so this video is gonna be a lot
different than most of my video this
channel has grown so fast so quickly in
the last year I just wanted to kind of
stop and say thank you so in this video
I'm gonna share a little bit more about
myself answer some of the questions that
you use the ass in the comments section
just kind of like share my life how I
got to Japan how the YouTube channel
started all the questions that you guys
wanted to know that I never really
answered in my previous videos this
video may be a little bit boring because
it's all about me I generally focus on
topics about Japan but I guess this is
for the people that are like generally
interested in and want to know more
about me so I'm making it for you guys
this is kind of my way of saying thank
you so much for being a part of this
channel I kind of wanted to do this
video outside I don't really like doing
videos inside plus I feel like it's a
it's a better way to show you Tokyo and
show you Japan when I'm outside as
opposed to be inside yeah so this video
is gonna be done all outside but I do
apologize for the sound if it's just
terrible and I apologize and I'm
sweating because it still is really
really hot in Tokyo I'm actually in the
yoga park it's actually one of my
favorite parts in Tokyo some of you
might already know I live in Shibuya so
it's just right next door so why not do
the video here so let's start with this
so as of earlier this year I'm
completely full-time on YouTube meaning
that I quit my consulting job I also
closed down my other company which was
kind of like an app business so
basically I'm full-time creating content
on YouTube now it's been quite the
transition but I don't regret any of it
at all
in fact I don't do this channel all by
myself some of you already know that my
Co my wife almost who does this channel
with me most of the times you don't see
here because she's behind the camera but
she's very much part of this channel but
it is a bit kind of scary that now this
channel is our how to say our main
source of revenue our main source of
income and we kinda just need to figure
out how we can produce content for you
guys as well as kind of like earn a
living and the thing is that Michael and
I really love making videos we love
going to different places trying out new
food and it's just kind of one of the
passions that we've kind of grown into
over the last few years basically we
just need to find a way to make it
so that we can continue doing what we
love and who knows you might be starting
a family down the road so it's kind of a
bit overwhelming but also exciting at
the same time so one of the things we're
thinking was to introduce memberships if
you guys aren't familiar with
memberships it's kind of something new
on YouTube the reason this idea came
about is actually from you guys a lot of
you just want more access so one of the
things that we were thinking of doing is
providing those people who sign up and
support the channel with memberships
access to behind-the-scenes footage
additional information on some of my
secret spots and Tokyo live chats and
just in general more access that you
wouldn't get normally in my videos
probably before this video releases or
shortly after this video releases we'll
have memberships set up so for those of
you who want to help support the channel
then those are kind of the ways to do it
but I should also say for those of you
oh gosh anyway it's getting a little bit
too windy here let's try to find a place
that's less windy and for those of you
who aren't able to support the channel
no worries the channel still stay the
same I released the same content every
week
it's just with those of you who want to
help support the channel now the option
is available and look there's a festival
going on at the park today
so this is a little bit better than the
park there's less wind less birds of
squawking and yeah feel a little bit
more comfortable for some reason oh
there's the wind I guess we couldn't get
rid of the wind and another thing I
wanted to talk about the channel of
direction since the channel is getting
larger there's more of you guys watching
these videos I kind of wanted to stay a
little bit more focused so probably
moving forward you'll see a lot more
Japan focused videos for you used to see
techies to see let's go into Vietnam the
Philippines Thailand I know this channel
started off as a Japan vlog but it
wasn't that popular unfortunately and
the construction started to shoot I
guess we got to move on to the next spot
I really like I really like this spot
too anyways so I've actually sat at this
spot before does anyone know which video
I was sitting in this exact spot so just
continue where we left off one of the
ideas I've had is I kind of want to
start a second channel to be able to
share with you guys kind of the stuff
that Michael and I are doing on a
regular basis maybe some of the trips we
go on kind of outside of Japan less
edited less curated more real more raw
just kind of like us living our daily
lives and having kind of our regular
adventures as opposed to kind of a
curated very focused topics on this
