My advice on living in Japan 🍙✨ visas, apartments, what not to miss

hey guys welcome back to my channel I just realized yesterday that it's coming up on 20 years of me moving to Japan and that's just wild I can remember moving here so clearly and it's so strange to realize that that was 20 years ago now what the heck I thought this would be a good time to ask you if you had any questions about life in Japan working here living here having pets speaking Japanese Etc so I asked you guys for questions on Instagram thank you so much for sending so many in let's get right into it what's something you still can't get fully used to in Japan what's something you liked from day one the thing that I still can't get used to is Japanese style toilets still hate them we'll always hate them clearly it's been 20 years uh one something that I liked from day one that I still like now my first experience in Japan was way up in the countryside in the middle of nowhere in like a bunch of rice fields and I think the views of the green rice fields really impressed me and even today I love green rice fields I don't think I'll ever get bored of that that's one thing that I liked when I first came here and I still like now Japanese cat toys versus US Canadian cat toys I find that they're a lot more creative in Japan you can find some really interesting cat toys here uh for example maro's absolute favorite cat toy is this little eie fry it's well- loved he's had this thing for ages he's looking at me right now because he wants it he's in love with this thing it's so cute for Christmas I got him this massive version of it and he uses it as a kicker toy he was so stoked when he opened this present if you're a pet owner really encourage you to find a big pet store when you're here in Japan and go shopping for toys for your pets because they're very very different lots of questions about how to buy a house in Japan as a foreigner it's not an ISS is you're not treated any differently just because you're a foreigner the only issue is if you'd like to get a loan or like to get a mortgage you need to have permanent residency so if you're buying in cash no problem at all don't need to worry if you're foreign you're Japanese it'll be the same if you want to get a loan then you need permanent residency how did you initially save money to go to Japan saving is hard yeah I was lucky in that I had lots of jobs while I was in high school and also while I was in my first couple years of University in Canada I had probably three part-time jobs going at all times I worked as a cashier in a Japanese grocery store in Canada I was a server in a sushi restaurant I did construction work with my grandpa I was a twoe guide for Japanese students and Chinese students that were visiting Victoria I was able to save up money that way honestly what else can I say to you guys other than just work a lot what's the best hike you've been on in all of Japan also your personal favorite best season best season is Autumn I always say that because the weather is nice and cool you could enjoy being outside there's no humidity and the leaves are gorgeous I would say spring but spring is just so crowded here because so many tourists come here to see the cherry blossoms if you're going to be in Tokyo I would say the best time to come is Autumn it just feels a little calmer here and the best hike I've been on is hands down the nakasendo trail me and Chris just did it recently and it was such a good experience unfortunately I was very sick at the time we got there we stayed the night beforehand and I woke up in the morning feeling like hell so it made the hike a lot more difficult than it probably would have been so it's hard for me to explain the difficulty of the hike I would say it's probably very enjoyable regardless of how I felt the views were so nice and it's such a calm experience we didn't see that many people on the trail we would pass people maybe every half hour or so it wasn't overly crowded I really like how the hike is broken up by little towns so you'll have like a big hike through the mountains for a few hours and then you'll end up in a town and you can explore the town stop for food stop for tea take a little rest and then you're off on the next hike through the forest and it kind of just continues like that and you can choose where you start and where you stop we started at nakatsugawa and we hiked for I think four to 5 days maybe 4 days and we ended up in N Juku which is a very nice route I recommend that if you want like a a 4day experience how can I move to Japan with no degree okay I get this question a lot and I moved here with no degree however I'm very lucky that I'm Canadian and we have a working holiday arrangement with Japan so I could get the working holiday Visa that's how I Spent My First Year here it's not required that you have a degree for that so as long as you have the citizenship of a country that is participating in the working holiday arrangement with Japan you could move here longterm on that Visa another option is to use the cultural activities Visa this is one not many people know about you can apply for a Visa if you want to study some form of Japanese cultural activity martial arts calligraphy flower arrangement and of course there's the student visa I spent many of my years here in Japan on a student visa while I was going to both Japanese language school and University here do you think it would be hard to relocate to Japan when you're in your 40s no not at all not any