00:01 John Daub: Hello everybody, we're live. This is the Only in Japan channel live streams from Japan. Today I have Miyu with me. Miyu, I've been on a homestay here in Yonago in Tottori Prefecture. Miyu is also living here too. Last time I was here about two years ago, we did an Instagram live stream where she took questions from everybody. It was a lot of fun because she could practice her English and you could learn a little bit about Japan. This time we have Miyu in my makeshift office in their house. They have a kimono business. Here she is. Are you ready?

00:47 Miyu: Yeah.

00:48 John Daub: Okay. I want you to think of some questions, keep it clean, and we're going to get some really interesting answers because I want to know too. Here we go. Here's the screen. Can you see?

01:01 Miyu: Yeah.

01:02 John Daub: Alright. Hello. Can you read?

01:09 Miyu: Hi.

01:10 John Daub: Okay. Hello. I can read. Well, I can translate, so if you don't know anything... Let's take some questions here. They're going really fast. Priority will go to Super Chats because I can read it. These questions are coming in really fast.

01:28 Miyu: Okay. I am 18 years old.

01:30 John Daub: Question is, how old are you?

01:32 Miyu: How old are you? Um. I am 18 years old.

01:36 John Daub: 18 years old. Question number two. Hi. You are so pretty.

01:45 Miyu: Thank you. You are so pretty.

01:47 John Daub: We'll take compliments. How are the assistant language teachers here? That's a good question. How do you start generally high school? How do you start? Do you have exams when you are in middle school?

02:06 Miyu: Yeah. Uh. Uh. I did entrance exam. And I entered my high school. And I studied in my high school.

02:21 John Daub: So, in Japanese schools, at the end of elementary school and junior high school, you will take an exam, a shiken (test). And this exam is so important.

02:34 Miyu: It's very important.

02:36 John Daub: If you do bad on the exam, you go to a bad high school.

02:40 Miyu: Yeah, bad high school.

02:41 John Daub: How is your high school?

02:45 Miyu: Number two in Tottori.

02:48 John Daub: Number two in Tottori. That's pretty good. Pretty good. She's a really good student. Miyu is a really good student. So, she's in one of the top high schools in Tottori prefecture. What's your favorite food?

03:00 Miyu: Ah.

03:00 John Daub: Isn't that easy? In Japan, do you know tebasaki (chicken wings)?

03:06 Miyu: Tebasaki? Kind of chicken.

03:08 John Daub: Oh. I'll search it. Oh, okay. Tebasaki. Do you know tebasaki?

03:14 Miyu: Yeah. That's really good.

03:16 John Daub: I know it. This area, right now, we're in Yonago, in Tottori prefecture. They have some of the best chicken in Japan. Tottori is beautiful. Tottori is really nice. They have a lot of nature. Just before this video, I made one on making tofu. And we went to a farm and we started from scratch, from the beans all the way to the final product. So, I've been up since 4:30 in the morning.

03:43 Miyu: Oh, do you have a picture?

03:44 John Daub: Yeah. Oh, that's great. So, it's like, that's the one with the bones in it, right? It's like chicken wings. Can you see? Tebasaki. Tebasaki wings. Chicken wings.

03:56 Miyu: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tebasaki. Good. So delicious.

04:01 John Daub: Very delicious. I love it. See here. High school is four years?

04:06 Miyu: No, three years.

04:07 John Daub: High school is three years. In America, it's four years. What is your favorite subject in high school?

04:18 Miyu: My favorite subject is English and PE.

04:25 John Daub: English. And physical education. I like PE too. I mean, that's kind of easy. PE is kind of easy. It's hard to fail physical education. Just showing up is like an A. Do you have boyfriend?

04:46 Miyu: No, I haven't boyfriend.

04:52 John Daub: Do you know anything about Singapore? Have you been to Singapore?

04:55 Miyu: Singapore? I've been there.

04:57 John Daub: Have you been to Singapore?

04:59 Miyu: Yeah.

05:00 John Daub: How was Singapore?

05:04 Miyu: So good. Marlion is so beautiful.

