Japan Working Holiday Visa Experience One Year Later

00:00:01 John Daub: Welcome to Tokyo! There goes the Shinkansen and we are in Yurakucho where in this episode we're going to be talking about something that a lot of people are thinking about working in Japan.

00:00:15 John Daub: I'm joined here with Alex. Hey everyone. Alex has been living here for now a year. I can't believe how fast the time went by.

00:00:24 John Daub: Alex is going to share his experience living here in Japan on a work holiday visa. Is that what that's called? Exactly.

00:00:32 John Daub: And anybody from Germany can get this? Or is this anywhere in the world?

00:00:36 Alex: There are a couple of countries that are participating in this program. Depending on where you're from there might be a limit of how many people can get the visa and maybe even there are different requirements depending on which country you're from.

00:00:52 John Daub: Depending on which country you're from. But in the case of Germany it's until you're under 30 and you can show your embassy, the Japanese embassy in your country that you have a certain small amount of savings to support yourself the first couple of weeks or months in Japan. Pretty much anyone can get it and get the chance to live and work or study.

00:01:16 John Daub: Americans can't. Here I am. Americans can't get this, right?

00:01:22 Alex: No, I don't think the US is on the list.

00:01:23 John Daub: It's mostly the UK. So there's a number on this list here that shows you the maximum. And then there's some countries with no limits like Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and Germany is on that list.

00:01:36 Alex: So I wonder why that is. I guess it's just with some partnerships where Japanese can also work in these countries? Exactly. I think it's a mutual agreement. So I guess it depends on what kind of deal the foreign ministries of Japan and the respective other countries have. But yeah, Germany is among the lucky ones. No limit for us.

00:01:56 John Daub: We like to say the blessed because also when it comes to getting driver's license in Japan, there's some certain states that are blessed and some certain states that are not. And my state was not blessed and I had to take the driving test and fail it many times.

00:02:11 Alex: Norway has no limit. Portugal has no limit. Denmark, mostly the EU countries. Argentina even has these work visas. Interesting. But again, nothing in UK only has a thousand and nothing from the United States, which is a shame.

00:02:28 John Daub: Which is you got to come the old fashioned way. Eikaiwa, English language. So you came here right as soon as Japan opened the borders from the pandemic.

00:02:41 Alex: I was waiting. When I came, it was in December last year and I think they opened the borders for tourists or for in November. So when I came, papers I needed to prove that I'm vaccinated and stuff like that.

00:03:04 John Daub: Right. That was some heavy pandemic time back then.

00:03:06 Alex: Yeah. A lot of paperwork, a lot of, not chaos, but a lot to do at the airport before you could actually enter the country. And actually the last time I came here was just as a tourist four years ago. So right before the pandemic. So I came right before and right after.

00:03:35 John Daub: And I noticed that when I came in December, it was still, you could still feel the pandemic in Japan. People were wearing masks, every single one of them on the train. Not that many foreigners, not that many tourists. The foreigners that I met were usually living here for a couple of years already since before the pandemic, studying or working.

00:03:53 Alex: That's when you first came here.

00:03:57 John Daub: So now that we've established here, why did, what was your interest in Japan anyways? Why would you want to, and do you want to say how old you are or is that tough?

00:04:11 Alex: I know that I'm 22, almost 23.

00:04:19 John Daub: Everybody under the age of 30 from the blessed countries.

00:04:23 Alex: I mean, it might depend again. It might be different from other countries, but mostly around 30 and maybe the money you need to have in your bank account might differ, but it's like yeah.

00:04:38 John Daub: Wait. So when I met you the first day, cause Alex has been on the show, you were like 17 or 16 or something?

00:04:40 Alex: I was 18. Almost 19 and now I'm 22, almost 23.

00:04:47 John Daub: Oh my, time really goes by quite fast here. So you got into the country and what was your purpose for that? What was your purpose with your work holiday visa? What did you want to do with that?

00:05:04 Alex: First time I came and first time I met you guys here on the channel, I was just here as a tourist. And I fell in love with Tokyo and with Japan so much that I said, okay, this is not enough. Like two weeks, three weeks, four weeks is not enough for me. I want to really take my time and get in touch with the people, with the language, eat as much food, see as many places as I can.

