Translator: Jun Howard
Reviewer: Hélène Vernet In the space of 24 hours, five billion YouTube videos
are going be watched by an audience of about 1.3 billion
people all around the world, with the average viewer spending 40 min
per day watching YouTube on their phone. It's a testament to YouTube's power
and reach around the world. Whilst most people watch it
as a source of entertainment, for me, it's my life;
it's what I do as a "vlogger." I hate the word "vlogger."
It's the most awkward, strange word ever. It's probably the worst word
ever made by humans. "Vlogger" ... I can't stand it! Nonetheless, I am a vlogger,
and here is my channel. It's called "Abroad In Japan." It's a mid-sized YouTube channel
with about 400,000 subscribers. I've made maybe about 100 videos
in the five years that I've been doing it. During that period, there's been about 38 million views and 120,000 comments
that people have left along the way. It's pretty amazing to think
you can get those kinds of views, just by making videos alone
in your apartment, right? Even more surprising perhaps is many of the videos are featured
in the mainstream media, from the BBC and the Guardian
to the Nikkey and TV Tokyo. I show you this at the risk
of seeming arrogant, but the truth is I'm surprised
as anyone else. I'm surprised by all this
because I'm not special. I'm not particularly talented at anything. I've been ... a waiter, a university student, an english language assistant
and then a youtuber. And the only difference is, one day,
about four and a half years ago when I came to Japan to teach,
I picked up a camera and I started filming
what was going on around me. And what was going on around me? Well, my first video is just me
in my tiny apartment, super impressed by my little futon
that I would sleep on for three years. By all accounts, it's a terrible video.
It's not very good. But, nonetheless I did that
and I started to enjoy it. It became a hobby from then on,
and every month I would make one video. Originally I did it with the intention that friends and family
back home in the UK would see the videos
and know that I wasn't dead. It was a reminder that I was still alive doing something
at the other side of the world, but when I asked friends and family,
"Have you watched my videos?" nearly all of them said,
"No, no we haven't." So that was disappointing. Fortunately, I found that people
that were interested in Japan came across the videos, and after one year
and about eight videos, there were an incredible 334 subscribers. It was amazing. I felt like a king. But I kept going and I kept doing it. After about another year and a half,
the channel reached 100,000 subscribers. That was when I realized
this was something I could do for a living after I've finished life
as an English language assistant. So I finished teaching in August 2015
and started doing YouTube full time. Since then, the channel has become
one of the largest YouTube channels run by a foreigner in Japan. And ... these days, it's more like
running a poor quality TV channel as opposed to a YouTube vlog;
you get into all kinds of crazy situations. For example, look at this.
This is Monster Ramen. This is all the things we've done
the last six months: this is Monster Ramen in Akihabara; this is Matsusaka Beef -
there is also Sakurai-san there - the most expensive beef in Japan; Tokyo Capsule Hotel in Ginza; mummies, a real life mummy in Fukushima -
it's terrifying but amazing; and of course the tomb of Jesus-Christ who might have died in Aomori -
this is in Aomori, believe it or not. (Laughter) There's no real link; the only thing
they have in common is that we just think
things are interesting. Things that we think
are interesting get featured. The one thing I don't understand though
or never really understood, is why aren't there more people
doing this, more people vlogging? Where is everyone? Because you don't need any qualifications;
you don't need any money. You can do it now. All you really need
is a camera and the Internet, and most of us carry those in our pocket
today in the form of a smartphone. To put things into perspective, I think there's probably around a hundred foreign
bloggers living in Japan right now, most of whom live in Tokyo,
Kansai or Nagoya. As far as I know,
I'm the only vlogger in Tohoku. That hundred figure
is pretty small when you think that there's about two million
foreigners living in Japan. It's strange for me
as a vlogger in Tohoku. It's like being at a party
that anyone can join. Anyone can be a vlogger
but nobody is coming. The only upside for me
is I get to eat all the cake, because you can't just leave a cake
sitting on the table, you have to eat it. So today I want to explore this. I want to encourage people here
to consider the path of becoming a vlogger because I do think it's influential. I do think It can make a difference. Hopefully, by the end of the talk, some of you that put your hands up
earlier might actually consider it. It does have an impact. The first thing you need
to ask yourself is: what do you want to share as a vlogger,
what do you want to talk about? Maybe it's an opinion,
maybe it's a place, maybe it's your hilarious cat,
I don't know, anything. The thing you want to share
will be your guiding star when you become a vlogger. In my case when I started, I was a British guy living in Japan. I was very confused everyday
and I thought this sort of lifestyle was an interesting thing to share
with people around the world, a rare glimpse into the life in Japan. The thing I try to share today though, the thing I try to focus on
is Tohoku itself, a place where I've lived for five years,
a place I love and call home, a place I feel a real
strong connection with. I always say Tohoku
is Japan's best kept secret. But despite the fresh delicious food, the warm, friendly locals
and the beautiful scenery, Tohoku has a problem. And the problem is:
nobody's coming here. As we heard earlier 24 million
foreign tourists came to Japan last year, and just 0.9% came to Tohoku. Huge region, six amazing
prefectures, just 0.9%! It's not that great, is it? I suspect there are two reasons. The first is the negative reputation
as a result of the events of 2011. But even more than that, I would suggest that it's because people simply don't know
all the amazing things that are here. I picked up a Japan sightseeing guidebook
the other day and had a flick through. Tokyo had 60 pages
of the sightseeing guidebook. The city of Kyoto had 40 pages. And the entire region of Tohoku
just had 15 pages. It's a tiny amount, isn't it? So, either there's nothing here in Tohoku, or it's just not getting
the attention that it deserves. But what is there in Tohoku? How about Japan's biggest
morning market, a culinary wonderland, 250 stalls and 20,000 people
go every week. It's an amazing place. If you like food ... Ah!
