Japanese friend I have known since 2002, and we still get together to do that (and go out drinking afterwards). But we have never been to each other's home, yet I still consider him a good long time friend.

[@robertgulfshores4463]

I think my brain can't Japanese. :-( Maybe I have a learning disability that has been hidden all these years. But that's ok, I had more friends in Tokyo (3 years) than I've ever had, Japanese and gaijin. Still, if I could just jack into the Matrix, like Neo, the first thing I would ask for is Japanese.

[@Exjapter]

Maybe you just haven't found the right stimulus yet - I seriously had trouble too until I discovered my reading hack.

[@stayseesea7340]

Same here - kanji perplexes my brain!

[@BrantRaven]

Great video insight. Thank you. To me, Japan is the "girlfriend I let go, that I should have married:. I will forever regret not moving to Japan in my 20's. Sadly I will die with that regret!

[@Exjapter]

Sorry to hear that. But who knows, maybe it was for the best?

[@Shakyaman]

thanks and respect and glad i can comment....no gonna like it much...sorry...

[@Shakyaman]

my answer below: i shouldn't have come back...i.e. it ruined my life ( my decision to return, i mean..) i take full responsibility of course...BUT..ya, you know the blame game...hard not to play into it, i must say

[@Shakyaman]

it's a mystery how Japan videos seem to be popular...is it recent? 'cause of cheap Yen? Anyway, i bet thanks to the new gold medal winners there will be more kids coming over for a look ( Skateboard sweep of Street, and then break dancing...ha...so cool ) Naturalizing to ANY country is going to be a love-hate-love thing, imo...yet Japan has a pocket full of extras that can't be found in many other places...only a handful of countries, principalities, or states can truly compare...not my opinion this time; empirically evident to the waking mind!

[@Exjapter]

Japan has done a great job of projecting soft power (a feel good image) to the world. But there are some harsh realities of this place, make no mistake. I hope you can find the best way for you going forward!