2017-02 summary

Across a set of February 2017 recordings, Daniel discusses self-teaching Japanese, JLPT exam history, and using relationships with Japanese women as language immersion.

He recounts a working-holiday stint in Japan years earlier, including convenience-store and izakaya work, an uncomfortable private-tutoring encounter that led him to quit teaching and cut the trip short, and a later, more positive short tutoring stint in Kyushu in 2014.

He reflects on being repeatedly told he has an unusually small face while in Japan, and on how this affected dating, photographs, and his views on cross-cultural body/face proportions.

He describes reconnecting with and traveling to see a Taiwanese woman, being turned down romantically, choosing to stay with her family anyway, and an uncomfortable three-week stay ending in his early departure, followed by reflection on his own clinginess and expectations.'

In a life-update recording, he discusses testing a new lamp, an ongoing Skype relationship with a woman in Japan and planned trip to Yokohama, his petrol-station job and its benefits versus past warehouse work, and generally improved mood and finances compared to an earlier period of isolation in Japan.

He discusses persistent lack of motivation at 27, difficulties with retail/customer-facing work, anxieties about his future and self-sufficiency, and a pattern of abandoning long-term projects such as coursework, webcomics, and games.

He recounts a past hidden relationship with a French woman in a Japanese guesthouse, escalating jealousy and a physical altercation, secretly translating her messages, leaving Japan early for Korea, and later reflecting on dating preferences and a final post-Paris-attacks message to her.

He describes childhood social anxiety around parties and school entry, and reflects on continuing adult avoidance of social gatherings alongside one recent successful outing to a work Christmas party.

In another recording, minor daily annoyances (a cup design, a ringing phone, mishearing 'Apple Pay') accompany a longer discussion of a Skype girlfriend's wish to have children, his uncertainty about readiness, visa logistics, fertility, and broader musings on parenting and gender-role double standards.

He declines to share photos of ex-partners, describes deliberately targeting less conventionally attractive or otherwise specific demographics of women online due to self-esteem issues, and the recording is briefly interrupted by someone named Paul.

He recalls an anxious first solo trip to Japan at 21 that included a bedwetting incident he quietly cleaned up himself, contrasted with later, smoother travel experiences, and reflects on the relief of sharing embarrassing stories publicly.

He responds to accusations of being a 'sexpat' or being catfished ahead of a planned Japan trip, describing his attraction to Japanese women and language, extensive video calls with the woman he plans to meet, and workplace leave arrangements, noting he might turn a failed trip into video content.

A short recording covers unboxing and testing a Sony 35mm camera lens, including its size and background-blur capability, with Daniel asking viewers whether to keep using it or return to smartphone recording.

He discusses camera and vlogging plans for an upcoming Japan trip alongside a detailed recollection of a teenage crush, awkward attention-seeking behavior, a rift between the two families over hospitality, and the gradual fading of those feelings over subsequent years.

Self-directed Japanese language learning, JLPT exams, and using relationships as language immersion.

Working and teaching experiences in Japan, including convenience-store work and private tutoring difficulties.

Perceptions of facial/body proportions across cultures and their effect on dating and photographs.

Travel to Taiwan to meet an online contact, family-stay dynamics, Ghost Month customs, and personal reflection on clinginess.

Life updates covering gadget testing, a Skype relationship, job conditions, and overall mood/finances.

Motivation struggles, retail work difficulties, future anxieties, and a pattern of abandoning projects.

A past relationship with a French woman in Japan, its breakdown, and its lasting influence on dating preferences.

Childhood social anxiety around parties/school and adult avoidance of social gatherings.

Discussion of having children, visa logistics, fertility, and parenting/gender-role attitudes.

Privacy around ex-partners' photos, self-assessment of attractiveness/confidence, and dating-targeting strategy.

An anxious early solo trip to Japan, a bedwetting incident, and later smoother travel experiences.

Responses to sexpat/catfishing accusations and logistics for an upcoming trip to meet a Japan-based partner.

Camera lens unboxing and testing for video content.

Vlogging plans for a Japan trip and a detailed recollection of an early teenage crush and its fallout.

Daniel passed the JLPT Level 2 exam in 2009 and considers it his proudest achievement, later failing Level 1 and stopping formal study.

Daniel traveled to Japan in a past February to meet an online partner met the previous December, though the anime that first drew him to Japanese was uncertain in his recollection.

Six years prior, Daniel lived in Japan on a working holiday visa, worked at Lawson and briefly at an izakaya, gave private English lessons, and left after an uncomfortable tutoring session with a tall student at a McDonald's, cutting his stay to four months to visit an ex-girlfriend in Korea.

