Hey guys. Hi!
So people have been asking us to make a video about how we met
and that's what we're going to do, finally.
It's only been like five years since we--almost, not yet
but coming up on five years since we started our YouTube channel.
And this has been one of the most requested videos.
So we have been together for about six years
and I think it's getting closer to seven years.
Married for more than five.
I don't FEEL like we've been married for that long. I know.
Okay, so, how we first met was
In America, in my university,
I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life
and I just kind of joined the AFROTC on a whim.
And they told me that they would pay for my entire university
all my bills, if I majored in Japanese.
So I majored in Japanese, and then I really really wanted to study abroad.
At that time I was mentally prepared
when I came to Japan to just focus on studying the language
because I was really into my AF stuff
and I just wanted to do a really good job.
When you do the officer track it's so, SO competitive.
You basically have to be the best person ever at everything.
So I was really set on just studying.
And then when I got here,
the very first day,
that was ruined thanks to Jun.
Because I met Jun the very first day and then all of my plans just
crumbled, and were destroyed.
How are they related?!
You could still study hard.
Um okay,
so I got off the plane and
and I had some people who were working with the study abroad program
who helped me find my way to the international dorm where I was staying.
And then when I got to the international dorm,
that's when Jun met me at the front door
because he was going to be my RA, my resident assistant.
Basically she came to study abroad at my university
and that's how we met.
Yeah so Jun met me at the door and he showed me around
the dorm where I stayed, and he showed me how to
do my mailbox and make my bed and everything there.
Basically our job is just help all the exchange students there
to like survive and just...
I was basically a handyman. That was my job.
Yeah.
And the very first time I saw Jun,
literally he just looked like
one of those manga characters from a shoujo manga.
He was super tall and thin and
he acted really cool, like...
He was twirling pens and stuff.
You were standing there. I remember the very first time I saw Jun.
He was just standing there looking all cool-like.
And I was like, "Aw man that guy's gonna be a douche." Because he looked really cool.
Okay so fact about me-
I've never in my life been physically attracted to anyone. Ever.
I've wanted to be. I've wanted to date and have boyfriends and crushes,
like everyone else, but I just never was
until I saw Jun.
So Jun was literally the first person I've ever seen where
I just saw him and thought, "He's attractive."
"Wow, I like this guy."
And to this day he's still the only person in my life I've ever seen, who I thought was attractive.
So uh, lucky me!
The only person in the world I've found who I'm attracted to
we ended up being able to be together.
So I got super, super lucky there.
I'm very honored.
But I thought he would be a douche. He acted like he was really cool.
And I thought he was so attractive, I was like
"I"m sure he's got like three girlfriends."
What??
And I was like, "Oh god... this is ruin- I can't do this! I came here to study!"
"I can't just get attracted to the first guy I see!! What is that?!"
Meanwhile, I was just too busy dealing with all these foreign students
like, "Okay, now another foreign student's on the way. What do I have to do..."
I didn't want to waste my time on a pointless- -douchebag.
-crush... Yeah, on a douchebag
that would be never go anywhere and just ruin my studies.
So I was determined NOT to like Jun.
I was like, I'm not going to get into this. I'm not going to acknowledge anything.
And focus on my studies.
And that lasted about two weeks.
Until I couldn't do anything anymore.
So that was my first impression of Jun. What was your first impression of me?
It was definitely memorable, because
you came in just by yourself.
And you have this radiant red hair.
That was really noticeable. And I think that was my first time for me to see people with red hair
in my life. Because I grew up in Japan, I've never been outside Japan, really.
So everyone has black hair.
You were in a white coat on that day.
Was I?
Yes you were. And the contrast of your hair and coat, you looked like a model.
I did not look like a model. And she walked like a model.
I did not. As they walked on a runway.
False.
I thought maybe that was just me so I asked other foreign students from
one of them was from Australia, one of them was from England.
And I asked them if they think you walk like a model
and they said yes.
You were talking to guys about how I walked?!
Nonono, they told me that they thought you were like a model.
Like you did the modeling job or something.
And I was like, "Yeah, I thought so, too."
I don't think any of this is true.
And they were not guys. They were both female.
Oh okay.
But when I asked her she was like, "Um not I'm not a model, I'm going to be an officer. I'm in the AF."
Yeah.
