California native (Dr.) Jordan A.Y. Smith talks about his prolific life in Japan as a professor, translator, poet and sometimes rapper, about poetry as an antidote to loneliness, the key to surviving multiple 5,000-mile moves with his multi-cultural family, creating poetry for BBC Radio 4 with three Japanese poets in Mt. Fuji’s legendary Sea of Trees, and some of his new music and poetry.

When luthier Marc Chavaneau left his 15th century violin workshop in Orléans, France in 1997 for a one-year contract to make and repair violins and cellos in South Korea, he never expected that he wouldn’t be returning for good. Find out how that one year working for a dodgy employer in a work-visa black hole would change this craftsman’s life forever.

Linus Kim is a fellow Alabamian who went from a job in Hollywood to a gig in finance, only to end up serving his Alabama-style barbecue to the smoke-craving masses in South Korea (with a few other gigs along the way). Linus is one of many guests on Rootabaga who seized on that certain kind of freedom and inspiration that the expat life can provide to find his niche and finally do something he really had a passion for.

Episode 1 is a little sampling of the upcoming interviews with some of the more creative and inspiring expats I've met in my 30 years living abroad. You'll meet musicians, craftsmen, restauranteurs, entrepreneurs, and other assorted colorful folks.