Linguistic five years was easily the biggest decision I've made in my entire life.

日本に来て英語教師をするんだ、という5年前の決断は

I've never lived abroad.

人生で最も大きな決断だった

I never learned a foreign language, and I never taught English either.

外国に住んだことも

And quite honestly, the thought of standing in front of 40 school kids for 20 hours a week scared the absolute tele hub.

外国語を学んだこともなかったし

Naturally, a lot of people ask me why I came here.

英語を教えたこともなかった

There was no one reason, but ultimately it revolved around a combination of ambition, romanticism and fear.

週20時間も、40人もの生徒の前立つなんて

Orbit nine with 1st 2 decades of your life, you're kind of on an academic conveyor belt, going through school, doing tests and exams every year without really thinking that far ahead.

正直とても怖かったし

And then for many people when they reach the age of 18 and they come off the academic convertible when they graduate from school.

よく日本に来た理由を聞かれるけど

All of a sudden they have no plan and no sense of direction.

理由は一つではなくて

And that was me when I graduated from school back in 2008.

野心、ロマン、怖さみたいなものが合わさって、どんどん大きくなっていったんだ

I knew I wanted to go to university, but I didn't really know what course I wanted to take, so I took film studies because it was the only thing I was good at the only courses I've done well in where media and film.

僕も年取ったな

I go on a in a in a business.

失敗への不安

I got Bay and in English I got C So it was great and I thought Golf University and become the next Martin Scorsese and it was gonna be magical.

人生の最初の20年間はみんな、それこそベルトコンベヤーみたいに

But they're suddenly around September, which is when you start university in the UK I realized becoming Martin Scorsese is not that easy.

学校に行って、定期テストを受けたりするけど

And all of a sudden I realized there was probably making a big mistake on After speaking to some film studies graduates on my local supermarket, I realized that studying film university probably wasn't the best thing to do.

将来のことはあまり考えることはないよね

So I postponed my degree on Take a Gap year to get sense of direction and get some clarity on who I waas on what I was doing.

多くの人は18歳になると、そのベルトコンベヤーから外に出て

So in September 2008 with all my closest friends going off to university, I went off in the other direction and start planning my gap here.

学校を卒業するんだけど

Now some people spend their gap here traveling the world, swimming with dolphins and building villages in Africa.

そしたら急にやることがなくなって、人生の方向性を見失うよね

And to me, that's what I wanted to do.

僕も2008年に高校を卒業した時はそうだった

I wanted a year of unbridled adventure and discovery was gonna is gonna be amazing.

大学には行きたかったけど

And then I got a full time office job staring at Excel spreadsheets for 40 hours a week.

どの学科に行けばいいか分からなかった

And it was the worst year of my life ever.

それで映画学科に進んだ　唯一の得意科目だったからね

Having finished school and delayed my degree for a year, I now found myself in an office job in an energy company, just moving numbers around a spreadsheet five days a week.

高校で成績が良かったのは映画学とメディア学で、どっちも「A評価」だ

My adventurous plans to travel around the world were destroyed by my lack of money on, even though I had two jobs, the relatively small amount money I made just about covered my monthly expenses.

ビジネスがB　英語はCだった

That certainly wasn't enough for any riel overseas travel on.

だめだったね

After a few months, I just became depressed as I realized my gap here wasn't going anywhere, just nothing rubbish for someone like me.

だから大学では映画を勉強して第2のマーティン ・スコセッシになろうと思ったんだ

He likes to be creative.

そうなったらすごいや、ってね

He likes to make things.

でも大学がいよいよ始まる9月になって

Being trapped in an office job with absolutely no creativity was just a horrific fate to be consigned.

急に悟ったんだよね　マーティン・スコセッシへの道は果てしなく遠いし

Teoh.

間違った選択をしたんじゃないかってね

But it was while I was working this mind numbing office job that my imagination started to take over, sitting at that desk for hours on end, doing nothing of any real value.

地元のスーパーで、映画学科を卒業した人と話をして分かったね

I became obsessed with the idea off entrepreneurship, and I got addicted to reading autobiographies and biographies of self made millionaires.

大学で映画学科に進むのはベストではないとね

People who had come from nothing on got on to do great things on while started sitting at this desk doing nothing, I became consumed by this idea.

だから学業は延期することにして

I started my own business one day in the future, and it became a bit of a running joke with my colleagues.

ギャップイヤーを過ごすことにした

I side sitting there on my lunch break reading books, as opposed to sitting with the usual crowd.

自分がどんな人間なのか理解して、人生の方向を考えるためにね

I didn't mind at first.

だから2008年の9月は

I found it quite funny.

仲のいい友達はみんな大学に行ったけど

But when I started talking about my dreams and my ambitions about starting a business, I kind of was met with lots of pessimism on laughter.

僕はみんなとは違う方向を向いて

Everyone was kind of very dismissive.

ギャップイヤーをどう過ごすか考えた

In the UK, you'll find people who are ambitious to kind of shot down and ridiculed.

ギャップイヤーの1年間は、世界を旅したり

More often than not, he tells someone about your plans, your plans to do something great, you usually just be dismissed on.

イルカと泳いだり

Uh, yeah, you just kind of put you down.

アフリカに村を作ったりする人もいるけど（ww）

It's quite the opposite to America in that regard, where everyone believes they can do something great and there's a real sense of entrepreneurship embedded in the culture.

僕もまさにそういうことがしたくって

But after six months of reading all these stories of entrepreneurs and becoming completely consumed by the idea of starting a business, I came to the worrying realization.

自由に冒険したり、すばらしい発見をしたりしたいと思ったんだ

I lack the self confidence in the sort of self belief to ever become an entrepreneur.

だから僕はフルタイムの事務員になって

Andi, I knew I would never succeed.

