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  • - Hi, guys.

  • This is Micaela for those of you that haven't seen her yet.

  • - I exist on the internet.

  • My name is Micaela.

  • Hi.

  • - She is the original Japan blogger.

  • I started out by watching her videos,

  • and now we're friends and it's weird.

  • (laughing)

  • - It is weird.

  • We look the same.

  • We came from the same place.

  • We do the same thing.

  • - Yeah, Micaela was originally from BC as well in Canada

  • so our hometowns are super close,

  • and we've both been living here for over 10 years now.

  • How did you start out in Japan?

  • - I came as an exchange student when I was 17 years old.

  • I'd always wanted to study abroad,

  • and I went to a school in Canada

  • that had lots of Japanese exchange students

  • so when I asked about opportunities for myself,

  • if I could travel abroad, they hooked me up,

  • and I ended up going to Kyushu, which is in southern Japan,

  • and I went to high school in Miyazaki for a year.

  • - My first time here, I was 17 as well

  • but I did like a two-week homestay high school experience

  • but it wasn't like a real year in high school.

  • - It wasn't immersive?

  • - No. - Yeah.

  • - It was just like I joined some classes and we had some fun

  • but I had a really cool homestay experience

  • but then the next time I moved to Japan,

  • I just started out working as an English teacher.

  • - I went back to Canada 'cause I had to graduate

  • and finish my education in Canada,

  • and then I got a working holiday visa,

  • and I came back.

  • - Same with me. (laughs)

  • - Yeah, and then I did that.

  • It was really good

  • because it came with training and everything.

  • They trained me for the job and that kind of set me up

  • with skills that helped me even in later years in Japan.

  • - Yeah, I feel like most people that come here

  • to teach English, they're not trained to be a teacher

  • but lots of jobs do prepare you (laughs)

  • for what you're gonna be doing, which is nice.

  • I also had the same experience.

  • I worked in a private English school, which was awesome.

  • My boss was great.

  • He was from New York.

  • We still talk.

  • It was really fun.

  • I taught English for about three years,

  • and then I went to university in Japan.

  • I did education both in Canada and Japan.

  • Yeah, I was almost ready to graduate in Canada

  • but then I moved here because of the earthquake

  • and wanting to be in Japan

  • and I ended up finishing my education here.

  • That's kind of my history,

  • and now I do YouTube and translation and that kind of stuff

  • and Micaela does--

  • - I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. (laughs)

  • I taught English for a little bit.

  • I also went to college in Japan for music and entertainment.

  • - That's so cool. (laughs)

  • - Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

  • I graduated.

  • I joined a talent agency,

  • and then there was a bunch of years of that,

  • and I quit that because it wasn't for me.

  • It wasn't what I thought it would be,

  • and now I'm kind of just scaling back.

  • My boyfriend just quit his job

  • so this year, we're probably gonna start our own company.

  • - That's so exciting.

  • - Yeah.

  • - So because we've both been here for so long,

  • I thought it'd be cool to talk to you guys

  • about why we decided to stay here

  • and what kept us in Japan for this long.

  • For me, I think the main reason is that it's so exciting

  • and I have so many different opportunities

  • that I feel like I wouldn't get back in Canada

  • so I speak English obviously and Japanese

  • so jobs like translation or like being a tour guide

  • or all these things that just wouldn't be so easy

  • to get back in Canada, I could just do if I wanted here

  • and I get lots of offers for stuff.

  • I mainly do YouTube now because it's enjoyable and I love it

  • but if I want to quit YouTube,

  • I could easily get a job doing translation full-time.

  • I like that.

  • I think I'd be worried to go back to Canada.

  • I wouldn't know what I would do there. (laughs)

  • - I have to say though.

  • I think with that kind of experience

  • like coming to Japan and becoming bilingual

  • in English and Japanese, it's a super valuable skill

  • even if you go back to Canada

  • because the west coast in Canada has such a big--

  • - It's very multicultural.

  • - I think once you come here for a while

  • and you've built up both languages and the skills

  • to communicate between cultures

  • like even if you went back to Canada,

  • I think you'd find something.

  • - I hope so 'cause I am planning to in the future. (laughs)

  • I like it being exciting.

  • There's something new to explore.

  • I come from a relatively small town in Canada.

