To the rural Japan part: I lived in the outskirts of Tsuchiura (Ibaraki). The people were great and lovely. Most unfortunately, they did not understand a single word of English but kept inviting me to join them for tea, cake, and other snacks. They sometimes came to me unprompted and apologised for the lack of action, but still hoped that I enjoy my time. Some even gave me their Line, so I can contact them when I needed help, a ride to a neighbouring town etc.
I'd grown up in rural Wales and if I moved to Japan I'd want to go to a rural area, my old village had a very similar situation where the schools were closing, they had a small population etc, but it was a very closeknit community with a lot of traditions, stories etc. But it's nice to hear it's not too awkward in rural Japan.
I live in rural Japan, been here almost 10 years and have been welcomed to most things and haven’t had any problems with the locals. Having the kids like you helps a lot. Not being a super loud and inconsiderate prick helps as well. A lot of the English teachers I’ve met have made no effort to learn Japanese, don’t care about trying to learn customs, and seem very overwhelmed when they don’t understand anything about Japan. It leaves me so flummoxed, that I tend to avoid them.
yes. we tend to avoid each other for sure... if we could hold and fire pistols...well, there would only be one of us remaining... P.S. holy friggin' crap me in me pants!!!!!...Flummoxed...R U seriously...what's? No, i mean thanks for that amazing word, mate... unbelievable really P.P.S. but wouldn't they be kinda like forced to learn customs??? how could the even go out shopping, etc. ??
Re: Translation gaffes: On my first evening in Osaka I went to an izakaya where I sat down at the bar next to a bloke enjoying a bowl of what looked and smelled like mouth-watering ramen. I opened up Google translate and asked the owner to have what he was having. Some time later she plopped the bowl in front of me, accompanied by a stern warning. "Very hot!" in just the thickest accent. Me, a dumbass, thought she meant that the broth was piping hot and she was warning me not to burn my lips and/or tongue, so I let it cool for a bit, before shoveling a heaping spoonful of broth into my mouth. Turns out she wasn't trying to warn me that it was hot temperature-wise, but hot as in "this broth is spicier than a bag full of Carolina Reapers". The guy next to me was apparently a real spice fiend. He had a good laugh at the pale European turning different shades of red while trying his best to look like the inside of his mouth wasn't on fire. Then, to top it off, as I was slurping the noodles, a drop of the broth splashed into my eye. The owner subtly asked me if I wanted her to take the bowl of liquid fire away and get me something more suited to my palate, but at this point I was so deep into it I wanted to finish the whole thing, and I did. I wisely stuck to stuff like tonkatsu and karaage the following days. The owners and patrons turned out to be amazing people, and the izakaya basically became my spot as well. Went back a year later and I was treated as a long lost friend.
Even if I wasn't a spice fiend, I'd do like you and ride all the way. I can't stand the thought of discarding food. 😶 Though for the eye, I'd immediately run to the sink and rinse until their water supply hit low. Capsaicin in the eyeball is just too much.
Gotta be honest, I’m quite well integrated socially and speak the language fluently. I’ve rarely had the experience that japanese people don’t want to interact with me if I speak to them. A lot are confused, afraid, shy or whatever and after more than a decade, well, that’s Japan. However, once I talk with them, once I got out with them, it doesn’t matter that I’m a foreigner. That goes for both the countryside as well as the big cities. There are a couple of people who really dislike foreigners but I can count those encounters on one hand.
@matsalvatore9074 omg, dude gtfo “there’s good reasons to dislike foreigners” No, there isn’t you dimwit. Take all that bs back to whatever Trump Channel you came from. You obviously know nothing about Japan or much of anything at all. One thing japanese people know to do is to stfu when they don’t know what they’re talking about.
While it's a good principle to not judge a group of people by the actions of a few, I don't blame some Japanese people for their attitudes towards foreigners. For every time I see a foreigner doing something that makes us all look like utter c**ts, I try to undo the damage by being extra polite, considerate etc.. I notice the locals reactions of surprise and relief.