channel I think we're gonna kind of
share them over our lives and kind of
like what we're doing and who knows
maybe in the future when you have a
little run around they'll also be on the
channel I don't really know the name of
it it could be something like Tokyo
zebra or D Guzman's from Tokyo
I don't really know maybe you guys can
let me know what you guys think also I
don't even know if there's actually a
real interest in people wanting to see
that channel so what I'll do is I'll
leave a link in the description as well
as the link to that channel in a pin
comment so you guys can see it and if
you do get enough subscribers then we'll
start another channel if not then maybe
we won't create the channel it's just a
really up to you guys if you want to see
it let me know so one of the questions
that I often get
is how did you get to Japan I actually
came here as an exchange student I was
going to school in LA at a school called
Pepperdine University and my third year
of university I decided to apply for the
Japan exchange program I just kind of
had a fascination of Japan the culture
and especially the technology before
coming to Japan I did a semester in
Florence and I kind of got this travel
bug and I decided that it was kind of a
little bit too late because usually go
overseas your sophomore year or your
junior year you can spend your senior
year and graduate in the class I didn't
actually do that I was kind of late
decided to go and it was already my
senior year so I ended up not being able
to walk with my class but I did decide
to apply for the exchange program and I
was expected expected I was accepted one
thing that I remember though is right
before maybe a couple months before I
was supposed to fly to Japan I was
offered an internship for a software
company in Santa Monica which is which
is in LA and at that point I was kind of
torn whether or not hey I should take
this job and perhaps kind of develop a
career out of it or should kind of I
risk it and go to Japan but I thought
about it for some time and I just
realized that I may never get a chance
to seize Japan and if I did get to see
Japan maybe later on in my career after
maybe having a house a family and all of
that it just wouldn't be the same I
wanted to experience a pan when I was
young kind of have that full experience
of Japan so I packed my bags and I
headed to Japan man when I first arrived
in Japan I was so excited
everything was so interesting everything
was so new my whole world was kind of
blown away and I just fell in love with
this place but at the same time I was
pretty lost but that's kind of like the
magic of everything is discovering a
whole new world here and when I make my
videos today I try to remember me back
in that time how confused I was all the
things that I wanted to know all the
things that I had questions about and so
when I make those videos I'm kind of
talking to myself back in the day
hopefully I can help that guy out
because he wasn't so so lost so luckily
my university had
change program and their sister school
was actually Sofia University but just
here in Tokyo which was really really
convenient
I even had a homestay family for the
first year so it made everything really
really easy I didn't have to worry about
rent I didn't have to worry about board
it was kind of all included all I had to
like really worry about was just my like
living expenses I only had about two to
three thousand dollars if I remember
correctly in my bank and that was kind
of enough I didn't really have to worry
about all the different costs I was
going to school and that was enough for
me to be able to get by initially though
I was able to find an English teaching
job just like a part-time job for a
couple hours a week I would teach the
kids of some family friends I think at
the time I was making about $30 an hour
and so then someone asked me to teach a
group of kids English after school I
think was about to enough hours for one
session once a week they paid me like a
hundred and twenty dollars then I picked
up another job teaching English I was
working a few hours a week and I was
making $300 in pocket change and that
was just kind of like enough for me to
get by plus by 2 to 3 thousand dollars I
had saved up for the first few months in
Japan I didn't really worry about cash
too much as far as language goes I kind
of studied a little bit right before I
came to Japan but I mean I just like
kind of news I'm here to Ghana
maybe handful of words but it wasn't
until after I went to university I
started learning a lot more and then
using it here in Japan with the homestay
family as well as friends and well
you'll learn with the second language is
you just never stop learning
so in general life was pretty good
hanging out with friends discovering new
places making okay money for a college
student at the time obviously I was on a
student visa I initially got a 1-year
visa but as I like started to like Japan
more and more I decided that you know
I'm gonna figure out a way to kind of
stay out here I think it was a good idea
for me to come here as a student first
