another fine morning another fine
morning indeed because it closed one
high abroad in a pan abroad in a pan I
can't tell if that's a thinly veiled
insult or a lucrative branding
opportunity hmm your videos aren't bad
but they need more special effects to
level up in my opinion more special
effects to level up well I don't see any
other vloggers in Japan featuring a
highly elaborate and unnecessary CGI
plane crash once you've had a CGI plane
crash you don't need to put the effort
in again like ever so now take your
special effects and get out oh and thank
you for that branding idea you might
yeah you might be onto something
welcome to ask abroad the show answering
questions sent in by you the viewer
about Japan this week's topic is
everyday life in Japan so most of the
questions in this video will be about
that topic with a few random ones thrown
in including comment of the week and
most annoying comment of the week before
that though I realize there's been a
noticeable lack of videos the past few
weeks and I think it's time to offer
some kind of explanation however to make
things a bit more ambiguous and fun I
thought I would present three reasons as
to why that would be and you can guess
which one it is reason number one after
growing impatient waiting for Star Wars
The Force awakens I cryogenically froze
myself in order to jump ahead to the
third week of December
reason number two after growing
impatient the Star Wars The Force
awakens to release so I cryogenically
froze myself in order to jump ahead to
the third week of December but after my
tents were met with failure I sat and
cried for four weeks instead why isn't
it working it's so [ __ ] cold reason
number three in the run-up to doing
abroad in Japan full-time when I moved
to the beautiful city of Sendai in the
second week of January I've been sorting
out my visa planning your videos
buying the equipment that I can't afford
and testing out some groundbreaking
chat-up lines now check out my shirt now
that's made out of boyfriend material
good luck guessing which one but the
answer will be revealed in the next few
weeks unless you look at the
questionnaire in the description box
below have you ever been asked to leave
a place for being a gaijin no and I
honestly think this is another myth
about Japan that got out of hand online
these bars where foreigners aren't
allowed in I talked about quite a lot on
the Internet though I'm not denying they
exist in my three years of living in
Japan I think I've seen a bar saying no
foreigners maybe once and that was in a
really touristy area the fact that I
rarely see them should be reassuring
considering I visit maybe 10,000 bars or
restaurants every month if it does
happen it will likely be in a small bar
where the owner probably can't speak
English and gets anxious or
uncomfortable being surrounded by
customers I can't communicate with
rather than some kind of racist crusade
against all foreigners still if it has
happened to you let us know in the
comment section below I'll be keen to
hear of any experiences but I haven't
come across it and it's not something
you should really worry about have you
gotten accustomed to the squat toilets
no but I don't know many foreigners you
have admittedly after three years I'm
still not even sure how to really use
the damn thing it's ridiculous given the
contrast to the other half of Japanese
toilets which look like they've been
sent from the future to make toilets fun
there are a few things worse than
desperately needing the toilet rushing
into the nearest one or discovering it's
your only option no honestly I've seen a
listen to a pitbull song and use this
cropped toilet actually no I think I
would how difficult was it to feel
integrated into Japanese society in my
first year it's true I did feel like a
glorified tourist I wasn't confident as
a teacher I couldn't speak any Japanese
so there was a constant language barrier
in my way more importantly I spent most
of my time with other foreign English
teachers so I didn't really socialize
with my local community my area I also
made a conscious decision that I was
going to lock myself away for most of
the first year and study Japanese in
order to set myself up for the next few
years it sounds like a stupid thing to
do but in hindsight I don't really have
any regrets because after that first
year things really did get amazing in my
second year I stopped studying Japanese
as much and started using it I went out
more and made friends in the local
community I got a Japanese tutor I
started volunteer
during at the local international centre
and running Conte English conversation
classes I just kept saying yes to things
and meeting more and more people by the
third year I had befriended loads of
local businessman in my area and even
beatboxed in front of the local
politicians so I felt very much
integrated the most important component
to feeling integrated into Japanese
society is relationships just having
good relationships with colleagues with
people in your local area and just
getting involved with more and more
things meeting more and more people on
the way what's the most awkward
situation you've encountered whilst
living in Japan it was probably during
my time as an English teacher I was
running an English lesson with a
Japanese teacher of English one time and
the subject of the lesson was
occupations and jobs so he wanted the
students to talk about what their dream
job was and what they wanted to become
and my colleague asked if I could talk a
bit about what I wanted to be when I was
growing up and what my dream had always
been and I said well growing up as a
child I always wanted to be a pirate I
love that sense of adventure and
discovery and the promise of treasure
and she looked at me suddenly and said
in a serious voice but Christiansen why
would you be a pirate why would you want
to kill and rape people and I just stood
there in front of the class in awkward
silence not quite knowing what to say
thankfully I also remembered I wanted to
be a pilot so I use that instead but
that was pretty awkward
I mean pirates killing and raping people
that's ridiculous I don't know what
version of Muppets Treasure Island she's
been watching
you
damn if you were to put on a pair of
shades you would look exactly like dr.
