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Terms apply. Wow!

1:03

Hello and welcome to the Abroad in Japan

1:05

podcast. Probably the best way of learning about

1:07

life in Japan without actually being in Japan.

1:09

I'm your host Chris Broader, we're joined as

1:11

always by England's top Japan enthusiast, Mr Pete

1:13

Donaldson himself. Pete, how the devil are you

1:15

doing? What's going on? I'm good Christopher. What

1:17

is going on in my life? Chris, I

1:20

can exclusively reveal, I mean I don't know

1:22

why anybody else would be able to reveal

1:24

it or even be interested, but my

1:27

car has finally passed its

1:30

MOT. The

1:36

saga's over? Well,

1:39

is the saga

1:42

over or is

1:44

it just beginning? It's got

1:46

to be registered on the road. So

1:48

I've sent a postal order

1:50

off to the DVLA because that's how

1:53

things have to be done. You've got

1:57

to send either a cheque or a postal order and you've got to send it

1:59

to the DVLA. sit on your arse for about

2:01

six weeks before they can give you a

2:03

registration. Maybe I'll get one of those cool

2:06

registrations that says cool

2:09

dude one or something by accident, completely

2:11

by accident. Or I'm a dick.

2:14

I'm not seeing the appeal of like of

2:17

getting my care licensed number plate like

2:19

personalised. It just seems a bit. Oh,

2:22

there was a there was a Toyota Crown, like

2:24

a Japanese taxi for sale in

2:27

England not that long

2:29

ago. And their personalised license plate that came

2:31

with the car was Jap 1. It's

2:34

a bit on the nose. I don't know what it's

2:36

a bit on the nose, to be honest. And I

2:38

can see what it's trying to do. But

2:41

that's almost a slur. So, yeah, maybe

2:43

maybe chill out. Yeah, that is. No,

2:48

that's a terrible idea. Exactly. The

2:50

fucking license plates you get around. You

2:52

could write a book there at this point over

2:54

the highs and lows and ups and

2:56

downs of many, many lows, Chris, to

2:58

be honest. And when I did turn

3:00

up at the MRT centre, they did

3:02

go, this isn't a good car. Oh,

3:05

no. It

3:07

is all broken. But there's

3:10

just a couple of things in the

3:12

air around the air intake that has

3:14

clearly been molested, let's

3:16

say, and yeah, it turns out

3:19

like things like things

3:21

like gas struts and stuff for the hood,

3:23

they're relatively cheap as

3:25

it goes. But, yeah, once you start

3:28

getting into the anything towards the engine

3:30

just seems to get more and more

3:32

expensive, even secondhand from Japan, more

3:35

and more expensive. But I am getting quite

3:37

all fair with the Toyota Century Parts catalogue,

3:39

and if nothing else, that's

3:41

something that we've all learned along the way.

3:44

Well, next time I speak to Penguin

3:46

about any book that I do, I

3:49

will be like, I have a friend. He went through

3:51

a struggle worthy

3:53

of a book that

3:55

rivals the epic adventure of Lord of the

3:57

Rings going to MRT. Japanese

4:00

folklore, the man who wanted the Toyota

4:02

Century so much, he gave up his

4:04

life. Bloody

4:07

hell, he put me off. I've spent all

4:10

week in a room working on a

4:13

video, losing my mind. I don't

4:15

know, I've been doing a video, it's coming

4:17

out maybe today, I've been saying every day

4:19

for like a week, it's called How Expensive

4:21

Is It To Travel Japan. Turns

4:24

out, it's actually quite cheap to travel Japan

4:26

at the moment. I know, you know,

4:28

we talk about the yen a lot being

4:30

worthless but my god, like, I

4:33

worked out you can travel in Japan for two

4:35

weeks on less than a thousand dollars,

4:37

probably for the first time ever. And

4:41

you know, you're staying in capsule hotels and things like

4:43

that but like, there's bonkers, how cheap it

4:45

is right now. I did a bit of

4:47

research and I did the old Big

4:49

Mac Index, you know, the good old,

4:51

the cheeky, economist Big Mac Index, right?

4:53

And Japan is like, it's

4:56

insanely low. I think right now it's

4:58

nestled between Romania and Vietnam in terms

5:00

of the price for Big Mac, right?

