*CORRECTION:* Nick actually belongs to *Sun Music Productions* , not Yoshimoto Kogyo!! Not sure how I managed to mess that up! Really sorry!! Skip to 24:14 for an explanation of what Manzai actually is! You can watch some of Nick’s Japanese comedy by searching “タイムボム”, which is the of the Manzai duo that he’s in! Just caught an error in the English subs at the beginning of the video. At 00:38, the subtitle should say “And the good thing about Japanese language schools is”. Sorry, I had been up for over 24 hours when I made the intro for this video; maybe you can tell I don’t look so great in the clip lol 😅
Hey Matt, I’ve got a little Japanese problem that I need your help for. I’m relatively new to Japanese, and one of my biggest problems is processing. I can hear the words I know, but it takes me about 2 seconds to process what that means. How can I fix this?
So many differences man. Nick had a lot of different experiences than me being a comedian in japan but he nailed a lot of the points for sure. I sometimes dive into different aspects on my channel though.
As usual, Matt hits the nail with his questions. I found this interview, as the one you made with the Shakuhachi player, to be profoundly interesting despite having no significant interest in both their areas of expertise. Good job and please keep these coming 👍
"I would definitely recommend to people who wanna learn the language, to think about how they wanna use that in the future." I don't think anyone really considers this starting out, for me anyway I just ended up learning Japanese and now I have to figure out how to make the most of it.
...time to start thinking. I'm learning it at university just because I was going to learn the language anyway, so I may as well get a degree out of it.
Um. In my case I'm super interested in a lot of japanese media (i mean, games, anime, novels) and at some point, not being able to understand japanese became a barrier. I'm still trying to overcome that language though hahaha Maybe someday.
This was a really good interview. Thank you nick. I learned a lot from him and I think he has a super interesting perspective. I'd definitively want to see a part 2.
Awesome interview, I saw Nick on the youtube video that was included as a clip here as well, seems like a really nice dude. Getting a unique look into the 芸能界 is really special, would happily see a part 2!
Thanks for this interview! As someone living here in his first year, it's just very encouraging to hear someone else's experience. Especially outside of the English teacher bubble.
ニックやーん！！笑 I’m Japanese and learning English but your videos and tips are so helpful!:) and I completely agree with your ways of learning foreign languages! I wasn’t able to verbalize my thoughts on language learning, but your amazing videos did exactly what I was thinking! I wasn’t sure about my way of learning English and I was worried if I’m learning English in the right direction, but you gave me confidence! I wasn’t wrong!:) Actually I just found your RU-vid channel a few days ago but I’ve binge watched lol Thank you so much Matt! Keep up the great work😆✨ 応援してますがんばってください♪
Great insights from this guest. You can really tell that he's really passionate and has thought a lot about what he does from the interesting points he makes.
Wow. I never comment on things on RU-vid, but this was a phenomenal interview. Well done, Matt, and your guest was extremely engaging in his own right. Would definitely watch a part 2.
really enjoyed this the whole way through. i've enjoyed watching nick on atsueigo's channel before but i had no idea nick was a comedian. hearing him talk about it has got me really interested in japanese comedy now. i hope you guys get to talk again soon I just went back to watch nick on atsu's channel and on a vid called 使うだけで頭が良く聞こえる英単語３つ, his third english word is ostentatious, really funny to me that he uses it in this video 36:06
He made a point that I really want to emphasize. Build a skill stack. If you have a strong skill alone, that's not spectacular, but if you have a bunch of complimentary peripheral and parallel skills, you create a skill stack, which essentially makes you someone that people can't ignore. You can fill positions that nobody else is uniquely qualified for.
Really interesting how everyone you interview have a completely different perspective of Japan. In Justin's interview, he said that you can "become" Japanese if you wanted to, and how everyone should try to reach that level of cultural understanding. In this one Nick says that Japanese people can't really ever get past your "gaijinness". I wonder how much of that is a difference in the different industries that they are in. Looking forward to part 2!
As a person who been to japan a few times due to having a Japanese girlfriend i can tell you it will never happen in this century. They would always ask me if it's my first time and why im there. They can't understand someone is living there, for them all the white people are English teachers or tourists. Im not even american, im russian.
ive seen that even if you are born in a certain country and live exactly like a person in that country, if you look "foreign" you will never be consider a local.
I think they're talking about slightly different things. The public is limited in how they can know famous gaijin, so they will just perceive them in the stereotypical way, and Nick had to deal with that. Justin, however, was talking about his experience working in the finance industry and how his coworkers began treating him over time. By demonstrating competency and dependability in that corporate environment, he lost his privileges as a foreigner in that context and would get in trouble for making a mistake that a Japanese person would never have made (due to cultural/linguistic misunderstandings). Why exactly he lost this privilege, and what exactly it means in terms of "becoming" Japanese is up to speculation, but it's definitely meaningful.
Two intelligent bilingual people talking about comedy. Epic!!! I was a huge fan of manzai in 80s and now standup after I left Japan. Right up my alley. Thank you so much.
This is such a great video. I've seen clips of Nick's performance online when I was a college student, like 4 years ago, and at that moment I thought he was like half-Japanese and half-American... I didn't know he's an American until today so it's a little bit shocking to me. But as a Chinese person who's interested in Japanese culture and went to college in the States, I can understand a lot of things Nick said in this interview. Being a foreigner in Japan is difficult. Respect.
Great interview, also big fan of Bilingual News, I would recommend it to anyone who is studying Japanese. I actually started reading 革命のファンファーレ recently based on Nick's recommendation on the podcast a few weeks back. Pretty interesting read.
