So it's been a while
since we've done one of these
QnA videos,
so we asked you guys on Twitter
to send us your most burning questions
And I know that the number one question right now
is: Martina what the F@#k is up with your look today?
I don't-- Listen, guys---
You are a hot mess! What is going on, girl?
RuPaul, I'm sorry
I wanted to have purple lips,
but then I put it on and I changed my mind
because then I started to wear this really bright cute shirt,
and I was like, "It doesn't match my lips,"
but you can't take lipstain off because
it leaves, like, a mucky, dirty--it looks like you ate, like, a chocolate cupcake
SILENCE!
Wait, let me finish--my hair!
I've made up my mind Martina: But my hair!
It's time for you to lip-sync
**FOR YOUR LIFE**
The actual real number one question
that we wound up getting is
basically, choose between Korea and Japan!
Thanks a lot, guys!
Thanks for the super easy one that I'm sure is not going to piss off anybody with this answer,
Yeah.
But we've thought long and hard about this
we've spent almost a full year here in Japan
looked over all of the data that we've compiled
and I could easily say very quickly,
I'd pick Japan over Korea.
Now wait!
Wait!
Angry commenters! Stop! Give me a chance to explain!
We're gonna talk about our reasonings here and then
we're gonna give you our disclaimers afterwards,
but please hear us out before you get angry
and if at the end of the video you're still upset with our
answer, then please feel free to let us know in the comment section below.
Yes. Now despite this year and last year being
some of the worst years for my health,
slowly, slowly goin' downhill,
I can say this has been the happiest year of my life.
Happiest year of my life as well.
I've thought about this year,
all of the years that I've had in Korea,
and all of the years that I can remember in Canada,
This, by far, has been the greatest year of my entire life.
Mhm. You know what I find funny?
We often find ourselves coming home on our bicycles being like,
Lala-Lala-lala
I'm happy for no reason!
Martina: I'm just...happy Simon: I'm happy here!
Martina: I'm just happy. Simon: I'm legitimately happy here!
Martina: I just like smiling; smiling is the thing to do! Simon: Smiling is the best!
Allow us to explain what has made us happy. I'd like to begin with
the first category, which I call: Neighbors and Sounds
We were worried before we came to Japan.
A lot of people told us that it is going to be very difficult for us here,
that Japanese people are very cold and reserved
and they won't be very welcoming to us
and we're gonna have a tough time here.
But when we came here to our neighborhood,
I am amazed at how warm and loving our neighbors are.
And it wasn't just one neighbor.
Like, our neighbor across the street,
whenever we bike home and I see her there, I'm happy to speak with her.
Our neighbors to the left and to the right, we chat with..
Actually, one of our other neighbors like, rang on our doorbell
and invited us out for dinner
and we went out for dinner with him
and it was so amazing and touching because
in all of the years that we've been in Korea
and all of the different places that we lived in Korea
Did we ever have any contact with the neighbors?
All of them were very cold and distant
They weren't warm as they are here
I did not expect our neighborhood to be so warm and caring
and I love it here and it makes me so happy.
Now I will say that it could definitely be because we're in an actual neighborhood
and maybe if we moved to like an apartment in Japan
we would experience the same thing.
Simon: Possibly. Martina: Maybe it would be like, people don't wanna talk to you and stuff.
It makes me feel immensely happy to come home,
I feel proud of my little house,
I'm excited to decorate the outside with Christmas lights!
My neighbors came over,
the neighbors right beside us that speak like, no English at all
and they're like, "Oh, Chrisamus!"
and I was like, super excited
so I'm having just, warm, wonderful feelings.
I feel warm here. I feel welcome here,
and I did not feel welcome in Korea.
And also, our neighborhood is very quiet.
and I can't emphasize enough how important this is for us
because what's great about having a quiet neighborhood like this
is that I can sleep an entire night without waking up. Martina: Yeah.
Pretty much every morning in Korea
no matter where we lived
we would wake up from honking of horns
we would wake up from people like talking or yelling outside
It was like a never-ending barrage of sound.
This sounds like an old person thing to say,
but I cannot emphasize enough
how important it is to get a good night's sleep.
And I sleep so well here.
I think the best way to describe living in Seoul
is basically living in New York City.
