My video This channel has grown so fast so quickly in the last year, I just wanted to kind of stop and say thank you.

So in this video, I'm gonna share a little bit more about myself.

Answer some questions that you use the ass in the comment section.

Just kind of like share my life, how I got to Japan, how the YouTube channel started All the questions that you guys wanted to know that I never really answered in my previous videos This video maybe a little bit boring because it's all about me.

I generally focus on topics about Japan, but I guess this is for the people that are generally interested in want to know more about me.

So I'm making it for you guys.

This is kind of my way of saying thank you so much for being a part of this channel.

I kind of wanted to do this video outside.

I don't really like doing videos inside less.

I feel like it's ah is a better way to show you Tokyo and show you Japan when I'm outside a supposed to be inside eso.

This video is gonna be done all outside.

But I do apologize for the sound of it.

Just terrible.

My politics and I'm sweating because it still is really, really hot.

And I'm actually in the yoga park is actually one of my favorite parts in Tokyo.

Some of you might already know I live in Should be S O It's just right next door.

So why not do the video here?

So let's over this.

So as of earlier this year, I'm completely full time on YouTube, meaning that I quit my consulting job.

I also closed down my other company, which was kind of like an app business.

So basically, I'm full time creating content on YouTube now.

It's been quite the transition, but I don't regret.

And even at all back, they don't do this channel all by myself.

Some of you already know that, Mike.

Oh, my wife also does this channel with me most times you don't see here because she's behind the camera, but she's very much part of this channel.

But it is kind of scary that now this channel is our bodies, our main source of revenue or means of income, and we kind of need to figure out how we could produce content for you guys as well as kind of like earn a living.

And the thing is, Michael and I really love making videos.

We love going to different places, trying out new food, and it's just kind of one of the passions that we've kind of grown into over the last few years.

Physically, we just need to find a way to make it work so that we can continue doing what we love and who knows you might be starting a family down the road, so it's kind of a bit overwhelming, but also exciting at the same time.

So one of things were thinking was to introduce memberships.

If you guys aren't familiar with membership, it's kind of something new on YouTube.

The reason this idea came about is actually from you guys.

A lot of you just want more access.

So one of the things that we were thinking of doing is providing those people who sign up and support the channel with memberships, access behind the scenes footage, additional information on some of my secret spots in Tokyo, live chats and just in general more accents that you wouldn't get normally in my videos.

Probably before this video releases are fairly.

After this video releases, we'll have membership set up.

So for those of you who want to help support the channel, then those kind of the ways to do it.

But I should also say that those anyway, it's getting a little bit too windy here.

Let's try to find a place that's less windy.

And for those of you who aren't able to support the channel, no worries the channel still stay the same.

I release the same content every week.

It just with those of you who want to help support the channel.

Now the option is available.

And look, there's a festival going on at the park today, so this is a little bit better than the park.

There's less wind, less birds squawking.

And yeah, I feel a little bit more comfortable for some reason.

Oh, there's a wind.

I guess we couldn't get rid of the wind.

And another thing.

I wanted to talk about the channel direction.

Since the channel is getting larger, there's more of us watching these videos.

I kinda wanted to stay a little bit more focus.

So probably moving forward.

You'll see a lot more Japan focused videos for you.

Sissy Tech used to see Let's go into Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand.

I know this channel started off as a Japan flog, but it wasn't that popular, unfortunately, and construction started to shoot.

I guess we got to move on to the next spot.

I really like.

I really like this spot, too.

It's still so hot outside anyways, so I've actually sat at this spot before.

Does anyone know which video was sitting in this exact spot?

Just continue where we left off.

One of the ideas I've had is I kind of want to start a second channel to be able to share with you guys kind of the stuff that Michael and I are doing on a regular basis.

Maybe some of the trips we go on kind of outside of Japan, less edited, less curated, more real, more raw.

This kind of like us living our daily lives and having kind of our regular adventures as opposed to kind of a curated, very focused topics on this channel.

I think we're going to kind of share more of our lives and kind of like what we're doing.

And who knows, Maybe in the future when you have a little one around will also be on the channel.

I don't really know the name of it.

It could be something like Tokyo zero hors de Guzman's from Tokyo.

I don't really know.

Maybe you guys could let me know what you guys think.

Also, I don't even know if there's actually a real interest in people wanting to see that channel.

So what I'll do is I'll leave a link in the description as well as the link to that channel in a PIN comments, and you guys can see it.

And if you do get enough subscribers, then we'll start another channel.

If not, then maybe we won't create the channel.

Just really up to you guys.

If you want to see it, let me know.

So one of the questions that I often get is how did you get to Japan?

I actually came here as an exchange student.

I was going to school in L.

A at a school called Pepperdine University and my third year of university.

I decided to apply for the exchange program are just gonna had a fascination of Japan, the culture and especially that technology before come in Japan.

I did a semester in Florence and I kind of got this travel bug, and I decided that it was kind of a little bit too late because usually go overseas your sophomore year or your junior year.

You can spend your senior year and graduate with your class.

I didn't actually do that.

I was kind of late, decided to go, and it was ready my senior year.

So I ended up not being able to walk with my class.

But I did decide to apply for that change program, and I was expected expected I was accepted.

