...you take out your wallet and you don't fear that someone's going to come up behind you and take it... yeah - DAMN
...so the things I was worried about really did end up being...
pretty rough and terrible
Hahaha this is your flashy fashion reporter CathyCat on the streets of Tokyo. Muhuhu.
...and today we're gonna go and ask the foreigners here in Japan what made them scared before coming to Japan
what were they scared about coming to Japan let's find out and ask foreigners in Japan. Muhohoho
All right where are you from? - Ireland
And how long have you been in Japan for? - uh this is my first day yeah
You touched down yesterday? - yeah yeah
Fresh from the airport? - yeah no yeah fresh from the plane
Fresh from the plane have you been to Japan before? - no I've never been
So why are you here? - studying Japanese I do it at Uni so yeah I came here through my year abroad
wow well I got the right person here then
so question is before you came to Japan because everything's new now you've never been here before
what were you scared about?
um I was scared about going into shops and not being able to buy things or get across but
everyone's been really helpful I think that's what I've been most surprised about like everyone's just so helpful
even though they can't speak English I can't speak that well Japanese so yeah
everyone's really been helpful
How was your family were they worried or scared about you coming here?
Um my mum was only worried about earthquakes but other than that they they were excited for me
yeah yeah
Any anything else you're kind of a little bit worried or hesitant about anything you're like
"oh Japan I hope this and that..."
I think it's just how big Tokyo is as a city like I live out in the suburbs so when I came into Central Tokyo today
I wasn't prepared for how big it feels because I've been to London lots and Dublin but this is like next level
but yeah just finding my way around that's probably the scariest bit so don't have my SIM card just yet
I'm picking that up tomorrow
so without internet connection right now
yeah I'm just wandering around - oh God is it not scary without the internet?
um I'm back at Omotesando Station and I know thats down there so it's all all with the brain yeah
Not scared about getting getting lost then
um if I just know that down there that's the station so yeah I'm not gonna stray too far
she's fearless everyone she's fearless all right but back in your country is there anything you're scared about
walking around with my phone out even I live in England and
um someone will just snatch it of your hands yeah whereas I'm walking around with it in my back pocket
and I feel, I don't know, don't think anyone's gonna take it or anything
a lot of pickpockets as well but I feel I don't know it just feels a bit safer here
I don't know why but it just does
which corner of the UK you're living in? - Nottingham Central
and they snatch your phone out of your hand ??? - it's more when you're around London and stuff
um Nottingham is has its own quirks or whatever but yeah I'd say you
take out your wallet and stuff and you don't fear that someone's just going to come up behind you and take it
yeah - damn okay well that's quite a change good that's interesting
now I'm gonna be extra careful with my phone next time I go to the UK
it's fun it's a nice place but yeah there are some dodgy people
yeah - all right
let's go okay where are you from? - I'm from Australia
America
okay now what brings you to Japan? - um to be an English teacher
You're living the hard life - yeah that that's that's true
What brings you to Japan - I'm a musician
now that you're here it's all good but before you came was there anything you were scared about before coming to Japan
um personally for me like I've traveled to Japan a few times as well so I kind of felt a little bit more accustomed
but I do have like quite a few tattoos probably will cover them now but I usually I was a little bit worried at first
since I live in quite a semi-rural area Hashimoto a little bit out of hachioji
and it was like will people be you know like, looking at me, you know what I mean
like will there be some slight judgments and also I am a member of the lgbtq so it was a little bit of like some
thoughts to do with that but I haven't had any trouble that was really my main concern really
fine so lgbtq did you like read something up online that made you think "oh maybe I'm not quite welcome here"?
no not particularly that I just come from an area where it's very open I come from Australia in a very very diverse
um like very lgbtq friendly area so it was kind of my like it wasn't I had a lot of concern it
was just I was out of my comfort zone and so yeah not that I've read anything just a little bit of caution
okay between you and me were you also worried that it's harder to date here?
ah yeah just a little bit, wasn't my main concern work was more of a concern
but it was kind of I knew the scene obviously wasn't as much as it was back home
yeah so I mean yeah a little bit
all right yeah thank you for sharing that - okay no worries at all
anything you were worried about?
well the same sort of thing that you know having traveled here many times you know
um I'd really only kind of faced like the the beautiful side of Japan the hospitality you know
and the glamor you know um so what I was worried about was uh the Ekaiwa (english teaching) job
um I've only ever been a musician and to have to wear a suit every day and like work like set hours
and have like a boss and then there was the like 100 degree heat in the Summer with the full suit and the mask
so the things I was worried about really did end up being
pretty rough and terrible but I'm really glad to be out of that now uh now I guess the only thing I'm worried about
is focusing on my passion you know making it happen because I've really wanted this for a very long time
and I'm finally here the timings right me and my guitar are ready you know so it's just about that I'm putting a lot of pressure on like come
on me, make use of every opportunity you know and just grab onto things when they come and so yeah
with the right with the right energy anything's possible, there's no fear with action this was my action coming here you know
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alright let's get back to the video
guess what we found some Ask Japanese fans hi
thanks for saying hi now where are you from?
- Israel - Philippines - Philippines
whoa we have a great mix going on here how long have you been in Japan for?
uh one week so far - me three days
around three days - okay okay right so asking you guys why are you here?
for University - oh I'm also here for University - same
so you're all in the same University? - yeah
now before you came here was there anything you were scared about before coming to Japan?
oh that's a great question um and I think that not coming here for the first time really helped with that
but coming here not as a tourist but as a student you know in advance that those are two different experiences
right so you're kind of worried about how Japanese people have the image of being very diligent students
and really putting their effort and it gives you some worries about "will I live up to the expectations that they have for me when I study"
and the family too because it's a big step, we came here from very far places and there's a lot of stress to it
a lot of expectations not from others from yourself too also to live up to.
So far you know we've been here, we all met here in Japan and it really helps to kind of tone down the pressure
and I hope it's gonna stay this way also after the school year starts
oh expectations and pressure that's deep, that's deep nice one. Anything you were scared about before you came?
as for me it's actually the language barrier I know it's like a common answer but then
it really hits especially when you're in a foreign country you don't know what they're saying most of the time
and as for me I haven't really studied Japanese that much when I came here I was super scared to talk to people
it was really intimidating and I'm not sure if like they're really that friendly to foreigners but
that's about it, those are the things I'm scared of
language barrier and being able to communicate right - yes
right anything you were scared about before you came?
yeah I was afraid of like making a mistake that might offend someone - yeah
since the culture is so different I don't want to do something and be like "oh you shouldn't do that"
or I wanna I don't want to like insult anyone by doing something that I don't know what I'm not supposed to do
so I've been really careful but sometimes I tend to like shy away because I don't want to offend anyone
so I'm trying to learn about the culture while being respectful it's really hard yeah
We don't want to bother~! We don't want to bother people
they are like 'we don't wanna bother you so don't bother us'
that type of thing - you want to make friends because we don't want to give off the wrong impression and come up too strong
You think twice about everything you do
like "oh I might think it's okay but here it might not be okay" but i won't know kinda thing
You're all really good people you know that?!
Language seems to be the scariest thing that people expect here in Japan
but I'm sure there are a couple of other things and they might be in the comments down below
but you don't have to be scared when you are on the internet if you have Surf Shark
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and I'll catch you soon for another video on Ask Japanese bye