Hi guys! I just asked you for your questions on Twitter,
so I'm going to do a Q&A today.
If you don't follow me on Twitter, go do that. @SharlaInJapan
Uh, I'm pretty active on there.
If you have a question to ask me or something,
it's probably your best chance at getting an answer,
is probably tweeting me on there,
because I'm on there quite a bit.
Buuut let's get started! :)
Elena says, "If you could be one YouTuber for a day,
who would you be, and why?"
Hmmm...
I would probably want to be...
Martina & Simon! Does that count as one?
They go on lots of really cool adventures,
so I feel like, if I could be them for a day,
that I would get to go somewhere really cool, so yeah.
Deedee asks: "What do you think about getting a degree in Japanese studies?"
"How far can that bring you in a career?"
Ummm, I do not have a degree in Japanese,
so it's kind of hard for me to say.
I guess it's kind of limiting in your choices for jobs.
I guess if you have other skills, it could work well together with those other ones.
Say, for example, you also have computer programming skills,
plus the strong background in Japanese,
then you could get a job in Japan doing computer programming,
or something like that.
But if you have just the Japanese, it pretty much limits you to doing a job
requiring Japanese language and your native language, like translating,
Or say, touring Japanese people around your hometown, or something like that.
But again, I'm not a Japanese major,
so I don't have too much experience in that field,
so I'm kind of not the right person to ask that question.
Kristina asks:
"How does your fiance feel about moving to Canada?"
Uhhh... He's excited about it.
I was actually kind of surprised.
I was kind of... not expecting him to be as excited about it,
just because he's only been there a couple times,
and he doesn't know it that well, but I guess he really liked it,
because he's totally happy with the idea of moving to Canada
But, yeah. We won't be moving for at least another year--
I don't know, if things go well in Japan,
we'll probably stay another two years, or so.
Haha, Melanie asks:
"Out of all the Pokemon plushies you own,
which one is your favorite?"
Definitely my giant Bulbasaur.
I absolutely love that thing.
That was just one of the best purchases I've ever made,
I don't care what anyone says; it was totally worth it.
It's from the Pokemon Center, by the way,
and I believe they still carry them.
Every time I go in there, I still see the giant plushies in there,
so if you're looking for one, you can get them at the Pokemon Center!
And they might be available online--
if I can find them online, I'll link it down below.
May asks: "I'm in Japan on exchange only for a month,
but I'm struggling to find the confidence to speak Japanese. Any tips?"
What I try to tell myself is,
imagine somebody who is struggling to speak your native language,
and trying to talk to you,
you wouldn't make fun of them or anything, right?
So just remember that that's how people are viewing you.
They're probably thinking that it's really awesome that you're trying to speak Japanese,
and even if you totally suck at it, and can only speak a couple words,
they're probably really happy that you're trying.
So, honestly, don't worry about the grammar. Japanese grammar can be very confusing.
It's so different from English that you can feel overwhelmed
when you're trying to make a sentence, if you're not comfortable with it.
But if you know the vocabulary, just say the words!
Just be like... if you want apple juice...
Just be like: *speaks broken Japanese*
And like, it's not right, of course,
but I feel like it would get the point across, and don't even worry about it.
So many people here will be so happy that you're trying to speak Japanese.
They really like to see the effort that people put in to learn the language.
So, good luck! And I totally understand that you're nervous.
I feel that way about other languages.
Of course, I'm comfortable with Japanese now,
but I feel that way about other languages that I'm learning,
like Korean and Hungarian.
Martha asks: "Are there any veggie foods/snacks in Japan
that you can easily grab at convenience stores?"
I'm going to assume you mean "veggie" as in "vegan" and not "vegetarian".
One that I like to get is the cucumber roll,
or the radish sushi roll.
Any of those veggie sushi rolls are vegan.
Other than that, there really isn't much.
Ummm, some of the rice balls?
There's like a seaweed and sesame onigiri that is also vegan.
Some of the smoothie drinks...
Ah, mochi!
Lots of traditional Japanese desserts are vegan,
so that's always a good snack.
Outside of Japan, to get that gelatinous texture they use gelatin,
but in Japan it can be made using other non-animal sourced products.
So, lots of the chewy things like mochi, some puddings, and...
Just some stuff that you might assume has gelatin in it,
check the ingredients, because more often than not, it won't!
So, you might be pleasantly surprised :)
Alex asks: "What do you plan to be for Halloween this year?"
Uhm, I'm going to try to be Magikarp.
I'm gonna have to make it myself.
I was looking on Amazon yesterday for a costume,
and I couldn't find anything.
I've left it until way last minute,
I've only got 12 days until Halloween,
and yeah, I'm pretty sure everything is sold out, even if it did exist.
So, I think I'm going to make it myself, so wish me luck!
Asiain5 asks me: "What is your favorite and least favorite thing
about being a YouTuber?"
My favorite thing is getting to meet so many people :D
I have met so many friends through YouTube,
both other YouTubers, and viewers,
and I've just made some really awesome friendships.
So, I'm very thankful to YouTube for setting me up with these people.
That would definitely be my favorite thing. My least favorite thing...
Hmmm... There are a few...