harder than it would have been if you moved here when you were a teenager or 20 I moved here when I was 18 I would say it would probably have been easier for me to move here now at this age 38 having all the life experience that I do I don't see any reason that being older would hold you back in any way if you want to move to Japan I am a digital entrepreneur who doesn't need to work in Japan how can I live in Japan lucky for you there is a brand new Visa available to people who want to do Nomad work in Japan so check out The Nomad Visa I believe it's for stays of 6 months it is designed for people like you who would like to live in Japan and work remotely so check that out after 20 years of living in Japan do you feel Japanese and accepted by Japanese people I don't feel Japanese nationality wise I'm not Japanese I'm still Canadian still have my Canadian citizenship I would say I still feel very Canadian however I've probably picked up a lot of Japanese mannerisms and cultural behaviors living here so long but yeah in no way do I feel Japanese do I feel accepted by Japanese people yeah I on a daily basis I feel pretty comfortable living here I often forget that I'm completely different to the majority of the population here most people treat me pretty normally on a day-to-day basis so I would consider that as being accepted on the reverse side of that however have you ever been rejected for being a foreigner like at a cafe or when you try to rent a place get a bank account Etc yes many times many many many times not in trying to get into a restaurant sense but renting an apartment I would say probably 60% maybe more of the apartment apartments that I wanted to live in flat out said no because you're a foreigner and they were very open about that so that is one thing that I consistently get rejected from just because I'm a foreigner even though I've lived here so long and I speak Japanese God experience living in Japan I know how things work just because I'm a foreigner I will flat out get rejected from a lot of rental properties as for restaurants and stuff it's probably happened two or three times and I've been here 20 years so that gives you an idea of how common that is aside from renting an apartment I would say I don't have issues best places in ibaraki to see I am so glad you asked this I recently did quite a long trip throughout ibaraki I made lots of little videos over on my Instagram highlighting the places that I went to that I loved so please go check that out off the top of my head my absolute favorite place in ibaraki was oai isos saki Shrine gorgeous but you have to get up at sunrise to see it at its full potential but I promise as a not morning person it's 100% worth it it was beautiful it was such a nice experience to stand there and hear the waves crashing in over the beautiful toy gate as the sun was rising in the background if you had to buy another house would you consider rural Japan or any place up north yes us and I have been discussing this because I love moroka so much and just tohoku in general North Japan is my favorite area of Japan that's never going to change and I would love to have a place up there that you guys can rent out when you come to Japan and experience the north as well so 100% we are considering that I would love to do it it's more like the logistical issues of how to get a cleaner set up and management of the place because we won't be up there physically ourselves makes it a bit difficult but would absolutely love to do it food from home you really miss in Japan there are so many things I miss all the food even after being here for so long I still really miss the food from back home in Canada scones sweet potatoes I miss sweet potatoes so bad that might be number one before you say but Japan has sweet potatoes yes Japan has sweet potatoes but they're completely different they're totally different sweet potato experience they are sweeter here they're drier it's a different texture they're amazing in their own way but there nothing like sweet potatoes back in Canada that'd probably be my number one I also miss long stem broccoli cauliflower you can get them here but they're hard to find like I'm not going to find it at my closest supermarket pumpkin pie I could go on and on honestly I miss so much food from Canada but if I were to leave Japan I'm sure I would miss so much food from here as well so I need to live somewhere that has the best of both worlds if you're living outside of Japan and you would like to try try some Japanese snacks our sponsor sakuro to the rescue sakuro is a monthly Japanese Artisan snack subscription box every month you will get 20 authentic artisan and traditional Japanese snacks in here as well as a Japanese tea and a surprise Japanese table wear item this month's theme is traditions of Tokyo I love looking through the booklet it's filled with info about all the snacks in this box as well as allergy info and a bunch of cultural information about Japan they work together with local Japanese snack makers so even though I've lived here for 20 years there is always something inside the sakuro box that I have not tasted or seen yet Belgian waffle that's flavored like milk tea is it weird to have something that's tea flavored like this I feel like I've been here too long I can't tell what is strange or not it's so good it tastes like buttery pancakes but with a hint of Earl Gray flavor this month's tea is a Kudo mam cha it's naturally very sweet and smooth oh hell yes these look like one