So I was pretty impressed by that, too. [FLEXING]
Because in Japan we don't have a "military" military anymore. We only have Self Defense.
So I was really interested in your career, too.
So my first impression of you, I don't know if I can put my impression of you in one word,
but just something that I would never ever meet or see in my life if I didn't become RA.
Does that make sense to you? Yeah.
The very first night I got there, there was a big communal room with video games
and computer and all kinds of stuff. And that's where everyone was hanging out.
A lot of new students had come in with me, so a lot of students were there.
And I was like, "All right, I need to go try to be social."
And get to know people and stuff.
So I went and sat down in that room, and I was across the table from Jun and a few other students.
And I don't remember how we got on the subject, but you asked me about food
and- I remember that.
I was really, really picky when I first came to Japan. I can eat a lot more now
than I used to be able to eat.
And Jun ended up offering to make me a meal that day.
I was going to make dinner for new students anyway.
And I invited a bunch of other new students, and you were one of them.
I was really surprised by that because I seriously thought he would be a total stuck-up dude.
And I was like, "Wait... he can cook??"
And like... he made DONUTS one day, just from scratch.
From NOTHING! Just from ingredients. And then he deep-fried them into actual donuts, too.
I was so impressed. Like, "OMG, he can make donuts!!"
He made everything! Did you hear yourself?
"I made donuts out of ingredients." That's how you make stuff!
Okay, if I want a donut I go to the store and buy a donut. I don't actually MAKE donuts.
How many people actually MAKE donuts, come on.
So very quickly my initial impression that Jun was for sure gonna be a douchebag just kind of died off.
That's horrible. And he got better and better.
He could cook, he's so nice, he likes video games, I found out he was sporty.
I found out he played baseball and stuff. I was like, "OMG he's a sporty guy too?!"
And then by the end of two weeks I was just done. I couldn't resist the fact that I thought he was the
best thing ever.
I didn't know how to handle those feelings, and so I acted like a TOTAL IDIOT.
If we would be walking down the hallway and I would see Jun,
my heart would start beating really really quickly.
And my face would immediately go red. Super super red. I would blush everywhere.
After a few steps of seeing Jun I would put my head down and I would just run past him.
Just run away.
After I would get a couple steps behind him he would be like, "Rachel."
And I would be like O△O He wants to talk to me?!!?
And I would be like...
[idiot spin]
turning around.
It was SO BAD YOU GUYS, I WAS SO AWKWARD.
And he would say things like, he would offer to let me use his bicycle.
He let one other person borrow his bicycle key, a guy.
And he let me borrow his bicycle. And I was like...
I'm the only girl he let borrow his bicycle. DOES THIS MEAN SOMETHING
WHY DID HE PICK ME
There were so many things like this, and I was freaking out because I didn't know if any of these were signs
that he actually liked me. Maybe he was just being super nice becauseheissupernicelikethistoeveryone [gibberish]
He made a meal for me.
I would because you told me you were going to Saizeriya every single day to eat pizza and I was like
"Maybe she won't be able to survive like this." Saizeriya is fast food pizza.
And the whole first month I was there we didn't have any classes.
They brought us in an entire month before classes started.
So some students who had already been there were off doing home stays but most of us just didn't have
anything to do for an entire month.
So we were just hanging out for a whole month.
So we spent all day every single day together doing something.
And so oftentimes at night there would be a group of us just sitting down and talking
or playing games and stuff. And Jun would be there. And I would be there.
And I would want to be close to Jun so I wouldn't leave until Jun left.
And because Jun was the RA and he had to make sure students were okay and all got to bed okay
he would stay up until everyone went to bed. But I didn't want to go to bed until Jun left
so we were the last two people who stayed up to talk a lot.
That brings back memories.
I had all these secret plans to get Jun to like me.
I was like, I'm gonna stay up as late as he's up.
And I would be like... I'm gonna go exercise, go for a run, but I'm going to go stretch somewhere where Jun
can see me. Maybe he'll be impressed that I exercise and stuff.
He was supposed to speak in Japanese to us because we were all there to study Japanese.
And my Japanese was so so bad. I would use that as an excuse to talk to Jun.
I would be like, "Jun I'm practicing my Japanese. Can you help me practice? :D"
I was really happy to help you.
I couldn't even say like anything.
Your Japanese wasn't intermediate or advanced but you were still trying really hard every day.
So I got really impressed.
