Things I don't miss about living in Japan (Japan Ramble)

Hey, so I wanted to make a video today,

but it's very difficult because there's a

police van out there and there's all this

police stuff going on and I'm getting

distracted. Anyway, so what's today's

video about? Um, I wanted to talk about

things that I didn't miss when I was

living in Japan. Things— 7 things,

I think it's 7 things, 5 to 10 things that

I do not miss about living in Japan. Um,

I don't know, this is kind of difficult

because there are a lot of good things

about living in Japan. There are very few

things that I didn't really like. The

major thing that I really didn't like

about living in Japan was probably the

guest house. And, well, why was the guest

house so bad? What was wrong with the

guest house? Well, let me tell you. The

guest house is probably the most

loneliness— loneliness— loneliness— I

can't even pronounce it properly. Living—

why is it so dark? Living in the guest

house in Japan was probably the most

lonely ex— I can't even— I don't even know

how to conjugate that verb. Is it

loneliest? Loneliest? Why can't I say

that? Okay, so living in that guest house

in Japan was probably the most depressing

and lonely experience that I've ever had.

The most depressing time this year. The

most depressing thing about this year was

when I was in Japan all alone in that

guest house full of people, and I didn't

have any friends. I didn't feel like I fit

in with anyone. No one really cared about

me. No one invited me to go to places,

you know. Maybe on the first day they did,

but after the first day it was like

nothing. I couldn't find my social group.

I couldn't make friends with people, and I

was just like— I felt so isolated and

alone. You can go and go back maybe 5

to 6 pages on my video, video library,

and you can go back to the time when I was

making videos in Japan, and you can just

tell how depressed and upset I was just

by seeing the kind of videos I was making.

And it was just horrible, you know,

you're in this gigantic guest house with

maybe 60 to 80 people, and you

just can't find any— like, you can't get

into like a group of friends. I had maybe

one friend, and she was just sleeping in

her room all the time. And, um, yeah,

there were loads of people, and there

were loads of, um, potential people I

could have been friends with, but I just

didn't have any interest in being friends

with them. I saw them, and I felt like

These aren't my kind of people. I'm not

really interested in being friends with

them. They're boring. They're not showing

an interest in me. Why should I show an

interest in them? I've always enjoyed

going to Japan because I can go to these

guest houses and I pretty much instantly

make friends. I make a group. I join—

like, I enter into this social group of

foreigners and Western English-speaking

people who live in the guest house, and we

eat together, we go to places together,

and it's really fun. And I really enjoyed

that about going to Japan. But there's

just something about this year's trip to

Japan. I felt very different emotionally,

and I'm not sure if it was because of— I,

I'm not sure if it was because I felt

different inside or because there just

weren't many English-speaking people

there. There may be 2 Westerners there,

the Australian guy and the American guy.

And, uh, apart from them, everyone else

were Vietnamese, Thailand,

random Asian countries that I had no

interest in being friends with them

because I don't know, maybe it's like a

cultural barrier, but I just didn't feel

like I could relate to them at all. And

they were always in their closed,

secluded group of their nationality.

They were always speaking in their own

language. It was very hard to just sit

down with a bunch of people when they're

all speaking this language that you have

no idea what they're talking about. And

it's just really boring. What I really

wanted to do when I went to Japan this

year was— this is going to sound stupid,

but I wanted to meet Western

English-speaking people in Japan. I know

it sounds really stupid. Why are you going

to Japan if all you want to do is speak

English and meet Western people? You can

do that in England, you know, England,

the, the home of 60 million

English-speaking Western people. Yeah, I

know it's kind of stupid, but, uh, I just

wanted to escape from my life, from my

house, from my for my country. And I

wanted to go to Japan because I've had

great experiences in the past going to

Japan, and I've always managed to find

friends and socialize, and it's always

been an amazing time. But this year was

just so different. I don't know why. I

don't know, maybe it's because I grew up a

bit, and as I grew up, I'm becoming more—

less sociable, even less sociable than I

was before. And I just had no motivation

to interact with the people that were in

the guest house. There were a bunch of

Japanese people, a bunch of Thai—

Thailand— Thai people, and I

felt so lonely. I had never felt so lonely

in my life than when I was in that guest

house. It just feels terrible when you're

surrounded by loads of people, friendly,

fun-looking people, but You don't feel any

connection to them. You know, you can be

surrounded by loads of people, it won't

stop you from feeling lonely. Whoa,

Toffee, what have you done to your ear?