to kind of figure out whether or not I
liked it and I started trying to figure
out a more permanent way to stay
here in Tokyo I started by just looking
for jobs I think I looked in some
magazines at the time to see if there
was any jobs available and if I could
recall correctly I interviewed with two
jobs
the first job was a miserable fail the
second job I actually ended up getting
first job was for I think a magazine for
one like an Account Manager and I went
in there and my new I was still in
college hidden so has never had like a
real professional job before and in high
school I work for Safeway bagging
groceries but I never had a professional
career I remember going in to that
interview and I think one of the first
questions they asked me is how do I
manage my schedule I pretty much told
him I don't really have a schedule to
manage I just go to classes and I hang
out with my friends I think they were
probably expecting me to like show them
like the calendar system I use or
something like that but obviously I
didn't have that those skills at the
time so that interview didn't goes so
well but the second interview I went
into was for an IT firm I was a computer
science and business major and so when I
went into the interview I was able to
answer basic questions about computers
how things work say just say I got the
job with IT firm they hired me on as an
associate engineer it was more on the
systems and infrastructure side of IT
but I I really really liked it has a
student in Japan you can work I believe
I believe 20 hours a week so once I got
this job then I quit all the English
teaching job which actually worked out
really well because after my second year
of university ID firm just hired me on
full-time they sponsored my working visa
here in Japan and I worked for them for
several years I started off as an
associate engineer went to engineer and
then eventually became a project manager
and during those several years I learned
a lot about Japanese business culture it
wasn't uncommon for me to work 10 to 12
hours a day I worked a lot of weekends
but luckily the company I was working
for had kind of more of Western culture
so I did get paid the overtime for my
work which was nice
there's a lot of projects going on at
the time overall it was a great
experience I busted my ass
learned a crapload then after several
years working as a project manager ended
up leaving that company and then I was
hired on by a software development
company in the finance industry and I
did that job for a couple years I'm also
making more friends picked up
snowboarding as young I was in my 20s I
had money and a snow burning it became a
huge part of my life I was doing it
every weekend until I had just a major
major snowboarding accident which kind
of changed the whole direction of my
life here in Japan but let me tell you
more about that story I'm defining a new
spot because my butt's getting kind of
sore so where was I oh yeah major major
a snowboard injury basically I ended up
at the Nagano emergency room I
broken-down rig I broke my hip I had an
aneurysm I crushed my long and just like
a whole slew of injuries I spent about a
month at Nagano ICU yeah so pretty much
I almost died just a lot of stuff that
happened I ended up having to get
open-heart surgery which then led to me
losing my voice for a year so I was in
and out of the hospital for I would say
over a year it was a pretty intense
experience I just I remember when I
first got into the ICU waking up and I
was intubated they had like tubes inside
of my lungs I couldn't speak to nurses
that were above me and I really just
wanted to talk and I couldn't at the
time I was like still kind of shook and
I wanted to write down what I wanted to
say but I couldn't read any kanji on
like a board to tell them what I wanted
to say but I think I just cried and I
think I passed out but like in hindsight
I could have probably just written in
English because I couldn't think of
anything other time so it was just a
very like frustrating and intense
to say the least the fortunate thing was
was that all of that hospital care was
covered under my health care in Japan so
I was actually quite lucky I didn't have
to end up paying a lot in fact I did an
entire video on that it's called how
much I paid for Japanese health care
link is in the description as always I
think overall the experience was kind of
a wake-up call for me kind of realize
that life is I could just be over just
like that and somewhere between staying
at the hospital and all the long hours
that I ever worked in Japan I think it
was just time for me to do something on
my own and the snowboard accident just
kind of like kind of forced me out of
that routine I ended up quitting my job
I started it on my own thing and I tried
a few different businesses I had some
money saved up from all of the work that
I had done for the last several years so
I was like I was okay not having a job
right away I was sitting in the park in
fact the park that we were at earlier I
was sitting in the park with a friend
and we were just talking about her
previous jobs and I told him how I liked
