Why I Moved To Japan | Tokyo Lens

and seeing as we're headed to Japan right now there's one question that I wanted to address when and why did you move to Japan here we go [Music] [Music] it is quarter to five in the morning and I'm heading back to Tokyo from Tuscany Italy I planned to do a vlog while I was here but it didn't really come together and I say the reason for that is that I was here for work so I opened it up to a Q&A on Instagram and the first thing I got a lot of is are you enjoying Italy I know this man back in Japan who travels over 200 days of the year for work and he always says the same thing when you travel for work all you really get to see is the airport the taxis the hotel and a place that you're working you don't really get to see much else that doesn't mean that you don't try to make the best of it and I think we definitely did that this time I actually traveled with these two gentlemen back here who are Japan champion shamisen players more on that later another question asked that I thought might bring you guys some value was how do you pack when you travel and I've kind of got my own little like packing hacks and secrets and it all starts with what's in my backpack these little pouches right here the pouches just help me organize the small stuff let me show you how I packed this morning this pouch here's all my major charging gear this is the charger for my laptop it's all in his batteries and hard drives and whatnot and then this is all like toothbrush toothpaste and stuff again and then just toss these in the backpack and then there are two or three more things that I make sure that I do every single time I travel number one I make sure I'm hydrated as much as possible and number two I always set my phone to low-power mode just to help that battery lasts a little bit longer and those pouches you can get pretty much anywhere you can pick them up at Dollar Stores or 100 yen shops but I have another way I like to get them on my way out of the airplane I was like to ask the flight attendants if I can have one or two of the unused first-class pouches also yes I'm very aware of how tired I look right now come on it's almost 5:00 in the morning one of the questions that I got that I really liked was like what are some little things that make you happy when you're having a bad day let me find a seat I've got a couple but I did one of the biggest ones is probably popcorn mind you popcorns good pretty much any time also I do like a good deck of cards in my fish that's right I have fish in little Japanese the guys are stopping to get pictures finally arriving in the airport now so the next question I got was right what's your next plan what's your next destination I've been trying to adjust to living a little more on the cusp so the idea of planning is something that I'm trying to put aside now that being said I do have a few things lined up but also you never know what's actually gonna go through and what's gonna fall through for all I know I might be coming to your country and I think that would be pretty cool so I've got at least two or three more countries booked for the next coming year so fingers crossed eventually pull through traveling this much really gives me the opportunity to feel the differences between Japan and other countries and really gives me the opportunity to miss Japan and I think that's what's going on right now well having gone from Japan for like five days and I already just miss being in Tokyo so much [Music] that's yeah thank you somebody also asked if there's any like dangerous areas in Tokyo to avoid or watch out for Tokyo is typically a really safe place to be so you don't have to worry about that stuff that much but all generalizations aside it's still good exercise common sense window-seat I always love the window seat and the screens are just massive here under the city please so we just landed in Beijing and we got held up quite a while at customs because they wanted to double-check the xiaomi since and then when my stuff came through i carry a lot of chargers and i've got the drone and everything like that so they really wouldn't had to take everything out we were took over an hour just to get through customs one of the other questions that came up was what is your favorite piece of tech gear outside of your cameras I would probably say more than anything it's this right here and probably not for the reasons that you would expect more than anything it's because of the silent alarm feature on this I can just set a time and it wakes me up and I don't have to worry about waking up the people around me it's also really good for times like this where I took like three trains this morning in two different flights I like to be awake on time to record the landing of the flight or make sure that I don't miss my stop and this it helps me do it not to mention the fact that it stops my phone from going off in my pocket every single time I get a message and I appreciate that a walk also Beijing sunrise behind an airplane might be the shot of the day [Music] I gotta say I am liking the overall aesthetic of the Beijing Airport though it is is quite nice and seeing as we're headed to Japan right now there's one question that I wanted to sit down and address nice quiet spot right here in the airport and look at that lighting don't you love that I do I do when and why did you move to Japan here we go this is one that I don't think I've answered in a while and even if I have I don't think I've answered it all in one piece it was the clearest way to tell this to okay let's start back in university so back in university I was spending a lot of my time with Japanese people basically almost like living with a bunch of Japanese people I spend so much time with them and then in 2005 I came to Japan for the first time for a couple of months by that point I could already like to speak a little bit of Japanese but but I still managed to survive and I had a great time that trip kind of really piqued my interest as I think it does for a lot of people I've met a lot of people who come to Japan two three four or five like multiple times because that first trip is just an appetizer more than anything I knew that I was