That does not look pretty. What have you

done to your ear? That's disgusting. What

was I saying? So yeah, I was in this

massive guest house, there were so many

people, and I felt kind of overwhelmed.

Like, where do I fall into place? Where do

I fit in? Where's my social group? Where

are the people who are supposed to be my

friends? You know, I see a group of

Japanese people, see a group of Thai

people. I don't really feel like I want to

be part of their social group. They're

just irritating and loud, and I don't like

them. And that's just how I felt. I felt

like I was an outsider, like I was weird,

like I was different. And I— what happened

was I stopped waking up in the morning. I

started waking up later and later, you

know. I woke up at 12 PM and then 1

PM and then 2 PM, and then eventually I

started waking up at 7 PM in the

evening, staying up all night. And the

main reason for this was because the guest

house was so full of people, noisy. I

would come down during the day And there

would just be like screaming Vietnamese

girls running up and down. There would be

the group of Thai people who were so

fucking noisy all the time. Like, they

were playing this card game in the dining

room and they would go absolutely batshit

crazy over this card game. They would

start screaming and shouting and laughing

and cheering. I'm like, what the hell are

you guys doing? You're just playing a card

game, for Christ's sake, and you're acting

like you've just won the lottery. And I

don't know if you guys have heard the Thai

language before, but I am not a fan of the

Thai language. It sounds terrible. It

sounds like— I don't know, it's like

they've bitten their tongue and then

diarrhea is coming out of their mouth.

No, no, that's not being racist. I just

don't like the way a certain language

sounds. And it was so irritating. They'd

be yelling and shouting in Thai, like 5 or

6 of them. And it wasn't just me, like

Japanese people and other people stopped

coming down into the living room. And I

asked them, so I, I don't see you down in

the living room much these days. And

they're like, yeah, because the bloody

Thai people are so freaking noisy, I'm

just staying in my room. And then because

of these stupid Thai people, they probably

drove all the decent nice people away

because they're so irritating and loud.

So to avoid all this noise and loudness,

I started just waking up really late so

that there are no people around, so I

could just sit there in silence on my

phone. I don't know, when I say it now,

it sounds completely stupid. Why the hell

did I go all the way to Japan just so I

could sit on my own and not meet people?

You know, I could just do that right here.

And I felt so depressed the whole time. I

thought like, what am I doing here? Why

did I come here? Why have I spent so much

money and resources and time and effort to

come all the way back to this place that

I've already been to like 4 times just

because I had some kind of hope that it

would be as fun and exciting as the first

time I came here? But things are never

like that, are they? It's always the

first-time experiences that are really

fun, and then you try and repeat it again,

and it just— it never feels quite as fun

and magical as the first time. Every time

I've gone to Japan, it's always been worse

than the previous time. It just gets worse

every time I go. It's less and less fun.

And it wasn't just the Thai people who

were really irritating and loud, it was

the Japanese people as well. One day, the

manager, he thought it was a great idea to

buy a Nintendo N64 and put it in the

living room and get Mario Kart. Great,

that sounds like a lot of fun, Daniel.

You like video games, why didn't you play

Mario Kart and join in? Well, actually,

I, I can't stand Nintendo games. I hate

Mario Kart. I hate racing games. I can't

stand the whole Nintendo franchise. It's

just like a load of babyish stupid

characters that look completely retarded.

I mean, Mario, that stupid fat Italian guy

who just jumps up and down. It's like the

lamest thing ever. And then, uh, yeah,

they would just have Mario Kart parties in

the evening. 6 to 7 Japanese guys.

It was always just the Japanese guys. No

one else really gave a shit about Mario

Kart, but the Japanese guys would go

absolutely crazy over Mario Kart. They

would scream and shout 10 times louder

than the Thai people, and they would get

so damn excited when they win. It was— oh,

you know, I used to love the Japanese

language. I used to think, oh, Japanese

sounds amazing, it sounds beautiful, it's

like the most beautiful sounding language

that has ever graced my ears. No, you

listen to— you go to Japan, you listen to

a group of 6 Japanese people screaming at

the TV playing Mario Kart, you just— you

loathe it. You Japanese, you just hate the

sound of it. It just drives you mental.