5:03

In the UK and the US, it came to like $5.90 or something.

5:06

In Japan,

5:08

the price of a Big Mac right now

5:11

is about $3.06 and it's

5:13

just about half the

5:15

price to have a Big Mac

5:17

here. Forget your fancy ramen, forget

5:19

your Michelin star restaurants, get your

5:21

McDonald's to cry out loud. It's

5:23

bonkers. It really is. So I've got

5:25

a few friends coming over in April who are taking

5:28

advantage of the yen and if you are listening to

5:30

this and you've yet to book a trip to Japan,

5:33

do it now, go and do it. I

5:35

don't think the yen is going to get

5:37

better necessarily. I don't oversee it

5:39

or I don't think it

5:41

can when the population is plummeting so much

5:43

like the Nikkei and the, you know, the

5:45

Japanese stock market is doing really well at

5:47

the moment but that's not a great indicator

5:50

of a country's economy. Yeah, I'd go and

5:52

book a holiday, go and do it now.

5:55

Crack out the credit cards, come on

5:57

down. Even you people. off

6:00

there. Exactly. We've got a

6:02

story this week from Matt and Ellie

6:05

and it begins. Hello Chris and Pistol

6:08

Pete. Me and my wife recently went

6:10

on our honeymoon to Japan. Something we've

6:12

wanted to do since we're both teenagers.

6:15

We're both now in our early thirties. On

6:18

our adventures

6:20

around Kyoto we were trying to find our way to

6:23

the Arashiyama bamboo forest from the Golden Pavilion

6:25

and thought we should take the 108 bus

6:27

nearby. Very specific. The 108 bus.

6:30

We made our way to the station and

6:32

saw a bus already there with the last

6:34

person in the queue stepping aboard. Not sure

6:37

when the next one would be. We ran

6:39

over and managed to jump on. Oh dear.

6:41

I eagerly looked around and confidently reassured my

6:43

wife that we should be back at Imachi

6:45

JR train station within four stops. Around

6:48

ten stops later it became clear we'd

6:50

got on the completely wrong bus. Naturally

6:53

we've all done this and we're

6:55

now heading anti-clockwise. The wrong way

6:57

around the circular route. I

6:59

felt a sense of shame having been

7:02

far too confident in my navigation skills.

7:04

Thankfully we had Google quickly pinpointed our

7:06

new path. However, what would normally

7:08

have been a stressful situation anywhere else

7:10

in the world gradually became one of

7:12

the most relaxing and rewarding mistakes of

7:15

our lives. I'm not sure if all bus drivers

7:17

are the same in Kyoto or if we had

7:19

somehow stumbled upon some

7:22

unique hybrid public transport slash

7:24

ASMR experience. But

7:26

our bus driver had the silkiest voice

7:28

we'd ever heard. After ten minutes my

7:30

wife and I were melting in our

7:33

seats at this smooth voice. The

7:35

Morgan Freeman of Japan mile accounts washed

7:37

over the Tanoi to announce each stop.

7:39

Perhaps we underestimated how tiring exploring a new

7:41

city could be. Perhaps it was the motion

7:43

of the bus or the driver's voice but

7:46

we were tempted to go around for another

7:48

lap. We weaved our way

7:50

around Kato and eventually returned to the

7:52

central station. Thirty minutes After

7:54

we'd made the sprint to get on the bus

7:56

on reflection, we were quite pleased to have made

7:59

the error and convinced that Japan really does. have

8:01

the best public transport on the planet. Thanks.

8:03

Radio Stories Matt Adelaide A

8:05

far cry from Pig Donaldson

8:07

this trade announcements do remember

8:09

your shouting at the trade

8:11

announcements from a Jr your

8:13

when I say like similiar.

8:16

Similiar. Civil Yeah, it's just

8:18

like being there guys. you don't even need

8:20

to spend that money we talked about. You

8:22

don't need to buy him a Mcdonalds. To

8:24

do Yeah, that's how they speak on

8:27

the roof shit ago. Us allies as

8:29

her shit again. Ah Ny a dozen

8:31

others as you. The gas will aside,

8:33

I went with the same with I'd

8:35

Cbs. It didn't quite work. Sally quite

8:37

offensive. Didn't mean to put a certain

8:40

amount on the domino to align. They

8:42

do say Cebu Yeah, needlessly needlessly What

8:44

my day. Or me, that's

8:46

I don't think I've ever been on a

8:48

bus in Japan of so oh yes, the

8:50

voice of this is nice. Soon.