when I first came to spend I taught
English it'd be cool like kay we're kind
of free right now how cool would that be
if we could be in the park and someone
was able to just find us and have a
lesson meet us in the park have a lesson
for an hour and then we'd be on our way
we don't have to like call them or
organize it or like have it like a set
schedule gotten the ball rolling and I
was thinking hey that there might be an
idea there I thought about it a little
longer and I think that day I went home
and I started actually working on a way
to solve that problem the most important
thing for me at the time was just to
start and when I came up with was
basically a gps-based matching platforms
for English teachers and students here
in Japan you can kind of say the app as
a hybrid of Airbnb and uber meets
English teachers and students in Japan
within I would say a couple weeks to
maybe within like a few weeks I had like
the plan all fleshed out I was
interviewing developers and I like
devoted all of my time to trying to
build this app because I thought you
know how cool would that be again to
just
be at the park and someone to contact
you have a lesson and then be on your
way he just messes them all through your
mobile device you can turn it on you can
turn it off you can have it here and
Tokyo then maybe if you went to Osaka
you can do lessons there so long story
short I I did I built an app it was
called a chi whanau a Kiowa meaning
English conversation here in Japan now
being like now you can have a lesson so
a kimono
made sense at the time had a small team
in Tokyo I was funding it all myself and
it was just a crazy learning experience
all the stuff I had never done before
granted I was in software development I
was doing IT infrastructure project
management which is nothing like
building your own software building your
own company starting your own company
all this was a completely brand new
hiring was new the finance accounting
marketing software development all of it
was new to me but all the project
management skills I had in the past I
learned I was able to put it into this
new project I learned a lot I would make
mistakes I learned from them and then
I'd fix it the next time around he just
keep on making changes every time around
and mind you this whole time
I'm funding all of this myself so I was
taking on 100% of the risk
probably not the smartest business
choice but again I wanted to do
everything on my own I didn't want to
have anyone owning any part of my dream
tell the sauce how I saw and in order to
for like fund this stuff I pretty much
cut out a lot of the partying hanging
out with friends expensive meals I
pretty much didn't spend any money and
the only money that I spent was to throw
back into this business because I mean
it was that important to me I wanted
more than anything for this to succeed
and in order for me to do that I knew I
had to sacrifice some of those things I
love but I think one of the coolest
feelings in the world was finally
getting it published shortly after that
was having someone actually use it and
book a lesson and actually like a
payment to go through that was kind of
one of the most saddest
moment some of the important things I
learned from this whole software
development app business starting my own
company was one software development is
endless it just never stops - as much
money you spend on building the app
you're gonna have to spend way more in
marketing I think three is more than
anything you're gonna need a lot of
capital to fund this yeah so I needed
more capital and in order to do that I
needed to raise funds 100 percent on my
own so I wanted to kind of raise the
funds on my own I didn't want to get
investors at the time unfortunately I
got offered a private consulting job
I paid quite well it was in the finance
industry and so I took it now I was not
only building my hub company but I also
was working in finance as a consultant
at the same time which was okay because
at this time I just needed the
developers to develop it so basically I
would just take the money that I was
earning from the consulting position and
I was just move it to that business
actually around this time just right
after I took on the consulting position
I met Michael my wife now we hit it off
right away I told her what I did and one
of the things was she was completely
supportive from the beginning I remember
I had to hand out flyers at the park she
went in and help me hand out flyers I
wasn't paying her but she came in and
helped me so I was like wow this is
actually pretty cool why I guess and
what do you do when someone's that
supportive I hired her full time before
that she was working in the fashion
industry as VMD she was working for a
top international brand she liked it but
I don't think she liked a manager and I
said hey why don't you come work for me
and obviously there's just there's a lot
of risk in that but I think she saw my
dream how passionate I was she became a
full-time marketer for a chi whanau is
this for like about a year or so and
then one day we were just talking about
YouTube and I said hey why not let's
