I think Japan might be one of those few countries in the world where
you can sit and eat Ghana
and drink Sour Calpis
whilst simultaneously watching a man
hypnotizing a woman into having a seizure on National Television
in front of a very large man...dressed as a woman
UK has Cadbury's, America has Hershey's
Japan of course has Ghana
which is the finest cheapest chocolate you can get, for about a hundred yens
It's great, I don't know if it has any connections with Ghana, or somebody thought
"Let's call it Ghana!"
Really great! If you come to Japan, definitely buy this stuff!
And there's no better way, to wash that Ghana down with a nice can of Calpis! Calpis Sour
I guess that any drink..that claims to be filtered through vodka and charcoal
will to same degree, taste like Calpis
So I have been in Japan for about 2 months now
I feel like I'm no longer on holiday, I really do live in Japan
And this is quite weird for me 'cause this is the first time I've ever lived abroad
So one of the things I wanted to talk about is Culture Shock
As its something who affects people who move abroad for the first time
And it's something that I've had now particularly as I don't speak Japanese
And it's quite a weird sensation
There are 3 stages to Culture Shock
The first is Initial Euphoria
This beer came with a free hand towel
How good is that?
Oh look, there are Buddhas...carved in the rock
Oh my god those sushis
What are all these colorful things?
Woaw that is a mountain!
Oh a vending machine!
It's a vending machine
Oh another vending machine!!!
I just opened my bank account, and I got a free towel...a FREE TOWEL with my BANK ACCOUNT
You would NOT get that in the UK!!
Yeaaah....it's a.........water bill...
The Second is Irritation and Hostility
Literally, I'm running out of room for these f....ing towels
I just got my Internet but I feel a bit of a snag
I....can't read any of this...
Where are the god damn muffins???!
Hello I'm having problems with my Internet
Oh I don't speak Japanese
English...? No?.....Okay
Yeah, well I don't need the Internet anyway
What are they on about?
The third stage is Gradual Adjustment
And I think that's the stage I'm in now
There are days where I feel like i'm in a giant theme park
and there are days where I feel like there is a barrier between me and the Japanese people
So at least Culture Shock is driving me to learn Japanese
Pushing me. So in retrospects it's probably a good thing!
There's a big theme of convenience in Japan
And you're never far away from two things:
Convenience Stores, and Vending Machines
Vending machines sit pretty much on every street corner
In the UK having a vending machine on every other street just wouldn't work
Simply because they would get smashed up after only 45 minutes
Here in Japan you can put one in the middle of nowhere
Because of the almost non-existent crime rates
It's not a problem
Small convenience stores line every other street
Opened 24 hours a day
11 days a week, 365 days a year
And you can do some pretty cool things at the convenience store
From buying airline tickets to paying your water and electricity bills
Unless like me...
you can't read your bills so you just put them in this special Japanese cupboard designed to put your bills in
Because you aren't gonna pay for something you can't read
All the way up until you get deported
One of the most convenient tools in Japan, is this:
It's called a Hanko Stamp
And basically it's your own personalized stamp
which you use to stamp all the hundreds and millions of documents you get on a daily basis
And I'd never heard of it before I came to Japan
And there are entire shops dedicated to craft these personalized stamps
and selling these cases
And you can get some pretty pimped-up stamps made of like gold or silver...
..depleted uranium..
Little holders for your stamp it's pretty cool admittedly
And I like using it coz I feel like a lazy gangster
Because you do get so much paperwork in Japan as well, it's easier than doing a signature again and again
It's a lot of fun to use
And I quite like stamping things just for the fun of it
As I mentioned in my last video
My kitchen is quite small, designed to make you eat out every other night
Because in my mind it's too difficult to physically prepare dinner or food in such a small space
But to some degree this kitchen is once again a good example of Japanese innovation on foresight
because by having such a small kitchen, I eat out every other night
and in the process making me walk to restaurants, keeping me fit!
So, to some degree, the Kitchen is keeping me fit and healthy
Although I did just get a car
BUT one of my favorite places is a chain of sushi restaurants called Kappa Zushi
And it's popular with families or with people who like to stuff their face with raw fish, soy sauce and green tea
All for a 1000 yens which is 8£ or 12$
When I first started going I thought, like most things Japanese
it had a real air of convenience about it, after all
your food comes to you on a conveyor belt
or you order it on the screen and it comes to you on this little train
Which is amazing, it's honestly the future
but now, in train form
and you wonder why all your food isn't brought to you on a train
It just makes sense
But what I find is it's not the convenience of it all that's impressive
but how it's actually designed to make you eat more than you'd actually want in the first place
And maybe it's me just being greedy but...allow me to explain!
You go in, sit down, pour your green tea
and then you go up to the screen, ordering what food you want
While you're waiting for 5 minutes for the train to pass by, you'll inevitably take some things off of the conveyor belt
Just..just to get you started
And when you finish those, the train will probably pull up
with all your food
and off you go again
When it's time for Round 2 you turn your attention back to the screen
Go through a few pages
And you come across something called...
First bonito Concrete Floor
And this isn't just any Bonito Concrete Floor, this is the FIRST Bonito Concrete Floor
Err..assuming that there's...more than one
Bonito being "beautiful" in Spanish, or at least I thought it was
and when you see something that says Bonito Concrete Floor
which is either a ridiculous mistranslation
or just the world's greatest order at a sushi restaurant
You inevitably get it!
And sit there and wait!
If you're someone impatient like me, you start taking more and more fish from the conveyor belt
So when the Concrete Floor finally does arrive
And disappointingly appears to be just some sort of fish
instead of a bag of Concrete
You feel a bit disappointed
You know, when you order a Concrete Floor, at the very least you expect a Concrete Floor
So, you start ordering more fish
So the cycle continues, you'd order off the screen, while you're waiting you eat more food off the conveyor belt
And when you've finished, the experience culminates with you
walking out stuffed full of raw fish
and with your monthly bank balance decimated
Well that's the end of the video
I'll be putting up my next video in a few weeks
I actually spent most of the budget for this video
on that shot of the windmills at the start
So here's that shot again
And, yeah, any questions, ask away
See ya later
There are three stages to Culture Shock
The first is Initial Euphoria
WTF is that?
Shut up
There are 3 stages
There are 3 stages to...
Oh my god that bird is gonna die
There are 3 stages to Culture Shock
Oh this is not happening
Come on! Shut up!!
There are 3 stages to Culture Shock, the first is Initial Euphoria...Oh my god!
That bird..
What is it doing
Why is it so loud?
The best thing about the 24hour convenience store is
At 1am you can go and get some sort of roll
And, I'm quite excited about this..
Fried Potatoes with....Toothpick?
I'm excited coz i've never had potatoes out of the hot cooker thing
They have a really good hot food section and.. there we go! let's give it a shot!
They might've been out a while
They're pretty bad
But generally the food is awesome
I recommend it, get some hot food from Seven Eleven
Fuck shit
Just dropped a chip in the cooker