It's like a drill going into your skull

and turning up your brains. Okay, that's

not fair because, you know, pretty much

any language would get irritating and

sound awful when the per— when the people

were screaming and shouting like a bunch

of animals. But yeah, I just hated it,

the whole N64, you know. I was even

thinking about sneaking down at night,

getting a glass of water just pouring it

all over the N64 to fry up the circuit

boards. I know it is such a shitty thing

to do, but it was driving me nuts. No, I

didn't actually do it. I'm not that much

of a shit— shithole. I'm not that much of

a— I'm not that bad. I didn't actually

destroy that N64, but it kept going

through my mind, like, what if I snuck

downstairs and poured some water into the

N64? What would they do? It would be so

funny, but I think I would just get found

out because I'd just be laughing. I'd go

downstairs and they'd switch on the N64

and they'd be like, N64's not working,

why is it all wet, who would have done

this? And I would be sitting there in the

corner like this, like I'd just be

laughing the whole time. Oh, I want to

tell you something funny. At the time I

had the Samsung S6 smartphone, and you

know the Samsung S6 has an IR blaster on

it. You can use the Samsung S6 as a remote

control to control televisions, any

television. All you have to do is enable

it and then register the TV, like is it a

Sony or Samsung. And I registered the

guest house TV, and I did this once

because I didn't want to get found out,

but while they were playing Mario Kart, I

thought it'd be funny to go into my little

IR blaster channel app And I switched off

the TV. I did it underneath the table.

I pressed— I held my phone underneath the

table and I aimed it towards the TV and I

pressed the off button. TV went blank.

Everyone goes absolutely crazy. Well, why

is the TV going off? What's going on? I'm

gonna lose the game. It was so funny.

They were going crazy and I was

just sitting there laughing. And at the

time there's this Swedish guy, sitting

next to me and he was watching me, and

then he kind of figured out what I was

doing, and he was like, oh,

you shouldn't have done that, but I won't

tell. And I was like, okay, thanks.

That Swedish guy was pretty cool,

actually. We went to watch— I can't

remember— some shitty superhero movie,

the 7 Civil War,

Marvel versus something. Anyway, We went

to the cinema, but the problem with him

was he just spoke too much. He's one of

those people who loves to explain things

to people. What was that word? Didactic.

He was a didactic person. You know, he

just likes to teach you stuff, random

things that you didn't really ask about,

and he would just go on and on and on.

And it was so boring listening to him, I

just ended up— I stopped. I just stopped

talking to him because I knew that if I

asked him something, he would just end up

going on and on and on. Yeah, that was

just one of the reasons why I ended up

waking up really late was to avoid people

because I found everyone so irritating and

loud. There was these— there was this

group of Vietnamese girls as well, maybe

18 or 19, but they would run around

playing tag or it and they would chase

each other and scream and stuff. And then

there was this one day I was sitting at

the table in the dining room and then this

Vietnamese girl just fell on top of me.

She literally just— she was running and

they were chasing each other, and then

somehow I had this Vietnamese girl lying

on top of me. Sure, that sounds great,

you got a nice young girl lying on top of

you, but I just felt really irritated at

the time. What the hell are you doing?

Are you 10 years old? Why are you running

around playing it, screaming and chasing

each other like a bunch of 5-year-olds?

Anyway, I did have one friend this, uh,

this Iranian friend at the guest house,

and she was a bit weird, to be honest.

She was a bit like me, you know. She kind

of had this idea that everyone hated her

and that she had no friends and everyone

was out to get her kind of feeling. A bit

like me, but I'm not so extreme. I just

end up feeling like— I feel that I'm

different because I felt like no one was

showing an interest in me, which means

that no one liked me. So that means that

I'm not going to show an interest in them

and I'm not going to like them. So I guess

it's because they felt like I wasn't

interested in them, they, they weren't

really showing any interest in me. But

even when they did invite me to things,

like sometimes this Japanese girl would

say, Daniel, we're gonna go drinking,

we're gonna have a drink in the dining

room, do you want to join us? So I did for

at the table, maybe 6 to 7 of us Japanese

people and me, and we just drank and

they talked about random shit that I

couldn't really care less about, mostly

relationships. It was so boring. I just

sat there sipping on my alcohol— alcoholic

beverage. I don't even remember what it

was, and I was just so bored.