octopus from spider-man to laugh out
loud exactly like dr. octopus are there
certain things that make everyday life
difficult in Japan language barrier
aside as it's two of this there is
another cultural aspect that can
complicate things somewhat and that is
ambiguity or I might as it's known in
Japanese in Japan it's very polite to be
indirect and ambiguous on your opinion
and often this community could be
difficult to work out if someone means
yes or no or what they actually think
for example as an English teacher if I
made a lesson plan and then took it to
my colleague to have them check it over
if they disagree with it they might say
hmm it's difficult whereas in the UK we
would say this is awful
so the Japanese way of doing it is
certainly more polite but it can be
really frustrating when you just want it
clear yes or no answer and instead for
10 minutes you get difficult I've even
been to a hotel where the staff were too
polite too ambiguous to even tell me the
hotel was full
instead they sort of keops their head
like this and looked at the screen going
mmm for ten minutes waiting for me to
acknowledge that the hotel was full and
say ah okay sorry I understand instead
of giving a clear directive a colleague
may indirectly hint at something and you
have to try and work out if it's an
off-the-cuff remark or they're telling
you to do something for example outside
of summer if I had my top button I'm
done at work colleagues would come over
and say wall he must be cold and I had
to work out if that was just a general
remark or if they were actually telling
me do you button up that's not
appropriate but it's a huge part of the
culture and I must admit although it can
be frustrating for a blunt direct
straight-talking foreigner to deal with
it's still quite an interesting and fun
part of the cultural experience once
you've got your head around it is Japan
seriously as far forward in technology
as the country is made out to be making
a mistake Japan is up there
as one of the world's most innovative
technologically advanced countries and
it probably has the greatest transport
infrastructure in the world by it's not
this magical futuristic robot Wonderland
that everyone seems to think he is quite
the opposite in many ways personal
computers are rare many of my students
and colleagues don't even have a
computer at home and equally disturbing
is the everyday usage of something
called a fax machine a device which can
be found in nearly every office perhaps
one of the most frustrating things is
ATMs many of which close off a p.m.
Japan is still very much a cash based
society and most people walk around with
the wallet filled with tens of thousands
of yen and I find most foreigners who've
lived in Japan tend to express similar
surprise that the reality is somewhat
different from the image conveyed
overseas what is your favorite time of
year in Japan winter summer etc and why
my favorite time of year is autumn so
from September to early November the
temperature is just right it's neither
too hot nor too cold and the autumn
colors look spectacular
also there aren't many big national
holidays so students are at school
people at work meaning if you travel
around places aren't too crowded the
cherry blossom season is nice if not
slightly slightly slightly overrated
truthfully the autumn colors are far
more impressive how to defeat the final
boss of Japan two glasses of red wine
consumed in quick succession go [ __ ] it
sir
god I hate the English he literally has
his nose in the air and is looking down
it at the camera can his eyelids be any
more lazy yes they can be considerably
more lazy go [ __ ] yourself
d random people stare at you because
you're foreign yes particularly in rural
areas but it's to be expected living in
a town with a hundred thousand people
being one of a dozen Western foreigners
even if I see another foreigner I'm
surprised and I stare probably more than
anyone and even if people do stare it's
not it's not annoying with one notable
exception that I wrote an article about
a few months ago you can check the
article out in the description box below
it can be a bit weird standing out at
first but you get used to it after a few
weeks what is the best English you've
ever seen printed on a Japanese product
I think my favorite would have to be the
t-shirt I bought that sense are you
enjoy spring not just because I always
read it in my mind in that unnecessarily
aggressive tone but because I wonder at
what point someone thought yes this is
the question of people one on the front
of their shirt and I so badly longed for
the day I walk down the street and see
someone else wearing it other than
myself what was your favorite moment in
the entirety of your time you spent in
Japan I think it was the first time I
realized I was having a conversation in
Japanese with my friend netsky without
consciously being aware that I was using
it it was during my second year of
living in Japan and I've been learning
Japanese for about a year at that point
and during my first year of learning and
using Japanese I was always very
consciously aware that I was using it
because I had to think really carefully
about what I was saying
especially as the grammar between
Japanese and English is incomparable
it's completely alien and you have to
always change your way of thinking by
remember sitting in this pub and talking
to my friend ASCII for hours on end and
then getting home and realizing wait a
minute I've just been speaking and
listening in Japanese for hours on end
without even noticing it and for me that
was a real breakthrough moment to sit
with your friend eat and drink and talk
in this whole new language was a
completely amazing experience I felt
like I'd overcome a major hurdle and my
quest for learning Japanese so that was
a really
big moment in my time in Japan so far so
we find ourselves at the end once again
the next ask abroad video will be about
learning Japanese so please leave your
questions in the comment section also
there's a questionnaire in the
description box below if you filled it
out earlier in the year through Facebook
or Twitter thank you for doing that it
really helped give a sense of direction
going forward into next year your
efforts were not in vain this
questionnaire is about what kind of
videos people want to see next year as
well as allowing people to decide their
top five favorite videos on this channel
of which the results will be announced
in the next few weeks if you enjoyed
this video please don't forget to hit
the like button if you want more and I
wish you all a Merry Christmas and for
the record the force awakens I would
give it an 8.5 out of 10 it was pretty
good definitely worth watching see you
all soon take a look how fun it is look
at fun is look at fun alright fine Japan
is the country that popularized the cat
cafe a place where you can sit and enjoy
dozens of cats and overpriced coffee but
what if it isn't enough what if you want
even more cats