Mhm Yeah.

Group.

Hey guys, this is totally unplanned, I'm going to be doing a Q and A.

But we are just going to do this?

We're going to wing it?

There is going to be just a lot of scrolling through questions.

So let's not waste any time.

Let's begin.

What is one thing that you regret not doing before you moved to Japan?

So one thing that I regret not doing is probably living in the States for at least a year or two by myself.

Maybe, I don't know, I feel like if that were the case, I wouldn't be where I am today But going back, if I were to ever go back to the states or something like I wouldn't know how to live as an adult in the states.

AM I excited for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

No, I'm not.

The reason being is because there's going to be a lot of people here.

Uh Yeah, it's gonna be chaos.

So I'm bracing myself for that.

What is one of the tips you have to overcome living in a foreign country.

Overcoming it's probably not the best word but maybe overcoming anxiety possibly I would say to do your research a lot before you move to that country, study some of the language, some of the basic language to make sure that you know how to get around, you know, go look for a community, there's a meet up upstairs facebook groups, there's all sorts of things that you can do when you move to a different country.

Do you have any idea what you'll want to do for a career after teaching or leaving Japan as of right now, I don't plan on leaving Japan but I would like to do what I'm doing full time.

I would like to sell some e books, get working more on my blog, I wish I could do that more full time, do more brand content for our instagram and maybe start a branding business of my own, we're a service to help people live and move to Japan comfortably.

That is my plan, but right now it's very hard when you have a full time job, what are the things you don't like about Japan?

Honestly, I love a lot of things about Japan to be honest, like this country is absolutely amazing.

There's, there's not too much to hate, but one thing that I recently really don't like is the fact that Japan doesn't really understand social media and Youtube and how it works kind of yet social media in Japan has been very, very slow and updating.

Social media has been very, very slow, but now I'm seeing such a change in Japan with that.

So I hope to see it really evolved in the future.

They're very behind on things like with music and up to date things and houses and it's just like, there's so many things that they're really behind on, another thing that I don't like is the work culture, a lot of people work really, really hard, there's really no breaks.

People don't really take time to spend with their loved ones in their family.

That's one thing that I don't like.

The other thing that I don't like is the sexual harassment that goes on in Japan.

How many times have you met your boyfriend in person?

If at all, I have not met my boyfriend in person.

Oh my God, it's so weird to say that you haven't met somebody when you skype each other every day and you talk on the phone every day and you text each other every day.

I feel like we really got to know each other by through the fact that we talk to each other so much.

I feel like nowadays that's how people are meeting is through social media and dating apps and all that stuff and I didn't expect it.

I deleted my dating app when I met him and I was just like done with dating at the time and we just really connected.

And the second question that someone literally like right next to each other was how did you meet your boyfriend?

And I think I talked about this in my long distance video.

We are long distance, he's japanese and he lives in the United States.

He lives in L.

A.

As a web developer and photographer and we met through instagram when I was just really starting to take off on youtube.

He had deemed me and he was like, hey I love your photos.

I really like to shoot with you some day.

This is the time where I didn't get like heaps of messages.

I answered him and I was like, yeah, I'd love to shoot with you.

And I thought he was in Japan because he looked like he was japanese.

So I was like, yeah, I'd love to shoot with you.

Then I realized that he lived in L.

A.

So I was like, oh, that's a bummer.

Like, like confused on what I should do because he was far away and I didn't want to get into a long business relationship again and blah blah blah.

I was like anybody that inspires me and that has so much passion in them is so attractive to me And I don't know, he was just a very vibrant, talkative, outgoing, positive, happy, mature person and I was just like, how could I not be with this person?

And now I'm going to see him for the first time in three weeks.

Stay tuned for that video.

Can someone who doesn't speak japanese teach english in japan?

Yes, you can not know the language at all and still teach english.

Like you don't need to speak any form of japanese that is not usually a requirements.

Kind of weird if it's a requirement I guess, but it is good if you can learn japanese, how much is anime a part of japanese culture.

Honestly like my brother when he came here, he recognized in places an anime which is kind of interesting.

Um I went to high school in Japan so I think it's pretty close like the culture part of it but it's not like you know magical girl drama.

The kids are very focused on studying and stuff.

It's very intense environments.

But there are a lot of things in anime that are very similar to Japan and life in Japan.

There's a lot of things that aren't similar and I feel like that's kind of like a good topic for another video like this like this video if you want a video like that I think that would be a good topic to talk about.

Have you taken the jail Petey if So what level are you?

I think I'm N.

Three that I have not taken the GLP T.

That is my dream to take the J.

L.

P.

T.

And I think I'm going to start with the end three.

But right now currently I'm super busy getting ready to leave for L.

A.

But once I get back in april I'm going to start studying, I'm not in any rush but I do want to eventually passed the n.

two level which is the level that you should have if you want to find another job that's not related to teaching here in Japan.

So what advice would you give to someone who wants to move to Japan but isn't a teacher.

So a lot of people that come to Japan are never initially teachers?

I was and I studied teaching and education and all that when I moved here, but you don't have to be a teacher to teach, but it's a good way to get your foot in the door to come to Japan because it's very hard to find a job that's not related to teaching, especially if you don't speak the language.

There are jobs out there that you don't really need language but they don't pay as well.

Just try it to immerse yourself in the culture, See if you like the country, see if you like living here, it's just to put your foot in the water a little bit and then once you get used to it and you're teaching for a while, um, you can grow your language skills, take the test.