In 2014 Daniel traveled to Kyushu and gave five weekly English lessons to a 40-year-old student, temporarily improving his outlook despite ongoing doubts about his teaching ability.

During his first trip to Japan, Daniel received repeated comments about having an unusually small face, which he played up by covering his face with a CD and posing next to others for comparison, causing some annoyance from his girlfriend at the time.

Daniel reconnected with a Taiwanese woman he'd met online years earlier, flew to Taiwan, proposed a relationship which she declined citing his past departures, but he skipped his return flight to stay with her family; after three tense weeks marked by her long work hours and Ghost Month restrictions, he confronted her about feeling unfairly treated and left.

Daniel arranged a trip to Japan including flights and Yokohama lodging to visit a woman he had been speaking with daily on Skype, while an online message to her went unanswered.

At 27, Daniel described spending £3,000 to travel to Japan to meet an online contact, driven largely by attraction to Japanese women.

Daniel described friction at his petrol station job (a coworker swearing at him, being corrected by a Nepali coworker, working an unsupervised solo shift praised by his manager) alongside past terminations, including from a Tokyo convenience store after four months and quitting a college course after four weeks, plus an online comment questioning his pride in his current job.

While in a Japanese guesthouse, Daniel had a hidden relationship with a French woman of Thai descent that deteriorated into jealousy, a physical struggle over her phone leaving him with a neck scratch, and his covert translation of her messages revealing she was venting about him; he left Japan early for Korea, and later messaged her after the Paris attacks to check she was safe.

Childhood incidents of social anxiety were described, including hiding during his own birthday party, freezing at a costume party, clinging to his mother at another event, morning crying before nursery/school, and later attending a work Christmas party where he stayed near a coworker and danced.

A Skype conversation with a girlfriend about having children led Daniel to discuss readiness for parenting, visa logistics for relocating to Japan or bringing a spouse to the UK, and his own fertility and past contraceptive choices.

Daniel described deliberately avoiding highly attractive women on dating sites, citing low self-esteem, and instead targeting older, married, or less conventionally attractive women, comparing the approach to avoiding competition.

At 21, during his first solo trip to Japan, Daniel wet the bed at a guesthouse out of anxiety, quietly cleaned the bedding himself, and later contrasted this with a sweat-soaked morning during a Korea trip, reflecting on the relief of sharing embarrassing stories.

Daniel rejected accusations of being a 'sexpat' regarding an upcoming Japan trip, describing lengthy Skype video calls with the woman he planned to meet and arranging time off work, while stating he sought a genuine relationship, not merely transactional encounters.

Daniel recalled a childhood crush beginning around age fourteen on a family friend's daughter, including awkward attention-seeking incidents (dropping a cat on her, taking her phone to get her number), a falling-out between the families over reciprocated hospitality, and the fading of his feelings over subsequent years.

Whether the anime title recalled as sparking Daniel's interest in Japanese was Elfen Lied.

Whether the private-lesson student genuinely lacked English ability, whether her early departure was a genuine excuse, and whether she sought romance rather than tutoring.

Whether a former student's disengagement stemmed from instructional shortcomings, how Daniel might better prompt shy students, and what employment he might pursue if he lived in Japan long-term.

Whether body-proportion differences explain the rarity of Asian Olympic runners, and whether potential partners might be deterred by face-size comparisons.

Uncertainty over visa-stamp details after re-entering Taiwan and over the host's claim of being able to see ghosts.

Uncertainty over flight refundability, whether workplace cameras captured questionable behavior, and the extent of involvement wanted with the Japanese woman's daughter.

Uncertainty over whether Daniel's mood fluctuations reflect a chemical imbalance or mild bipolar disorder, or simply an inherent personality trait — presented as self-description, not diagnosis.

Uncertainty over whether sex is the primary motivator for most men, what career would suit Daniel, whether he could complete solo shift tasks, and whether night shifts have harmed his health.

Uncertainty over the true content of the French ex-girlfriend's conversations, translation accuracy, Daniel's own maturation since the relationship, and her current activities.

Uncertainty over whether guesthouse staff ever cleaned the urine-soaked mattress.

Uncertainty over whether the planned Japan trip and encounter would succeed, and the exact placement of a referenced prior video link.

Uncertainty over the girlfriend's reaction to hesitation about children, exact visa/income requirements, Daniel's fertility, a hypothetical child's appearance, and whether proposed disciplinary methods would be effective.

Uncertainty over whether the childhood crush's lost-phone explanation was true, and how she might react to a confession of past feelings.