My problem with Chris from the Abroad in Japan channel

It's now 2019, March,

and I've heard nothing from Chris Broad,

and I'm pretty sure that it's safe to say

that there's going to be nothing between

me and Chris. We have absolutely no

relationship. There will never be a

relationship between us, and I have

nothing to lose by burning this bridge.

So this all began around August 2018. I

was doing a livestream and I was pretty

bored, and I was on Facebook and I was

trying to find people that I used to go to

primary school with. I found this one girl

who who we'll call Buttons for the purpose

of this video. And I started talking to

Buttons, and it was actually this girl who

for some reason I decided to punch on the

arm when I was about 9 years old. And I

just sent her a silly message saying, hi

Buttons, do you remember me? I'm really

sorry that I punched you on the arm at

Sutton Vallens Primary School. And she

replied to me saying that she didn't even

remember that I punched her, but she

remembered who I was. And I was kind of

surprised that she remembered me, and she

said, of course I remember you. And then

we chatted about a few things. She said

she was— she's a hairdresser now. And then

I went onto her Facebook and I looked at

her friends list, and I noticed that she

was friends with Chris Broad, the person

who runs the Abroad in Japan YouTube

channel. And I thought at first, maybe

she's a fan of his YouTube channel and

she's just a member of his public Facebook

page. So I asked her, how come you're

friends with Chris Broad? And

surprisingly, she said that actually She,

um, she used to be good friends with him,

close friends with him, and his mum used

to babysit her as a baby, and he actually

lived round the corner. And she also

mentioned that he went to the same school,

the same primary school we went to, and he

was in the year below us. And I had no

idea, and I was, I was so shocked and

surprised. I couldn't believe that he went

to the same primary school that we went

to. And it turns out he was in the same

class as my best friend Ricky, who lived

next door to me. He was my neighbour. He

always used to come over to my house. We

used to play Sega Mega Drive together.

And as you might imagine, I was pretty

excited about this because a pretty famous

person was a friend of someone who I went

to school with. That's kind of like

finding out that you went to school with

Michael Jackson. Anyway, I was pretty

excited. I started jumping around. I'm not

sure if anyone remembers the livestream,

or I'm not sure if anyone who watched the

livestream is still even watching my

channel now, but I was pretty excited

about it and As you can imagine, I made a

video about it explaining every single

detail, and unfortunately I got a little

bit carried away and I accidentally— well,

not accidentally, I purposefully told

everyone the specific village that Chris

Broad was from. Now looking back at it,

it wasn't supposed to be a malicious

thing. I wasn't trying to dox him or

anything. I just thought it was an

interesting detail to add into the video.

I'm not sure why I thought it was

interesting because when you think about

it, it's not really that interesting.

Knowing which village he was from.

Anyway, I didn't really think anything of

it. And the next day I did a livestream in

a love hotel. That was, that was

interesting. And whilst I was at the live—

I mean, the love hotel, I started getting

some messages on Twitter and Facebook from

Chris Broad, the man himself. Isn't it

kind of interesting how you get ignored by

someone and then as soon as you make a

video or you say something that they

dislike, then all of a sudden they start

messaging you and they're in your DMs.

Anyway, I was getting extremely excited in

the love hotel, if you remember that

livestream, because I was actually getting

contacted from this huge YouTuber who I

kind of looked up to because, you know,

that was kind of what I wanted to be, you

know, a huge YouTuber with a million

subscribers. But I guess that's never

gonna happen now if you look at my Social

Blade. Me and Chris had a little chat

privately on Facebook and we were both

very surprised. And he said that he knew

about me. He already knew about me since

last year, but he was reluctant to reach

out to me and contact me because of my—

let's say my reputation.

I think he said something like this. He

said, because of the nature of your

YouTube content, I hope you can understand

why I would be reluctant to reach out to

you. I felt a little bit hurt about that.

You know, I've explained this situation

with the Nobita situation where basically

people don't want to be associated with me

because of my reputation.

We had little chats and he even said that

my name rang a bell because he remembers

Buttons telling him about some kid called

Daniel Lord punching her on the arm at

school. So this was all pretty surprising

and I was very happy with how the

conversation was going until he said that,

well, he wasn't very happy about the fact

that I told everyone the village that he

was from. And he didn't specifically tell

me to take down the video, but I could

kind of tell that he wasn't happy with me

saying that. So since I liked Chris and I

didn't want him to hate me, I decided to

take the video down as a gesture of good

f-f-faith. Oh look, it's a bunny rabbit!