One thing that I remember, though, is right before, maybe a couple months before I was supposed to fly to Japan, I was offered an internship for a software company in Santa Monica, which is which is in L.

A.

And at that point I was kind of Thorn.

Whether or not hey, I should take this job and perhaps kind of develop a career out of it or should kind of I risk it and go to Japan.

But I thought about it for some time, and I just realized that I may never get a chance to see Japan.

And if I did get to see Japan, maybe later on in my career, after maybe having a house, a family and all of that, it just wouldn't be the same.

I wanted to experience a pan when I was young.

I kind of have that full experience of Japan.

So I packed my bags and headed to defend a man.

When I first arrived in Japan, I was so excited.

Everything was so interesting.

Everything was so new.

My whole world was kind of blown away and I just fell in love with this place.

But at the same time, I was pretty lost.

But that's kind of like the magic of everything is discovering a whole new world here.

And when I make videos today trying to remember me back in that time, how confused I was, all the things that I wanted to know, all the things that I had questions about, And so when I make those videos, I'm kind of talking to myself back in the day.

Hopefully, I can help that guy out because He was so, so lost.

So luckily, my university had an exchange program and their sister school was actually Sophia University.

We're just here in Tokyo, which was really, really convenient.

I even had a home safe Emily for the first year.

So it made everything really, really easy.

I didn't have to worry about rent.

I didn't have to worry about board.

It was kind of all included.

All I had to like, really worry about it was just my living expenses.

I only had about 2 to $3000 if I remember correctly in my bank, and that was kind of enough.

I didn't really have to worry about all the different costs.

I was going to school, and that was enough for me to be able to get by.

Initially, though, I was able to find on English teaching job just like a part time job for a couple hours a week.

I would teach the kids of some family friends.

I think at the time I was making about $30 on our someone asked me to teach a group of kids English after school.

I think I was about to enough hours for one session once a week.

They paid me, like, $120 that I picked up another job teaching English.

I was working a few hours a week and I was making $300 in pocket change.

And that was just kind of like enough for me to get by, plus my 2 to $3000 I had saved up for the first few months in Japan.

I didn't really worry about cash so much as faras language goes, I kind of setting a little bit right before I came to Japan.

But, I mean, I just like, kind of news.

I'm gonna maybe handful of words.

But it wasn't until after I went to university I started learning a lot more and then using it here in Japan with the home safe family as well.

Those friends and well, you'll learn with the second languages, you just never stop learning.

So in general, life was pretty good.

Hanging out with friends, discovering new places, making okay money for a college student at the time.

Obviously, I was on a student visa, initially got a one year visa, but as I like started to like Japan, more more.

I decided that, you know, I'm gonna figure out a way to kind of stay out here.

I think it was a good idea for me to come here as a student first, to kind of figure out whether or not I liked it.

And I started trying to figure out a more permanent way to stay out here in Tokyo.

I started by just looking for jobs.

I think I looked in some magazines at the time to see if there's any jobs available.

And if I could recall correctly, I interviewed with two jobs.

The first job was a miserable fail.

The second job actually ended up getting her shop was for, I think, a magazine for one, like an account manager.

And I went in there and Manu is still a college student so has never had, like, a really professional job before.

And in high school I worked for Safeway bagging groceries, but I never had a professional career.

I remember going in to that interview, and I think one of the first questions they ask me is, how do I manage my schedule?

I pretty much told him I don't really have a schedule to manage.

I just go to classes and I hang out with my friends.

I think they were probably expecting me to show them, like the calendar system I use or something like that.

But obviously I didn't have that those skills of the time, so that interview didn't go so well.

But the second interview I went into was for an I T firm.

I was a computer science in business major, and so when I went into the interview, I was able to answer basic questions about computers, how things work.

Said to say, I got the job with I D Firm that hired me on as an associate engineer was more on the systems and infrastructure side of I T.

But I really, really liked it.

As a student in Japan, you can work, I believe, I believe, 20 hours a week.

So once I got this job, then I quit all the English teaching job, which actually worked out really well because after my second year of university, I D firm just hired me on full time.

They sponsored my working visa here in Japan, and I worked with them for several years, a sort of as an associate engineer, went to engineer and then eventually became a project manager.

And during those several years, I learned a lot about Japanese business culture.

It wasn't uncommon for me to work 10 to 12 hours a day.

I work a lot of weekends, but luckily, the company I was working for had kind of more of Western culture.

So I did get paid overtime for my work, which was nice.

There's just a lot of projects going on at the time.

Over all those is a great experience.

Busted my ass.

I learned a crap load.

Then, after several years working as a project manager, ended up believing that company.

And then I was hired on by a software development company in the finance industry, and I did that job for a couple years.

I'm also making more friends.

Picked up.

Snowboarding was young.

I was in my twenties, I had money and it's Nobody became a huge part of my life.

I was doing it every weekend until I had just a major major snowboarding accident, which kind of changed the whole direction of my life here in Japan.

But let me tell you more about that story after finding a new spot because my butt's getting kind of sore.

Uh, so where was I?

Oh, yeah.

Major, Major snowboard injury.

Basically, I ended up at the Nagano emergency room.

I broken nine ribs.