00:05:20 John Daub: You didn't eat enough. You're like real thin.

00:05:24 Alex: High metabolism.

00:05:27 John Daub: Currypond.

00:05:31 Alex: So, and then the pandemic came. So I had enough time in Germany that I was, I was still a student at the time. I was working and I didn't, because the pandemic was an issue in Germany too, I didn't have a lot of fun things to spend my money on. So I was saving, studying, working and just being patient until when I can come back here and enjoy, spend my savings.

00:05:52 John Daub: What did you need to do to get the visa? What was the process like?

00:05:57 Alex: It's pretty easy. So as I said, you need to have, you need to show them your bank account, your savings, which is essentially enough to buy a flight ticket and a flight ticket back. That's approximately, I'm not sure, maybe it was 2000 euros in my case, something like that.

00:06:17 John Daub: That's a low threshold.

00:06:19 Alex: So it's not the money that's going to, again, it's a work holiday. So you're supposed to travel and work.

00:06:27 John Daub: Can any business hire you?

00:06:30 Alex: You can, within this one year, you can do whatever you want. You can work at McDonald's. You can also work a full time corporate job. You're pretty much, there's one restriction. You can't work like in the nightlife industry. So like nightclubs, bars.

00:06:45 John Daub: No hostess clubs? Was that disappointing to you?

00:06:50 Alex: That was actually my plan when I was, no. No. Well, hey, they make pretty good money. Maybe that's why. I think it's like to protect people from abusing the visa to get people into something shady. I don't know.

00:07:06 John Daub: And then you need to submit your itinerary to prove to the embassy that you're interested in Japan and write down for maybe each month or each season of the year, say, I want to travel to this part, this part of the country. Basically, show them that you're coming to spend money. To travel around the country. Just say it. And spend your money everywhere.

00:07:26 Alex: And then it takes a couple of weeks. And then you leave your passport at the embassy.

00:07:31 John Daub: That's an issue. So maybe if you don't live close to an embassy or consulate, that could be an issue because you have to go in person and drop off your passport, which means you can't travel until you get your visa.

00:07:43 Alex: In my case, it took about two weeks. And then you have to go again in person. So I'm lucky I'm from Berlin. I have the embassy close to where I live.

00:07:55 John Daub: J-Rates in here sounds way easier than I would have expected.

00:07:58 Alex: It's really a good opportunity if you want to get an easy way to get your foot into the country to do more than just sightseeing for a couple of weeks to really have, you know, be able to take your time.

00:08:15 John Daub: So now let's break this down here. So now we know the process and why you came here and what was it like to enter. The jobs. What exactly did you do here over the course of the last 300 and something days?

00:08:30 Alex: So in my case, I wanted to do something where I can meet a lot of people. I like the creative industry. I wanted to get connected.

00:08:38 John Daub: Tell me about this photo here. So I don't know if some of you guys might know this guy. His name is Sho. He's a rapper. He's been one of the veterans in Japanese hip hop. And just recently, for about a year or two, he's also been going viral in Germany. So I met him in Germany by chance. Now I came here. And I started to do like extra TV modeling, just entertainment industry jobs. Nothing too crazy. Just whatever is fun and can get me some extra money here.

00:09:15 Alex: With him, I went on a music video shoot the other day. It was pretty fun.

00:09:18 John Daub: Did you get a chance to drive any of those?

00:09:20 Alex: I didn't get to drive, but it was pretty unreal to stand close to those. It's kind of getting to take a look at some of the culture in Japan behind the camera as well, which is really interesting.

00:09:36 John Daub: You have some other photos here. Is this like that's Shibuya, Hachiko, right?

00:09:40 Alex: The Scramble Crossing in Shibuya, one of the first photos I took when I came here. I think one of the first places most of you guys will visit when you come as a tourist even.

00:09:56 John Daub: So that's pretty much the cool thing. You get to do all the touristy stuff, you know, see all those famous places. This is another modeling job that I did for a fashion company.