8:53

As it is notable like suffixes

8:55

is a specific so is over

8:57

little a mans there is a

9:00

matter from Buemi still works in

9:02

one of the convenience the options

9:04

at a hundred a week. And.

9:07

Departures and brought. He has this

9:09

beautiful kind of Riyadh a role

9:12

kind of American kind of voice.

9:14

Susana talks like this and and

9:16

every time he basically goes in.

9:19

this is a great choice Sir

9:21

Assists and Athena oh beautiful The

9:23

where the wild beasts and am

9:26

And also there was a man

9:28

who we did karaoke with in

9:30

Osaka and a bomb above seven

9:33

years ago as who's probably still

9:35

with us and still. kicking a

9:37

ball still don't karaoke would imagine who

9:40

did all of the male parts of

9:42

the song i was that shower a

9:44

song that that we did have can

9:46

the day the i won't be the

9:49

world leaves the well russell a d

9:51

c c c or he would do

9:53

all of the male voices very very

9:56

deep indeed we are the world we

9:58

are the children are lighter Yeah

10:00

and it was astonishing, it really

10:02

was beautiful. Wow. I

10:05

am envious of people that have a good kind

10:08

of voice for voice saving, like Connor,

10:10

I hate my voice. That

10:13

guy's got everything going for him. You know, you're

10:15

nearly there Chris, you know, being a younger man

10:17

and all. But Connor, hello,

10:19

I just, wow. As

10:22

a voice over artist of little

10:24

repute myself, who made a career out of

10:27

him. A friendly voice. 15 years.

10:29

Oh yeah, I'm northern approachable. As

10:32

the ITV2 interviewer for that job

10:35

said, Peter, we just need someone

10:37

who sounds stupid. What's,

10:40

because he's got the northern friendly voice right,

10:42

in the UK. Northern friendly voice, yeah. What,

10:44

where would Connor fit in? He

10:47

would be the authoritative kind of,

10:49

I could see him advertising a

10:51

nice car. Ah yeah. He

10:53

did work for Samsung I think. The Samsung. Yeah, I

10:55

could see that. Galaxy. It's

10:57

insane. The galaxy's insane. Yeah,

11:00

he's got a good voice, I'll give him that. It's

11:02

interesting the different kind of, you know,

11:04

the different voices for being a voice saving. I

11:07

am not, I hate doing voice saving. I spent this

11:09

morning recording the same line over

11:11

and over again. Because I wasn't happy

11:13

with the way I sounded. And it's

11:15

a curse. A curse I tell you. Any

11:18

advice to improve? What was the line? Tell me

11:20

what the line was and I'll do it for

11:22

you. It was like, staying at a hostel is

11:24

a lot cheaper than a capsule hotel generally, but

11:26

you can't sleep as well. Something like

11:29

that. It was something like that. I don't know why my impression of myself.