I felt nice that I was being included that

they invited me, but they

weren't talking about things that I was

interested in. I wasn't really interested

in talking to them about things that I was

interested in. I just ended up sitting

there listening to their boring past

relationship stories. And after a few

times of doing this, I just— I stopped

participating because It

just felt really boring. Also, my Japanese

wasn't perfect, so I could understand most

of what they were saying, but, you know,

sometimes it would be difficult and I had

to concentrate. If I didn't concentrate,

then, you know, it would just go over my

head what they were saying, and I just

didn't really care enough to want to

concentrate on what they were talking

about. And yeah, it was just very

stressful living in the guest house. I

didn't like 90% of the people. They were

irritating and loud. And, um,

you know, sometimes it just gets

irritating because you want to be alone.

You want to be, uh, not pestered

or bothered. You want to, you know, you

want to wake up, brush your teeth, go to

the shower and, uh, get washed without

having to encounter 10 different people

and have to say good morning to them or

pretend to be interested in what they have

to say. I couldn't stand it when I had to

brush my teeth and there was another

person next to me also brushing his teeth.

It just made me feel really anxious. Or

when I had to go to the toilet and there

was— there were people there, it just made

me feel really nervous. Or when I go into

the shower room and there's just this

naked guy there drying himself off.

I didn't understand that. The shower was

one of those showers where there were

cubicles separate compartments for the

showers, but you weren't supposed to take

off your clothes and get changed inside

the cubicle. There was like a changing

area where you take off your clothes and

put it into a basket. But what I did was I

took the basket and I brought it into the

shower cubicle, and then I placed a

plastic bag over the basket to stop my

clothes from getting wet, and I got

changed inside the shower cubicle, which

is kind of strange because no one else did

that. Everyone else just got naked and by

the entrance. And usually there weren't

people there because I woke up really late

when everyone was at work. But you know,

there was the odd one or two times when I

walked in and there was just a guy there

standing there butt naked, and it was

really gross. You know, I don't want to

see naked guys. I don't find naked guys

attractive. It just really grosses me out.

And it's so stressful. It's just so

stressful having to live in this massive

house full of people that you don't really

care about, who don't care about you. I

feel so comfortable right now, you know.

All I have is my family, and they're at

work most of the time, and I just get to

walk around on my own, not be irritated by

people, and it's so relaxing. I feel so

happy right now compared to when I was in

Japan. I know I make a lot of negative

videos, like moaning about stuff and

venting, but I do feel probably the

happiest right now than I, than I have all

year. You know, living in Japan was just

so boring and such a pain in the ass, and

I felt so isolated and lonely. I had no

one there. At least here I have my family.

In Japan, I don't have, I don't have

anyone. I don't have any good friends. I

don't have any relatives. So this video is

supposed— it was supposed to be things

that I don't miss about living in Japan,

and It's just 100% all about the guest

house and how I felt in the guest house,

isn't it? Well, there were like a few

things I didn't like about living in

Japan. For example, being yelled at

when you enter a store. I don't like being

yelled at. Irasshaimase. Every time I

enter a bloody store, it's like you're

being yelled at. I don't like it. I know

it's the custom, it's the tradition, but

it still doesn't stop me from liking it.

And when I had to work Work in a

convenience store. It was even worse

having to be the one yelling at customers.