00:10:17 Alex: I think you can find it. But anyways, you're a model. So that was a good experience. Did you have a lot of jobs over that year? And how did you get into it? How did you find these jobs?

00:10:43 Alex: So one of the easy ways is you can register with agencies. There's dozens of. There's dozens of agencies that specialize in foreigners and you can just register. It's not that hard. And anyone I think anyone can do it no matter your age or your looks or anything, because when they need a foreigner to appear in a certain commercial, they will just reach out to the agencies and they will see what fits the profile and send out emails. And then you might go to an audition or maybe just submit your photos. And it's pretty easy to get selected for a job.

00:11:28 John Daub: Could you work in an arcade?

00:11:31 Alex: Yeah, I could work at McDonald's if I wanted to. I could work. It's you could work at a bank if you wanted to. You could do whatever you want to work for the United Nations. You could work at big camera. Yeah, you could do almost if you wanted to.

00:11:54 John Daub: So it can be you want to collect work experience maybe to put on your CV someday. It's a way where the visa is not in the way to find a job to you can just come and submit your CV to whatever job and you have this one year, you know, where you could have worked at Nintendo and you failed to do that.

00:12:20 Alex: I could have.

00:12:22 John Daub: You could. You're pretty much free. You could work at the Toho cinemas and make this movie. The Godzilla movie. Can I help? Can I zoom in? I think that's already playing at theaters now. This looks so crazy. And I was in Shibuya a couple of days ago and they had Godzilla's head on a truck going around the city. So catch that at a local cinema near you.

00:12:55 John Daub: Back to it now. You had to. Where did you live? How did you find an apartment? I mean, you're starting from scratch, right?

00:13:02 Alex: So in my case, it's called the monthly mansion. There are those small apartments that are furnished and you can you just pay per month. It's usually like a house or so. In my case, it's just it's really like a one K, one kitchen, one room apartment all for myself.

00:13:23 John Daub: Which is, I mean, kind of expensive because renting can be kind of tough as a foreigner. I think in Japan you need usually the Japanese guarantor or a house. You have to pay this deposit or key money, like high amounts of money. All of that. All of that is not an issue with the monthly mansion, but it's kind of pricey.

00:13:37 Alex: A cheaper option would be like Sakura House or like those share houses. I think that's what a lot of people do that come on a working holiday visa, which is like a hostel where you have maybe your own room, but you share the toilet, the kitchen.

00:13:56 John Daub: What do you need in order to get one of these?

00:14:00 Alex: I need to have a work visa.

00:14:03 John Daub: Can a tourist get this as well? In my, with the company I used, the visa or the deposit doesn't matter. You just have to, you just pay the certain amount. You can use your credit card to pay and get a place.

00:14:20 John Daub: What kind of people are in this monthly mansion? Like degenerates and criminals and stuff?

00:14:17 Alex: I have no idea. It's just a normal apartment in my case. I didn't, I don't even meet the neighbors. It's just like.

00:14:23 John Daub: Oh really? So that's typical Tokyo. It's very. Nobody talks to anybody in the mansion.

00:14:28 Alex: I don't really meet my neighbors.

00:14:31 John Daub: No other foreigners, basically?

00:14:33 Alex: I didn't see any, no. I think only Japanese people in my case.

00:14:38 John Daub: Interesting. And do you want to say the town that you're living in?

00:14:41 Alex: I live in Otsuka. It's close to Ikebukuro. Yamanote Line.

00:14:46 John Daub: That's a nice area.

00:14:49 Alex: It's good. It's convenient. Lots of students. But quiet.

00:14:58 John Daub: Now you're at the end of the year. How do you feel about that?

00:15:02 Alex: I feel it took me a couple of months to feel really welcome here. And for the first couple of months it felt like solo traveling just without that return flight approaching. But once you start making friends and maybe through work or whatever.

00:15:25 John Daub: Get some connections. Was it hard to make friends? Do you have Japanese friends here?

00:15:30 Alex: I have Japanese friends now. At first most of my friends were foreigners actually. Because I didn't really have the confidence at first to approach people in Japanese. Now I'm fine. I have I think a 50-50 social circle.