I mentioned one before where I feel really bad
for not being able to reply to everybody, and it really stresses me out,
because I have so many comments, and so many private messages...
And I'll get emails from people...
several times a week. And I won't reply to them,
because I don't have time to reply to everybody.
But then they'll keep sending me emails
saying how they're so pissed off that I don't even take time out of my day to reply to them!
But, guys! It's impossible. It's impossible to reply to everybody,
so I hope you understand that I'm trying my best
to reply to as many comments and as many tweets as I can.
But, yeah. That really stresses me out sometimes.
And then of course there's the problems with people
trying to find out your personal information,
uhm, where you live, and where you work, and stuff like that.
That's always stressful as well.
Ummm, I'm trying to think, there really aren't that many bad things...
Of course hate comments are something that people will list as what they don't like about YouTube.
They don't bother me too much, I try to not let them get to me.
Of course when I'm having a bad day, they will start to bother me a lot more than usual.
But they're just something you have to get used to, I guess.
There's really no way to stop it.
But, all the good things about YouTube definitely outweigh the bad things,
which is why I continue doing it.
Jack O'... Leggman?
Kristin, I think is her name, asks:
"If you could relive one day of your life, which would it be and why?"
Man! There's so many days to choose from.
Uhh, I've never talked about this on my channel before--
I think I did kind of reference it in a comment once, but--
somebody very close to me committed suicide
a few years ago...
and, I, yeah--if I could relive
one day, it would definitely be
one of the days with him, because I miss him a lot.
A few weeks before it happened, we spent a day watching Princess Monoke together,
so that's probably--that's what I would choose.
I would relive that day.
Sorry.
I probably should have chosen not such an emotional answer.
Okay. Okay.
Baby Wong asks: "What is your favorite music genre,
Japanese and English?"
Mmmmm.
That's really hard, man. I like so many kinds of music.
I really like metal. I'm really getting into drum & bass recently.
Uhhh... I've always really liked reggae.
It's so hard to pick one, man.
I would have to say metal, because my two favorite bands,
both Japanese and English-speaking are metal bands.
So, yeah. We'll go with metal.
Vincent asks: "When did you first start learning Japanese
and when did it occur to you that you wanted to live there?"
I first started learning Japanese in grade... 8?
9! In grade 9--oh, my rice is ready!
...In grade 9, and I first came to Japan...
I believe it was grade 11, or so? I always forget.
I remember I was 17.
I was pretty sure I was 16 or 17, so I think it was grade 11.
And after doing the homestay for a couple weeks here,
I knew I wanted to come back!
I didn't know for sure that I wanted to live here at that point,
I didn't speak Japanese very well at all,
however, a couple years later I came back for a longer trip.
I think it was about... a month and a half long,
and I stayed in Tokyo with a friend,
and I just had such a blast!
My friend loved Johnnys,
and she loved cars,
and we just had so many fun adventures together
riding in skylines, and listening to Johnnys music together!
And we just had such an amazing time,
that I felt like, "Oh man, living in this country would be so much fun."
Those were two things that I couldn't really do in Canada,
like, I love Japanese sports cars,
and I loved Japanese pop music at the time,
and it was really awesome to just have those things
right at your fingertips in Tokyo!
Whereas in Canada, it's really difficult to find Japanese sports cars.
You don't see them very often; same with the music.
So I think at that time, I really felt like, "Wow,
I'd really want to live in this country for at least a few years."
And I did! I made it happen, so yay! :D
BerettaNo9? Am I saying that right? Asks:
"What's the wildest thing you've ever wanted to do with your hair?"
Um... I wouldn't call it "wild,"
I don't really consider coloring my hair a wild thing,
but I've never wanted to shave my head,
or get really short hair, or anything...
So the wildest thing that I've been wanting to do, and still want to do,
is to dye it baby pink.
One of these days, I think I'll do it.
I'm just terrified that I'm going to destroy my hair.
It's already pretty, you know, dry and in need of some conditioning,
and I feel like if I bleach it anymore it's going to look like crap
but I would absolutely love to have baby pink hair.
One of these days, I'll make it happen.
Manacat asks:
"What has living in Japan changed the most about you?"
Probably that now I'm really quiet
on public transportation.
So like, when I go back to Canada, I'm so used to the Japanese way
of not talking on your cell phone,
not really talking to people beside you,
not eating, you know, not making any noise whatsoever really
when I'm on the train,
that when I get back to Canada, and I'm riding on the bus,
I do the same thing. I'm super quiet.
And then when my friends go to talk to me, I feel kind of awkward.
Because if that were to happen in Japan,
I'd be like, "Oh, no, I can't talk on the train."
People would be like, "Oh, what's she doing? That's so obnoxious!"
So I feel like that's really ingrained in me now,
and it's probably going to take a while of living back in Canada
for that to come back to Canadian standards.
But, yeah. I think that's probably
the one thing that I've noticed, I would say? Yeah.
Alright guys! My rice is ready and waiting for me,
so I better go make dinner for my fiance and I.
Thanks so much for watching!
If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up!
It tells YouTube that it's a good video,
and it helps it get spread around on the "Recommended Videos"
list thing, so I really appreciate it.
Thanks, guys. Bye! :)