11:32

Like that. Matt, Matt Berry in the chat. Give it a

11:34

bit of sugar. Give it a bit of sun. I

11:37

love the way my impression of myself

11:40

is awful. It's

11:51

just me, but even more nasally. And

11:53

even more twatty. Unbelievable. Anyway, we've

11:55

got a story this week. We've got two

11:57

stories. One's up with you. ones

12:00

are not fun one which one do you want

12:02

to start with Mr Dalton? I

12:04

want to drop the non-fun one entirely TVR's

12:06

boring well I'll bash you the boring one

12:09

and then we can have the good one

12:11

for dessert all right Japan is the only

12:13

country in the world that requires spouses to

12:15

use the same name but after decades of

12:17

inaction appetite for changing is building couples in

12:19

Japan are free to choose which surname to

12:22

take when they marry but in 95% of

12:24

cases it is

12:26

the woman who changes her name often

12:28

with reluctance now attention is turning to

12:31

the archaic law that forbids married couples

12:33

from using separate surnames inconvenience aside

12:35

campaigners say the insistence on using

12:37

the same surname is a

12:39

sign of Japan's lack of progress

12:41

on gender equality I would say

12:43

Chris that people who

12:45

do have different names and have children with

12:48

one of the other names it's

12:51

quite difficult it's it's annoying and

12:54

you've got to like spend a lot

12:56

of time explaining stuff and even then

12:58

you know if you're a dad and

13:00

you don't have the same name as

13:02

your child and for a million different

13:04

reasons and you are trying

13:06

to board a plane people are

13:08

a bit right right and

13:10

what's going on naded so

13:12

so it's it's sometimes a

13:14

little tired yeah but obviously

13:17

the that's a wider issue

13:19

in the patriarchy rather than the specific

13:21

one so yeah they're gonna be changing

13:23

things up apparently there's a lobby group

13:25

at Japan Business Federation who's

13:28

collected testimony from professional women who've fallen foul

13:30

of the single name requirements and

13:32

yeah we were with the times

13:34

are changing hopefully and they

13:36

would be able to cherish a name that represented their

13:39

family's history and is a part of their own

13:41

identity is it

13:43

fair to say as I always say

13:45

at this juncture Chris that changing

13:48

your name and how

13:50

important your name is in

13:52

Japanese bureaucracy and administration I

13:55

imagine going into a bank and having to change all

13:57

of this is is quite difficult so it would be

13:59

nice to keep your old name. Yeah I mean I with

14:02

the paperwork factored in here right it

14:04

would be a nightmare I think changing your name. I

14:06

don't know I've never done it really I wouldn't I

14:09

wouldn't know and I've never known anyone to speak

14:11

out about this problem to me that

14:13

I know but it

14:16

you know it just seems a bit outdated that you have

14:18

to take you both have to have the same name just

14:20

a bit. One of those things

14:22

isn't it like I also here

14:25

you can't have dual passports

14:27

you have to decide if you want to

14:29

keep a Japanese passport and toss

14:32

away your other nationality which

14:34

is a bit archaic I think but this is

14:37

one of those things isn't it Japan's behind on

14:39

it but eventually

14:41

they'll change their mind. I'm annoyed

14:43

because as we reported on they were gonna

14:45

get rid of the hanko stamp right you

14:47

know a little plastic stamp and we're

14:49

gonna get rid of that and it was like

14:52

okay we got rid of the hanko stamp job done and

14:54

then nobody did it and then they

14:56

just sort of gave up it

14:58

was kind of odd I think there must

15:00

have been a lot of pushback from banks

15:02

and whatnot but like I went into my

15:05

bank to try and do something they

15:07

were like have you got your stamp I was like

15:09

no but we don't need our stamps now do we

15:11

and they were like you can't do it

15:13

fuck off I got really

15:16

angry I was traveling the

15:18

next day somewhere overseas and

15:20

I had to do this thing and they wouldn't

15:23

let it happen I got I've

15:25

never been angry I've never been angry in

15:27

a Japanese shop or bank

15:29

or anything but I was like visibly

15:31

like this is this wise is happening this is

15:33

awful I hate that I

15:35

thought we got rid of hanko stamps

15:37

why why do we make them it's

15:39

a miracle the city is flourishing in

15:41

Tokyo it's a miracle that the businesses

15:44

or the markets are flourishing

15:47

when the underlying technology you

15:49

seem so incredibly antiquated I

15:51

thought Chris Broad was the

15:53

stage name Chris Broad yeah

15:56

I thought you'd Change

15:59

your name. The Chris Broad because if he wanted to be

16:01

abroad in Japan. Your

16:04

real name's Johnny. Shit specific

16:06

a lot Obama damages it

16:08

in Japan. My. Sister too much

16:10

of a sloppy we could we David Japan emphasis on

16:13

made a joke about it. How. I

16:15

I'd american guy came out to me when oh

16:17

my god. You're. Days in Japan avoid

16:19

one form of allah and ago reality when

16:21

I told me that want all right now

16:23

they call me. Dave. In Japan and

16:25

it's similar. know I bought good when he

16:28

couldn't actually like find a way to monetize

16:30

your name. To. Me a long time.