This guy is the fucking GOAT dude. He's the epitome my dreams, fucking got his own band in Japan, he's broken the barrier and became a comedian making people laugh in a totally different culture, just wow man. I'd kill to have a beer with this dude. If he's ever on again ask him about his band life and how that whole experience is!!
The Sci Fi channel was my first ever exposure to anime. I remember seeing the last 30 minutes or so of Akira and a few other really "adult" anime and I was pretty blown away. Also got into Akira Kurosawa movies through my high school friends so this guy's introduction to Japanese culture sounds really similar to my own ^__^
Can we still get part 2? Please? 😀 I really like your interviews, in fact this channel for me is all about the interviews and semi-interview collabs, like the one with Dogen or the debate with George Trombley; I'm not even sure I want to learn Japanese (in fact I have a dumber issue: I'm suffering from analysis paralysis about which Asian language to learn). But anyways, I think this guy has a lot to say and your questions are really good. I've learned quite a lot from all the content on this channel already. You're like a Zach Sang for interesting gaijin. So, in short, I hope you make a part 2. And just a lot more interviews. With any kinda people.
I have a question about MIA... I'm learning Japanese and I've start MIA for 4 days now and it's been going really well. I'm currently doing immersion and RRTK. What I am wondering is that on the website (Japanese quick start guide) it says the it'll take about 3 months to do RRTK and that you should continue practicing RRTK for another few months. And then it also says that you shouldn't start grammar and vocab untill you've completed RRTK. After completing grammar and vocab (from what I understand) I've completed stage one. This seems like it'd take like minimum 1 year, maybe even longer for stage 1. In your MIA introduction video you said that if you practiced diligently it'd take 3 months in the first stage and if you practiced less then it'd take 6 months to a year. So far I've been going *ham* with immersion and I've been doing the daily reviews aswell. It seems like I can't complete any faster then in 3 months and only after completing that will I start grammar and vocab. So in total it'll take 1 year which is way more the 3 months. Is there something I misunderstood or can I somehow complete course 1 faster then 1 year. Ps. I didn't matter if it takes 1 year or 3 months, I just want to know if I'm doing things properly. Thank you very much.
This was a really fascinating and deep discussion. Great interview! One thing I've long thought is that the rise of reality shows also coincides with the rise of more realistic acting across all genres. If you watch movies, it feels more like they recorded a play, and the actors seem to be putting on a production. The older the movie, the more obvious it is. Of course there is still the occasional sort of slapstick physical comedy here and there that kind of hearken back to the style popular 80's and 90's, but they're widely panned by critics now. Nowadays it's more about the witty banter and clever wordplay delivered (mostly) realistically, as if recorded from a hidden camera. I'm sure I'm not the only one that thought that, but it occurred to me when you were talking about western comedy. It's kinda like this shift toward realism just hasn't happened in Japan. Ironically, these days, reality TV shows are more apparently fake than fiction shows.
Terrific interview guys. I live in Tokyo myself for 3 years, kind of jealous of your level of understanding language 😁 But true is I didn’t have any prior knowledge of Japanese behind こんにちは😃 I am big fan of US stand up so great to hear opinion from professional 👍
Fascinating interview! "Slow learner?" Really? He became highly fluent in Japanese in his early 20's! I would really like to know more about how many years he actively spent learning before he became fluent enough to attend comedy school. It's totally amazing.
According to Nick when he was interviewed by Atsu, he took a huge risk and attended manzai school before he became fully fluent in Japanese. That's why he calls himself a slow learner, though that's obviously debatable. Clearly, though, that self-forcing and extreme immersion is the thing that pushed his Japanese ability over the edge.
Hey matt I don't know another place to ask but can you explain about the ON reading on japanese and the KUN reading and when do you use this readings and how, I'm a little confused
This was my first time hearing about Japanese comedy but I immediately realized that classic American comedy has so much 漫才 Laurel and Hardy Marx Brothers I Love Lucy Threes Company All in the Family Three Stooges There are so many examples. That whole “Who’s on first” bit is 漫才.
I wish I could go back in time and change my major to Japanese. Being able to dedicate that time purely to language study would have been invaluable. Trying to balance study with a job and girlfriend isn't easy. I really wonder if it would be worth leaving work for a year and studying all out.
At 48:25, or around there, Nick says people aren't watching this interview for him, and I have to say I actually am watching this video because of you. I saw your interview with Takashii from Japan, and I really dug your vibe and when I found out you were a celebrity I figured I'd check you out. You're cool man.
37:36 That's so interesting. Even though I'm Polish and have always lived in Poland I find it "easier" to have a conversation in English, even a job interview. What I mean is that I'm more relaxed and open in English. I take on a different personality. Maybe because the person/foreigner I'm speaking to is inherently more interesting to me or maybe because Americans are just more open and friendly so I'm used to expressing oneself more freely in that language.
I have the same thing with my native language as opposed to English language interaction. My theory has always been that this discrepancy is because of negative associations I may have with my native language while English is a language that I have learned but never had those inherent painful childhood moments with so my associations with English is actually rather positive while my native tongue has the full weight of my background and upbringing behind it. My associations with English on the other hand are the music, movies and games that made life fun. Another factor may be that if you learned most of your English from media, all your teaching material was cool and relaxed people because movies and music are like that.
@@Ironborn4 That's really interesting, I've always wondered why I'm slightly more comfortable giving a presentation in English rather than my native tongue. That could pretty much explain it.
@@essennagerry Uhmm if you spoke Bulgarian while growing up in Bulgaria you have had bad experiences in Bulgarian. Everyone grows up with bad experiences. Non-native English speakers go through it in their native languages so their associations with the native languages could be negative. That is what I meant. Not whether you have had any particular language related experiences.
