I was homeless in Japan and spent a night in a karaoke room

So in this video, I want to talk about the

time me and my ex-girlfriend, the Japanese

one that I nearly married, we spent a

night in a karaoke room. It all started

when we were having this argument and she

kicked me out of her apartment and said

she didn't want to see me ever again. So I

thought the relationship was over. I got

onto the Shinkansen and I rode the

Shinkansen, the bullet train, from Oita

all the way to Hakata, which is in Kyushu,

which took about 2 hours. I nearly said 2

years. 2 hours on the bullet train is It's

a long time. It's a long distance. On a

normal train, a regular train, it would

take like 8 hours to cover that same

distance. So it was pretty far. I went to

Hakata because I was going to go to the

airport in Kyushu and get on a plane to

South Korea because I thought the

relationship had ended. Anyway, I get to

Hakata and I log on to the free Wi-Fi

and I see that I've gotten all these

emails from my girlfriend. She was saying

I'm sorry, um, after we had the argument,

I ran out of the apartment trying to find

you. I thought you'd be nearby. Um, I want

you to come back. I'm really sorry. She

was really surprised that I had gotten

onto the bullet train and I was ready to

leave so soon. So when she kicked me out,

it was pretty late at night. It was around

10 PM, and I got to Hakata around

midnight. So it was too late to make any

plans. I couldn't go to the airport. And I

couldn't book a hotel room. I might have

been able to, but it felt like it was too

much hard work. I decided it would be

easier to spend the night on the streets

of Hakata and wait until the first train

in the morning, which comes at around 6

AM. And I spent the whole night homeless

on the street waiting for the first train,

and it wasn't a fun experience. It was

really hot because it was summer, but

during the night it got really cold. And I

was only wearing one t-shirt because

during the day it was boiling hot, and I

left all my warm clothing and my large

luggage in a, in a coin locker at the

train station. So I was freezing cold,

and I was waiting for about 7 hours

overnight on the streets, and I was just

sitting outside of the train station. It

was actually quite surprising because

there were like 20 other people sitting

outside of the train station. Maybe they

were too drunk and they missed the last

train. And they were also waiting for the

first train. There were also a lot of

homeless people just sleeping on the

streets in cardboard boxes, and the train

station was open, but there were loads of

security guards just patrolling, so I

don't think it would have been okay to go

in there. I tried going into this, like,

department store, but they were closing

and the security guard told me to leave.

So I was freezing cold in my t-shirt, and

I really wanted to sit down somewhere warm

and go on the internet. I went into a

convenience store and I went into the

toilet and I just sat in the toilet for

about 40 to 50 minutes. And then I heard a

knock on the door. They didn't say

anything. I could hear them talking to

each other. They were saying something

like, someone went into the toilet and he

hasn't come out for an hour. And then I

heard the knock and I decided to leave.

And I just, I left the convenience store.

They didn't say anything to me. They

actually turned away, so to pretend that

they didn't notice, which was Very

Japanese of them. If if it was England,

they would have said something like,

"Were you sleeping in there? Are you

okay?" But in Japan, it's like very

awkward. They're trying to avoid the

awkward situation. So I had to go back

outside. I I went back to the train

station, and there were these construction

workers doing construction work on the

roads. That's when they do it. They they

mainly do construction work overnight. So

I just sat by the train station watching

them. Work. So I spent all night thinking

about, thinking about my girlfriend's

message, her email to me. I was trying to

decide whether I should go back to her or

if I should continue with my plan and just

go to South Korea anyway. And morning came

and I decided to go back to her. I felt

really bad. I felt like I really missed

her, like I wanted to give it another

shot. And the things she said to me,

like, I want you to come back I really

regret saying the things I said to you.

Those words really struck my heart.

I don't know the proper phrase. So I got

back onto the bullet train and I rode it

from Hakata all the way back to Oita where

we were living. And I actually got onto

the wrong Shinkansen and it took me to the

wrong station and I had to ask how to get

back to Oita. I had to go back in the

other direction. It was a bit of a

nightmare. Eventually I got back to Oita

and my girlfriend was waiting at the train

station. I saw her, she saw me, we hugged

at the train station. It's kind of like a

movie, isn't it? And we went back to the

apartment and we made up and it was really

nice. And I told her about my experience

of being homeless and she was really

interested in this idea of experiencing

being homeless. She really wanted to try

it for herself. She said it would be a

good lesson to make sure we don't take for

granted that we have somewhere to live.