The fact that you were trying really hard, I respected you as a person.
But at the same time, you were cute and adorable, too.
Next! What?
Okay, so about a month of this passed.
I had been doing my really horrible Rachel attempts at getting Jun's attention.
Other people liked Jun as well, because how can you NOT.
And so one day I got an email from my detachment and it told me that I ended up getting my #1 job choice.
And I was super super excited.
And so I sent Jun an email on our phones. You didn't do texting back then, you had phone emails.
I was so nervous, I think that was only the second time I had ever texted him.
And I was shaking while I was writing it. But I was just trying to come up with an excuse to talk to him.
I told him I got my job choice and I just hovered over the send button for minutes.
[acting like a loser]
And I hit send.
And Jun eventually responded and he was like, "Oh that's cool. Why don't you come talk to me about it."
His room was one away from my room.
And he would often just chat with students in there, just about whatever.
Or help them with their homework. Help them with Japanese and stuff.
Yeah, I kept my door open so that anyone can just come in.
So I went over to talk to Jun, and we ended up staying up until like 4am talking.
Because I didn't want to leave unless he was going to be like, "I need to go to sleep."
So I just kept coming up with other things to talk about.
At this point it had been like a month and I was like
I can't live my life like this, with this insane infatuation crush. I need to know.
Something needs to happen, because it needs to be over.
So I started talking to Jun about things like
"You know, there are girls here who like you."
"People say you would make a good couple with [OTHER GIRL]"
Are you interested in her?
"Is there anyone you're interested in dating?"
And I would ask him this stuff about he would be like, "I don't know."
Eventually I think I was able to get him to say that he was interested in someone.
But not the girls that I was talking about.
So I was like, "Oh... who are you interested in then?"
This was probably around like 3:30 am or something.
And by then Jun was so, so tired.
I can't remember things clearly. His eyes were like this [blinking to stay awake].
trying to stay awake. And I was tired too, but he was NOT going to bed.
He was not being like "Rachel, can you leave? I need to go to sleep."
And so that coupled with all the other small things that maybe could have meant something
I was like, maybe it's okay to be more forward.
Eventually Jun said,
"What would you say if I said I liked you?"
And I was like...
And I was like, okay come on, that's such a non-answer.
My heart was beating out of my chest. My face was so red. So I was like,
"Is that a real question?"
And then Jun was like [awkward nodding]
He just kind of nodded about it.
So I said, "Watashi mo Jun-san ga suki desu." [I also like you.]
And then Jun gave me a big hug.
It wasn't just a fun experience because obviously I was working there.
I was getting paid so I had to help everyone else every day.
And I couldn't just spend time with you.
RA's weren't supposed to date students obviously because then there's like a conflict of interest.
It won't be equal. I need to treat everyone equally.
Like I could be really good friends and spend time with them every day, but
it was a little different. Yeah.
So we had to keep our relationship secret.
So the only person who knew that we were dating was my mom.
And so I couldn't tell anyone else, which was really awkward because I would sit around Jun all the time
because I would want to be close to him, and then eventually people would be like,
"Rachel's really stalking Jun. She follows him everywhere."
I felt so bad. It was really awkward for both of us.
We were only ever able to go on one date because Jun had so many responsibilities
with taking care of other students and stuff.
We have a little bit of footage from our secret date, like super awkward.
But I think I still have it somewhere, and if I can find it maybe I'll put up a little bit on our 2nd channel.
So that's how we met. She came to study abroad at my university.
I met her. Ever since then we've just been together. Yep.
And I was RA, and I will still be Rachel's Assistant.
I will be RA forever.
That's the end of the story.
He just gets better all the time. And he's got an amazing cooking channel now cuz he's so good at cooking.
If you guys aren't subbed to his cooking channel you should go check it out!
It's Jun's Kitchen! I'll put a link here!
Th-thank you.
That ended up changing both our lives, because I was planning on being in the AF for forever
and Jun was just going to be a teacher or open up a cafe here...
But I was definitely going to work in Japan, which I am doing now.
I'm doing YouTube, also. Yeah.
We ended up becoming YouTubers instead. It's weird how life takes you in different directions.
But there's nowhere else I'd rather be. :D
I feel really luck that this is my life.
I'm glad, too. Thank you for being in my life.
You're welcome. Thank you, too.
All right, thank you for watching. All right, bye.