Everyone: Hi guys! Jun (J): We made a video earlier where our wives talked about the unexpected parts of having relationships with Japanese men, and so today we're doing OUR version. In Japanese. Ryosuke (Ryo): In Japanese! J: Finally, Japanese. Let's get started! Ryo: Yes! J: Let's say whatever we want, as much as we want. Ryo: Okay. J: We can't really express ourselves well in English, usually. Ryo: Right. Grace (G): Uh oh... J: We shall speak today. So, first strange thing... Ryo: Strange... J: I have one thing. When we started living together, I found out she doesn't take a bath every day. G: Oh no...
Ryo: Right! Rachel usually takes a bath every other day, right? Rachel (Ra): Yeah, around there. J: And when I asked her the reason... Ryo: This sounds interesting. Ra: It's bad for my hair. J: Her hair will get damaged.
Ra: It's bad for white people's hair. Ryo: Grace is like that, too. G: I shampoo my hair once, twice a week. Ryo: Yeah, she doesn't wash her hair at all. J: You don't wash with shampoo? G: Nope. J: You wash with water?
G: Nope. Ryo: She doesn't even use water. G: I put my hair in a ponytail and wash my body. Ryo: Of course she sweats, so she showers to get rid of the sweat. Washes her face and body. But she doesn't wash her hair. J: Hearing that for the first time it seems unthinkable to us. Ryo: More than that... filthy! J: It made me wonder a bit... But it isn't actually like that. Her hair's completely clean, and it isn't a problem at all. Ryo: Right. Right. J: She doesn't use a hair dryer. G: Yeah, I don't use one either. J: Her hair dries naturally. R: Because that's also bad for my hair! J: Same for you? Ryo: Same.
G: I don't even have a hair dryer. J: You don't have a dryer?! Ryo: Yeah, we don't have one. G: We had a male friend stay with us, and he asked where our dryer was. I had to say we don't have one. J: I asked you that, too.
G: We don't need it. Ryo: What else... She always, always wants to save money. For example, when we moved and needed to buy furniture, I thought we could go to Ikea or Nitori*. [*Both inexpensive furniture stores] G: It's way too expensive. Ryo: No way! Ra: There are also thrift stores. Ryo: Right, thrift stores!
G: We went there, too. Ra: And Facebook groups. G: Right! We have one in Tokyo. Ra: We used that, too. J: There are Facebook groups where people in the same region can sell or give their used stuff to each other. We also used thrift shops. Ryo: Yeah, she likes used stuff, too. G: Even for clothes.
Ryo: Yeah, clothes too. Ra: Yessss J: You get like 80% of your clothes used.
Ra: I buy almost everything used! Ra: Yep. G: I got these boots used! Cowboy boots~ Ra: I got this, this, and this used. G: Wow, that's a lot! Ryo: She doesn't buy clothes or furniture new at all anymore. Ra: Because it's too expensive. G: I think that if you gave me a bracelet and told that it costs $200 I would be kind of like "Omg..." But if you told me "It costs $200... But I got it on sale for $30!!" I'd be really, really happy and I would love it! J: Of course it depends on the person, but Grace and Rachel always try to save money. Ryo: Yeah. Lucky. I feel lucky. Ra: I'd rather eat something delicious. G: And travel.
Ryo: Certainly. Ra: Traveling is better. J: They don't spend much on physical objects. J: Well, it depends on the person.
Ryo: Of course. Ra: Right. J: We talked about it before, but beards. Ryo: Oh, beards. G: I love them! J: In Japan we have to be clean.
Ryo: Every single day we have to shave. G: It's so sad. Ryo: Always shaving. J: It's important to be clean and hygienic, so we all have to shave. Ryo: Cleanliness. J: But she likes me to have a little bit of stubble. She even asks me not to shave on the weekends. Stubble and five o'clock shadows have a bad image here. Ryo: Like this?
Ra: I like this amount. Stubble. Ryo: Is this too much? Ra: It depends on the person. [A lot of people] like beards like that. G: Personally, I don't really like mustaches. But I like this. J: Goatee. Ryo: When I shave she gets upset. Her ring starts coming off her finger like this... "Wait a minute, Grace!!" Ryo: She likes beards.
G: I love them. Ryo: That's why she even has one here. G: I don't know if they can see it. J: Exactly how much do you like beards?? Ryo: Beard-lover. G: I have a beard. J: It depends on the person, but it seems like beards like this and goatees can be considered attractive? Sexy? Ra: Yeah, sexy.
G: Very sexy! Ryo: It seems pretty common.
Ra: Manly. Ryo: Right. There are a lot of guys overseas who have beards. J: They look sexy with beards. In Japan, being clean and fresh is better. Ryo: Yeah, it's the opposite.
G: No-Shave November. Ra: Right! Ryo: Right. I did No-Shave November. Also, going back to furniture. If we go to the thrift store and they don't have what we want, Grace will make it. J: Oh yeah. Ryo: So we go to a home center and she grabs this and that and then just HAMMER HAMMER J: DIY (Do It Yourself)
G: I love DIY! G: It's fun.
Ra: It's fun, isn't it. G: And it's easy.
Ryo: You do that, too?? J: She likes DIY.
Ra: Yeah, I like it! J: Well, I like it too so we go to home centers a lot. Ra: And you feel proud of yourself.
G: Yeah!! Ryo: So you like DIY, too. G: When I was a kid in Texas, my family made a tree house. We built it with a little saw when I was ten. Ryo: In trees? G: Yeah, we made a tree house. I was hammering and using electric tools. To me, that's very fun. Ra: Right! G: I'm sad we don't have power tools.
Ra: I know! Ra: In America, my family built our house. G: Really?
Ryo: They built it?? Ra: The whole thing.
G: Woah! J: And they're not even carpenters. Ra: Right. Ryo: Amazing!
G: That's incredible. Ryo: Wow.
G: Much fun. J: It seems like it's pretty common in America for people to make things themselves. J: I was really surprised. Ryo: I had the image of building stuff being a guy's thing, so I was surprised that actually women like them do it, too. Ra: I think guys are expected to know how to build and fix stuff in America. Like cars and house stuff. G: Plumbing. Ra: Yeah, and here when I asked Jun if he knows how to change oil in a car or something, he said "I don't know. You just take it to the shop." I'm like "Why don't you do it yourself!" J: Because we have the "shaken" inspections. Ryo: Oh yeah.
G: Right. G: We don't have them in America.
Ra: Yeah, not really. J: We have to pay and have them fixed by professionals because of the law. Ryo: It'd end up costing more. J: It's normal to change things like tires yourself. Ra: If you do it yourself in America, you save a lot of money. Ryo: I really like that mindset/
G: For sure. Ryo: "I'll do it myself so I can save money!" Ra: Yep. J: Saying "I love you." G: I love you.
Ryo: I love you, too! J: We're used to it now.
Ryo: Yeah, I can say it now. J: We don't say "I love you" here.
Ryo: We absolutely don't say it. J: It took me a while to get used to it.
Ryo: Yeah. J: "I love you" and "Aishiteru" are a little different here. "Aishiteru" is pretty weighty.
Ryo: It's rare. Ryo: If someone says it, it's like OMG. J: It's like what someone would say with their last dying breath. It's not something we're used to saying so freely. Ryo: It's just not something we say. J: Well for now these are some of the things we could remember. If we think of anything else, let's meet up again. Ra&G: Yep. J: If we do, I hope you'll enjoy that video, too. All: Thanks for watching!
Based! 👍