16:32

I hate my name. Broad is awful and

16:34

I got here on icing on I don't

16:36

nice. It was made account. The name line

16:38

is Eland he maintains it was him. Maybe

16:41

by all Uma. easy fucking naval on

16:43

each channel and I was like our

16:45

broader could work. he maintains his him.

16:48

And. Up by not giving him a royalties. Butter.

16:51

Yeah I think when you can cash in on

16:53

your name he wants and I said. Where's.

16:56

Your cashing in on your name Mr.

16:58

Donaldson. Score! at the disco. I'm a potluck

17:00

go champion. has like, well, That's

17:02

a much better on ended night. I like Pete

17:04

Champion. Some. Coal

17:06

plant or you could say cities in the

17:09

Change defeat champion. Oh I was naive I

17:11

look for that. To be honest I'm in

17:13

my upset my parents for. A

17:15

slightly higher you must never expected.

17:17

He v p instant loans and

17:19

asked him donny time I think

17:21

the Us a little unwieldy passing

17:23

out on farming. Well as I

17:25

said no as I'm in proponents

17:27

are you know who? Anyway, Christie,

17:30

what the m second the second

17:32

him new story a bright as

17:34

manager at lawson convenience store mistakenly

17:36

ordered nine hundred and ninety nine

17:38

on a given ah aligns itself

17:40

as as evidence and due to

17:42

expire the following day realizing that

17:44

they'd made a big mistake they

17:46

took to twitter to enlist people's

17:48

health declared the shelves abscess the

17:50

to post shows a picture of

17:53

the fully stocked shelving unit with

17:55

you completely full of beauty fully

17:57

aligned on a geely a coating

17:59

the picture The post says, Kaga

18:01

city Yamashira Onsen, Lawson,

18:03

Yunamachi Yamashira Onsen Kita Branch. As of

18:05

9am on March 4th I made a

18:08

mistake in ordering 999 pieces of Hidaka

18:10

Kombu. The

18:13

deadline for receiving 999 pieces was

18:15

only one day. Please help

18:17

me. And there were 600,000

18:21

views on the post and all

18:23

of the honor giri were sold thanks

18:26

to the pleas from the manager. Could

18:29

he not have given them away? Could

18:31

the manager not have given the honor giri

18:33

away to the needy or anyone

18:35

who wanted them? Did he have

18:37

to sort of make people

18:39

buy them? Well

18:42

I mean honor giri cost something like 180

18:44

yen. So

18:47

180 yen times a thousand

18:49

is a lot of money and I suspect he would

18:52

have got his head chopped off behind the managers like

18:54

why did you just blow us all the money? Why

18:56

did you blow all the money? Why is it all

18:58

gone? I

19:00

looked up Kaga city, it's in Ishikawa and that's actually

19:02

near where the earthquake happened. So maybe

19:05

they could have donated it to the earthquake victims nearby. That

19:07

would have been kind of cool. But I'm

19:09

just glad that he got rid of them and they didn't

19:11

go to waste. There's like a mottai and

19:13

I sort of culture in Japan, right, this

19:15

idea of like don't ever waste the food.

19:18

Waste packaging, waste all the plastic, waste all

19:20

the cardboard, don't worry about that. But don't

19:22

waste the food. So

19:25

I could see this being like a real issue, you

19:27

know the idea of having all this honor giri. But

19:30

power of twitter or ex as it's

19:32

now known. Of course. Didn't get

19:34

you honor giri. But like yeah it's

19:36

the power of the internet. To get rid of that

19:38

much honor giri is a win. Because it

19:40

only lasts a day right? After one

19:42

day numerous of the times I bought

19:44

honor giri and gone I'll have it tomorrow. And

19:47

then you pull it out tomorrow and it's kind

19:49

of like hard and congealed and wrong. Yeah I

19:51

mean honor giri is a classic kind of like

19:53

that's the thing you get with the fun stuff

19:56

in a 7-eleven. And

19:58

Especially on like A. When you're bit

20:01

drunk and you do buy all of the food and

20:03

then you get back and then the next day all

20:05

you've got left is a is one of those in

20:07

in Iowa or and may be some kind of sweet

20:09

you'll get during carried in one Fsf naturally. Red

20:12

eyes good stuff like our a Happy Ending

20:14

their half his one particular nice nor as

20:16

you can change your name on a man

20:18

bought. You might want to get wonderful stuff

20:20

since it's lovely. Wake of these were that's

20:22

right guys your stories Cabazon questions is the

20:24

fax machine. Not.