05:09 John Daub: Ah, the Merlion (mythical creature statue) is very beautiful. I like it. She's too young to have like Singapore slings and stuff like that. So those are pretty good questions.

05:21 Miyu: Do you know anything about Singapore?

05:28 John Daub: What does that mean? HAT is the most popular university. I don't know what that means. Sorry, Mario. The questions are coming pretty fast. Do you also have school on Saturday and Sunday?

05:44 Miyu: Shuumatsu wa (weekends)? If I have mock test, I have to go to school. But not mock test or other test, I don't have to go to school.

05:55 John Daub: Mock test? What's that? A mock, like a quiz?

05:59 Miyu: Uh-huh. Moshi (if). Oh, if I have a test. I have to go.

06:08 John Daub: If she has a test, she goes on the weekends. If not, you don't go. Shumi wa (hobby)? Club wa (club)?

06:18 Miyu: I joined sadou (tea ceremony), Japanese tea club. And I do ballet in my club.

06:30 John Daub: Wow. A tea ceremony club. Tea ceremony club. Sadou (tea ceremony). Is it difficult to join a club? Can you join any club?

06:39 Miyu: No. Only one, I can't join.

06:43 John Daub: Oh, I see. So if you wanted to do photography club, and there's too many people, can I still do photography club?

06:52 Miyu: Yeah.

06:52 John Daub: Oh, I like this. So you pick it. Nan demo (anything) okay. Anything is okay. Wow. After school tea time, I think so you practice. When do you practice? Is it once a week? But the most cannot not enough.

07:12 Miyu: Not enough yeah it's not enough once a week yeah yeah not hard yeah it is.

07:24 John Daub: Why are you keeping her up so late on a school night? It's not that late, you know 10 p.m. She's 18. Who goes to sleep? When I was 18 I didn't go to sleep. I never... I actually go sit on morning that's a different story. I wasn't arrested. That's the drone story you're talking about or what? I don't know. Roddy just chatted. All right I'm gonna go to bed now. You can you drive a car? Can water? No I can't have driver's license. Why not? Because I'm a teen. What's the age for driving? No go soda (can't go). I'm high school student so I can't get driver's license. Oh we have a question. High school students can't? That's strange. I learned how to drive from high school. We had a class.

08:38 John Daub: Von's question is, what's your favorite anime or TV show?

08:42 Miyu: Anime is... Hmm... TV show.

08:47 John Daub: Or TV show. What was it? It'll come to you. I can tell you mine. I learned Japanese with Chibi Maruko-chan. And Shabekuri 7.

09:07 Miyu: Shabekuri 7? I like Shabekuri 7. It is variety.

09:13 John Daub: What channel? TBS? Usually your favorite show you know the channel. Do you know about Arashi?

09:28 Miyu: Yeah, I know it's so popular in Japan.

09:31 John Daub: What is Arashi? I don't know. Johnny's group. I'm out of the loop. That's below my age. It's a different generation. How about Gaki no Tsukai?

09:51 Miyu: Oh, I know it! New Year's show.

09:58 John Daub: NHK's New Year's show on the New Years. If you're watching television on NHK on the New Years, you have a pretty bad social life. I can go out, but Japanese can't.

10:13 Miyu: Yeah, Japanese can't.

10:14 John Daub: In America, we do countdown parties. We go out, and then we go home. 10, 9, 8... In Japan, most people stay home with their family and eat kuromame (black soybeans).

10:35 Miyu: I know.

10:35 John Daub: Japanese New Year's kind of boring for me. You stay at home and don't do any... you just eat special foods. Drink lots of sake. On New Years, maybe. But she's 18. The drinking age is 20 in Japan, so you can't drink right now.

10:56 Miyu: Yeah, I can't.

10:57 John Daub: There's too many questions. What do guys eat cakes on Christmas? Why do you guys... Christmas cake! Why do you eat cake?

11:06 Miyu: I don't eat it!

11:08 John Daub: You don't eat it! What?! A lot of these traditions come from Europe. I think it's a German tradition that came to Japan, and in Germany, they eat cake or they have a Christmas cake. In America, we have pies. Like, my grandmother was English, we'd have mincemeat pie, which is like raisins and minced meat. We had pies, but cake... You order cake, right?

