2017-12 summary

December 2017 recordings cover Daniel securing a Japanese visa extension, revealing his monetized YouTube channel to his girlfriend, spending his first Christmas in Japan, criticizing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, reflecting on boredom and burnout, discussing racial-perception experiences in Japan and Korea, reviewing major personal and career events of 2017, and a wide-ranging solo stream touching on dating, sexual history, and other YouTubers.

Daniel made allegations against YouTuber Joey Bazinga regarding hidden finances and against Hollywood regarding casting practices in multiracial films.

Several matters remained unresolved across the month, including whether Daniel's girlfriend would discover his channel, the cause of his boredom, and details of others' finances or identities discussed in his videos.

Scrutiny of YouTuber Joey Bazinga's (The Anime Man) finances and transparency.

Japanese visa extension process for UK citizens.

Revealing a secret YouTube channel to a girlfriend and managing content afterward.

First Christmas in Japan and cultural comparisons with England.

Criticism of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Hollywood casting allegations.

Boredom, burnout, and past hobbies.

Racial identity perceptions in England versus Japan and Korea.

Year-in-review of 2017 covering relationships, employment, online harassment, and channel growth.

Wide-ranging solo livestream covering personal life, dating history, and YouTube-related topics.

Daniel obtained a Japanese visa extension for ¥4,000 in about ten minutes, using a rule allowing UK and other citizens to extend a 90-day waiver to 180 days without an interview, having unnecessarily bought ¥1,000 in photos beforehand.

At the immigration center a self-identified Canadian viewer recognized Daniel by his channel name, prompting worries about personal safety, hostile viewers, cleaning up sensitive videos, and whether to tell his girlfriend about the channel.

During a bedside conversation about jobs, Daniel told his girlfriend he runs a monetized YouTube channel about movies, interests, and daily life in Japan; because she said she wanted to find and read what he posts about her despite his request not to search, he planned to clean up old videos, shift topics, move certain stories to Patreon posts, and moderate comments.

It remains unclear whether Daniel's girlfriend is actively searching for his channel, or whether she would tell him if she found it versus watching secretly.

Daniel spent Christmas Day in Japan doing housework, returning rented DVDs to Tsutaya, opening novelty gifts (a tiny mirror and a dental metal toothpick), and meeting his girlfriend for shopping.

Daniel described smoked turkey tasting like ham and became severely nauseated and dizzy after quickly drinking two glasses of red wine following dinner.

Daniel alleged that YouTuber Joey Bazinga (The Anime Man) misrepresents his financial situation to solicit donations and Patreon pledges, citing hidden Patreon numbers, undisclosed secondary income, and changed communication, though the exact income Joey earns remains unverified.

Daniel compared his own channel's monetization and demonetization timeline to Joey's claims, criticizing Joey's content focus and lack of responsiveness.

Daniel called Star Wars: The Last Jedi the worst film in the franchise, criticizing its new characters, humor, pacing, plot choices (including Leia surviving space and Luke's Force-projection duel), and said he has little interest in Episode 9, predicting Rey will train new Force-sensitive children.

Daniel alleged that Hollywood intentionally pairs unattractive non-white actors with attractive white actors in multiracial casts.

Daniel shopped at a Japanese shopping center and bought a replacement mirror for ¥1,000 after mirrors broke, recalling a Tinder date about four weeks earlier at the same location with a woman who left partway through.

Daniel described persistent boredom, burnout from making daily YouTube videos and live streams, loss of interest in past hobbies (photography, drawing, coding, piano), and admiration for people who sustain lifelong hobbies.

It is unclear whether frequent sexual activity caused Daniel's skin breakouts, and the exact cause of his persistent boredom and low mood is unknown.

Daniel described frustration when Asian or Japanese people see him as white or Western, contrasting this with bullying he says he faced in English secondary school over his Asian appearance; he said he feels more accepted in Japan/Asia, noting an acquaintance called him fully white-looking and that Korean airport staff and vendors responded to him in Japanese.

It is uncertain whether Daniel's hairstyle led people in Korea to mistake him for Japanese, or whether he would have faced bullying for his appearance if raised in Japan or another Asian country.

Reviewing 2017, Daniel described ending contact with a Taiwanese woman after sending explicit images, beginning and later ending an online relationship with a divorced Japanese mother met on Japan Cupid, meeting George Trombley in London in March, traveling to Japan in April and again in September (meeting Tomoko, whom he said misrepresented her age), workplace friction including an armed robbery at his petrol-station job and a confrontation leading to his resignation, then dating multiple women via Tinder before settling into a relationship with one of them, alongside growing YouTube/Patreon income that let him become self-employed.

Daniel said subreddit users targeted him with doxxing, shared his personal details, and reported his channel to his employer, which he claimed led him to make more provocative videos to grow viewership.

It is unclear whether Daniel's former manager actually watched his videos, and Tomoko's real age is uncertain after she reportedly first claimed to be 28 but was later estimated around 45.

In a wide-ranging solo stream, Daniel discussed a haircut he disliked, a broken tripod, losing an unsaved video draft, creative burnout, subscriber and monetization concerns, comments on other YouTubers (Einstein, Hannah Minx, Texan in Tokyo, The Anime Man, Ben Dean), his domestic routine, watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a past Osaka meeting with a cousin, and prior travel through Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

Daniel recounted wetting the bed at a guest house on an earlier arrival in Japan, sending explicit LINE content that led to messaging restrictions, a hookup before Christmas, a condom breaking with his girlfriend, treating a fungal infection with her, and secretly recording an intimate encounter with her to send to another online contact.

Several points were left unresolved: Daniel's next video topic, whether recipients reported his LINE account, whether YouTuber Einstein was imprisoned over allegations, the fate of Hannah Minx and Texan in Tokyo, whether the recording he shared would stay private, and whether a married Japanese woman's husband suspected an affair.

Joey Bazinga's exact income and personal living expenses remain unverified.

Whether Daniel's girlfriend would discover or accept his channel, and how he should respond to being recognized in public, remained unresolved.

Whether Daniel's girlfriend is searching for his channel or would disclose finding it is unknown.

The name of the Resistance commander in The Last Jedi was not recalled.

The cause of Daniel's skin breakouts and persistent boredom is uncertain.

Whether Daniel's hairstyle caused people to mistake him for Japanese, and whether he'd have faced bullying growing up in Asia, is uncertain.

Details of Daniel's September 2017 trip to meet Tomoko, whether his manager watched his videos, and Tomoko's real age remain uncertain or disputed.

Numerous minor details from Daniel's solo livestream were left unresolved, including his next video topic, whether LINE recipients reported him, timing of his girlfriend's return, the fate of other YouTubers, and whether a shared private recording would remain confidential.