Living in Japan | 20 years later, why are we still here?

Japan this has been our home for over 20 years I came here in 1998 and I'm still here hi so I'm starting this livestream by asking the question why are we still here after 20 years and to help me out with this is this guy sitting like a cool tall drink of leather jacket this Peter Vaughn gum how do you do you're a JIT nice so uh we're still here we haven't left we have a look we have we just decided we love this area so much we've decided to get our own apartments that's right long deal bus on how did you go right well you that's right we're back here in Sugamo this is where long life is his is important here very long we're gonna we're gonna answer your question on why we're still here because you know in a way I'm not really sure myself why were here after so long it's been I I didn't expect to be in Japan for 20 years I kind of expected to be here for one because my intention was when I came here to teach English to make enough money through make sure the sounds not on earth he's watching the stream at the same thing this is live by the way so if the quality of the video is not good we're at the mercy of Technology so it might go minecraft on us okay if we don't if we don't get a good signal like I like the Japanese term for live-streaming nice easy it rolls off the tongue naive a high Sheen oh mama I didn't know that Easter was celebrated here at all and they have Easter drinks I think it's starting to get bigger here yeah I've never seen Easter which is a religious holiday right it's coming on March 15th these cute drinks at at the Tully so so you know I didn't expect to be here this long did you today in Japan Arvind man you told me you're gonna feed me we've been here hyung hyung show for that I what why are why are you still here after 20 years did you think you'd be here this long it's a question well yeah I mean when I first got here you plan to be here until yeah what I didn't plan to be as long as I've been here but after I got here I found it to be a remarkable place that was very easy to live in yeah and I knew within you know just Mansell a days seriously so you knew hold on stop right there don't go anywhere Peter's got pink all around him I just wanted to stop it shut so you knew right away you Wow yeah I did I did I'm gonna live forever oh no no no no you're putting words in my mouth am i no better you put food in my mouth so let's go all right you can talk about this I didn't know in fact I didn't I didn't I didn't expect to stay here this long I I came to Japan out of not even I don't even know why I was here I came here to teach English to save money to backpack more mm-hm and I was able to do that five times four times I quit took the bonus money and I traveled and backpacked around the world I ran out of money I came back to teach Oh what fell in took a different teaching job no it was the same company they think I did a I did a pretty good job and they they said you can come back any time that you want to and I up on the offer so each time I would move to a different city in Japan I move sixteen times was working this job and I would finish the contract take the bonus you want to run from the police I'm pretty pretty sure but I would travel this is a true story I traveled just over 70 countries between 1998 and 2004 back yeah I blew all that money and and you know I had a pretty good life at that time but it wasn't it wasn't a long-term plan and it wasn't after it was after I hitchhiked Japan in 2003 that I wanted to stay here long and I started my company in 2005 and since then I'm still here but you know I wasn't sold on Japan as being where I would live my life I mean you were yeah I really was some people I've mentioned before that my father lived in Japan oh he loved Japan and he loved everything about Japan and I think that influenced my initial decision growing up he was always talking about Japan he maintained Japanese friends here in Tokyo that I met when I first came here over many many many years he's a pretty cool operator I've seen the pictures of George George Vanguard von gamba he was a GPG slick character yeah but yeah so I think one night when I initially came here I had no plans to be a lifer oh is that the term I'm not going anywhere where the lifers is that what well I have no plans to leave let's just put it that way okay but yeah it was it was a very very quick decision once I got here it's like you know I'm liking this place it's a it's a huge city and there are and the the the reasons for staying we can get into that as we eat please I'm hungry man I kind of know why you have to stay you have a you have a house here you have a family you have nah they're just small incidentals don't say that like if if I had a family here I probably that would be very definitive I'm not going anywhere but I don't and I've been a bachelor for 20 years what this place is good Oh yeah they have a lot of great stuff here fish tonkatsu be cocuwa facial good shokudo shook it off it's all great took you a shokudo looks good fried food look at that Fred there's another one up the road that's a chain okay yeah yeah so yeah I kind of I see Japan it's almost like a Swiss Army knife of life's necessities it's easy for a voice artist to say that cuz your job is like a Swiss Army knife of voices right it's yeah but it's like you know they they offer great food it's true personal security Esther kind people that's creature yeah well well some people aren't that