20:29

Normally, being a little extra can be

20:31

a bit much. But when it comes

20:33

to health care, it pays to be

20:36

extra. And UnitedHealthcare makes it easy with

20:38

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Japan. Wow. And

23:04

we're back with the Facts

23:06

Machine. What have we got this week from

23:08

our listeners Mr. Dollsford. Billison. We've

23:10

got a message from the Facts Machine,

23:12

Message number one from someone calling themselves the Fat Finn

23:14

Diesel, which I would like to see. Some might suggest

23:17

that the Diesel has let himself go a little bit,

23:19

but I'm not going to comment.

23:21

Hi there. It's a three week

23:23

standard stint of Tokyo Osaka at Kyoto with

23:25

an offshoot to Kanazawa. I

23:35

was hoping for some tips to make this trip

23:37

truly memorable, but not in that typical sappy romantic

23:39

way. I want to look out for something

23:41

that might initially shock or surprise her,

23:43

but will become funny years down the

23:46

line and a memory for life. Is

23:48

there a novelty buy you can recommend?

23:50

Such a twerking sumo wrestler waiter or

23:52

a junkyard themed hotel. Anything

23:54

seems possible in Japan. Suggestions welcome and

23:56

I'll gladly report back. Thanks for the

23:58

best. Fat Finn Diesel. Fat

24:01

Venn Diesel. I

24:04

would say Fat Venn

24:06

Diesel, or FFVD

24:08

as I call you now,

24:11

that you

24:13

may think at this point in time that

24:16

something shocking or surprising is the way

24:18

to go. I, as

24:21

presumably an older man, will

24:23

suggest that that sort of stuff comes back

24:25

on the bum a little bit. Unless

24:28

you go to the Biting on the Bum bar, which

24:30

is in Shibuya, man can

24:32

have Bikes on the bum. Probably

24:35

is a flake. There was that bar in Osaka

24:37

that's a bit odd where

24:39

it was staffed by chubby girls.

24:42

They did the rounds on PR

24:44

and it was called Chubby Bar

24:46

or something ridiculous in Osaka. And

24:48

yet the girls weren't really chubby,

24:50

they were just sort of chubby

24:52

by Japan standards, which is like

24:54

an average western person. They'd eaten

24:56

9.98 on a giri. Yeah,

24:59

but I always thought that could be quite

25:01

interesting. It wasn't really up my street. I

25:04

think it would have been really awkward me just sitting there

25:07

in the corner being like hello I don't know

25:09

what I'm doing here. I'm out of my depth.

25:11

But what if a Japanese man sat down next

25:13

to you and thought you were a chubby girl?

25:15

Hello. They've got a

25:18

wig. Oh God. I

25:20

mean, what is there that would

25:22

shock people in Osaka and Kyoto?

25:25

What is there in Maputo? I

25:28

would steer clear of the maid cafes, the

25:31

themed maid cafes, because I've never been in

25:33

one but I would say that they do

25:36

represent, they

25:38

do kind of to western tastes represent an

25:41

extension of the second industry. Right.