Irashimasu! And they kept telling me,

Daniel, your voice is too quiet. You have

to say it louder. And then I felt so

uncomfortable because I didn't enjoy

yelling at the customers. It didn't—I felt

like I was being rude. I felt like it

wasn't necessary. But they kept saying,

"You need to be doing it louder, louder,

Daniel, louder." Also, I didn't like the

toilets. I'm not talking about the super

high-tech modern toilets with all the

buttons. Those are great, those are

fantastic. But I'm talking about the

traditional Japanese toilets, which are

basically just a hole in the floor. Yeah,

Japan still has loads of those. They're

called washiki toilets, washiki. And you

know, you go to the train station and

there's maybe 6 cubicles of toilets, and

there's maybe 4 Western modern toilets,

and then there's 2 of them, the

traditional Japanese ones. Well, guess

what? The 4 modern toilets are always

occupied, and then all you'd have left is

the 2 holes in the ground. And they're so

awkward to use. You'd have to squat down,

you pull down your trousers, you squat

down over it, and then you have to be very

careful you don't piss all over your own

trousers or shit on the floor. And then

you had to get a tissue paper and then

clean yourself up. Whilst squatting,

whilst trying not to make a mess on your

trousers or on the floor. And it was just

so uncomfortable and tricky to use.

I don't understand why Japan is such like

a modern, advanced, clean nation and they

still have toilets which are basically

just a hole in the floor. I guess another

thing I didn't like was the crowds of

people. Sometimes you would be unlucky

and get on the train during rush hour,

and it would just be so crowded. You'd

just be packed into the train like a

sardine. The, um, people who work at the

train station, they will literally push

people into the train so they could close

the doors. There would just be like 2 guys

pushing people into the train. It was

absolutely crazy. And there was this one

time I was in the train, and there were so

many people I couldn't stand upright. I

had to sit on this guy's lap, and then

behind me there was this, this young girl,

and she had her legs like wedged in

between my legs. And well, actually, I

didn't really have much to complain about

that. It was quite enjoyable. But yeah,

that's really not an enjoyable experience,

being shoved into a track— into a train.

Sometimes you get pressed up against the

glass and it's actually painful. You can

actually hear people in the train going

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! It's because they're

in pain. They're in pain. But what choice

do you have? You have to get on that train

because if you miss the last train,

you're screwed. Because for some reason,

the trains don't run 24 hours a day. The

trains only run until midnight or 1 AM,

and then the train stations completely

shut down until 5 AM in the morning.

I don't understand why don't they just

keep the trains running 24 hours a day.

Um, I heard that they had to shut down the

trains at some point because if they had

the trains open all day, then people would

just stop going home and they'd stay at

work. The only reason Japanese people go

home from work is so that they don't miss

the last train. Anyway, you still get

loads of Japanese people who miss the last

train because usually what they do, they

go drinking with their colleagues or their

superiors And they go drinking really late

and they miss the last train and then they

end up just sitting outside the train

station. It happened to me a few times.

No, one time when I was kicked out my

girlfriend's apartment and I was homeless,

I didn't have a hotel or a room to stay in

and I was waiting outside the train

station because I couldn't get a train to

the airport because it was too late. So I

had to wait outside the train station and

there were maybe 20 to 30 people just

sitting outside of the train station. And

they look like statues. They were just

sitting there like completely still. And

I'm just guessing that most of them were

salarymen who were drinking and missed the

last train, or maybe they're working

really late and they missed the last

train. But it was just really depressing

and sad, all these people just sitting

there. Also, the guest house— yeah, back

to the guest house. The guest house was

bloody filthy. It was really old. All the

facilities are really run-down and

horrible. And, you know, one time I

actually saw a rat running around, and

then it ran underneath the furniture or

something. And there are always

cockroaches. There are cockroaches

everywhere in the kitchen. It's

disgusting. You went into the kitchen at

night and you switched on the light, and

then you suddenly see these massive

cockroaches scurrying around. They're like

this big. It was horrible. Oh, and then

there's mosquitoes. Oh, don't get me

started on mosquitoes. During the summer,

it's terrible. You know, you have the

windows closed and you have all these

defensive things to prevent mosquitoes,

like insecticides and bug sprays, but you

still get a few that escape and manage to

get inside. And when they bite you, I

don't know if it's just me, but I have

like a bad reaction to mosquito bites.

But I get huge swellings. I get bitten on

my hand and my whole hand swells up. Look

at my hand. You see, it's like veiny and

bony because I'm really skinny. But when I

get bitten on my hand by mosquito, all of

that disappears and my hand just becomes

like a ball of flesh. It looks really

weird. It takes my body some time to, um,

get used to the mosquitoes in Japan.