kind well most you know generally speaking very kind very kind very kind to many unkind people there's a guy the other day he wasn't so nice to me but that's a different story but you know what else do you need out of life a great income earning potential here in many show many people have found many people have found an unique niche here well I didn't I didn't expect I didn't expect this the channel to like this channel and they all need you been good I didn't expect it to be so you don't start off a channel going yeah this thing's gonna have what we always find interesting stuff you never know what's gonna happen on the livestream the ball here okay yeah these are all famous people on TV these are the celebrities I know obviously with the lot of restaurants do is they could aboard out front that show pictures of the people who have eaten at their restaurant oh that's the guy from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire he was the Regis Philbin of Japan okay this guy's got the worst toupee to mankind oh you met him no but I see him on TV one of these people this guy is the biggest IDI I've seen I don't remember his name this is a Moscow Moscow deluxe yep yeah I don't know a Moscow like I don't know a lot of the famous people but it's a pretty good restaurant probably a good establishment from this is interesting and 1,400 yen for a temper at a show cooked a shocker hmm that does maybe not today yeah it's a nice beer we also talked about having a beer today because it's gonna be nice that would be nice no Matt no scooter motorcycle yeah yes scooters not a motorcycle it's different right it's yeah it's different bikers would get upset if you I think though it is the food that one of the reasons why I'm happy to stay I think is also that's just the job and the security it's also the food it's just so much I don't think it's better than the United States but I think it's really darn good I don't know it's hard to it's hard to compare because their days are i just craving a good pizza but you can get that here now with corn yeah the japanese pizzas a little bit unusual but you know when we came in when's the last time you had squid on your squid pizza doesn't yeah but when we first came here 20 years ago the options for western food was seriously limited wasn't it yeah yeah well a lot of stuff was limited when I first got here this is 1998 you 96 right 99 99 98 yeah right when I first got here and I'm not making this up I struggled to find an ATM to get cash up yes yes 1999 and then it's even worse though okay keep us up so finally I somebody told me oh there's one in the I think it was the Seibu department store in Shinjuku so I had to go in to save a department store like whatever floor it was and there was one ATM and I could get cash out of there come on I can afford yeah with the coinage I gave you two for one for 150 yeah no did we have that last time yeah it's just like a pancake with okay I'll skip it when I came here I love pancakes there's just like there was the one ATM that would take foreign cards right yeah really hard it was even worse than that I had a Japanese bank account in 1998 and I think it takes two months before you get your first paycheck right they pay once in Japan you get paid once a month usually on the 25th of the month and you have to work two months and then it registers and then you get your first paycheck it's weird like that so I was pretty poor the first first couple months I moved to Japan but it gets worse than that because during the holiday seasons back then nothing was 24 hours remember the ATMs and the banks closed for a week the ATM and the bank was closed for a week and I remember running for the first holiday I was in Japan I ran to the ATM to try to get cash because if I didn't get out cash before they shut the gate you started for a week yeah you can't you couldn't get cash out but the whole country knew this so everyone was prepared for the bank closing for one week nowadays there's ATMs everywhere including in the convenience stores but back in 98 99 we were there's like a snowy agent yeah yeah you know it's interesting I was just talking to a friend of mine this morning he's been here a lot longer than than John arrived he and we were standing near sugamice station to twin where no no no no no we were standing near Sugamo station there was a there was two payphones next to each other and he said you know what when I when I first came here in how did you orange shibuya there was a bank of payphones and lines very more printed lines people waiting we're gonna use the payphones because nobody had so cell phones yeah yeah so everybody relied on these payphones out and out on the street yeah so amazing look at how things have changed and now there's just there's two guys every now and then I'll see one gray the gray payphones you know because the gray ones I used to have they have internet landlines that you can go into the payphone so I used to bite I used to doubt I had a Marik online in the United States I was gonna get one of this I go ahead and get one I'll tell the story so I used to have to go to pay phones and I'd plug my computer in with the little phone line and I would download my message from the US server by calling long distance and that's how I got my email back in like 1999 and 2000 it was a totally different world back then why'd you order that last time oh yeah I told you now Suze the best money have you guys does this does this ring familiar to any of you this