As an Italian I was so happy to hear you talk about Adriano Celentano’s “Prisencolinensinainciusol”. It really is a great song but I was so surprised to hear it was famous enough in the UK that u guys both knew about it! 😍
I just looked it up and it is a complete trip. He sounds exactly like an American singer but I cannot comprehend a single word, except the "all right". What an incredible achievement
I mean, it's probably similar to why rural areas in many parts of the world aren't really enthused by foreigners moving to their area. Rural areas tend to be very insular. It's a situation where everyone in the community knows each other and tend to have a mistrust of "outsiders." The irony is that, for Japan specifically, foreign residents are most needed in rural areas, especially in agricultural areas.
While it's the absolute best way to get rid of smells, be careful as I hear that it will damage the plastics in the car. So yeah, try to keep the ozone generator to a minimum and when you're done, unplug the extension cord and leave the car to sit for a good long time before carefully opening a door and walking away
Do the reverse and buy portable air filter. Or dehumidifier. Most of the time bad smell are exemplified by high humidity (as the molecules bond with water vapor). Keeping the air dry will minimize the stench.
Ozone is toxic. If you have a smell problem then burning hippie stuff like sage is a better areal disenfectant lmao. Otherwise just having it cleaned is a go to
Love the fact that you broke your glasses by walking face first into a wall. I've broken like 3 pairs like that, and I've also broken a pair by too vigorously reaching up to scratch my nose, thus punching myself in the face and embarrassing myself as well 😂😂
Fun fact: The cat themed bar in Golden Gai (4C Bar) is not cat themed. The cats are just there by circumstance (but the owner doesn't seem too sad about his co-owners).
For local band gigs I would say check with the stores in the area that sell or service musical instruments. They will usually have a good idea of what shows are going on where in the area.
@@MrJapanApan @Andy-4342 i've been going to underground/local concerts in japan since late 2016 and put this together in 2019. ticketing policies have slightly changed since then due to that 3 year event i dont know if we can mention yet on youtube, but majority still applies. the only difference is most use ticketing platforms now ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0MgZaVHuGvc.html
I’ve only had good experiences living in rural Japan as a foreigner but it’s probably since I’m married to a Japanese man living in his small home town.
@@DinnerForkTongue Yes. I mean you need to learn the language of the country you live in. As someone from a country that has lots of Russian-speaking (old people) from the Soviet times, who never bothered to learn the language of my country, even after we finally got our independence back and the people had the choice to go back to Russia but did not but still expected to be able to get by with only Russian...this is an issue that's a given to me. You learn the language of the country you live in. Not to say my reading and writing of kanji skills are good (it's a process that needs time), but speaking Japanese is not so difficult. Randomly getting back to my original comment, it was interesting what my Japanese MIL said and she is a usual rural Japanese obaachan. She said that in the beginning she thought that foreigners were a completely different species and wondered how was she supposed to deal with me....but getting to know me and learning of my life in my home country and hearing the old sayings and proverbs we have in my country, she realised that foreigners were usual people and not that different from Japanese at all. I'd say this could be the rural mindset of Japan - if there is no closer connection (and ALTs are not that close in this meaning) with foreigners, they think of us almost in the same terms as aliens from space. But when they get to know the foreigners, then they realised that we are all the same. I mean, proverbs tend to be so similar, even though my country is half a world away from Japan.
@@ML-cc7gj "I mean you need to learn the language of the country you live in." You'd be flabbergasted by the sheer amount of arrogant foreigners that don't just not believe this basic fact, they actively go against it and feel proud of living in a bubble of their own language. I've been faced with so many of these goits that I've taken to asking first, unironically.
the nicest people i met in japan during my 3 weeks vacation there, were from rural areas. ofc most of japanese peoole were exceptionally nice, even though we had some strange encounters but those are funny stories to talk about. i was staring on a map with my travel companion and then elderly man approchaed us. we couldn't speak japanese but we were able to show him where we'd like to go. with a hand sign he showed us to follow him. he walked us the whole way to our destination, a really lovely man. and that was in a pretty rural area 😁
I bought a car that had been smoked in for years, I bought a giant tub of bicarb powder dusted every fabric surface and used a brush to rub it in and then vacuumed it out. Then spray down all the hard surfaces 😊
@AbroadInJapanPodcast *Tips for David!!! Look up the acts you would like to see live IN KANJI on ticketing sights!!! Last November when I went, I was able to catch Katsushika Trio (ex-Casiopea) using this method. NOTHING popped up in the English spelling, but IMMEDIATELY showed up when searched in Kanji!!! Good luck and happy concert going!