start and so if you ever see my first
video I'm riding my skateboard
Michael is behind the camera which at
the time was my iPhone we didn't really
think too much of it and we just started
going the first software we used was
free software on the Mac
but I movie so all of it we started with
no money at all we just decided to start
and from there started uploading content
that we like and we would read the
comments at the time there was barely
any comments but we would read those
comments and then we just kind of make
changes along the way and then the
channel became what it is now based on
like your comments all the feedback the
most important thing again was just to
start we just worked really really well
together and at the time I was really
into Casey nice dad
I think what was so attractive with
Casey for me was that his videos were so
simple it made it look like anyone could
do it but then he started trying to do
it it completely failed and we weren't
doing it nearly as well in fact we're
doing horribly but again you learn along
the way and to be honest with you guys
I'm not very much of a camera person in
fact again in my first video like a
super shy in front of the camera hey
it's Paulo check out my vlog over time
it gets better and you learn so now
we're doing the YouTube channel but I'm
also doing the private consulting and
we're also doing the a car whanau
business just super super busy and I
think this year the channel kind of
turned a corner and just started to
really grow mainly all because of you
guys and all of your support so again
thank you pretty much changed our lives
and I was able to start youtube
full-time quit my consulting business I
shut down econ one now and now we're
just doing YouTube completely if you
guys have watched the channel you know
that Michael and I also got married at
the beginning a year what a lot of you
might not know is that I actually
proposed her and recorded it on video
and uploaded it to YouTube I don't think
a lot of people saw that but it's
actually an on send video it's called a
private Japanese hot spring hotel tub
you guys want to see Mirabeau some aegyo
then check out that video and what was
clear to me then and what's
I mean now is that this whole thing
would have never happened if my Co
didn't take a risk on me who would have
never built this YouTube channel we
needed to have that opportunity to work
together and the fact that she saw
something in the dreams I had for a chi
whanau at the time really meant a lot
and that's kind of like something that I
I don't wanna cry
[Music]
feeling kind of emotional right now well
anyways um let's finish the rest of this
video somewhere else all right
I'm lucky to have Michael and I'm just
kind of looking forward to the stuff we
create moving forward for this channel
for you guys and I'm just happy she took
a risk on me and decided to work and
help me with my dreams and now we're
creating our dreams together which is
pretty awesome and I think that pretty
much answers most of the questions oh
there may be a few more questions for
those of you who watch the earlier vlogs
you already know that both of my parents
are Filipino I was born in the
Philippines in Khe Sanh city but when I
was 3 I moved to the States
first to San Francisco and then later to
the Seattle area in a little city called
Redmond maybe not so little now growing
up mostly in the Seattle Redmond area
and then I went to university in LA and
although I eat a lot of food in my
videos I usually try to work out five to
six times a day not 5 5 to 6 9 that's a
lot I try to work out five to six times
a week it helps keep the fried chicken
cut down and I guess that's pretty much
it but I think one thing I wanted to
share or I wanted to kind of leave it
all of you guys with is what I've
learned at least for myself the last few
years and living here in Japan if you're
stuck in something that you're doing
that you don't want to do you have a
passion for something else you have a
dream that you actually want to pursue I
think the best thing to do is just start
one of the questions I often get asked
is how do I start this new job how do I
start this new business or even how do I
start a YouTube channel my answer is to
just start I don't worry so much about
whether or not I can or can't do
something I just start doing it and I
learn along the way
you just gotta like go and like see what
happens and although hey Kyle WA now
that business was never as successful as
I wanted it to be her and I spent a lot
of money into it it's been a lot of time
I was able to take all the stuff I
learned from that experience and move it
over to YouTube so whatever you do even
if you fail or even though it doesn't
work out the way you want it to work out
just as long as you're able to learn
something
experience it's always gonna be a
positive so with that all said thank you
so much for joining me on this journey
so much more content to come and if you
do have something that you're looking to
do don't worry about what's gonna happen
just art because you never know what's
gonna happen
catch you guys in the next one