11:49 Miyu: Yeah, I order cake. People order the cake. It's weird.

11:55 John Daub: A little strange. When is your vacation? When do you take a break?

12:04 Miyu: When is your vacation?

12:05 John Daub: Someone vacation and spring vacation. What month? For example, winter vacation.

12:14 Miyu: I am not sure about the day. I don't know.

12:18 John Daub: Well, there's a calendar right there. Oh, a calendar. The emperor's birthday is a holiday, so you take a break on the 23rd. The 23rd is the emperor's birthday, so that's a holiday. You can thank the emperor for the 23rd. It's like the day before New Year's Eve is always a holiday. Then, from the 27th, it's always New Year's Eve. Well, I take a break on the 23rd.

12:51 Miyu: Oh.

12:51 John Daub: Okay, so for high school students, the 23rd until the 8th of January? That's a long time. Really? It's only about two weeks. From the end of December to the first week in January, about... Americans take two months off in the summer.

13:15 Miyu: So long.

13:19 John Daub: How long is your summer vacation?

13:21 Miyu: Three weeks or four weeks.

13:24 John Daub: Oh, like one month. Less... I think it's sort of the same. Somehow it works out to be the same. Maybe the school hours are longer in the U.S. or something, but I'm not really sure. What kind of place do high schoolers go for field trip?

13:49 Miyu: Field trip?

13:50 John Daub: Like when you're traveling to school? Tokyo Disneyland?

13:57 Miyu: In junior high, I went to Kyoto and Nara. But high school don't have field trip.

14:10 John Daub: What? So sad. Is this in the whole country?

14:14 Miyu: No. In Tottori, maybe.

14:17 John Daub: That's big news. I didn't know that. So there's no school trip... no field trip? Why? Any teachers in Tottori are watching this? You're awful! Give these kids a field trip, you know? High school kids don't have field trips in Tottori for some reason. What's your favorite... Yosoku (prediction)? Why are you moving so fast? No field trip, Simon. Tempura and raw fish.

14:54 Miyu: Asushi? Yeah.

14:55 John Daub: Well... Sashimi (raw fish). Well, actually, I don't translate. Sashimi is sashimi. Kimono is kimono. Sushi is sushi. It's a culture. So... Some people in Japan will translate Japanese words like sashimi. If you say raw fish, like my image is a fish that's... You're Japanese, right? But if you say sashimi, it's very particular. And that... I can wrap my head around that, but it's like, I eat raw fish. Maybe not. So you don't have to translate every word. What's your favorite past field trips? Kako no (past)? Suki na (favorite) jikou nara (field trip)? Gakko de mo (at school)? Gakko dake (school only)?

15:49 Miyu: Dattara (if so)... Kyoto.

15:51 John Daub: Okay. Jinsei (life)? In your whole life, what's the best place that you visited?

16:01 Miyu: I went to Philippines, Cebu. Tropical. In last summer. And for study abroad.

16:17 John Daub: Whoa. That's a nice study abroad. In the Philippines. Did you like it?

16:23 Miyu: Yeah. So good. People is very cheerful. The sea is so beautiful. My friend is so good.

16:47 John Daub: I don't know what that means. That's really cool. Gakko de ijime (bullying) warui hito (bad people) imashita ka (were there)?

17:03 Miyu: Tama ni (sometimes).

17:04 John Daub: Sometimes, I see... Two years? For example, what do you do if you get bullied?

17:17 Miyu: If you get bullied. For example. In English.

17:19 John Daub: English please. And a picture of that person. How do you say it in Japanese? Like. Put all. Oh my god really? Like take bad pictures of people and post it like on the locker. On the wall. In the school. Like post bad pictures of kids. But I don't know who did it. That's all? Other than that? Wedgie. Do they have wedgies? Do you know what a wedgie is?

17:58 Miyu: No. Wedgie. What is a wedgie?

18:01 John Daub: In America. This has happened to me maybe once. A wedgie is like someone's pants. You take it from the back. And you do this. You do it. And then you put your pants inside and it hurts. You don't have wedgies? We just have a wedgie. And then there's a super wedgie. And that's... I might have been a victim of a super wedgie. Thus would explain many things about me and why I am who I am. You don't do it?