00:15:44 John Daub: It took me a while to make friends in Japan too. And unless you're staying in one spot for a very long time it's really hard. Because it takes time for people to get out of their shells.

00:15:57 John Daub: Monthly mansions I have had to live in them as well. But they're usually quite nice. It depends on the ones that you pick. But there are different price points. They're not all the same. So you get pretty much what you pay for but the area that you choose will also determine the price. So Otsuka maybe a little bit cheaper than say Shinagawa or near Shibuya or something. They're probably going to be a lot.

00:16:52 John Daub: What has been your favorite experience? What has been the biggest memory the biggest experience that you've taken from your time here in Japan over the last year?

00:17:02 Alex: Now you're putting me on the spot. I mean, it's been a year so I don't think there's this one experience or this one memory that is really standing out. But just to have to really feel like I think as a foreigner you would never be 100 percent part of society. But still to have your everyday life here and also kind of maybe get used to the inconveniences. Are part of living in another country or living in Japan in particular and start managing to overcome them and to maybe see still the positive sides and be like OK this is like this is reality here.

00:17:46 Alex: I'm not living I'm not living in this bubble of coming as a tourist which is great of course which is a great experience. But if you really want to dive in deeply. Which is what I wanted to do and at some point to have the feeling OK like I really live here now.

00:18:05 John Daub: You live in Japan. They give you a residence card and everything.

00:18:12 John Daub: So this work holiday visa is a one time deal or can you extend it. Does anybody know can you extend it?

00:18:20 Alex: It might be a once in a lifetime chance. I don't know. You can you can extend student or work visas right. Working holiday is kind of special so.

00:18:34 John Daub: Has anybody let me ask for audience participation here. Has anybody who's watching ever done a work holiday visa? I would love to hear from you in the comments below. Were you able to parlay a work holiday visa into a full time job? How do you do that? What's the process? Let's say you do work for a year. And you find some really great jobs. You find some really great people and you want to stay in that job and continue to work and help. Let's say you're out in the countryside. They really need you. You're a valuable part of your community. I'm sure there's a way that you can stay and do that. I want to hear from you down below. The next step after a work holiday visa if you really love living here is finding a way to stay.

00:19:11 John Daub: So I bet you want to stay here.

00:19:13 Alex: I do. I do. But you can't. You're being ripped away.

00:19:22 John Daub: The end of the working holiday is approaching. So it's then it's up to you to find a way. I'm sure your mom disagrees. She wants you to come home.

00:19:30 Alex: She might be watching and see that I'm happy though. Berlin's like another world. It's really far away. Other side of the globe pretty much. Nine hours in a flight. Ten if you take a stopover.

00:19:42 John Daub: Did your family come at all?

00:19:45 Alex: No. Not this time. I had my sisters visit. Two younger sisters. They came visiting. They needed to lean on you because you knew all about Japan now.

00:19:54 John Daub: I was the guide. That's the way it should be.

00:19:59 John Daub: Now I'm going to really put you on the spot now. What didn't you like? Living here as a resident is different than being here as a tourist. Obviously.

00:20:05 John Daub: I can tell you we have something called the six month blues where you just get frustrated a little bit and you start to that honeymoon period of Japan wears off. And it's not that fantasy land that everybody says it is, you know, like living in an anime or something.

00:20:22 Alex: Did you ever have that? So, I mean, since I don't work full time here and I think Japan is especially notorious for their work culture, I didn't really get into that culture's talk in that aspect.

00:20:39 Alex: But there was a point where I kind of checked off all the points on my sightseeing or my tourism list or like my Tokyo bucket list and where it was really like up to me to keep myself, to remind myself of why I'm here and why this is the place I want to be in. Because if you go to, I don't know, to Shibuya Crossing or to Sensoji Temple for the tenth time, it doesn't look the same as the first time.

00:21:16 Alex: And then maybe you, you know, you start to have people speak not your native language around yourself. You have to have this language, face this language barrier day after day, which is also different when you've been here for months or even almost a year. So it's those like small inconveniences of being in a foreign country that might or might not be tiring to you. But in my case, just wanting to be here. Just to be in Japan and the things I'm passionate about, things I like, just one over those. I guess, yeah.