It's also kind of funny because you know

how Chris is kind of friends with The

Anime Man, Joey, The Anime Man? And I'm

not sure if any of you remember this, but

I made a video kind of criticizing and

attacking The Anime Man in January 2018,

last year, and it was just— it wasn't

really a serious video. I was just taking

the piss. I put dramatic music and I tried

to frame The Anime Man as this evil

sinister guy who tries to trick his

audience and he tries manipulating his

audience so he can make more money. It

wasn't really a serious video, but I think

The Anime Man saw that, and then Chris

told me that it— that I put him in a

tricky position because he's friends with

The Anime Man, and he said it's hard to be

friends with someone me. It's hard to be

friends with someone who makes a video

like that on one of his own friends. So I

guess good on him for sticking up for his

friend. And he also said that if I hadn't

have made that video, then the Anime Man

probably would have reached out to me at

some point as well. So I could have been

friends with the Anime Man as well, but I

ruined it. And I told Chris that it wasn't

a serious video, and I said, if you— next

time you see Joey, tell him that it wasn't

a serious video, and I said sorry. I said,

tell him I said sorry. And I took down the

video about the Anime Man as well, out of,

you know, as a gesture of good faith. I

also decided to take down the video I made

about Chris telling everyone that we went

to school together and about the village

he was from. I took down that video and I

told him, and then he thanked me. He said,

thanks a lot, I didn't want to have to

directly ask you to take down the video

because I understand how irritating it is

having to take down a video after putting

in so much hard work. And then he says

something really nice at the end. He

basically said, next time I'm in Osaka,

which should be in October, we can meet up

and go for a drink. If not October, then

at the very least before the end of this

year. And I waited for October, and I

waited, and I waited. And then October

came, then October went, and I didn't

receive a single message from Chris. Not

even a peep. Not even a, sorry, I'm going

to be busy in October because I'm doing my

bike trip. So I won't be able to come down

for a drink. Not even nothing, absolutely

zilch. And I know he didn't technically

promise anything, but when someone says

that they will do something, I kind of

take their word and I kind of expect them

to do what they're going to say.

Otherwise, if you don't, then what's the

point of anyone saying anything if they're

not going to actually do what they say?

So I thought to myself, well, maybe he's

busy with his bike trip and he's got all

these other people he's going to meet.

You know, he came down to Osaka on his

bike with a bunch of other YouTubers. The

Anime Man, of course. Sharla. Did I get an

invite to join the bike trip? No. I didn't

get a single invite. Didn't even get an

offer to be able to trail along behind the

cameras and maybe follow them and then

maybe catch up with them and then go for a

drink or meal with them after they

finished filming. Nothing. Absolutely

nothing. And I was just so disappointed.

And then he made his video in Osaka and

then he left Osaka. And then by that

point, I kind of just gave up. But I

remembered he said, if not October, then

by the end of this year. So I still had a

little bit of hope. Maybe he would come

back up to Osaka before the year ends.

And surprisingly, he did. And still I

received no messages from him. Absolutely

nothing. And if you watched my livestreams

back then around October, November,

December, you probably heard me moaning

about this quite a lot. And people kept

telling me, Daniel, he was just saying

that. He didn't really mean it, which is

stupid. If you don't mean something, then

don't say it. And they were saying, um,

he's not obligated, he didn't make any

promises to meet you. Yeah, well, I didn't

make any promises to keep my video down

and to keep my mouth shut on this subject,

did I? So, you know, it's kind of like a

you scratch my back, I scratch yours kind

of situation. And he failed to keep up,

to uphold his end of the bargain. So why

should I keep— why should I uphold my end

of the bargain? And after the whole Nobita

thing happened, where he basically

admitted to Nobita admitted to not wanting

to have anything to do with me, and he

didn't want to be associated with me. It

got me thinking, maybe Chris didn't really

care that much about me telling everyone

where he was from. Maybe he did care a

little bit, but it wasn't really the main

issue. I think the main issue was that

he's basically the same as Nobita. He just

didn't want anything to do with me, and he

didn't want his special squeaky-clean

family-friendly brand to be associated

with me in any way at all. So He did what

he could to get me to take down that video

on him, which was basically a video

linking us together. If you searched

Abroad in Japan, my video would have come

up in the search results, and he didn't

like that because of my reputation on

YouTube and him wanting to protect his

precious brand. And after doing a little

bit of thinking, I feel like I've kind of

been manipulated, emotionally manipulated.

I feel as though I've been tricked. I feel

as though he sweet-talked me and he was

all friendly and nice when there was

something he wanted out of me, when he

wanted me to take the video down. And he

said all these nice things, gave me a nice

little promise— not really a promise, but

he gave me— he gave me this impression

that we might meet up and have drinks and

maybe kind of become friends, or at least

talk about YouTube stuff and Japan stuff

in the future. But no, none of that

happened. Nothing. Would you shut up,

Mimo?

I'm trying to make a video.

As soon as I took down the video, as soon

as I gave him what he wanted, he, um, he

ghosted me. He vanished into thin air.

Not a single trace of him could be found

on my phone ever again. He knew I was kind

of starstruck. He knew that I looked up to

him. He knew that I thought of him as some

kind of famous YouTuber, celebrity kind of

guy. And he used his fame and he

sweet-talked me and said nice things so

that we would be on good terms, so that I

would want to take down the video without

him actually having to ask me to take it

down. And I did. I fell straight into his

trap. I did exactly as he wanted, and he

didn't even have to uphold his end of the

bargain. So I'm not very happy

about that. So I'm gonna make this video.

I'm gonna tell everyone about what

happened. And unfortunately, I will be

using his brand name in the title of this

video and in the tags. And so when you

search his precious brand into the YouTube

search engine, my video and my YouTube

channel and my Not very good reputation is

going to tarnish his family-friendly PG

brand. I'm so very sorry for that. Not.

If people think they can shut me up and

sweet-talk me just so they can protect

their own brand and keep people from

associating me and them together, then

they have a second another thing coming.

And no, it's too late contacting me now.

There's no point. There's nothing to say.

There's no point apologizing. There's no

point trying to. Sweet-talk me again

because I'm not gonna listen. Nothing's

gonna change. I don't want to meet you

anymore. I don't want to go for a drink

anymore. You blew it, and there's no going

back. This bridge has officially been

burned, and there will be no contact or

anything between us from now on and

forever. And I guess now we all know your

true colors. You will say anything to

protect your brand, to keep people from

associating themselves with you if you

dislike that person's reputation. And I

think it also kind of proves that you

don't really mean what you say and you

don't uphold what you say. So goodbye.