18:31 Miyu: No no no no.

18:32 John Daub: I don't think Japanese bullies are... It's more psychological. And American bullies may be more physical. What is this? What do you call... Is that cute in Japan? Sugoi (amazing).

18:44 Miyu: Sugoi.

18:45 John Daub: What do you call that. If you don't know just pass.

18:52 Miyu: Pass. Sorry. Pass.

18:53 John Daub: What's your favorite music? Music.

18:55 Miyu: In Japanese music. I have a lot of favorite music.

19:07 John Daub: Top three.

19:11 Miyu: Top three? Smap? No.

19:12 John Daub: No why are you laughing? I thought they were good. Smap is kind of old. That's who was popular you know like when I first came to Japan. What is it? Top three? Number three.

19:36 Miyu: Nishino Kana.

19:36 John Daub: Nishino Kana. Number two.

19:42 Miyu: Kobukuro.

19:44 John Daub: Do you know Kobukuro? No I don't. Top. Number one. Who is it?

20:00 Miyu: Ayaka.

20:01 John Daub: Only Ayaka? Is there no other name? Finish. I don't know. People are... I do not listen. Why do you like Ayaka?

20:26 Miyu: Because the lyrics are good. Melody is good.

20:32 John Daub: Good tunes. Talented. Right. What about Smap? What's wrong with Smap? Von, another question. The age gap is showing. Hey, come on brother. I gave you 48. What would you do with 10 dollars? If you had $10 what would you buy?

21:04 Miyu: He said lip cream.

21:05 John Daub: Lip cream. Is it that expensive? What is this? This is Integrate's essence lip. It's a lip essence. Essence of lip. So, essence of lip. It's very good. It is good. Looks good to me. I don't know if it looks $10 good though. Oh wow, so we're getting a Filipino lesson here. Any other questions? What's your favorite movie? Favorite movie? Like, do you have a Hollywood movie that you liked? Or favorite actor or actress?

22:04 Miyu: Actress. In Japan, right? I like Kuroki Meisa.

22:12 John Daub: Kuroki Meisa. She's cute. When it comes to popular culture in Japan, no clue, no idea. I'm pretty clueless. Kuraoki Meisa is cute. Oh really? Hollywood movies?

22:30 Miyu: I think I know movies that everyone knows. If it's a movie that everyone knows, maybe Love Story.

22:44 John Daub: Love Story. In America, maybe. I think we have different tastes in everything. Pretty much nothing in common. Kuraoki Meisa is this. Wow. Japanese? Japanese actor. Wow, beautiful. She's pretty, right?

23:04 Miyu: Yeah, pretty. She's my age. But she has two children.

23:15 John Daub: Doesn't matter to me. Wow. But married, right?

23:16 Miyu: Of course. She married.

23:21 John Daub: I think that photo's had a lot of Photoshop work done too. Love Photoshop. Are you a video gamer? She's a good student. Good students don't have time for video games. Literally. How many hours a day do you study? English.

23:42 Miyu: Every day.

23:43 John Daub: How many hours a day do you study?

23:46 Miyu: I study for about two hours or three hours a day.

23:54 John Daub: Okay. So tell me about your, on a normal school day, tell me about what do you do from 7am, from waking up until going to bed on a normal day, what do you do? I want to know. That's my question.

24:14 Miyu: I get up 7am. And I wear my school uniform. And I wash my face. I brush my teeth.

24:58 John Daub: Okay, you wake up, go to school at 7am. I brush my teeth. Of course. I hope so. And I started studying in high school at 10. 9 or 10... 9am maybe. School starts at 9. The bell. About 9.

25:32 Miyu: And I eat lunch at 1pm. And after that I study again. And I finish the study at 3pm.

26:06 John Daub: You're like a robot. Oh wow, so 3pm. So school is finished at 3pm. And then?

26:13 Miyu: And then I come back home at 5pm.

