hey guys how's it goin it's Michaela and today I'm wearing this just fleece
hoodie I bought in Thailand it's actually like the only thing I can wear
on days like this because we're now at the part of fall in Japan where it's
like when the Sun is out it's really really warm and then when the wind blows
it's like freezing cold and when the Sun Goes Down you die so personally like I
like the hoodie up I think it's really cute but I think that's not how I want
to make this whole video so I'm gonna take it down that's better anyway if
you've been following me on social media the past week or so I've been hinting
that I had an announcement to make and I think that today it's going to be the
day that I I finally let you know what that is so the thing that I have been a
little bit nervous and excited to announce is that as of last week I
became a published author it's weird right so at the beginning of this year
the Japan Times approached me with this idea they wanted to create a social
media English book for people who wanted to write captions or you know write
short sentences and put them out there online and yeah we work together to
create this cute little Instagram based caption book so the book itself is
pretty straightforward it has a photo and then it has a caption just like
Instagram would and the caption is very easy but its native fluent English and
then down below we have other words that you can replace in the sentences to
customize them and make them more relevant to you so every page is a
different photo and a different sample caption because that's how books work
and when I thought of these sentences and when I thought of the examples I
thought about how when studying a foreign language a lot of phrase books
tend to shy away from like negative opinions or negativity and I think that
self-expression is really important so if you went somewhere and it wasn't that
great you should be able to be like oh you know this spaghetti was disgusting
or you know like this restaurant was overrated this one wasn't this one was
great but for example if you like to a restaurant that wasn't that great you
could be like oh it was overrated it was pretentious it was okay you know
I just want to give people options self-expression is really important
there are a lot of Fukuoka related photos because that's where I
and obviously I have a bias and I love coca so there's a bunch of that there's
a whole chapter dedicated to kitten lawn and pet photos but that's not all I also
have you know lists of hashtags that you can use per category I have the apps
that I use to edit photos on my phone tips for taking photos tips for learning
English apps that I recommend for learning English and a bunch of stuff
that I don't know hopefully Japanese people are going to find useful oh and
there's a hashtag so for language learners who want to study and actually
use these captions or make their own captions and practice their English
through Instagram there's a hashtag in this book and if you use that hashtag I
will be able to check the post and I can like them I can comment I can interact
with them and see them for myself and if you want me to check them you know I can
send suggestions or corrections or I can ask you questions about your photos if
you want me to directly interact with the photos that you upload in English
you can use the hashtag any way it was a really cool project and now that it's
like a real thing and it's like in my hands and it's so smooth to touch and
the colors are vibrant and popping and you know they've done a really great job
with the design it did not look like that at all when I submitted it to them
so they really cleaned it up and made it look beautiful and I'm very thankful for
that but yeah it's out and if you're in Japan you can find it in I think I found
it in the English learning section at the bookstore that I went to the other
day if you do see it in the wild take a photo and let me know because I actually
don't know how many copies are out there and I don't know like how it's being
displayed everywhere I have found it in Fukuoka at bookstores in tangent and
stuff and that's really exciting um but yeah for those of you who don't
really want to look for it and you just want to buy it first of all thank you
that's really really cool of you umm second of all is yeah it's
definitely quicker and easier to find it on Amazon so check the link in the
description if you want to order a copy that's that Instagram English my first
book my name is on it my photos are in it my dog is in it my cat is in it I'm
very very happy about this thank you to the Japan Times for collaborating with
me on this project anyway so that's one thing that has been happening lately
that is citing the others I've been traveling a
lot lately finally again as you guys know I went to Kochi with Sharla and
that was a lot of fun we had a great time exploring Shikoku and I had never
been to Kochi and I had no idea that it was so beautiful and I ate so much
consul that I had to like go on no fish diet for like two weeks before I could
eat fish again not because the consul was gross but because I had it literally
like three times a day and by the end I was just like next week I'm gonna have a
video up with Kim Dao in Tokyo lens and that's very exciting we went and
explored greater Tokyo which I realized is ironic considering Sharla and I also
made a video where we talked about why you shouldn't go to Tokyo but yeah that
was also very fun and it was very fast-paced and hectic I finally got to
go to mount to kaol which I know about from Sharla's videos and I've always
wanted to check it out and it was really nice that video will be up next week I
think I don't know I haven't made it yet but I will after this goes up I promise
that's that's gonna be on next on my list of things to do next week I'm going
on a trip around Kyushu so that will be fun
and after that I don't know I think I might be doing a little bit more
traveling before the year is up and I'm really excited to kind of like get out
there and take more photos and you know see more of Japan cuz I feel like a lot
of this year I spent at home kind of being a shut-in being a mopey shut-in
because uh I don't know uh why I don't know sometimes my feelings get the best
of me and I don't feel like doing anything at all this is Sarah and you
might remember her from a few videos ago and if you haven't seen that video you
might be surprised to know that we have a new dog but this is sad and she's
wearing a sweater because I tried to cut her hair myself and I did a very
terrible job and then I had to shave it all off and now her hair is quite short
and I'm worried that it's a little too cold now for her to be as hairless as
she is I know that some people don't like having dogs with clothes but I feel
like in this case like this nice little fleece is keeping her warm because I
made a mistake and I will not try to cut her hair myself ever again anyway I'm
gonna take these guys for a walk and there's a coffee
place that I like to go to what I'm walking them so I'm gonna stop by there
and get a coffee and then I'm gonna edit this and I'm gonna put it online and
I'll see you guys tonight all except if you're seeing it you're
seeing me now and then I'll see you again next week when I upload the
greater Tokyo video with Tokyo lens and Kim Dao and that will be exciting too
and if you live in Japan and you see my book let me know send me a photo on
Instagram and tag me put it in your story I don't know just like show me I
want to see it cuz it just it doesn't feel real to me even though the thing is
it's here and it's in my hand and it's a real like tangible thing it doesn't feel
real to me so yeah if you do see it in the wild send me a photo let me know
anyway thank you so much for watching and I will talk to you guys again soon
bye
you