might have something I should have went to the bank before honestly yeah especially when you promised to buy me lunch I didn't I did not promise that but you inferred it i okay maybe I infer the gentleman invites another I will I will go to the ATM which by the way that's part of the story this is not sue this is vegetables that pumpkin couple cha you know I just a potato that's a that's a good one one other points referring to how things have changed the times have changed when I first got here and I know you probably had the same issue yeah you had to buy your own landline telephone landline why NTT the hello telephone has 70,000 you know you $700 to get your phone if I need you to buy the line you can you tell a number somebody it'll sell to get your money back yeah it was pretty crazy oh no you you take the nos to Venice alone whatever you want give me one thank you sir that looks good all right show us what it looks like inside these are called oh yeah key oh there's you got the kabocha oh you couldn't think of a nicer let's see I may take a bite yeah that's an Aussie no man is so good eggplant yeah well one thumb I'm also starving right now so this bullet if you want it you can get a better idea of what the color of that meat yeah it's really nice it's all handmade taste handmade no let's get a handmade beer turn so yeah we'll talk about you John what about me you feel like your feet are pretty cemented here yeah I don't have any well you know I usually take it year by year I don't have any plans to leave but I mean I own a business I have a company here so right I don't own any property and on a car I don't really I always I always believe that the less I own the more flexible I would be to get up and go and I always thought yeah that's true living as a minimalist we can pack up and leave the next day if you need to listen you can eat on the go when you're in Sugamo it's a different different different lifestyle you can do that everywhere one Japan you should you shouldn't walk and eat yeah it's kind of rude but we're doing will be arrested no one's gonna look I know the rule therefore I can break the rule that's how it works I guess I'll know the rules I respect the rule just not when I'm really hungry so I know that talking someone is a bad thing this sort of a I can do it because I know it's a bad thing it's a crime you're gonna you're gonna be a good dad someday Hey look get honest and Dobb now Caroline says to find a melon minam pond oh we passed we passed that way yeah okay Thank You Carolyn very good idea but I'd rather have something healthy first then we happen to be in front of a Green Team we can wrap it up with a melon pan Okamura Buddha Chino or Chimaira this is the Sugamo shop from the very happy tea shop is what it's called tea shop village hmm I guess because this is where the older people like the senior Japan's seniors shop here and this is one of the festival days well that's coming from shorty shorty rates hey John now that super chat is available I'd like to buy you guys a beer on shorty Thank You shorty save it for your personal time if you want thanks for the main channel and this go channel and thanks Peter for his channel Peter he's a watching your channel I know shorty said he's one of my toughest critics are you so you owe me that beer shorty oh no he um he's giving me some good boost so thank you why don't you put your link in the chat do you have your phone oh um if you haven't seen Peters channel he he we did a live stream which is the the first one but he makes some edited videos about his life I think you failed offerings for the healthy foods nice so Peter Peters gonna Peter's gonna chat in his channel right now so if you're watching the live chat you can check it out and he's making edited videos and his co-starred happens to be a man named a boy named Joe G and Joe G is even a cooler operator than this guy smooth I think you put it in already I do yeah smooth operator so to put put this live stream and to tie it up because we often go to long and this market is really cool on the 4th 14th and 24th Sugamo turns into kind of a festival and because everybody is well not the youngest how there's some okonomiyaki it's kind of really subdued you know it's really quiet and peaceful and not too crowded and I like that that's a beautiful spring day today but ok so Peter just chatted in there you can see it right there check out his main channel but and subscribe he needs to get 4000 hours you you haven't monetized your channel yet have you you know I just reached a 4,000 oh you did well congratulations hi-5 yeah all you people for signing up watching watching so tied up deuce do you see yourself here for another 20 years I mean I do you have any plans to go back to Portland besides visiting you go back to Portland just to visit yeah I don't have any plans for living anywhere else permanently at the moment so you know things can change but how is Japan changed you I feel I know it's a very big topic is there anything that you think your life would be different if you'd stayed in the u.s. well hmm well I mean that's a hard question to answer because I don't think I would have fallen into my career had I stayed although I was it's actually it's possible because I began as a voice narrator for audiobooks in America oh really yeah and I was doing that at the tail end before I came to Japan as a part time job I just started doing it I just got it I just had I just gotten into it so it's possible yeah I would have