Martina: I used to visit-- Simon: Right, I think that's a fair comparison.
I used to visit New York all the time
and then we stayed with our brother in law, he used to live in New York as well
Simon: Yeah.
And it was like, you heard fighting and screaming and honking,
and like, people yelling, and--Seoul is like New York City.
Simon: Right. Martina: It is the city that doesn't sleep,
I would say that Seoul "does-not-sleep" even more than New York Simon: Yeah!
You sleep even less!
Martina: Yeah, when Jackie came to visit
(my best friend visited me, she lives in New York)
Simon: Right. Martina: She said said like, "I thought New York was the place that didn't sleep, but I was wrong, it is totally Seoul."
Simon: Right. Martina: I agree with that.
Simon: Yeah. Martina: So that is something that has grated on our 'old people' nerves
I like to sleep!
Martina: We're-- Simon: I wanna live in a city that sleeps!
*Old woman voice*: When we were younger-- Simon: *Laughing* When--yes!
*Old woman voice*: When we were younger, it was okay!
Simon: Right! Now I'm old and $h!t,
Simon: I don't wanna have--
Martina *singing*: I wanna sleep inside Simon: I wanna snuggle up
Martina *singing*: a city that goes to bed!
Simon: That's it. Martina (spoken): At reasonable-hours-like-maybe-nine-or-ten-PM.
Martina *singing*: And have a noise pollution rule!
*crickets chirping* Martina *singing*: You're goin' to sleep..
*crickets chirping* Martina: cute fake snoring sound Simon: I don't know what song that is.
Martina: 'New York New York'? Simon: Okay.
Martina: Frank Sinatra? Simon: Alright.
Martina: Oh my god! Simon: What is this?
Martina *singing*: I wanna wake up in the city that doesn't sleep--
Martina (normal voice): And I twisted it around *sigh*
I don't know old white people music. Martina: You don't-- *shattering glass*
Sorry.
I really thought you were just making up a really $!t#y song.
Martina: *disbelieving laugh and exclamation* Simon: And it was really--
That's like, what the hell are you singing?
Martina *singing*: And be the king of the--
*Chimes*
It's not just our neighbors that are welcoming.
One of the things that really bothered me in my experiences in Korea is that
there were many times that I would go into like,
coffee shops or stores or whatnot in Korea
and whenever the people would see me,
they would be afraid like, "Oh! Oh no!"
Or they would like, grab another person and
push them towards me.
Or, if I would try to order something in Korean, they'd be like,
"Ah, I don't understand!"
And my Korean is significantly better than my Japanese,
and I have never felt that here in Japan.
I have never felt unwelcome,
I have, like--Nobody was ever afraid of me,
they understand my terrible pronunciation of Japanese.
Martina: Which, by the way, I've found that really shocking. Simon: Mhm.
Simon: Yes! Martina: Because in eight years Simon: Yeah
Martina: We learned to read Korean, Simon: Right!
Martina: we could speak Korean, Simon: Right!
Martina: So we could go to a restaurant that had only Korean menus,
we could look it over, we could call them over Simon: Yeah.
and then we would start ordering
and the people would literally--and were, they thought it was funny--
But they're with each other, they'd be like, "Haha-haha" Simon: Yeah.
And I, I was like, "Okay, but we're not even speaking English." Simon: Uh-huh.
But in Japan, we butcher the language
Oh, it's so bad.
And people are like this: "Hai, hai, hai."
And they walk away. I'm like, "How did they understand my accent?!" Simon: Yeah!
I'm like, it's like they just seem to understand that I'm speaking Japanese.
In Korea, there are many times that I go into stores
and I felt like I had leprosy
I felt like I was like, a disgusting alien to a lot of people
And in Japan, I don't feel that at all.
In Korea, it really ate away at me,
here, I feel welcomed, not just by my neighbors but by every store that I go to.
Yeah.
*Chimes*
So right now, I would say this is my favorite job situation
that I'm in right now. Simon: Mhm!
I'm enjoying this much more than
being a boss back in Korea.
And I don't mean like, "Like a bosss," I mean like,
literally like a boss, who has an accountant
and has to pay people.
It was very stressful to run our own business.