of my favorite japanes snacks yum so good flavor is really subtle it's just like a light salt but it's so addictive if you would like to get your hands on your very own box of Delicious Japanese treats from sakuro you can use my code to save some money off your order check out the links Below in the description box and and let's get back into the questions what kind of cat will you get next uska is a bad influence I do not need another cat I have my hands full with these two mostly this one such a brat so energetic never a boring moment with tuna around this one is an angel hates being held though what was the process like how did you house hunt when you first moved to Japan think I used the exact same website that I use now you can type in like how many rooms you want if you want it pet friendly which station you want it to be close to most of them will say no to you because you're a foreigner but eventually you'll find one best way to learn the language for free if I have no one to practice with there are so many ways for you guys to practice Japanese nowadays I know lots of people that use Ai and have a conversation in Japanese with AI that's another way to do it I didn't have any of these when I was studying Japanese and I'm pretty jealous of people that are studying Japanese at the moment because you have so many tools at your disposal how did you stay motivated to learn Japanese I find I keep losing motivation and need lots of breaks that's completely understandable I think it's really important that you have a reason to want to study the language like a really solid reason that you're working towards when I was studying Japanese lots of the people I worked with were Japanese and they couldn't speak English if I wanted to talk with them I had to learn Japanese so that was really my strong motivator for learning the language I would really think about what is motivating you to want to study Japanese as long as you've got something really important that means aot lot to you I think if you keep reminding yourself of that it will encourage you to keep it up do you have a Japan bucket list and if so what's on it been to almost every prefecture except for Okinawa so Okinawa is on there for sure I would also like to see more of nat I did a trip recently where I kind of visited some of the Lesser known areas of NADA and it was so gorgeous lots of temples beautiful mountains no people so definitely like to explore more of Nara outside of the Deer Park in the famous area definitely need to go to the oasa islands they are islands that are technically part of Tokyo but to get there you have to take a 24hour long ferry ride from Tokyo but I would love to do it they also have some Pokémon manholes there that I need to see and finally I'd like to go to kyaan which again is like a cool Temple area down in wakayama prefecture what was the best thing you ate in New Zealand not Japan related but I recently went on a very quick trip to New Zealand with uska because we found a really cheap plane ticket and thought why not I've never been to New Zealand let's explore it we ate so many yummy things that I have never seen before like really New Zealand dishes we had Pavlova we had coconut ice all kinds of pies probably my absolute favorite thing would be the sweet potato because I was craving it so bad what have you been up to lately and how are the wedding plans coming along the wedding plans haven't really progressed yet because we don't want to get married in Japan it's really hard to plan anything while we're in Japan so we need to do some trips over to the UK for like location hunting and all that stuff we have an idea in our minds of the kind of place we want to have it at but we need to go see it in person before we can decide on anything and what have I been up to lately I've been up to something very exciting that I'm not able to share with you guys yet Chris and I have been working on something together that you guys will hear about very soon and that's been taking up a lot of my time recently keep an eye out on my Instagram we'll probably be talking about it over there soon all the things you cannot miss if you visit marioa I spent lots of my time in Japan living in moroka I love it it's gorgeous it's way up north in IAT prefecture but it's very easy to get to because you can take the shinkansen from Tokyo straight up to moroka takes just over 2 hours I would say you have to get some raymen moroka is famous for noodles raymen being one of them they're also famous for their eat you could attempt wonko SOA if you're brave the uh soba noodle eating challenge it's quite fun I'm going to list some of the videos that I filmed in moroka and just check those out for ideas of places to go because there's so many things that I could tell you guys about but it's probably better if I show them to you in a video any Festival recommendations for August or your favorite Summer Festival overall well my favorite Summer Festival actually takes place in August lucky for you if you're going to be here in August tanabata Festival it happens in July and some parts of Japan but in Sendai which is the biggest tanabata Festival it happens in August August 7th to be exact so if you happen to be in Japan on August 7th take the shin g s up to suai totally worth experiencing the festival it's beautiful it's so much fun and I think it's well worth the trip up to suai Insider tips for cafes shops places to visit in and around Cai I'll be moving there soon I'm jealous I miss it okay my