25:43

They're a bit like ugh, this is gross. So

25:46

I'd go for some, like just a silly bar. A

25:49

silly bar. You know,

25:51

just Google animal bar and

25:54

then you'll get a bar with a weird animal

25:56

in it. There's just always like freaking eagles. And

25:58

that's better than a maid cafe. monkey

26:00

serving food. Yeah exactly well maybe not

26:02

a monkey but I think a bar

26:06

with a tank with penguins in

26:08

you know there's enough stuff kicking

26:11

a wall. I

26:13

mean I went to that bar where the monkeys

26:15

serve you drinks with Natsky years ago back

26:17

in like 2014. That was a popular

26:19

video wasn't it? It did okay I

26:21

took it down the end because I felt it

26:24

wasn't I mean the guy clearly liked the monkeys

26:27

but I don't know what the ethics

26:29

are around having a monkey a maquette

26:32

serve you a beer and in my

26:34

case I ordered some chicken you can sort

26:36

of go in sit down all

26:38

your food and drinks and enjoy said food

26:40

and drinks and then at a

26:42

certain point after about an hour some

26:44

horrible music comes on and then

26:47

the monkeys all burst out of a cupboard

26:49

and they just came straight from my table and

26:51

just took all my chicken and I was like

26:53

this isn't good this is shit that's

26:56

my dinner this isn't funny

26:58

he's just taking my dinner. The

27:00

restaurant getting their food back off

27:03

the couch like but yeah in the end I

27:05

took it down because I wasn't sure it was

27:08

ethically right to share such a place

27:10

I wonder if it's still there I've

27:12

not heard about it since so maybe

27:15

it got closed down maybe Natsky did

27:17

get bitten there by the monkey so

27:19

that was the price against the monkey

27:22

bar. All

27:24

better off and all things are all

27:27

acts are forgiven. Pretty

27:30

sure that's how Covid started as

27:32

well that's getting munched his fingers

27:34

munched off. We've got a story

27:36

a question rather from Charlotte from

27:38

Devon who says hello Peter and

27:40

Chris have you ever been to

27:42

Kokoro in the UK? Kokoro

27:44

is hard. They

27:46

sell takeaway Japanese food. Would

27:49

you guys ever consider making a video in

27:51

the UK trying different Japanese restaurants and telling

27:53

us which is the most authentic thank you

27:56

for the amazing content Charlotte from Devon. I

27:58

mean I I Then of have

28:00

been cockroach. Closer to the case that.

28:04

Sushi. Was the sushi one this because

28:06

my belt yo sushi off right. Together.

28:09

Plug. Your mama's awful Together.

28:12

Cocker. I haven't been. There.

28:14

Is it see? I think it says okay.

28:16

What's. The other one piece sounds like

28:18

Wasabi. these was I saw the yes

28:21

sir for your rights than or bad

28:23

and. Herbs a lesser and shorty

28:25

shorty Robin is the best ramen maybe second

28:27

only to a few days which is in

28:29

London. so of the my rounds eve be

28:32

a fair bit of Japanese food that in

28:34

London I right yeah I've done enough then

28:36

cochran obviously it's a chin and they're all

28:38

over the place man leak in Richmond like

28:40

around that so of area are all right

28:42

I mean it's it's it's very it's a

28:45

little just little bit like it so oh

28:47

saw be way to stir This guy is

28:49

very tidy. Boxes of sushi that I'm from

28:51

rooms of the too long for my two

28:53

cents per. Cent of the am

28:55

an ulcer, just just just m. C.

28:59

Or some Sweet Sour chicken. have some

29:01

hello. And. Then you can either

29:04

and rice of rom and know you know

29:06

it's it's it's eye on things easier transition

29:08

period are pretty good faith that for what

29:10

is the thing is I sounds they always

29:12

screw up the Saudi V M, the rice

29:14

east Ncc right the vinegar rise. By.

29:17

The I can't think of anywhere in the

29:19

Uk. Ravi in that gone ass was pretty

29:21

good. The ship home quality. they always screw

29:23

it up and I don't know how. It

29:26

does cycle of asset to get rice

29:28

like we take for granted. I Japanese

29:30

rice is extremely good toilet repair and

29:32

one all and not never had it.

29:35

To that quality over into the to

29:37

hide restaurant says it is hard. I

29:39

I generally try to avoid Jeffrey Street

29:41

in these cases. I've. Never

29:43

really had it by dumb justice and

29:45

have. Had it good. have never

29:48

had a good as Roman my grandma as

29:50

a tape of science atlas this is what

29:52

this is What Johnny Hits is all about.

29:56

The chance how Johnny shit talks may be. As

29:59

A.. Champion is a is is that

30:01

would be a little the very rare

30:03

though not as though they saw I

30:05

saw Lafell. Beautiful woods a whole lot.

30:07

Last question for patents he says l

30:10

a Christian reflective glasses place that gives

30:12

died on his glasses get yeah.sights guy

30:14

just got back. I liked. Episode

30:16

size. Average if he's

30:18

always glasses against. I just got back from my

30:20

first trip to Japan. And was seriously

30:22

considering living there permanently. Very good. I

30:24

currently work remotely and are moving to

30:27

another country is possible for me within

30:29

my role. Would it be possible to

30:31

me to Japan as remote working all

30:33

the best out of a nice? It

30:35

wouldn't because you'd still need a visa

30:37

in Japan. For. A company right?