For us to be full time YouTubers in Korea,
we had to apply to make a business,
and in order to have a business, we needed
to have an office space, and we needed
to have a separate home
And there was all this paperwork
It was a lot of work.
And this is something that we
never really talked about with you guys, because
why should you have to hear this side? Simon: Right!
But it was a lot of stress. Simon: Yeah!
We had to pay people's salaries,
we had to hire an accountant,
we had to meet with the accountant, Simon: Yeah.
We had to pay our rent in our studio,
we had to pay our maintenance fees, we had to
buy stuff for the studio as our staff started to grow. Simon: Right!
We needed more tables, we needed more space Simon: Yeah!
This wore out, that happened! Simon: Uh-huh.
And on top of all that, we're trying to plan videos,
be in the video, Simon: Right!
be not-stressed-out after you came back from the accountant for like, half a day
Simon: Yup.
And then we'd edit the video. Simon: Yeah.
So it was like, a lot of extra work
that was going into it, and I think the
conclusion that we came to was that
it's quite hard to be a boss and Simon: Right.
a creative person at the same time. Simon: Exactly.
On top of that, it was really stressful
to be a foreigner running a business in Korea
because of immigration.
And there were actually moments in which immigration
knocked on our door
and demanded to see all of our paperwork because
people tried to report us to immigration
and to say that we were running an illegal business.
People literally didn't like some of our
videos, some of the jokes that we made,
and tried to get us kicked out of the country.
Martina: Because of K-Pop. Simon: Because of K-Pop!
Because of--because of K-Pop, someone
tried to illegal report us--which was wrong!
They showed up, and immigration's like, "Everything's in check."
Yeah! We showed them all of our papers,
but they were like, oh you need a landline.
So we got a landline. But otherwise,
everything was completely in order.
It was very stressful. Martina: It was so stressful.
Our working situation in Japan
is significantly easier Martina: Mhm.
than what we had in Korea.
I can't emphasize this enough
So we're under the Breaker Network now Martina: Mhm.
and a lot of you might know about like,
different networks for YouTubers,
and a lot of those networks are just Pure Evil.
They're scummy.
They're--they're scummy and bad.
So when we started working with Breaker, I was a little bit worried.
but these people are
so honest and great.
This is literally the best work environment
that I could've imagined.
They don't pressure us to do anything that we don't wanna do,
they understand our artistic vision,
they understand the integrity that we wanna have in our work,
they help us actualize a lot of these things,
and I don't have to worry about all the other
legal and immigration and the
accounting stuff Martina: paying the bills and doin' this
like, all these extra headaches that were
in Korea, I don't have those here in Japan,
and I just feel so much better as a creator
than before. Martina: Yeah.
M: Hey Dan, S: I like you Dan M: You're a good guy, Dan.
Sorry that you're always the third wheel. *Laughter*
We're gonna go make out in front of you Dan!
How 'bout it **exaggerated tongue/fake kissing sounds**
M: We never make out in front of Dan. S: We never--no.
*Whispers*: Only when he turns his back. *Doom music*
M: Dan's like, "Oh I'll just pick up that--" S: "Hey, Aaahhh, God!" M: And we're like, *exaggerated kissing/tongue sounds*
Aah, put it back in your pants!
We never make out in front of Dan
*whispers*: That he knows of. *doom music*
*Chimes*
Now, on to driving!
Now this is something that kind of really soured me about Korea.
M: Mhm. S: I just, I can't get over how aggressive the driving is,
I can't get over all the honking,
I can't get over like, the illegal parking everywhere,
M: Running through reds... S: Running through red lights, like
it--it just made me very uncomfortable
and even like, for the first few months after
we came to Japan
I was still afraid to cross the street.
I kinda felt, in a way, like
something that had just left an abusive relationship,
and they're just waiting for--for $h!t to go wrong
S: like, M: Like, you're constantly at the light like you're afraid to cross the street
And all of our friends like, "Don't worry about it, it's cool, just cross the street."
Mhm. This isn't something that we're making up. Like,
In our eight years in Korea, S: Yeah.
we actually knew a lot of people that were hit by cars. S: Exactly.