Hello Pete and Chris. I am planning to visit Japan soon but am worried about something. I know Japan has a strong drinking culture but as a 37 year old guy who doesn’t drink I was wondering the most polite way to tell people that. Keep up the great work both of you!
"anmari nomanai", I don't drink much. "Non-arukooru onegaishimasu" (non-alcoholic xyz). I would say in the last 10 years (since I fisrt came to JP) non-alcholic options are MUCH more common across japan, especially since so many people drive for work. I'm basically the same age and nobody pressures me to drink; maybe like, 23-yr-olds have a different experience.
just say 'no'!!!! nicely..just let the glass of beer or whatever sit there unconsumed..just don't touch it..go to take a piss and on yer way back get a juice at the bar....they won't care...nobody cares...least of all those sh*heads trying to get hammered
Godzilla Minus 1.0 is a great film, better than Shin Godzilla which I loved. Came out in Japan on November 3rd, Canada December 1 and UK December 15th. Recommend Pete see it once it is being streamed. Also recommend the Boy and the Heron and Perfect Days.
Congrats on finally getting your car, Pete! I'm in the final stretch of getting my car registered in Japan. It's a US-market car and I'm not in the military, so it's been brutal.
Godzilla Minus One was an incredible movie (with a silly name)... but it did get back to the roots of the franchise. It was even more amazing when we found out the budget for the whole thing was something like 15 million USD.
Before I went to Japan last time I was able to look up online what bands were playing in the area. I don't remember what site I used, but I found fairly small local shows in Osaka. You could probably also check what venues are available near where you're going and check their schedules that way.
The thing w/ Sharla and Shin Godzilla made me remember trying to teach an Okinawan lady how to make a 'TH' sound. It took her a bit. It's weird to think about the fact that some sounds in one language simply don't exist in other languages and are often absolutely foreign to folks first trying to learn those sounds (often as adults!).
It's strange because the sound is created by a tongue position they're not used to. Explaining that yields far better results. For example, for the "ny" in Japanese, similar to the "ñ" of spanish, you touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Meanwhile for the similar but different "nh" sound of Portuguese, that's also in Vietnamese (under a different moniker), you touch the MIDDLE of the tongue to the palate. I explain the 'th' sound as putting the tip of the tongue close to the front incisors, close enough to vibrate when you speak but not close enough to touch the teeth.
@@DinnerForkTongue that ended up being the exact way I went about it. It occurs to me that the tongue position is only very slightly more forward than for making r/l sounds in Japanese. That might also have been helpful had I thought of it at the time.
I’ve had limited success with coffee beans, clothes dryer sheets and vinegar in countering smoke in cars. Put coffee beans in a sock, and place it on the floor . Wipe the upholstery with dryer sheets. Put a plastic tray on the floor, and pour in two ounces of vinegar. A combination seems to work better than using one of these alone. I’ve heard of people using orange oil but the smell can be overpowering, and it can stain carpets and upholstery.
My in-laws on my MIL's side are from rural Hyogo. I blend with the locals pretty well because I'm Asian with some Japanese (not fluent). I really enjoyed my month long stay there. I love the fresh fish, vegetables and kaki/persimmons that my husband's grandma plant in her backyard. Bonding with some elders and teaching them some tricks on cooking Japanese food is so unforgettable. Going back there in a few months.
I've found rural Japan is way more kind and accommodating than the major cities. I think there's a level of group think in the big cities where being sick of foreigners is socially acceptable these days. Half of the time you'll be barred entry to a Tokyo izakaya due to "language" while carrying a conversation with the owner in Japanese. Meanwhile, in more remote areas, they'll at least be open to the idea you won't be a nuisance.
@@rovidelarosa Creepy? It's not serious! I wish RU-vid had an option to make your comment history public, I saw this video minutes after it was published and couldn't think of anything else to say 😭I was just trying to echo some of the absurd openings of their letters, not be creepy!
Until discovering that my insurance covers glasses (I hadn't thought it did), I bought from one of those online only places that makes their own frames and ships to your home, but the last few times, there has been some issue, from me putting in my prescription wrong to spots where the anti glare gloating bubbled and it created blind spots. But even then, I still recommend that service for those who don't have coverage for glasses like I apparently do now and still need them. (And in getting the cheapest frames from my insurance network's shop, I also was still able to get better than cheapest lenses and anti glare coating, but they were definitely more expensive than my previous pair.)