After a while, it doesn't swell up so

much, but it gets really bad sometimes,

especially when you get bitten by mosquito

on your finger. You can't bend your finger

because it's all swollen up. And when you

get bitten on your toes, sometimes they,

they bite through your socks and they bite

you on your foot. And every time you walk,

it hurts. It doesn't just itch, it, it

actually feels painful. And in England,

we don't have mosquitoes. Maybe we do

somewhere in the middle of the woods, but

where I live, we don't have mosquitoes.

And It's just so nice not to be bitten

all the time, which is kind of ironic

because we don't have mosquitoes but we

have bloody fleas because the cats, they

bring them in all the time. So actually my

leg is covered in flea bites right now,

but flea bites aren't as bad as mosquito

bites. It's all your fault we got fleas.

It's all your fault. Oh, and then there's

earthquakes. You know, to be honest The

first time I experienced an earthquake,

it was actually quite exciting. The whole

place started shaking, and I was like,

wow, everything's shaking! This is so much

fun! This is so exciting! But when it's a

big earthquake, it is scary. Trust me, it

is bloody scary when the whole house is

shaking, things are falling over, and the

shaking, it doesn't just last for like 5

seconds. It's going on for a minute. Even

after a minute, things are still shaking,

and you're just worrying. You're

wondering, is the roof going to collapse?

Is the building going to collapse? Am I

going to be crushed to death? But, um,

when the earth— when it's a smaller

earthquake, like a weaker earthquake, it

does actually feel quite nice. You're in

bed, you're just lying in bed, and

suddenly things start rocking gently, and

it actually feels quite soothing. It feels

like you're in a rocking chair. But it's

very scary when you're in the shower and

it starts shaking, because when you're in

a shower, you're really vulnerable. You

know, you can't just run out of the shower

and put your clothes back on if it's a big

earthquake. You're not really going to

have time. If things start collapsing, if

the roof starts collapsing and you're

naked in the shower, what are you going to

do? You're not going to have time to put

on your pants and your trousers and your

shirt, you're just gonna have to run out

completely butt naked, aren't you? It's

either run out completely naked and be

humiliated or be crushed by the building.

Yeah, that was my video on things that I

don't miss about living in Japan. I don't

know if I'll ever go back to Japan again.

You know, you can never say never. You

never know what's gonna happen. I was

actually thinking, do I want to go to

Japan Japan next year, I have a job now.

I could just take a few weeks off and book

a nice hotel. You know, I don't have to go

to a shitty guest house now. The only

reason I stayed in the guest house was

because I wanted to meet people and I had

no money. The guest house is cheap as

dirt. But if I went for just a few weeks,

then yeah, I'd probably stay in a nice

hotel in Tokyo. And well,

I don't know if I'd go to Tokyo again.

I've been to Tokyo so many times I've seen

everything there is to see in Tokyo. It

just doesn't really excite me anymore.

But if I did go to Japan again, I'd

probably stay in a nice hotel. I'd only go

for 2 weeks, maximum 2 weeks.

I just feel like I don't want to

experience living in a guesthouse anymore.

I don't want to stay there for months and

months because after 4 weeks Japan gets

boring. I would say Japan is a great

country for traveling and visiting, but I

wouldn't want to live there. I wouldn't

want to work there. Japanese companies are

so depressing. Japanese people have such a

depressing outlook on work. It's like

work, work, work, work, work, work. My

whole life is dedicated to my job. My job

is my whole life. The whole meaning of my

existence is to work in this company.

It's like they don't have a soul. It's

like, don't you have dreams and ambitions

apart from being like a mindless slave for

this company? Anyway, this was supposed to

be like a well-made, high-quality video,

but I guess this is gonna be another half

an hour of rambling about things I didn't

like about Japan. Um,

I think I will be making a follow-up video

to this, like, uh, things that I miss

about Japan. You know, a positive video.

Well, let's try one of those for— what

for? For— can't even speak anymore.

Yeah, it's not all negativity. There are a

lot of things that I enjoyed about living

in Japan, so look forward to that in the

next edition of Japan Ramblings.