00:21:58 John Daub: So that's interesting seeing, it doesn't seem like your answers seem real safe. There was nothing that you hated about Japan. You had to get deep into it. Come on, you had to hate something. Like the bureaucracy, the paperwork, the way things take so long.

00:22:22 Alex: The bureaucracy, so, Germany is also notorious for their bureaucracy. You've learned, you've learned from here. You're too polite.

00:22:36 Alex: I couldn't say I hate anything, but the bureaucracy, that's a good point. I moved places from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro or Otsuka where I live now. Once in summer. And yeah, they made me go back and forth between the town, the city halls a couple of times. You need to submit a paper that you move out, and then you submit a paper that you move in. And you have to change your health insurance. So that could be. It's a lot of work.

00:23:14 John Daub: Yeah, in Japan, the rules are important. And look, don't try to fight the rules. Even if it doesn't make sense, just do it. That's the thing. In Japan, you just have to follow the rules. They're very important.

00:23:27 John Daub: Germany closes practically everything on Sundays, but not here in Japan. That's true. So there's a lot of differences to everyday life.

00:23:34 John Daub: So, you do, which one do you prefer? Let's face it. I mean, do you, are you looking forward to going back to Berlin? Do you have things that you want to do there if you can't stay here?

00:23:42 Alex: I'm looking forward to see my family, my friends. Especially for the holidays, yeah. But beyond that, I think I'm, for the foreseeable future, I see myself in Japan.

00:23:53 John Daub: That means you're going to have to find a job or do, you know, what I did, get married or start a family. Sometimes that will, then you'll never leave. You'll, I'll probably be here forever. I have family here. My company's here. My friends are here. Everything's here. I've got family in the States, but I've got family in so many different countries around the world. But at age 22, I guess you're not looking to settle down.

00:24:24 Alex: I mean, I don't think it's up to me to decide what 50, 60 year old me wants to do. So I'm just speaking for like my foreseeable future, next couple of years.

00:24:59 John Daub: So the career path, so nothing has been written yet on your story. The chapter, you're still in like chapter two, chapter three. Exactly. And I'm in like chapter four, maybe chapter 10 at this stage.

00:25:26 John Daub: So, if you do come back and you decide to live in Japan, what are you going to do?

00:25:41 Alex: So, I studied in Germany. I graduated. I'm not looking to become a student again. It's probably going to do something with what I'm passionate about, languages, cultures, or media, even entertainment industry, creative industry.

00:26:13 John Daub: YouTuber.

00:26:15 Alex: Maybe. Alex in Japan. That's probably taken.

00:26:28 John Daub: Gosh, when I was 22, I wasn't even looking as far as that you've already looked. You've done more things than I've ever done.

00:27:19 John Daub: But if you can do what I did by age 30, that's different because by 30, I'd done everything. So, like 69 countries, 70, but I round down there. And yeah, I'll be interested to see what happens in another year.

00:27:44 John Daub: So, if you do find a way to stay in the country or if you have any advice or if you want to hire him, he's looking for a job. According to Mr. Ninja Monkey 2, you cannot renew the visa here, the work holiday visa. You have to change it. So, if you need to hire in the countryside of Japan an English teacher or something, you have a 22-year-old bright student here who would like to work in your local... Will you work anywhere?

00:28:11 Alex: I mean, I love Tokyo, but I'm flexible. I'm open.

00:28:17 John Daub: So, you'd work in like Shiga Prefecture, middle of Nagasaki. Nagasaki or something on an island.

00:28:26 Alex: There's always a last resort. I really want to stay in Japan. I'm pretty... So, you'd work in Nemuro and Hokkaido?

00:28:37 John Daub: Again, there's always a plan. Do not say that Nemuro is a last resort. That should be your first plan. Nemuro is an awesome city. You got to sell it. You got to sell it. You have to fall in love with your local town. My first city was called Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture. Not a lot there. I lived across the street from a castle. But that will always be my first home. My first hometown in Japan because that's where I was a resident. I lived there for 14 months the first time I came here. That was a good experience. I think everybody should live in the countryside before they live in Tokyo.