26:29 John Daub: What do you do for 2 hours? Ride bicycle. School is 2 hours away? No, but... I talk a little at school. You take your time. Go slowly. She takes her time. It takes 2 hours from the school to get home. I take my time too, you know. No rush to get home. After that I go to my cram school. Ah, cram school. What time is cram school?

27:19 Miyu: About... 7pm from... 9pm. 2 hours.

27:21 John Daub: Ok, so 2 hours at juku (cram school). Wow, that's a long day. Why do you need cram school? We don't have this in America. Japanese studying is so fast. So it's hard to study before I take the class.

27:47 Miyu: Can't you study with your friends?

27:49 John Daub: Why can't you make a circle? Can't you study with your friends?

27:52 Miyu: I don't know.

27:57 John Daub: Ok, this is why maybe. In your class, you have a teacher, right? Sensei (teacher). If you don't know something, can you ask the teacher?

28:09 Miyu: I ask the teacher.

28:11 John Daub: I heard that nobody asks the teacher. Really? If you don't understand something, you'll say excuse me, what does that mean? Really?

28:26 Miyu: I ask.

28:27 John Daub: That's news to me. I thought in Japanese schools, people didn't ask... They ask the classmate next to them. Sensei, you're embarrassing. First, I ask next to me.

28:39 Miyu: I knew it! First, ask the person next to you.

28:46 John Daub: Do you know the answer? What is she talking about? I don't know! Should I ask the teacher? Yeah, like that. Right? This is my limited understanding of the Japanese school system. It doesn't work perfectly. So people go... But you understand, right? You understand after the lesson, right? So you understand the content of the exam, right?

29:11 Miyu: Yeah, I understand the content.

29:12 John Daub: So why do you need a juku? If you already know and understand the material in the class, why do you need to go to the cram school? To the juku? What do you learn at juku? Do you learn something new? Do you learn the same thing?

29:35 Miyu: I learn new things. Before I go to school, before I go to class, I study the content of the class.

29:46 John Daub: Okay, this is really confusing to me. I don't understand. But, new things... I don't like not understanding. If you're learning something new, how do you prepare for the test? If you're learning something new, the exam at school is not new, right? It's completely different, right? The exam at school?

30:08 Miyu: Yes. The exam at school is the content of the test I've done so far.

30:16 John Daub: I don't understand. Okay. So you go to cram school. Basically, if you don't understand, that's okay. In Japan, you just go, I don't know. I don't understand. And you just skip it and move on. Because you're not going to understand it. It's not worth getting worried about. Do you like rice?

30:36 Miyu: Yeah, I like rice. Rice is nice. I always eat rice. Every day. Three times a day.

30:46 John Daub: You ate bread yesterday, right? Oh, that's right. She ate bread yesterday. Or the day before. Because I eat breakfast here, too. Because I'm staying here. What do you want to do after high school?

31:05 Miyu: I want to become a cabin attendant.

31:12 John Daub: Flight attendant. Do you have to go to university for flight attendant school? Really? I want to learn about culture and English.

31:24 Miyu: That's smart. And English.

31:32 John Daub: That's actually a really good idea. Yeah. That's like what I did. I had a double major in college. I studied economics and English literature. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I figured if I just take these degrees, I have a flexibility to try something, and if it fails, then I can just go to my economics degree or something with business. What are you going to study in Japanese college? You're going to college next year.

32:04 Miyu: English and other cultures. I'm interested in other cultures.

32:19 John Daub: Me too. Actually, you should be a YouTuber then. She should be a YouTuber, right? If you're interested in other cultures, everybody watching is from... I can't edit. I'm not editing this. This is live. When it's done, it's done, right? So, I'm not going to edit. It says here the connection is a little unstable. I'm sorry if the audio or the video is going in and out. Apologies in advance, but... Did you see question? Oh, it's already been 30 minutes. I'll ask a few more questions.

33:03 Miyu: Do you have part-time job?

33:05 John Daub: I don't have part-time job because... I can't do part-time job.

33:13 Miyu: And you can't?

33:15 John Daub: Yeah, because I'm high school student. My high school prohibit doing part-time job. Oh, it's prohibited? This is really strict. A little bit too strict. How many languages can you try to speak?