1週間に40時間もエクセルのシートを見つめることにしたんだ！

So I came to the conclusion.

人生最悪の1年間だったよ

The only way I was gonna ever level up was to do something really bold and out of character for me at the time.

野望

I just I did.

二度と退屈な仕事をしないための

I would give myself the ultimate challenge of living and working abroad on learning any language in a completely different country on throw myself into the thick of it University.

そういうわけで、卒業後、僕は学業を延期して

Quite honestly, this idea of living and working abroad really scared me, really was outside my compensation on the area of the world.

エネルギー会社のオフィスで仕事を見つけて

I knew I wanted to try living in Asia because I wanted to see the world from a completely different perspective.

エクセルの数字をひたすら動かしていくだけの仕事を　週５でやってた

I figured if I could live in the country in Asia on try and acquire a new language and adapt to a different culture than I could probably feel like I could do anything, and I knew as it was outside my comfort zone, there was a chance that it might work.

僕の世界を旅行して回る計画は

After doing some research online, I discovered the easiest job to get overseas was in English teaching job.

金欠でかなわなかったし

So in early 2009 I switched my degree from film to business on English linguistics.

僕は仕事を２つもしてたけど

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place in April 2009 when I went to visit my then girlfriend.

給料は少なかったし、月のやりくりもぎりぎりだった（お菓子ばっかり買ってたけど）

He was on a ski season in the French Alps, having the time of her life, which I definitely wasn't envious about.

そんなんで海外旅行なんて無理だし

It was on the trip to France that fake kind of jumped in and steered the direction my life would take.

だから数か月たって落ち込んだ

On the flight over, I found myself sitting next to a friendly middle aged couple, Onda.

ギャップイヤーを有意義に過ごせていないし

We chatted for the duration of the two hour flight.

ただただ、ゴミのようだった

We go on to the inevitable subject of what I wanted to do after university.

僕みたいにクリエイティブなことが好きで　ものを作るのが好きな人からすると

Andi.

創造性のかけらもない事務仕事ばっかりさせられるのは

I told them that I wanted to go and travel the world on, become an English teacher on live from work overseas, as luck or fate or destiny or coincidence would have it.

ぞっとするしできれば避けたいんだ

Their daughter was working as an English teacher in Japan on the Japan Exchange teaching program.

オフィスで退屈な仕事をしてると

The jet program on do.

色々と考えるようになった

They told me of their daughters amazing experiences in Japan on Apparently, she was having the time of her life and further out the duration of the flight.

何時間も机に座って、終始何の価値も無い事をしていると

They sold this idea to me, this idea of living and working in Japan.

何だか起業をしてみたくなって

After I got off the plane, there was a four hour coach journey from the airport to the ski resort on for the entire four hour journey.

大富豪になった起業家たちの自伝や伝記を読むのに熱中した

I just kept thinking of this crazy and exciting idea of living working in Japan whilst listening to Phil Collins because for some reason it was the only artist I had on my phone at the time.

彼らは本当に何も無いところから

But I didn't know a great deal about Japanese culture.

偉大なものを作り上げていった

I've never really been into animal mango.

僕は机に座って何もせず

I watched quite few Japanese films and lots of films set in Japan on I had lots of images and misconceptions about the country, but it was I was excited by what I didn't know about the country and what I could learn rather than what I already knew.

いつか、自分が起業した時のことを夢中で考えたんだ

I just pictured myself walking through these beautiful rice fields and temples, singing karaoke E and drinking beer with strangers and salary men having romantic encounters like Lost in Translation.

僕はいつも同僚に笑われたよ

I always wanted to visit the country that two weeks just didn't seem like enough.

昼休みにみんなと離れて座って、読書してため息ばっかりついてたからね

It was so far away that I never thought I'd ever be able to go on.

最初は気にしてなかったけど、やっぱり変だったよね

I realized by living and working there, I'd really be able to absorb the culture and truly appreciate the country and the language in the people.

僕が起業する夢とか野望について話をすると

And so by the time the coach pulled up with ski resort, remember getting off with this idea that I was going to live work in Japan.

僕はいつも悲観されたり笑われたりした

In fact, I remember saying to my girlfriend when I got off the bus, I've decided to move to Japan on Duh.

みんな僕の考えに否定的だった

I don't think she took me too seriously on to be honest, No, even I to myself that seriously.

イギリスでは野心ある人を見ると

But my mind was made up there.

否定したりあざ笑ったりする人が多いから

And then it was from then on that I started to read and learn about the culture on the next few years through my awful boring job through a degree that I didn't really enjoy in university studies, that board May Japan was my guiding star.

僕は偉大なことをするんだ、って誰かに話したところで

This idea of living and working.

大体否定されるし、落ち込むことになるよ

Japan gave me a sense of direction and purpose, and it made me realize the importance of having a dream and a sense of direction and a because after that, I became really motivated for the first time ever, actually put some serious effort into more academic studies in 3.5 years later, off that decision on that fast, lo and behold, I found myself sitting in a chair in my tiny apartment, swinging about noisy hall, having stood in front of hundreds of people and spoken in Japanese manage classrooms with 4 18 ages in just learned how to read and communicate in a completely alien language.

アメリカだと全く逆で

All my confidence issues and lack of self belief completely disappeared, faded away, and I feel what can truly do anything I want.

誰だってみな、素晴らしいことができるんだって信じてるよね

Now if there's one thing I wanted to take away from this video is I have a dream.

文化に起業家精神が根付いてる

Be bold, make it scary, make it challenging and then go on, do it.

6か月間僕は起業家の本を読みあさって

Push yourself out of comfort zone on.

本気で起業家になりたいと思ってた

You will feel amazing when you go off in triumph.

でも同時に不安もあった　僕は元々自分に自信がなかったし