00:29:08 Alex: But you've ruined it, Alex. You've now become a resident of Tokyo. Too late. It's hard to move out to the countryside after this.

00:29:14 John Daub: But I really appreciate you sharing the experiences. Alex is now a model. I like this photo here. What is that?

00:29:21 Alex: That's Universal Studios in Osaka. You were a model for Universal Studios?

00:29:27 John Daub: No, that was just visiting.

00:29:30 Alex: Oh, that's just. Too bad. I was a model for Instagram. For my Instagram only there. And for my family back home.

00:29:38 John Daub: What was that like? I'm sure it was crowded. Or did you go before the crowds?

00:29:43 Alex: It was early. It was in January. So not that many tourists yet. It was alright. I'm pretty sure it's more crowded now.

00:29:49 John Daub: So there's a list of the countries that can get work holiday visas if this is something that you're interested in. If you're under the age of 30 typically. I don't know about the countries, but you can see here the number of visas. And it usually will help applying in January. But if you're under the age of 30, you can apply in January. Or in April, when the new year. Because I think they do it on the Japan New Year. I don't know when the quotas start. It could be on April 1st or on January 1st. But there's a limited number in certain countries like Canada and the United Kingdom. And some countries have no limits, which is pretty cool. Like Australia. That's why you see a lot of Aussies here. And you see a lot of Dutch and Germans under 30 working, hanging out at the clubs. Did you go to the discotheque?

00:30:39 Alex: I might have once or twice, but it's not my. It's a technical thing. You went to a technical place because Berlin is famous for its techno.

00:30:29 Alex: But I escaped from Berlin for a reason. To get rid of. You were avoiding the techno? I wouldn't consider myself part of the techno scene.

00:30:44 John Daub: No raves?

00:30:46 Alex: No. That'll make your mom happy. She's watching maybe. Maybe, yeah. That's why I said it. He was very good in Japan. I can confirm almost.

00:30:55 John Daub: All right, well thanks so much for sharing your experiences. Alex is now a model. Anybody have a question for Alex? What's Alex's Instagram? You want to tell Mark here?

00:31:02 Alex: Yeah, I mean it's at Shozo Berlin, which is S-H-O-Z-O and then Berlin, the city. B-E-R-L-I-N. One word.

00:31:11 John Daub: So you have a lot of photos on there. Feel free to reach out if you want to know anything about living in Tokyo. Yeah, you can write to Alex for advice as well. And if you have a job that you want to give him, you can contact him there too. Please do.

00:31:26 John Daub: I prefer those over Tokyo, the countryside. So I'm trying to look and see. Nintendo would have been cool to work at. But that's not exactly what he wants to do.

00:31:42 John Daub: How about graduate school, going back to university here? Is that something you'd be interested in?

00:31:47 Alex: I mean it's an option, but I kind of left behind the student life in Germany. I want to do something that supports my life. Tokyo is not cheap, so. I have a lot of friends in Germany. They eventually got jobs or started businesses or something, but everybody, 10 of the 12 good friends that I have have PhDs, which is crazy.

00:32:23 John Daub: They didn't have a certain amount of money. So those with bachelor degrees were able to get jobs and they just had a lot of academics with no skills.

00:32:31 John Daub: You could work at, well, how's your Japanese, your Nihongo?

00:32:55 Alex: I mean, I can have a conversation. I try to practice as much as I can while I'm here.

00:33:06 John Daub: Did you need to have it to live here?

00:33:10 Alex: With the working holiday, I mean, it really depends on what kind of social circle you choose. Everyone can kind of order at a restaurant with a few phrases, so it's possible to live without, but you don't really get the full experience. If you avoid Japanese at all, I would say.

00:33:33 John Daub: Let's walk in this direction because this is where my bicycle is. We don't have to end right away. Take a look at this area. This is Yurakucho, which is just a stone's throw away from Tokyo Station in Ginza, kind of between there. You see the Shinkansen going by, and this is one of the places I think that you should stop. This Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan, this is also the international, just across from the international form. And a lot of places like Hokkaido has a store here, a satellite shop. We can get there. We can buy all the Hokkaido foods. The Osaka shop is gone, for those who know it. It's now a Godiva Bakery.