you know progressed but you know just keep talking yeah kids are doing things really took off when you came to Japan yeah yeah so Japan though what's the key what what is it you you do your narration in English right so what is it - are you do is that you did some work in Japanese but mostly in English yes yes what is it about Japan that makes it a better market for you than the United States for well Japan is uh it's a it's a big market for for voice talent bring man yeah I mean we've got look at look at Japan man look at all of the technology company video games anime manga it's enormous its enormous but that said don't get me bright ideas about coming here and trying to unseat Peter Vaughan God because he's just joking okay are you no I'm not joking because if you say that people gonna call you like a narcissist and an egotistical jerk and by now they know you by now do they some people don't the comment section is gonna go on fire from that this is the red undies shop high-fashion yeah lots of lace in there no but is there eighty number is good to a lot of foreigners here yes like I said people find a niche and be a sofa being a Flint's speaker of English here in a country that does not speak English really well hold that thought that's a massive look if it's so big it's busting out of the plastic did you see that yeah what's not very healthy but that's three that's three dollars okay that's I've never seen a gargantuan portion of yakisoba that was just at home and fruit wow I didn't say I wanted it I just said that that's massive there's the red undies away thank you for for your gift last time that stream up I'll put a link in the description for that stream that was 45 you did not well how would we know unless you prove it well I'm just telling you oh gosh and there was so cheap it's a great shot five hundred yen it's pretty cheap pretty cheap what are we talking before I still rudely interrupted you and I apologize Oh like the time I apologize to this watching because I'm not interrupting I'm just distracted by the food because you know you're interrupting okay I'm interrupting I apologize because I'm an I'm a very polite person and I apologize you you're lucky I let stuff slide off my shoulder acquaintance sorry Peter Vaughn god come it's gonna follow you now I stole that from mr. Potter Potter you might be watching this later if you're not right now I will give you credits full credit for that where credit is due by the way Peter you'd get almost no credit for doing the title call for only in Japan only in Japan s Peter yeah I do that yep thank you yeah you're welcome I'm giving you the credit right now and thank you thank you thank you I'm a polite person I tried you know better myself every day and that's that's a that's part of the life in Japan so I was saying in a live stream earlier you don't really think so much about yourself although when we're doing these live streams we might a get up a little bit for entertainment but both were pretty much nice guys and I think but that's not good to say it about yourself can you call me a nice guy I'm pretty much a nice guy oh wait wait you're I don't want to say I am because that sounds are a subset one's a good both good guys and actually end like you're saying but I think where you going with this but being a good guy a good smiley face so you like to find hello Maile faces see you just interrupted that trend thoughts here well how can you not it's not a smiling face week that's like that's an electrical outlet but it's a smile it's smiling at us that's true looks like he's popping over something and looking at us so um but yeah if you're a good person in this country it pays benefits that's it friends with benefits kind of benefits er those occasional you know you're not you're not wrong I think as I was saying in an earlier stream I one of the things that changed me was this I don't think about myself as much as I think more about the community I think more about the people around me it's like when you go out to drink you're not looking at your own glass I'm looking at other peoples glasses to see if they're full if I should be refilling that I'm always worried about other people's and oh there's tons there's tons of takeaways right from this culture tons that we can apply to our the bad thing is that some become somewhat inwardly shy because the people around me are really shy and that that rubs off on me kind of that the the culture around you that's why you the friends that you hang out with will become a part of who you are and the people here because we've been here for so long that a lot has rubbed off yeah like like for example you know we're in a hat today I'll be out at my backpack okay but it's just such a nice day it isn't a day - but it's a beautiful day it's like I'd be a 20 21 degrees today it is gorgeous now we've been putting up with this cold weather where's the sponge it's good these are sponges you scrub pads from America it's from oh takoyaki yeah still looking for that food John yeah this is always started yeah this is where he started the life somebody wanted to buy some melon Punk all right that was Caroline okay was where is it past wasn't it in the front no it's a I think was this way now when Peter's looking for the minimum pond yeah I think it might be it maybe further up the road I think so yeah so this is the main street and Sugamo this is one of Peters favorite places to meet what's not to love about they'll be ladies yeah now I love this place