33:41 Miyu: No. I try only English.

33:45 John Daub: When you were in Philippines, did you learn any... English. So, in Philippines, you learned English? In Philippines, most people can speak English. Interesting. Why? Where is Japanese people? Okay, one more question. Tagalog.

34:08 Miyu: Yes, you can speak Tagalog.

34:11 John Daub: Really? Did you study that? Oh, interesting. So, I'm looking back if I missed any of the questions. Have you ever been or watched Takeshi's Castle?

34:23 Miyu: Takeshi's Castle? What is that?

34:27 John Daub: That might be the English name to a Ghibli movie. I'm not sure. Sometimes I don't even know. Why do you want to know? Ever been or watched Takeshi's Castle? I don't know what that is. Rahul, I want to answer your question, buddy, but I don't know what you asked. Maybe somebody can ask some help. All right, we'll take one more question. We have so many questions came on the live stream here. The next question to come that's not gibberish or somewhat obscene. Is it okay in Japan to punch someone in the face when they annoy you? Listen, you know what, try to keep it not bad. Keep it nice and clean. Japanese can't punch. Something about school. You're the number two school in Tottori.

35:37 Miyu: Yeah.

35:38 John Daub: Is there a limit? How many people can go to the high school, your high school?

35:47 Miyu: My high school? Is there a limit? I don't know, but I think it's about 300 people. In the first grade. One grade.

36:10 John Daub: It would really stink to be on the bubble. You don't want to be on the bubble. You want to be, whatever the average is, you want to be like two steps ahead in Japan. And that's, and you know, just to put a little rivet on it. The way that the Japanese system is set up, it's set up in a Japanese way. And if you can understand and navigate the Japanese system, you're probably going to have a really good understanding about how Japanese society works. There's the way that it works at school. Is it the best way? Probably not. But it's the way that the society works. And if you can navigate these things, you know how I know. Because I'm trying to get a driver's license right now and I'm jumping through every single hoop imaginable. And it's just part of the Japanese culture. It's not about how safe that you drive. It's about how well you know the course. That's the secret to the driving test. That has nothing to do with how good of a driver you are. Do you do math?

37:06 Miyu: No, I don't like math. So I don't major.

37:13 John Daub: Ah, yeah. If you don't like math, you're not going to major in math. Although the math and sciences, we would say, right? If you're a mother or father out there, you probably do either math or science. Good for engineering. Practical job. What's this? Ghibli products. Ghibli. What's your favorite Ghibli movie?

37:36 Miyu: Totoro. I love.

37:40 John Daub: Yeah, me too. Totoro. Okay, thanks a lot for these questions. So we've been going for almost 40 minutes. Thank you very much.

37:45 Miyu: Thank you, everyone.

37:47 John Daub: Okay, one last one. This is kind of funny. So did you ever get punished? When you do something bad, what do your parents do to punish you?

38:02 Miyu: When you do something bad? What does punish mean? Punish.

38:05 John Daub: For example, I'm going to do this totally in English. If I break something in my father's office, he'll get very angry and say, John, you have to stay in your room for the rest of the day. Just go to your room. Don't come out.

38:30 Miyu: When I do something bad, if I do a bad thing. My parents said, Miyu, I can't give you money.

38:47 John Daub: They give you money? Like an allowance. Every week. Pocket money. Okozukai (allowance). They dock your allowance. That stinks. That's how it is. Actually, when I was a student, I had a job. You try to dock my allowance, mom. I was a paper boy. I delivered newspapers from age 11, 12, and 13. I think I was 12 years old. It was a while ago. 1988.

39:20 Miyu: Arigato. Yes. Thank you.

39:22 John Daub: Thank you. So if you had some fun, hit the like button and leave a comment. And if enough people like this video, we'll do another one. Because I'm going to be in Tottori for another 10 days or so. So maybe we'll have a second chance to ask Miyu about Japanese life and Japanese school. Because I don't know anything. She knows. She has all the answers. Ask Miyu. In English. Arigato. Thank you, everybody.

39:48 Miyu: Thank you. See you. Good night.

39:50 John Daub: Good night. Okay. End.