Pete, please do some videos of your new car. To get rid of the smell get one of those wet vac steam cleaner things and maybe a drill with a soapy brush attachment.
I still haven't seen Shin Godzilla, just found out that both the sub and dub are on Crunchyroll in the US. Looking forwards to Godzilla Minus One going online to stream, I might rent it then.
Godzilla Minus One is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. It lands like an 80’s American action movies. Unfortunately, America and Europe are struggling to make decent movies nowadays.
For a while my RU-vid feed was filled with Akiya homes and the droves of foreigners expressing the desire to move there. Usually remote workers or people who wants an alternative life
Met my wife when she came to the UK from Japan, she was well into her Vivienne Westwood at the time and had a t-shirt with an English phrase on it. She loved it and never had the heart to tell her what it meant.
I was lucky enough to be in a small town rural city hotel... Yusuhara... part of the staff was an immigrant family... it's a hotel I believe rarely visited by foreigners... but as far as I could tell, the family in question was just as hard working, dedicated, and had a grasp of Japanese I did not think was faulty ( with my then and still insuficient domain of the language ). Also, the fact they did speak english, something the local japanese staff had problems with... was of IMMENSE help for me. But again, it is a city I felt very welcomed, I did not get this resentment of foreigners vibe. If I could, I would like to move there.
Yup, Luxottica. In my country, they own the optometrists, who sell their own brands of glasses (Oakley, Rayban, Chanel, Prada, GA, Burberry, Versace, D&G etc.....)
I don't even think that the locals are even that keen on foreigners leaving. Most of my freinds who lived in rural villages told me that the locals loved them being there and hoped they would stay longer. My own school reacted with astonishment when I announced that I was leaving at the end of my 3 years. Sorry y'all, but it's not up to me. The Board of Education decided they wanted a shiny new Gaijin so they told me to take a hike. That's politics for ya.
Lol. I wrote a comment before watching the show and at the end you replied to one of my other comments. Well, im back home now and sadly i didnt catch any live shows. Fun story time: Me and my best friend had a trip booked. A mututal friend was the girlfriend of the booking manager of Iron Maiden. They had a tour in Japan during the same time, so she had arranged so that we could meet the whole band and hang out, now just backstage but in their free time. The chance of a lifetime. Less then 2 weeks before leaving the tsunami hit. The country shut down and the tour was canceled and the chance was lost forever (friend and manager broke up). I have been trying to fill the void with ramen ever since.
Wow I had no idea Sharla helped Satomi Ishihara in Shin Godzilla. I went to see it in the theaters and her English almost killed the movie for me, it was extremely immersion breaking. I don’t blame the actress, but whoever thought it was a good idea to cast her as an American. Sharla had an impossible task😂
Here is a good tip for getting rid of bad smells anywhere!!! Take a saucer and pour vinegar in it, leave it over night or longer in Your car and the smell will disappear!!! Good luck! Kind regards the Danish Viking
Chris about Godzilla Minus One: "I like that Godzilla is not a metaphor for atomic warfare" Meanwhile, Godzilla Minus One: is set in WW2, Godzillas atomic breath creates a literal mushroomcloud, resulting in black rain - exactly what an atomic bomb does. Hell, I thought that the metaphor was maybe even too on the nose but hey, great movie nonetheless.
I found it incredible that Fox News were moaning about Taylor Swift's carbon emissions. Given that Swift has made Fox News of all people finally acknowledge the issue of carbon emissions, I think it's fair to say she's done the world a great service.
What amused me most about that was that her “people” issued a statement saying that the lovely Miss Swift wasn’t actually on a lot of the flights, but had chartered the plane to others - so not was she only contributing to climate change, but was actually making a profit doing it! 🤣 Hilarious!
I am happy to know you enjoyed Godzilla Minus One! I saw it here in Spain last December. It was great and in the trus spirit of the old Godzilla films. Put Hollywood to shame.
@@MrJapanApan Also, in addition to the Kanji trick, most ticketing sites ask for a Japanese address or phone number, just use the address and number of the hotel you plan to stay at.