because it retains some of that traditional charm that history feel like I'm inside of a museum sometimes that's $8 for that slightly creepy slight just slightly creepy Oh Peters asking for the minimum pond come in aside did you find it alright we're back back this way and then we're gonna end a live stream we're at 30 minutes already okay so let's see let's go get our our melon pond and also be here we got to get that there's a lot of time we gotta get find the restaurant that has good beer we got to organize this in advance so this is such a big topic you can you could rattle on about this for a day Japan has changed you said you probably wouldn't would be the same kind I would would not be the same person if I didn't move to Japan I'd be a completely different type of person living in your parents basement rocking back and forth that's what I do here now besides the living with my parents cuz they live in the US but I think yeah yeah pretty much I think tomorrow's gonna be a better day tomorrow's gonna be a better day when I was in cotton when I when I moved away from home I did it for university and I remember it was 1992 and I went to Ohio State University my dad dropped me off and he said bye-bye and he got back in the car and drew drove back eight hours towards the coast Wow and it was that moment like where I'm alone I guess that's when I became a man you're like oh my god there's no going back from this I got a it's either sink or swim yeah yeah cuz I that's the one thing I liked about going to universities so far away from home because you have to you have to really try harder there's no no place to fall back on you have to you fall back on yourself well when you came to Japan you didn't know anybody right I know yeah nobody that same here I didn't know a soul so it was uh you didn't have any of your dad's buddies from the world no no why like I said I met them when I came here but they were not I didn't know them prior to coming to Tokyo so looking for the metal pond right yep it's up here on the left okay yeah I didn't I didn't know a soul and it was pretty my first few days were pretty lonely I had a job so I had co-workers but they they didn't so it just depends some of them I guess it was an English school and the teacher before me was fired so it was a really bad situation I was walking into and I guess I had to build the trust and earn the respect in the office so I could do that but it took a long time so the first couple of weeks are pretty lonely but would you quickly make friends with other teachers well that's the thing right I didn't this is the thing I think a lot of expats that especially English teachers when they come in and you're in a town like I was where there weren't a lot of options I was in Okazaki which is a suburb of Nagoya I think there were six foreigners living in that city so you're you first and without speaking Japanese you're first the first friends usually maker the other foreigners right and and I'd say yeah and I would say of those of those few foreigners most of them they've really had not a lot of nice stuff to say about Japan they're kind of negative about it because it is not a place like their home country and they were upset with the differences so they couldn't assimilate right basically because they can speak the language so the people that I hung out with were people who did not like Japan and the negativity sort of weighed down on me I'm surprised I'm still here because if you get mixed up with people who don't like the place that they're living right again like the friends will make up and rub off on you and you'll become the kind of person that you're hanging out with so yeah the English teacher seen it's not always a positive scene you never did any English teaching I did first got here yeah yeah that's sort of the gateway in yeah but I quickly phased it out stepped in it huh the Mellon pawnshop is I said read but actually I think it's a black storefront hmm yeah what are these nice kimonos box on the Obi okay I think I see it up here keep going good half a block to go it's a traffic jam image with these live streams that you are doing at the grandma's hata juku we got to start we got to change this up and go to like the real hot at yuca where there's some people that's not our age that's a tool 20 years younger than our why should closer right now where there's like a hundred extra well yeah how did you goo is not my one of my favorite places Turkish Authority is definitely avoid again watch watch we watch your step yes people pulling carts oh yeah the Oasis is where we turned around I know we just missed it so we had to go all the way back to cut to get Matt min upon to Caroline thank you we had to work for it really oh where is this right there alright there it is I got stuff to do and by the way I think not a hundred percent sure but I'm pretty sure yeah that's I'm gonna do a live stream later with Joji okay it's a live stream alert Peter won't be on in like a few hours probably yeah so because today is white day that's right and George is going to bring some chocolates to his little lady friend a lady friend well she's a friend but she she brought him chocolate on Valentine's Day it's revenge I told you ray he's got right he's got here's the melon pot shop oh that looks so good okay let's go choose one yeah we can share one good alright bring it up bring it up I can't I got my eye hold on I got lens caps and stuff sorry you mice some love ESCO apple pie to ask our donor