You're going to love it here. It has the world's greatest mascot, this squid character,
an unofficial mascot. It's amazing. But it's in Hachinohe, in Tohoku. How about Japan's greatest food challenge,
the Wanko Soba Noodle challenge, where you have to stuff yourself
with as many bowls of soba noodles as physically possible before you explode? That is in Morioka, in Tohoku. And then how about
a real actual cat island, just two hours over that way
an island crawling with hundreds of cats? It's like Japan's answer to Jurassic Park but with less dinosaurs
and less Jeff Goldblum. But it's amazing,
two hours over there, in Tohoku. A fox village, an actual fox village. One of the most stunning hot spring towns
Ginza onsen, Yamagata. And real life mummies ...
All here, all in Tohoku! Now more than ever, Tohoku needs
people to pick up a camera, especially those who live locally, to help
shake off that negative reputation and try to promote
all the amazing things that are here. But can vlogging have an effect? Well, the first thing
we can explore is the views. How many views do the videos get? Last year, I took part in a competition. I won a competition called "Tohoku365"
to travel around Tohoku six prefectures and make articles
and videos about the food. It was a great journey. I had to eat out
two times every day for one month. So I put on five kilograms
in just one month. So be careful if you win
a food competition. But it was great and we've released
the first two videos, one for Miyagi and one for Iwate. Together, the two videos
have generated 950,000 views, almost a million people have had a glimpse
into Tohoku's cuisine, which is exciting. If you break that down,
if we look at this video here, "Six must try Japanese foods for Iwate," you can see the top
20 most popular countries where people have been watching that. I think it's so cool
when I look at that and I imagine 13,000 people in Germany have
a good glimpse into Tohoku's cuisine, or 7,000 people in Sweden. It's important to remember
those aren't just numbers on a screen. Those are people and it could be
really easy to forget that. But you have to remind yourself of it.
It's really important. Can vlogging actually have a real effect?
Is there any hard evidence? Well, I mentioned we made a video about
the Wanko Soba Noodle challenge last year. This was in August and about two months
after this video came out, some friends contacted me
over the phone and told me that they've seen this video featured
on a Japanese TV show, on National Television,
on television Tokyo TV, a show called
"Yū wa Nani Shi ni Nippon e?" where the TV crew waits at Narita airport,
jetlagged foreigners come through and they ask them where they're going,
and what they're doing. If the story is interesting - the person
says they're going to do something great - then they'll follow them around Japan. In this one episode, a german guy, an awesome german guy called Tallam
had come to Narita airport. When asked what he was doing, he said he was doing
the Wanko Soba Noodle challenge, because he had seen it
featured on Abroad In Japan. They played this video
on the show as a kind of introduction, as a prelude to his adventure
going to Morioka. The TV crew followed him to Morioka. Good for him, he ate 100 bowls,
so he hit the target. You need to get at least 100 bowls
to succeed at the Wanko Soba challenge. So that was great. I also made another video last year
called "My favourite place in Japan." It was about the town of Sakata,
the place where I lived for three years as an English language
assistant, a place I love. In the video, I featured the food,
some of the scenery, my good friend Yuki here,
this is Yuto - Yuki and his hostel
that he runs in Sakata. I featured that in the video
and since this video Yuki often sends me pictures
from viewers that have seen the video and decided to go all the way to rural
Sakata, to go and see what it's like. For example this is Kalem, a British guy,
who travelled all the way to Sakata. This is Frederick, from Norway. It was his first time in Japan ever. He went to Tokyo, Kyoto and Sakata - (laughing) one adventure -
just because he'd seen it in a video. So that was really exciting,
really encouraging. I thought that this is really cool
so I did a little questionnaire on the Abroad In Japan Facebook page,
just a small questionnaire. I asked, "Have the videos
ever made you want to visit Japan or live and work in Japan?" and 495 people responded
on the facebook questionnaire: 84% said the videos
made them want to visit Japan, and 63% said that the videos
have made them consider living and working in the country, which is really exciting
and particularly encouraging. I then asked, "Have you ever
visited somewhere after seeing it featured
in an Abroad In Japan video?" Again 177 people responded, 177 people responded giving their examples of places
they had visited in Japan after seeing it featured in a video -
which is really exciting. You know, it's a reminder when you see
these messages or see it on TV that vlogging can have a real effect. When people see these videos,
it can encourage them to do something. I think we all take it for granted
the Internet these days. It's amazing that you can make
a video, put it on the Internet and instantaneously someone,
on the other side of the planet, has a glimpse of your world -
it's really exciting. I urge you to try, I urge you
to consider making one video. Because if you do,
if you make just one video, you might find you enjoy it,
and you'll be amazed when people start to discover
your video and start watching it. And if you enjoy it as I did, it could lead to something more,
you never know. One of the reasons I've been successful is because there's people out there who want to know
what life in Japan is like. The demand is already there, right?
So you have that to your advantage. I often here people say they want
to help promote Tohoku and shake off it's negative reputation. That's never been easier
or cheaper to do than now. All you need is your camera,
the Internet, and to ask yourself: what can you share with the world? Do it, try it once. Come and join me
at this incredible party. Help me eat the cake
by all means, but do it. Make a video and regardless of the opinion
or story you try to share through videos, you'll find that your audience is already
out there somewhere in the world, and they are waiting to hear
what you have to say. Thank you very much. (Applause)
I saw this while searching “Chris Broad” on Youtube and was like NO WAYYY.
It’s a shame the Ryotaro one was spoken in Japanese really quickly though. I wanted to understand what he said
Don't know if this has been posted before. Just stumbled upon it. Maybe it is new to some of you. So enjoy!