@@dukealbert7017 Good to know. I also have many japanese friends (i can use their adress or number) Only problem with searching kanji is finding new bands.
IMO, only the Japanese can make great Godzilla movies because their (good) movies always say something about Japan, it's people and it's society. The OG was about the fear of atomic weapons. Godzilla 1984 was about Japan being stuck between America and the Soviets during the Cold War. Shin Godzilla was about the incompetence and bureaucracy of the Japanese government. Godzilla Minus One is about Japanese people trying to rebuild and find purpose after they were manipulated by their leaders and decimated during WW2. I feel like this could resonate with the post-Bubble Japanese people who have seen their country stagnate. I genuinely don't like any of the American Godzilla movies because they're just dumb sci-fi action movies. None of them have said anything interesting or had any plot more complicated than monsters attacking. And the human plots are insufferably cliche and boring. Yes, the Japanese had the goofy Showa movies, but at least the era was surrounded by Godzilla movies that did say something.
A german expressionism gojira movie could be interesting. Bmovie stryle, the stranger the better. Maybe about having gojira as neighbout and the life with it having hissy fits? It could say, something about politics? Bu then make betrter your own bozilla knockoff thats , a big lovecraftian bear like mutant? Or beaver, or squirrel as symboil of imported not good for renviroment animals. Squirrel mutant sounds terrifying and funny.
I completely agree. The American Godzilla movies fundamentally misunderstand the meaning behind Godzilla. It’s hard to overstate how much of an impact the atomic bomb and reconstruction had on the Japanese people and country. If you think Godzilla is just a mindless monster movie you missed the point. I think a lot of Studio Ghibli movies are like that too. There’s a large anti-war theme in many Japanese movies post-WWII. The shock, horror, and loss that you experience because of Godzilla in Minus One is a similar feeling that people felt after the atomic bomb and firebombing in WWII.
EssilorLuxottica aka Luxottica, is a Milan-based eyewear conglomerate and the world's largest eyewear company, but it's somehow French. They own a lot of the opticians/shops. The company is twice the size in market cap of the second largest, which is a Japanese company: Hoya Corporation
I have a question for someone i know.. what if that foreigner is a doctor and their family.. would the attitude change or would we then just be merely tolerated?
The Director said that he wanted his Godzilla movie to go back to the original horror and meaning behind Godzilla, which is the atomic bomb. The time period and setting in which Godzilla minus one takes place is a very big clue that the movie is a metaphor for the atomic bomb, including the fact that the opening sequence happens on an island near Bikini Atoll.
Luxottica is the italien Company that‘s produces most most of the frames for brands you know…. and they have a investment in Lenses to if i remember right
I feel like the Japanese isolationism is surely rooted in their history. For more than 250 years during the Edo era, the vast majority of Japanese people were completely isolated from the outside world. Then that was followed up by Japan's attempt at empire building, which did not turn out well to say the least. Post WW2, western countries were on good terms with Japan, but the rest of East Asia was still pretty angry at them to say the least. It really feels like, historically, Japan's international relations are very complicated. I'm sure that instill a sense of unease in the Japanese people and their society when it came to foreigners. Plus, I do get a sense that the Japanese are afraid of losing their traditions and culture.
I tried to get my head round their imperial phase as it doesn’t really suit them , apparently there’s a book written by a Japanese man that I haven’t read yet, which argues that it was a type of “keeping up with the Jones’s” mentality to be taken seriously on the international stage. That I can believe. Seems like a more organic reason , from what I know of Japan, than any other reason.
@@KantoCafe715 I think the Japanese saw what was happening to the rest of East Asia and didn't want to end up like them. So they chose to become like the Europeans who were running roughshod over the region. Makes sense considering how Meiji tried to change everything in the upper echelons of Japanese society to be like the Europeans, more specifically the Prussians. So I can see where the "keeping up with the Jones'" idea could come from. I can also see genuine paranoia in them not wanting to share China's fate. What I don't understand is the abject cruelty and sadism shown by the the Imperial Japanese army.