favorite Cafe in Cai is hay Cafe the most delicious lattes ever if you haven't been to matsushima yet that's a very quick day trip not far from Cai at all explore the island that you can walk around if you like sushi the sushi zamai in downtown Sendai is so good it is a chain so you can find it everywhere but I swear to God the one incendi is the most delicious so so go there and have the tunea if you're a fan of sushi are you going to have another skincare box yes thank you for being patient it's been months since I've done one cuz I've been so busy I'm currently testing out brand new products that wish Trend just released trying to find my favorites see which ones I want to include in the box so keep an eye out on my Instagram I will be announcing it over there when it's released it'll probably be somewhere around the middle or the end of June which creators inspire you can be on YouTube Instagram anywhere hands down the most inspirational Creator I can think of is Sunday she also makes videos here in Japan so if you don't follow her go follow her right now I can guarantee you will like her content her editing skills are just top tier and she's such a badass she's such a hard worker she has several businesses she's always on the go doing stuff she always looks gorgeous she is just the coolest person ever so go follow Sunday any place you think is overrated not worth visiting in Japan even the super touristy spots like kaminarimon in Asaka or Fushimi inar in Kyoto even though they're super tsty and extremely crowded I would say they're still worth a visit because they're gorgeous spots and they're nice to see would I recommend them to somebody when there's so many other cool places you can go in Japan probably not I would recommend something that would be a little less crowded a little less wellknown I would say like at the moment maybe the one thing that I think is super overrated is Harajuku feel like it's just gone downhill over the years it used to be quite cool 20 years ago a lot more chill a lot less people but nowadays it's so packed it's really hard to enjoy a day out in Harajuku I find it's a bit of a shame but off to the side of the main area of Harajuku is something called cat Street there's lots of little Boutique shops secondhand shops I would say I prefer that if you want to go to Harajuku for shopping that's probably a a more enjoyable experience than Tesa Street self your most cherished moment from early days of living in Japan there's so many one that comes to mind is definitely when my favorite actor commented on my Instagram post where I was looking for names for my hamster and he left a name and I think lots of you guys might recognize him now if you've watched Shogun he's a very very talented actor I've liked him for years and yeah that that's just one of my coolest memories from Japan is when he comments on my Instagram randomly might be weird but I have toilet anxiety are there plenty of toilets where would they be not weird at all that is definitely a valid concern definitely one I had when I was hiking the nakasendo trail but Japan is great for public toilets if you are ever in need of a toilet just look for a station cuz all the stations have them worst case it will be inside the gates of the station meaning you'll need to pay to get in but it'll only be like 100 yen or something just the ENT in station fees so you can get through the gates to use the toilet shopping malls cafes convenience stores there's toilets everywhere in Japan even when you're out in the countryside like hiking the nakasendo trail we were up on a mountain and there would be these beautiful public toilets to use just on the trail so yeah no worries Japan is probably the best country when it comes to public toilets if you could visit one prefecture of town for the first time ever again which one would you pick I would say it's a between Yamagata Prefecture and Hiroshima prefecture because the first time I visited both of those places I was just stunned by how gorgeous they are and it would be really cool to experience that again Yamagata the area around where natski lives specifically is so beautiful you've got a beautiful Coastline there's mountains there's forests with cool temples and shrines beautiful rice fields there's a little bit of everything thing and that's why I really like Yamagata and then Hiroshima just has a completely different landscape to Northern Japan the waterf tropical down there that's why I was really impressed by the scenery down there yeah probably two of like the most beautiful prefect shes in my opinion and I think that's about it I hope you guys enjoyed that I hope you learned something I hope it was interesting for you to listen to my thoughts on Japan after living here for almost 20 years now ah definitely check out the videos that I mentioned down below to learn a little bit more about the topics that I covered in this video and if you have any other questions feel free to leave them down below and I'll see you again very soon bye for now [Music]

Channel: Sharmeleon

Views: 210,960

Keywords: day in my life japan, japan vlogs, sharla japan, life in japan, japan vlog daily life, moving to japan, working in japan, staying in japan longterm, visa for japan, japan visa 2024, abroad in japan, living in japan longterm, how to move to japan, how to get japan visa no degree, how to find an apartment in japan, life in tokyo japan

Id: AsMq4wlLzT0

Length: 22min 52sec (1372 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2024