gonna need more time look at that Sun coming up let's try this game I knew that I would need a lot more time to really get to know the country in depth and I wanted the challenge more than anything I wanted the challenge of moving away from my family who I was so close with one of the challenges starting a new life in a new place and so in 2007 I moved here for the first time I spent maybe a year or so back in Canada except for that one year I've basically been here since 2007 airplane is just like taking off for me it was mostly about challenge of personal development I wanted to see if I could challenge myself to live in a country that had a different culture and different language different upbringing and everything then and develop a sense of comfort and call a new place home I would just say that personal development and challenging myself is a constant theme of my life and seemingly these videos as well it's not always easy and one of the most common questions that I get asked is what is the hardest part of living in Japan is it the language is it the culture and more than anything the longer you're here just missing home and family missing being a part of events and like when somebody gets sick and you're not there or relative passes away and you actually can't make it back missing out on those things missing out on friends weddings I've actually managed to make it back for a lot of weddings and a lot of important family events but I've probably missed in just as many and that's a risk that you have when you move overseas [Music] one of the other questions was what is one of the small and quirky things that you look forward to when you get back to Japan I've got a little bit of a tradition I love going and getting mafia and gil-dong like a beef bowl like as soon as I arrive get into the city drop off my stuff and just go out and get a meatball how about you any any big traditions I always forget just how nice it is just to get back into Japan you know you guys oh that's masa you shoot guns from another tonight you kill Nazis [Music] I didn't have an umbrella someone also asked me what my absolute favorite place in Japan is it's a really tough choice because I really do love everywhere despite living in Tokyo I do love Shikoku especially Matsuyama because it's got everything it's got a city it's got the ocean it's got mountains especially if you rent a car and you drive around that area you will explore areas that most people never have the opportunity to go to so Shikoku especially the Matsuyama area is very high on my list but my personal favorite if I just went with mine and not a recommendation is a small city near the top of Kyushu called Kolkata but there is one thing that makes Koga a really special that I love and that in Kolkata there's a castle and right beside the castle there's this really modern shopping center that looks like it's from like Astro Boy or something like that I'll see if I can pull an image off of Google's and toss it up right now it looks like that I just love the absolute juxtaposition between the castle the old traditional Japan and the incredibly modern looking shopping area and honestly Google just doesn't do it justice is one of the places you have to go and see for yourself I was also asked where I would recommend if someone only had a very limited time like like one to two days in Tokyo I would recommend staying somewhere like the sucks up or Ueno area because those areas are oddly central and connect you to pretty much everywhere I think a lot of people are taken aback by how surprisingly small and easily accessible Tokyo is as a whole so let's use a winnowing example if you were to stay in a window you not only have access to a Miyoko and Ueno Park and all of that but within walking distance you also have access to the really traditional area of a sec sign going into the sky tree or if you were to go to the other side within walking distance you have access to areas like Akihabara I know a lot of people are gonna be like well what about should be a crossing I want to see should be a crossing it's a 25 to 30 minute train ride right from a Ueno and if you're staying in a sec site it's just about 30 minutes right on the Ginza so it is super excessive you could do a sexy way no Akihabara in Shibuya if you wanted to all within the same day now I did get a lot more questions than I was initially anticipating for this round so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna jump over to Instagram in the next like day or so and do an Instagram story series on there where I answer a couple extra questions I want to get to as many of these as possible but if you guys enjoyed this definitely give that like button some love don't miss it I'm gonna hang it with you in the comments on this one additionally if you have any extra questions you can ask them down there obviously if I get enough that I think I can bring value to you guys with something then I may do another Q&A video moving forward but moving forward the video schedule is pretty much decided for the next little while we've got some I'm happy and I know I always say we've got some exciting stuff I'm excited I'm excited about what's coming and I think we're gonna have a lot of fun I hope I'll see you guys there also if that Belle isn't clicked on for notifications this is a great time to do that so turn it on leave me a comment below I will be hanging it with you guys down in the comments for a while and I guess you know I will I'll see you again real soon also all I wanted to do in the world right now is take a shower [Music]

Channel: Tokyo Lens

Views: 56,503

Rating: 4.9171758 out of 5

Keywords: Japan, Tokyo, Vlog, Tokyo Lens, Tokyo Vlog, Japan Vlog, Norm Nakamura, Norm Tokyo Lens, why I moved to japan, why I came to japan, why I came back to japan, why I moved back to japan, living in japan, how to live in japan, best place in japan, best place in tokyo, When I moved to japan, Norm Nakamura in Japan, japan life, tokyo life, life in japan, life in tokyo, japan movie, japanese culture, japanese, japanese life, travel, travel hacks, travel tips, japan travel, norm

Id: 16TeospcsU8

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 08 2018