30:39

That sounds a bit of knowledge. oh

30:42

no mud and and I suggesting Digital

30:44

Nomads a their suggesting a recent year

30:46

but I imagine as he gets a

30:49

lot something relatively near. yeah very much

30:51

site the Hang costs them removal the

30:53

suggestions and but as the actual as

30:55

perfect as actually adopting know as as

30:58

an ember incentive aura and impetus and

31:00

is a very different things that probably

31:02

always don't see. How do I don't

31:05

hold out much if it does have

31:07

to. And the Nomads visa. Assume he'll

31:09

be. Like suffice people and says

31:11

it's when the baby after like three

31:13

million dollars a month a month or

31:15

something you've been wants all the companies

31:17

that I died, i yelled asleep or

31:20

just turn up but why would do

31:22

if I was in your shoes Adam

31:24

I would. Dad's come here for like.

31:26

Three. Months of a bit of fun to

31:28

be at work. go after other country, travel a

31:30

bit more, maybe then come back to Japan. And

31:33

that if you like Japan so much want to

31:35

stay here. network while working here is a nomad.

31:38

Try me people find another way and for the

31:40

company could work for because I T stuff or

31:42

didn't really say when I take our I T

31:44

stuff is in high demands of the moment so

31:47

that yeah you'll find a way I'm sure. but

31:49

just coming over for a holiday first and death.

31:51

This. Is worth to the hotel room

31:54

and to is also jitsu hiring

31:56

since it's say they still exists

31:58

hiring. That. helped overthrow the way the

32:00

ones that obviously messed up

32:02

the systems for the post office

32:04

that meant that a lot of

32:06

people got imprisoned. Yeah I don't know what

32:08

that's all about I sort of missed that story over

32:11

in the UK. The systems had

32:14

erroneous data kicking around in

32:16

different post offices a lot of managers went to

32:18

prison for stealing cash

32:20

and money and and

32:23

the money coming into the stores but it was actually

32:25

just a computer mug and yeah

32:27

a lot of people went to prison

32:29

and and the government just ignored it

32:31

for ages the injustice of it all and

32:34

then there was an ITV

32:36

drama that basically brought it to

32:38

life and then suddenly

32:41

the Tories said oh we should do something

32:43

about this because there's an election on the way.

32:45

The Japanese at the

32:48

company Fujitsu did it actually do anything

32:50

wrong then or was it just an

32:52

honest mistake? I'm not gonna say what

32:54

we are today even though I kind

32:56

of did earlier on. I think that

32:58

that's all up for grabs but

33:00

certainly they have been pulled

33:02

into the circle of who may

33:04

have been to blame not

33:07

deliberately but just their computer systems just

33:09

had bugs in them effectively. I mean

33:11

there's there's plenty of Japan

33:13

corporate scandals you can sink

33:15

your teeth into. I remember there was

33:18

the Olympus scandal and there's a what's

33:20

the name Michael Woodford? I think a

33:23

British guy ended up running Olympus

33:25

on paper because it turned out

33:28

they'd more just hired him to look good while

33:30

they ran the company secretly the directors of whatnot

33:32

really good book on the Olympus scandal I remember

33:34

reading that when I first arrived in Japan and

33:37

it sort of creeped me out a little bit and

33:40

then the you know of course we had Nissan and

33:42

everything that went on there it made me realize that

33:45

sometimes when it comes

33:47

to law in Japan there's lots

33:49

of worrying things but

33:51

yeah Olympus scandal read that really

33:54

good book check it out keep

33:56

the stories questions comments coming in

33:58

to abroadjapanpodcast.com right away in

34:00

YouTube guys right away and we'll read them out there

34:02

as well. But for now, no matter where you might

34:04

be, out there in the big wide world, go and

34:06

watch How Expensive is it to Travel Japan. Out now,

34:08

on Abroad in Japan. If it's not out, I'm

34:11

going to be crying in a room because I've been trying to

34:13

get this video out. It's going to be good. Check it out.

34:15

But for now, have a great few days. We'll see you right

34:17

back here to do it all over again. We'll be boarding out.

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