  • Micaela's is an even smaller town.

  • (Micaela laughs)

  • - Yeah.

  • - And we know it like the back of our hands.

  • We've seen every little corner

  • but even just Tokyo, it's so freaking huge.

  • There's so many cool side streets to go down

  • and shops to see.

  • People-watching is fun.

  • There's so many people here, cool fashion,

  • stuff like that.

  • I don't know.

  • It's just really interesting.

  • - It's stimulating.

  • - Yeah, that's the word.

  • You never get bored.

  • You could never be bored living in Japan.

  • You could wake up at four a.m.

  • and stores would still be open.

  • You could go to karaoke.

  • Even if there weren't shops here,

  • I live out in the countryside now.

  • I was in Tokyo for a few years

  • but I moved out to the countryside

  • and even just like exploring around my town.

  • You always find like cute little temples

  • and there's pretty mountains

  • and there's just so much to see,

  • and I really like that.

  • I think that's really what kept me.

  • It's just so many new things to see.

  • - I think with my experience, it's a little bit different

  • because I live in southern Japan down south

  • in a place called Fukuoka,

  • which is slowly, slowly gaining more worldwide attention

  • and popularity because of its startup culture.

  • We have tons of young people coming to Fukuoka

  • 'cause it's cheap and it's not as expensive as Tokyo

  • but there's still a lot of things to do there.

  • We even have a startup visa for--

  • - No way.

  • - Yeah, for foreigners who want--

  • - That want to start a business.

  • - Yeah, in Fukuoka, you can get a startup visa

  • where they give you a visa for a year

  • to try to make a business happen

  • in Fukuoka. - That's really cool.

  • - Yeah, for Fukuoka for me,

  • it's not so much about the fashion

  • but there is a lot of energy with young people

  • trying to create things and make new things happen

  • and put new things into the world.

  • It's just really exciting to be with people,

  • a lot of people like me

  • who are kind of in this gray zone now

  • where it's like we're not working a nine-to-five

  • but we're still making money doing the things

  • that we have expertise in.

  • It's just a really exciting time to be alive.

  • It's an exciting time to be in Fukuoka too.

  • I really like it because it's very stimulating.

  • There's lots of things going on

  • in comparison to countryside in Canada.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Yeah, it is very exciting

  • but for me also the thing that I really like

  • about living in Japan is that it is so close

  • to so many other

  • really interesting countries. - That's so true.

  • - You can visit so easily.

  • - Yeah, even in the past two or three years,

  • I've been to Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea.

  • We've been to Seoul.

  • We took the ferry to Busan.

  • I love traveling and it's so easy to just hop on a plane

  • to a neighboring country and in each country,

  • everyone has their own different culture

  • even though it's like the same general proximity.

  • - It's so different.

  • - Canada is huge but like whether you're in Vancouver

  • or Calgary or Toronto--

  • - It doesn't differ very much.

  • - People speak the same language.

  • They have the same moral values

  • but you can hop on a plane from Japan to Korea,

  • and be stunned by--

  • - Completely different worlds. (laughs)

  • - Yeah, the difference in politeness.

  • Yeah, it's really, really interesting,

  • and that's really exciting for me.

  • - I think another thing I like

  • is just being constantly challenged.

  • Even though we both speak decent Japanese,

  • I would say that, I don't have that much trouble

  • with my day-to-day life.

  • I never feel like, "Ah I can't speak well enough,"

  • but stuff like renting your own house or like doing taxes--

  • - Oh my God.

  • - It's a learning experience

  • every time we need to do something like that.

  • I don't know.

  • I like that challenge.

  • I get bored if I'm not learning something new,

  • and even if I'm not picking up a new hobby,

  • I'm always learning something new with the language

  • and having to interact with people

  • and work with Japanese every day.

  • I really like that.

  • Even if you don't force yourself to study at home,

  • you'll just be learning it

  • by going out and doing things and living here

  • so you always feel like you're improving yourself.

  • - I don't think there will ever be a point in my life

  • where I'm like, "I know all the Japanese there is to know.

  • "There is no more learning.

  • "Close the books.

  • "We're done."

  • It's never gonna happen.

  • I was just at Miyazaki for a month

  • doing a, I don't know how to say it, like a tanki taizai.

  • - Short-term stay.