Maybe search for jobs in Japan, it's much easier to find a job in Japan than outside, which is your favorite season in Japan and why my favorite seasons are not winter and not summer.

So basically everything in between.

I love fall because honestly fall and spring are amazing because the trees in Japan change, the colors change and the colors are so vibrant and beautiful and there's so many festivals and foods that are specific for that season.

There's just so much more sightseeing opportunities during those times is the best travel time?

It's amazing.

So those are my two favorite seasons, Do you think it's still worth starting a Youtube blog or channel In 2019?

Yes, I think it is a good idea to start any time and it's never too late.

You're never too old.

But I give you one advice, you have to have the personality, you have to find your own creative niche is going to be hard in the beginning, your videos are not going to be the best in the beginning.

Mine were scrapped in the beginning, but I grew and you learn and you study in your research and you see what people react to and then you research other Youtubers and I did a lot of research and a lot of studying and a lot of things that have been helping me grow.

I would really love to help you guys with vlogging and instagram and all that stuff.

I love it so much, I love it, love it, love it.

Which university did you go to?

I went to michigan state University and I studied japanese as my major and I was in the secondary education program.

I'm studying japanese on my own.

Any tips or tricks for the best way to learn what I found when I was studying in college actually was, we did a lot of like speeches, we had to have a lot of conversations in general using phrases that we learned in our books, phrases are honestly the best way to learn a language.

So if you're watching a tv show, pick one person like for example, there's a show called terraced house.

If you're watching a show like that, pick one person in that house and try to listen to what they say and write down those phrases or read the subtitles and write down what they're saying and go through them over and over again each day learn vocabulary and phrases and I feel like that's one way to really, really succeed in the language.

How long could you survive in Japan without knowing japanese?

I feel like you should know japanese.

I had a friend that lived in Japan for like 10 years and she barely could speak it and she was always struggling and she was always speaking in english to people like they knew english and it was odd to me like why would you assume that?

Honestly if I didn't know the language I would have to have somebody come to the bank with me.

If I had a problem I would have to have someone make phone calls for me and get help and it it would be hard.

So honestly I think that you should study japanese before you move here.

What's your height?

I am 160 centimeters so I'm like 5 to 5 ft two pretty short.

I'm a small girl.

I'm petite anime is what got me interested in Japan.

Are there any that are your favorite?

I used to love anime and very old school because I don't watch any new anime anymore.

I'm always, I've always been more of a video gamer.

Like I've played World Warcraft.

I was into Final Fantasy online.

I was like such a nerd.

I'm huge Zelda fan anna may.

I was in love with obviously poking on.

Um, I was into to NAMI so I watched a lot of Inuyasha and I loved Outlaw Star.

That was like one of my favorite anime.

I was a little bit into dragon Ball Z because I had to have a twin brother.

So we used to watch those things together.

Card captor, Sakura was my favorite all time magical girl series.

I'm obsessed with it.

I was such a fan back then.

So those are my top enemy.

But I don't really have any new ones that I watched currently.

I watched Attack on Titan the first season.

But after that I got really busy so I haven't had time to watch any more seasons.

What was the Visa you got for when moving to Japan and what was the process my Visa.

I got a long time ago basically I had a lot of health because of the jet program they help you out with everything but I had to get fingerprints which was annoying af because they did it wrong like three times.

So I almost wasn't able to go to Japan which was horrible fingerprints.

You have to get health check all that stuff you have to get shots before you leave, they tell you, they give you a list of things that you need before you move to Japan.

It was a long process a lot to do.

I was on a work Visa and I'm still on a work Visa.

Visa is called specialist in Humanities.

There is also an instructor visa, which the jet program gives you an instructor Visa is a Visa that you get when you are working in public schools, specialist in humanities, Visa is for working at an a kiowa which is like a school, like an after school program.

Anything that's not a public school specialist in humanities is also for other businesses.

So like if you're doing like video production and stuff like that, that's usually specialist in humanities, specialist in humanities has a wide range of things that you can do.

And so most people that work are on that, Do you think language degree is worth it?

No, I don't.

I got a Japanese degree and I've kind of regret it.

If I were to go back, I would do something in marketing or communications or something and have Japanese is like a second major or maybe a minor because the reason why I got Japanese is because I wanted to be a teacher in Japanese.

Um and that didn't happen and that's pretty much the only thing that you can do or do translating, which you really have to study the language and be consistent, but I feel like degrees in general, like nowadays it's just, it doesn't even matter anymore colleges such as scam you guys, have you ever dealt with any kind of racism in Japan?

Yes, I have when you're finding out how like a house or an apartment, there's a lot of racist people that don't allow foreigners and all that stuff.

Also a lot of snack shops and restaurants that don't allow foreigners as well.

So that's some kind of racism.

I've heard um people talk about me like oh that um foreign girls should go back to your country and all that stuff and you hear it, but you just kind of tune it out.

There was a time where I was checking out was with my ex boyfriend at the time, I was at the convenience store, I was buying something, I was really fast, like I've been living in Japan for a long time and I was like just taking out my coins and the drunk guy and his wife is drunk wife, they were like hurry up, you stupid foreigner, like they were really aggressive, like it was pretty bad and my ex boyfriend almost got in a fight with this guy, he was so nasty to me, he was just like go back to your country like really loud in front of the counter, the service person and but yeah, it was a pretty scary experience, the police came, they were trying to tell the guy to stop and he was just really drunk.

But yeah, it was a scary thing and it happened like so many years ago.

But yeah, I did experience some racism in Japan.

Do you eat mac and cheese with a spoon with a fork?