And she said, why don't we go back to

Hakata together and experience being

homeless together? And I was like, that's

kind of weird, but sounds fun. Okay,

let's go. So I had to go all the way back

to Hakata for the second time on the same

bullet train, but this time together with

her. So it was really weird getting back

onto the bullet train and going back to

that city. Um, I say we were homeless,

but we weren't really homeless because we

decided to stay the night in a karaoke

Which is kind of a strange idea. In Japan,

you can do overnight karaoke from about

midnight until 5 AM. So we went to a

karaoke place nearby the train station,

and we booked a room from 12 PM— or was it

AM? Midnight until 5 AM. And we did some

singing for the first few hours, which was

really fun, and then we tried to sleep,

and it was a horrible experience. Trying

to sleep in a karaoke room was just such a

terrible experience. It was so noisy

because Obviously everyone's singing and

there's music playing constantly. The

rooms are soundproofed, I think, but

they're not soundproofed very well. You

can still hear the other rooms, you can

still hear other people singing. And there

was this— I remember hearing this guy

singing and he sounded terrible. He was

just like screaming into the microphone

the whole night, and I just wanted to go

into his room and strangle him. I did

manage to sleep for a few hours, and then

I woke up at 4 AM and And I went to the

toilet to wash my teeth— wash my teeth?

To brush my teeth. It was a strange

experience brushing my teeth in a karaoke

place. And then we decided to leave the

karaoke to do some sightseeing around the

area. We went to this really nice park

kind of place, and I had this photo on my

phone of my feet and my ex-ex-girlfriend's

feet from South Korea. And somehow my

girlfriend saw that picture. I can't

remember how that happened. And she was

really upset. She wasn't angry at first,

she was just like really upset, and she

gave me the silent treatment. I kept

saying I was sorry and it didn't mean

anything, but she wouldn't talk to me and

she kept walking off on her own, and I

just trailed behind her so we didn't get

split up. I kept trying to talk to her and

apologize to her, but she wasn't listening

and she wouldn't say anything, and she

gave me the silent treatment for about an

hour, and I was getting a bit fed up and

irritated. And I was trying harder and

harder to try and make her speak, to try

and get her to forgive me. And then she

just kind of snapped. She started yelling

and screaming at me in the middle of the

street, and it was really embarrassing.

People were walking past and staring at us

and giving us strange looks. I didn't say

anything. I stopped talking at that point

because I didn't want to anger her

further. So I just decided to let her vent

her frustrations and let it all out. This

went on for about 10 minutes of just

screaming at me and shouting at me. And

after she had finished, she started

crying, and then she started hugging me

and saying that she loved me, and it was

because she loved me that she was so

upset. She was a really difficult person

to be with. She was always so emotional

and always crying and breaking down and

then getting angry, and then she'd start

crying, and then she'd start saying how

much she loved me again. It was like an

emotional roller coaster. So we made up

and we ended up going back to Oita, and it

was so nice to be able to sleep on the bed

on a nice soft pillow. It was like, it was

like heaven. She used to get upset with me

a lot because of the way I spoke Japanese.

She said that the way I spoke sounded kind

of unfriendly and it wasn't soft or nice

and I sounded kind of mean. She'd always

be saying to me, Daniel no shaberi kato wa

yasashiku nai yo. And I'd get really

confused about this because I thought the

way I spoke was pretty friendly.

Sometimes if you're speaking a foreign

language, it's just easier to use as few

words as possible and to speak in like a

really simplified way. But that can come

across as sounding blunt and abrupt, and

to some people it does sound a bit rude.

The thing is, I'm really lazy. Even when

it comes to speaking, I'll take the

easiest, the simplest way of saying

something. I try and use as few words as

possible to convey what I want to say.

And I guess that does come across as

sounding a bit rude or unfriendly.

Anyway, that was the story of how I spent

the night in the karaoke room, and it's

something I never want to experience ever