@@fattiger6957 after decades in Japan I only just learned about what they did in the last century, not proud of my own country's history (especially Australia( but I have a special horror of medical experimentation style shit, it just seems so methodical and hopeless for the vicitim. (Also, children wtf) The British killed on the battle field (and I'm from a defeated and colonised nation in UK ). Slavery - British were the first to ban it and it still exists in some places and existed within Africa among Africans when the British were involved in it (who do people think the British were buying slaves from?( Nazis were beyond the pale. And now I'm hearing the Japanese did similar and they were both on the same side during the war. Due to recent events here also, on a personal level, I'm starting to pack my things, I reckon.
@@KantoCafe715 The imperial Japanese were horrible, there's no arguing that. But those responsible were dealt with during the American occupation. The Tokyo Trials were like the Nuremberg Trials, but for Japanese war criminals. I don't think modern Japanese people should be held responsible for the crimes of people from nearly a century ago. Japanese society was fundamentally changed and reorganized after the war, whether they liked it or not. The Japanese government could do a better job in admitting to the previous regime's atrocities and apologizing for them. But time moves on and we can't hold onto grudges forever.
@@fattiger6957 of course I do agree with what you say. I don’t have any grudge against Germans , of course not. I don’t agree with blaming people who weren’t responsible for any crimes themselves (wish many other people would also think like that as white women seem to be the easy target for everyone these days). I had thought things were long forgotten. But sometimes the scab gets scratched when you least expect it and we are confronted with things , and when we are, we have to deal with it afresh.
I had a friend in highschool who was taking Japanese as a second language, he ended up in a foreign exchange situation and was very excited. He kinda broke contact after going to Japan, but after about 2 months he started talking again basically saying he hated it there, everyone ignored his existence and spent most of his time in his room. He really seemed to hate it in Japan.
Corridor Crew interviewed the director of Godzilla Minus One, and he's a VFX artist. So he directed the movie very carefully planned around the the VFX.
Thank you for mentioning this. The director was heavily involved in the VFX from what I remember. I’m very proud of this movie and all it has accomplished thus far. Also, Stephen Spielberg is quite a fan of the movie!
Just watched Godzilla minus one trailer. Looks good, you’re right, Godzilla now looks like a giant Bully XL! The director has apparently said there might be a sequel (Godzilla plus 1 ?) I quite liked the Apple TV series Monarch, which is Godzilla/Giant creature themed, check it out if you haven’t so far!
That made me go into twitter and look for that picture. Which I had to save to my computer so that I could magnify the image. Then I went "WHAT?!?!?" Then somebody replied with something even more ridiculous.
@@arichan6423 Feb 9. Look for a picture of Mount Fuji behind a hotel. You will have to download the picture to be able to zoom in on the text on the back of the guy's jacket.
Hi William What's the easiest way to contact my Girlfriend in Tokyo I just found your show and would like to contact her before I go to Japan to plan but don't know what's availability there or here enjoying your show and be interesting what you recommend
Oh I'm interested for you needing that unique a perception. I had open eye surgery and I've seen pictures what it looked it like as I was taken to hospital with my eye out of socket as a very aggressive version of tag we played as ten year olds in a summer camp. So The fact I have -280 on my left eye instead of just being eye patch kid is a miracle of modern science. So whenever I go to optometrist I'm like here's the starting problem.
What is the third film Pete said was his favourite? I couldn't quite hear it, after Eternal Sunshine and Virgin Suicides I have no clue what he said. I looked up Noy the Albanoy but got no hits, and on the transcript youtube generates for this ep it said No the Albano? Please help me out I trust Pete's film taste 😢 I haven't seen that new film but I did see Andrew Scott in his one-man production with National Theatre Live of Vanya (Uncle Vanya the Chekhov play)...just today actually!
Japanese don't have an issue with foreigners who are respectable, learn the language and assimilate into their culture but this isn't most foreigners sadly most do not do that they want to still be western but in japan
Rural Japan: Beside many social rules people are trained to be very polite and considerate. Not judging other cultures in general but sometimes migrant workers especially from Asia come off as rude and pushy.
The only time I heard anyone shouting "Gaijin!" to us was at Kumamoto railway station, summer '09. She was elderly woman, so I might understand, given the history. We encountered no other dangers, if you will call a one shout as danger.
Sounds like typical conservative thinking. When you don’t live in a major city surrounded by people from all walks of life your thinking tends to favor a conservative outlook.
No country is perfect, and there will always be people less accepting of those who don't look like them. It's disappointing, but there's really nothing we can do about it.