We had friends that were knocked off their bikes,
people that broke both their arms, S: Yeah. Uh-huh.
people who were hit by hit-and-runs, S: Right.
and I think the biggest one for us S: Right.
was Rose.
When Rose was run over
by that drunk driver
and she almost died in front of us,
something in us died as well.
And that's an emotional trauma that Martina: Mm.
I just, I can't forget. M: No.
And like, Korea right there, like, at that moment
I know that's not all of Korea, but
at that moment, something really broke in my heart.
It was too much to handle, it was too much stress. S: I--
And I know that does not represent all of Korea, S: Uh-huh.
but when you have a really, I think, traumatizing experience like that,
it really just sits very poorly with you, S: That's a traumatic moment and I really just wanna get out.
I don't feel that way in Japan. S: No.
M: I don't feel concerned in a taxi, S: Yep.
M: I can get in a taxi in the rain or the snow S: Yeah.
M: and I know that they're not gonna drive like this S: Right.
M: and have the car spin out, which is what happened to us. S: Yeah.
You know, people will slow down on the side streets
and let you go, there's a calmness S: Mhm!
with the driving that makes S: Yes.
me feel a lot safer and happier.
There's a calmness here in Japan
there's an angry energy in Korea,
and I prefer the calmness.
Yes, me too.
Now, if you were angry with us at the beginning of the video,
for choosing Japan over Korea,
I think now we can give our disclaimers,
and I think you've kinda come to the same conclusion
that we have. And the main conclusion is,
that our version of Korea
is different than your version of Korea,
and our version of Japan is different than
your version of Japan.
So I know that Korean people
won't have the same experience that we had.
And, in fact, a lot of foreigners
in Korea won't have the same experiences we had
because there aren't that many foreigners in Korea
that run a Youtube business slash
studio. Like, it's a very bizarre situation.
And there aren't that many YouTubers in
Japan also that do YouTube for a living.
So our situations are very unique
and both perspectives. And if I had
to choose between Korea
or Japan, you see all of our reasons
Japan makes a lot more sense for us.
Now one thing I wanna add onto this is that
we would never take back Korea. S: M-mm.
It's not like I regret going to Korea in any way. S: Right.
Absolutely not. I loved our experiences there,
working with my Buchan-Yeougo high school
S: Yeah! M: I loved them.
S: Yeah, those are are some special memories. M: Special memories, it would be like
what if I came to Japan instead?
Maybe I'd have a school that I hated.
Maybe I'd have a terrible experience. S: Uh-huh.
And then maybe I'd be like, "I hate Japan."
And then I'd go to Korea and be like, "Wow, Korea's amazing!"
And in fact there are some people that we've spoken
with who have been in Japan first,
and when they visit Korea, they say that
they love Korea's rawness
and it's energy, and they don't like how stifled
they feel in Japan, so for every different
person, you're gonna have different perspectives on this. M: Mhm.
But for us, I think that this decision makes the most sense.
I think we arrived in Japan at the right time. S: Yeah.
At like, the right age, the right 'oldness factor' S: Yeah.
We had such a great time in Korea.
Korea has a lot more of like a raw,
kind of disorganized energy
that can be really fun, and Japan definitely S: Yeah.
has a very, kind of, rule-oriented society, S: Uh-huh.
and that can be great for some people .
and not good for others
So bottom line, our lives in Japan here
are better, both personally M: Mhm.
and professionally. And I think a lot of commenters
have noticed this as well. There have been
people that have said that we seem a lot
happier here, we seem more invigorated,
we seem seem to have more energy, and that has M: Mhm.
a basis in reality. We
definitely feel a lot happier here and I'm glad that you
could see that in our videos. M: Yeah.
So we have two questions for you guys: S: Mhm.
The first one is: What is your version of what you're experiencing?
So, for example, are you a student living in America
and you're american born? What are you doing?
Are you a foreigner visiting Korea
and you're a student, or a teacher?
Let us know in the comment section below
where you are right now and what you are experiencing in your life.
Otherwise, I really miss these
Q and A segments in which you ask us questions M: Mhm.
and we answer them, so if you have anything else
you want us to do a video about, hopefully something a little bit
easier and more lighthearted for our next
time, please let us know in the comment section below
or on Twitter or on Facebook and we'll
see if we can get more of these videos goin'.