00:34:08 John Daub: So the work holiday visa, Heather, is one year, and then they make you leave. But we'll see what Alex can find in the next couple of months. Does he watch football? Soccer? And if so, how's the Japanese football scene? Did you go any of the football games? Are you a football fan in Germany?

00:34:34 Alex: I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan, but actually when I came, the World Cup was still going. Oh, right. And yeah, in Germany, I mean, I don't want to talk about it, but I think it's common knowledge that Germany is not the strongest soccer team in the last couple of years. And it was actually fun to watch.

00:34:55 John Daub: Peso is asking how much, that's a really great question, how much you spend on the monthly mansion each month in yen?

00:35:05 Alex: So in my case, it's including utilities and everything, around 100,000 yen.

00:35:16 John Daub: 100,000 yen, so about $700, $680 maybe? That's pretty cheap.

00:35:24 John Daub: Oh, there's the Hokkaido store. I sent these out to my Daimyo supporters, this one. So every month I send out. This is the color of Japanese pumpkins. And this is a bomb kuchen cake. I send out Daimyo packages to Patreon supporters every month. And I just opened up the category. I opened it up again because the international mail has returned small packets. So if you're interested in receiving a package from me, I'll send it to you. Just sign up on Patreon. So the Daimyo tier, it's open again.

00:36:03 John Daub: So it's about 100,000 yen. And how about the other expenses? Electricity and... Is the monthly mansion is all included?

00:36:09 Alex: In my case, yeah. I think it depends on the company. They might have. When you see the apartments, you have to check maybe if there are any other expenses written. But in my case, yeah, everything was included in about 100,000.

00:36:26 John Daub: I walked this direction to show that this used to be a big apartment. It used to be the Osaka shop, but now it's a Godaiba bakery. It's bizarre. I thought they just made chocolate, but they actually have. It's actually a Godaiba bakery. So all of this is made from Godaiba chocolate. This is a cream pan with chocolate cream in there. And I think these are like. Everything has. There's chocolate in there. Usually there's a line, but it's not too bad today.

00:37:02 John Daub: What happens if you overstay your visa and just become one of those degenerate... I guess you don't want to find out what happens. In light of all the stuff that has happened with the other nuisance YouTubers, the guys who try to get free rides on the trains and stuff, it's not a time you want to break the law in Japan as a foreigner. I think the jail is cheaper than the monthly mansion, but not for me.

00:37:55 John Daub: And just a side note here, the infamous or notorious streamer who was arrested, we don't have to give out his name, has been formally charged, I believe now. And we'll be facing those charges. Not the one for trespassing at a construction site, but the other one for the restaurant. Yeah. So he's going to have to pay the piper for his bad deeds. Basically he's done. Yeah. Basically, one way or another, he's done. That's probably better for the entire world.

00:38:54 John Daub: My bicycle is thankfully still there. All right, so last thing I want to show you here, this is one of my favorite buildings here. And this water is free. I think I've introduced this before, but if you have a water bottle, you can put the water bottle in here and you can get free water. It's all been, I believe it's been filtered and it tastes pretty good. It's kind of cool that the city's doing stuff like this.

00:39:20 John Daub: It takes me back to my first day, like talking to you about your first day and coming to Japan and moving as a resident reminds me in 1998 when I came and you came at the World Cup and so did I. It was 1998. And on Netflix, there's this series called Lupin. And in this series, he's talking as a kid the same day that I came to Japan because on the background is the World Cup playing in 1998. So I'm getting chills watching the show. It's like, that's the year that I came to Japan, 98, when France won the World Cup. I believe they beat Brazil that year. Were you even born?

00:40:02 Alex: No. 98? No. What the heck? I'm in 2000. My Lord. I'm in the millennium.

00:40:11 John Daub: All right, everybody. Thanks for watching and thank you, Alex, for the time to talk about life here in Japan. And thank you, Alex's mom, for allowing Alex to come here and experiencing Japan and to see you again. I'll see you again in another livestream tomorrow. Matane. Bye from Yurakucho.