what your sweet potato you know mmm this is the most popular wow that's like let's go for a cinnamon cinnamon sounds pretty good yeah so then I've never had that before so how much uh kocha and Ichigo just cinnamon can't a man does have caramel you said healthy so we'll send him in sort of healthier there's green tea that up middle time no pellet ice cream would be wow they have like melon pound sliced it's like a loaf of bread and but it's metal time are you getting an apple pie this one's a custard pie I like these creeper discs are all right cookie yeah there it is right there creamy ah here's our nicely packaged melon pods thank the parolin thank you thanks so much steaming hot it's room typed in temperature I like it went right into the oven not bad you're gonna eat it not we're gonna eat it a little later okay I would like for the 1000th time okay okay okay all right you're the man so nice how often do you come to this area seriously uh along this street not very often but I go to Sugimoto quite often yeah and I go to a gym there you go to a gym you workout it's hard to town yeah it's like a skeleton out there Skeletor Lex he's getting angry look at the steam coming off yeah this on the outside of this area actually I'm going to explore a little bit with my own I think that would be really good because you live you live on the north part of Tokyo I'm not gonna say where exactly but this area is a lot more history and culture right then the lower side I think I'd love to see that on the PPG Channel yeah this is no more I'll do something I found out about what supposedly is the best patisserie and it's right here in pseudo really yeah I don't know if it's michelin-starred but it's supposed to be tops tops tops of a patisserie Bakery type place near the station so I'm going to explore that and bring that to you all you know there's a lot of really good restaurants they're not in the touristy places like Shibuya Shinjuku means that they're actually outside and that's where you have a lot more authentic well they've been around for such a long time they've had years to perfect their exactly in fact in fact Lee's at that place that has the first Michelin star ramen shop is in this area right that's right the first Michelin chef is not in one of those true see areas but it's right here where all the Grandma they got a Michelin star and in this place - they got a Michelin star a few years ago and there's an interesting story about that that because after they got the Mitchell star the restaurant Bhagat's so so popular that the neighbors because it's a quiet neighborhood the name got so angry at the owner because he was attracting so much traffic so what he did was you know the system now I haven't I haven't been there yeah he has a ticket system so instead of waiting in line there he'll give you a ticket to come back at a certain time it's like a Sadie can like a save your place right and the system works a lot better so the neighborhood isn't quieter and and to be honest I mean ramen popular ramen places always have a long line that's how you know it's popular yeah but if you don't have their long lines yeah I avoid those too I don't wait in line for like a three minute meal wait for two hours for a 3-minute meal yeah it doesn't make that much sense I think it's time for Jon my name to stop talking and to thank all of you for tuning in and for Peter Bava to get some food in his stomach that's good that's good plan so we're gonna go get a drink or whatever take care of this guy yes yes I take and you take care of him to his channel is in the description he needs more love although you do have shorty who is yeah Thank You shorties quite critical lots of lots of love coming to the channel so I appreciate your help everybody yeah and I'll do my best to bring you let's start around here this is good job bring you content that doesn't stink yeah you try your best yeah I will continue to put out stuff as often as I can and now that the the channels monetize get some annoying oh you can do that you can super chat this dude now finally oh yeah right he was not he was not able to receive any support for his channel and all of his efforts sometimes you you would spend like you'd spend like a week on your videos he would edit some of his stuff and it would only get a couple of hundred views that's not really good it's really hard to start a YouTube channel I think so I know we've helped you helped me a lot feed gum is now trending AG feed gone we're about three hours past dude when I need to that's true Austin alright well let's take care of let's take care of that everybody thank you but he thanks you thank you I thank you we're gonna get something and take care of this guy so thanks everybody for joining us we're still here after 20 years oh god I still be here in another 20 years but various tab so strawberry just established dudes in this culture yeah so thanks everybody and yeah hopefully I will be doing a brief livestream my channel white day livestream a little later with my son so J yeah the man will leave the last 20 seconds of a steaming pile of soba yaki soba that is enjoy thanks everybody take care [Music] you

Channel: ONLY in JAPAN * GO

Views: 65,630

Keywords: Only in Japan, Japan, tokyo, living in japan, expat, sugamo, market, street, streetview, peter, working in japan, japan jobs, Rob Halford, life in tokyo, how to live in japan

Id: lGHxSWIR8iY

Length: 41min 50sec (2510 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 14 2018