In this month’s Q+A about life in Japan, I answer the following questions: When you’re out in the city and want a quick meal, what restaurant or food would you recommend? If someone at school asked your kids what your work is, what would they answer? What in your life has changed most since moving to Japan Often in the western world there is a bit of stigma around jobs such as retail working, working at fast food places, receptionists, etc etc. They are thought off as bad jobs and something for teenagers, retirees, uneducated people, lazy people, you get…
LWIF X EP28: More Tips on Surviving Your First Hour in Japan
So, I made a Japanese travel guide video about what to do in the first 60 minutes after landing in Japan. There were a LOT of questions plus some very helpful tips given by the community. I wanted to share them with you, so here you go. The guide I reference, with most of the links, is at http://bit.ly/LWIF1HOURGUIDE. The only thing I know isn’t in there is Hyperdia for transportation routing, which you can find at http://www.hyperdia.com/en/. And oh yeah, here’s the link to the Japan Travel Wiki on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel.
LWIF EP96: What’s in our Japanese Earthquake Emergency Bag? Seriously, we don’t know!
We have an earthquake emergency bag in our house, but we don’t actually know what’s in it, and in fact, we don’t even remember where it is! But we eventually locate it and use the handy disaster preparedness guide that the government of Tokyo sent us to check and see if we have the necessities to survive an earthquake. Links → Disaster Preparedness Tokyo Free English Booklet: http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/GUIDE/BOSAI/index.htm → Earthquake Survival Bag Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2EG6uBy → Earthquake Survival Bag Amazon Japan: http://amzn.asia/bKCM1gF What’s in your emergency bag where you’re from?
LWIF EP95: Snow Day in Asakusa (Senso-ji)
Woke up in Tokyo on February 2nd, 2018 to snow falling down from the sky. Since it only snows a few times, if that, in Tokyo, I packed up my camera and headed out to capture it before it was gone. I visited one of the biggest tourist traps in Tokyo, the oldest buddhist temple the city has, Senso-ji.
LWIF EP94: Why Are There Still 5,534 Homeless People in Japan?
This is the 5th and final part of a series of videos on homelessness in Japan. In this episode we explore the current state of homelessness in Japan and discuss whether it’s a solvable problem.
LWIF EP93: How To Survive Your First Hour in Japan (but really Tokyo)
I’ve finally caved and made a video about how to get by in Japan when you first step off the plane. The fact of the matter, is that if you’re coming to Japan, you’ll probably be arriving at one of Tokyo‘s two international Airports: Narita or Haneda. For that reason, and the fact that I live in Tokyo, I’ll be covering this from the perspective of landing at those airports. Here’s the things you’ll wanted to get sorted in your first 60 minutes.
LWIF X EP27: Expectations vs. Reality and Why I Thought I Was Making YouTube Videos
I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast and the topic was what it was like to be a CEO. It explored what people thought a CEO did vs. what they actually do. It got me thinking not only about my days being a boss (I was one at one point, I swear), but also the differences between what I learned about Japan and what I actually experience.
LWIF X EP26: Why is Smoking Indoors in Japan Still a Thing?
Currently it’s completely legal to smoke indoors in many places in Japan, such as restaurants, cafes, and bars. The national Japanese government did start working on a bill to introduce partial indoor smoking bans, but those have been abandoned for now. Local governments can also introduce smoking laws and the Tokyo Metropolitan government has started working on one that it’s hoping to implement it in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and especially before the 2020 Olympics.
LWIF EP92: Meeting and Helping Japan’s Homeless
This is part 4 of a series of videos on homelessness in Japan. In this episode we get together with Sanyukai (http://sanyukai.or.jp/english.html), which is a non profit organization dedicated to helping the homeless and former homeless. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Initial video Special thanks to my wife who assisted with the interviews, interpretations, translations, and editing. I’m hoping that by putting the thanks here, instead of in the video, she’ll be less likely to notice (she doesn’t like attention). Also a shoutout to Michael Goldberg, thanks for your help!
LWIF EP91: What an Indoor Japanese BBQ is Like
We use our indoor grill to make yakiniku (grilled meat) and yakisoba (grilled noodles).