  • - Yeah, like short-term stay for tourism and stuff

  • in a small town in Miyazaki prefecture.

  • - A really small farming town.

  • - I loved it.

  • I remember the first day I was there.

  • Everyone was talking to me about,

  • they kept saying words like munouyaku,

  • which means no pesticides.

  • It's like pesticide-free.

  • - Oh munouyaku, yeah yeah.

  • - Yeah, munouyaku or then they have for organic vegetables,

  • they're saying yuuki nougyou for organic farming,

  • and I thought they were talking about like snow.

  • I was like, "What are you farming?"

  • - Snow farming. (laughs)

  • - They're like, "Yeah,

  • "we're really into that yuuki nougyou,"

  • and I'm like, "So like snow farming?"

  • (Sharla laughs)

  • And they're like, "No."

  • Yeah, the kanji is totally different

  • but the first day I was there,

  • I had no idea what anybody was saying to me.

  • I'm like, "Yeah, yuki nougyou.

  • "Wow, cool."

  • After the month,

  • I can tell you all about organic farming and pesticides.

  • - Yeah, you picked up all these new vocabulary.

  • - Yeah and it's like if I had never gotten there,

  • I would never have a chance to learn all these words

  • that I don't use just living in the city so. (laughs)

  • - And also the culture,

  • even though we've been here for 10 years,

  • I'm always learning new stuff about Japanese culture,

  • new celebrations they do,

  • and there's always something cool going on outside

  • like festivals or like a little parade.

  • They don't call them parades here.

  • - [Micaela] That's the word I want.

  • - Kinda like Matsuriya.

  • They're like carrying stuff down the street.

  • In Canada, I feel like there's not enough of that.

  • We are very multicutural but I don't--

  • - Not a lot of public events.

  • - Yeah, yeah.

  • There's way more of that in Japan

  • where you don't really need to plan.

  • You don't need to search for stuff to do.

  • It's just always happening.

  • You can just walk outside and find something

  • and learn something new.

  • - I really like the food.

  • (Sharla laughs)

  • - That's definitely something that kept me here

  • is the food.

  • It's really great.

  • - I feel like it's something I love about Japan

  • but it's also something I miss about Canada

  • is like the multiculturalism

  • and like being able to eat like Greek food.

  • - Right.

  • That's something we don't have very much of here

  • is Greek food.

  • - Yes, I really miss Greek food.

  • - Mexican food is also not--

  • - It's growing but yeah.

  • - There's not enough of it here.

  • - I love my burritos.

  • Japanese food culture is something

  • that I'm really interested in now more than ever as a hobby.

  • - Cooking yourself.

  • - Yeah, it's so delicate and intricate and precise,

  • and there is like so much,

  • you can put so much filling into Japanese food

  • like the washoku culture.

  • There's things like junky foods like tempura and sushi.

  • - Udon.

  • - You can find that anywhere

  • and those are delicious too if you go to the right places

  • but just even like bento-zukuri, like making a bento.

  • I've been to so many restaurants

  • that put so much effort into their presentation.

  • - Oh yeah, man.

  • That's something different than Canada.

  • The presentation is amazing.

  • - It's not about how much food you get on a plate,

  • it's how it's prepared and how it's presented

  • and why these vegetables were chosen

  • and how the flavor of this fish

  • matches the other things that are chosen.

  • I don't know.

  • It feels like there's so much thought and effort

  • that goes into like really, really good Japanese food

  • that I kinda want to learn from that.

  • - All right.

  • Well, if you guys have any question for us,

  • leave them in the comments.

  • I'll be reading them all.

  • We've both been here for quite a long time

  • so (laughs) I'm sure there's lots of things

  • you guys might be interested to ask us

  • so please leave comments.

  • Thank you so much for watching

  • and do check out Micaela's channel.

  • She has a couple.

  • I will link them both down below.

  • She makes really lovely videos about Fukuoka,

  • which is something I've never done

  • 'cause I've never been there.

  • - You have to come visit.

  • - I really love to.

  • I keep saying it.

  • I gotta go make it happen.

  • I will do it.

  • - If she comes and visits,

  • we will make tons of food videos.

  • - Yes.

  • Thank you so much for watching

  • and I will see you soon.

  • Bye.

  • - Bye.

  • (light music)

- Hi, guys.

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