Hey guys.
So today I want to talk a little bit about being Japanese and making videos in English.
Yes, English.
We get a lot of comments from foreigners like: I look like I don’t want to be in our videos,
or I’m too quiet, or I look like a robot.
So I have three things I want to say about this.
First of all, people say my English is pretty good or think I’m fluent, but I’m not.
I grew up in Japan, I never studied abroad...
I’m still learning.
I have to think a long time to speak, otherwise I can’t say what I want.
So whenever we make videos in English, I’m like all ears and have to pay attention to
Rachel very carefully.
I mean, I don’t do that when I’m not in front of the camera, but in front of the camera
we’re not speaking normal conversation so it’s just hard for me to catch up with native
English speakers in general.
So that's why maybe I look bored and tense in the video, but I’m just super concentrating.
Plus my face is boring in general which make it even worse…I was just born this way.
Second, is that we see lots of comments from people who think it’s normal in Japan to
be crazy and loud and outgoing, because that’s what they see on Japanese TV shows.
But our TV in Japan is actually…kinda fake.
It’s supposed to be entertaining.
Those people are usually all actors, and they’re called "tarento", which is from the English
word talent.
Have you seen the Japanese prank shows, where you can see reactions from normal Japanese
people in weird situations?
Actually those people are usually tarento or comedians, too.
It’s all crazy because it’s supposed to be entertaining.
It's an escape from our normal lives.
While there are Japanese people who are really outgoing and crazy like that, most of us wouldn’t
act like them in real life.
Third, it’s very important to us to be able to read the atmosphere and be considerate
to the other people around us.
And it’s also important to try not to inconvenience other people, so we try not to show it when
we are upset.
But we want to know when someone ELSE is upset so that we can try to make them feel more
comfortable.
It’s like a never-ending spiral where Japanese people try harder and harder to hide their
negative emotions, and everyone else is trying to understand the tiny signals they have left.
So maybe it’s because of these reasons that to Westerners, who have much more emotional
responses, we seem like we have no emotions at all.
In the beginning of our relationship, Rachel had a very hard time understanding how I was
feeling because she could not tell the difference in how my face looked when I felt different
emotions.
She used to say that Japanese people must communicate telepathically.
It was just that hard for her to understand the difference.
To us, Westerners seem to have very big emotions.
I always thought it was really interesting and fun to see their reactions to everything.
Even just watching TV they could get really, really angry with characters.
And of course there are Japanese people who have very big emotions, too, but many of them
act the same way as I do.
So I’m sorry if normal Japanese people seem boring, or if I seem like I don’t want to
be here.
It’s just how I am.
I actually already try really hard to be loud and have lots of emotions in our videos.
And sometimes I try really, really hard, and think I’m almost acting crazy, and then
when I watch the video later I still look like I have no emotions.
It’s so depressing and frustrating for me.
And so that’s it.
I wanted to say all these things so many times, because it can be very painful to read comments
when people say I look like I don’t want to be here, or even worse sometimes, I look
like I don’t love my wife.
I love my wife!
I love making videos and want to do this for a long time.
So I will keep trying really hard with my English, and I will do my best to look happier
in our videos.
Thanks for watching, guys.