Meet Roland Kelts, an author known for his book Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. He sits down to talk to us about the anime industry and the spread of Japanese pop culture overseas, as well as his work on the upcoming documentary Tezuka: God of Manga.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Roland

4:29 Building a stronger connection to Japan

8:55 Joining the JET Programme to write about Japan

15:20 Living alone in Japan

24:04 Leaving Japan to build a career

29:43 Writing Japanamerica

36:40 Studying Tezuka and anime

40:22 How otaku brought anime overseas

45:34 The 4Kids incident

47:49 Has the anime industry changed over 20 years?

55:58 The Tezuka documentary

1:00:14 Why Tezuka was so influential

1:03:27 How Tezuka came to be

1:06:44 Challenges of producing a documentary

1:11:08 Looking back

1:21:39 The power of pop culture

1:26:03 The world viewed from Japan

--

Follow Roland:

https://www.instagram.com/rolandkelts/

https://x.com/rolandkelts

https://www.japanamericabook.com/

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Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Sayaka, a Japanese teacher known for her work on her channel Nihongo Dekita. She sits down to talk to us about her own journey to English fluency, discovering a passion for teaching language, and how she built her brand and Japanese school online.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 How Sayaka learned English

10:26 Studying teaching abroad

22:52 Work for company hiring immigrants in Japan

27:54 Starting her own teaching company

30:53 Growth on social media

38:41 Hiring her own teachers

40:37 How to make online lessons succeed

49:05 Should you learn by watching TV?

52:29 How to get fluent in a language

57:02 Learning vocabulary

1:04:54 Looking back

--

Follow Sayaka:

https://nihongodekita.com/

@NihongoDekita

https://www.instagram.com/nihongodekita/

https://www.facebook.com/nihongodekita/

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Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Kofi Bazell-Smith, the United States' first manga professor. He sits down to talk to us about the rules, form, and history of manga, his work in teaching and cultural relations, as well as his own projects as an artist.

--0:00 Intro0:50 Start in martial arts5:16 Deciding to take manga seriously10:30 Studying with a manga professor13:38 The rules of manga19:13 How this experienced changed him22:50 Manga as an academic art form26:48 Manga can be anything29:28 How Tezuka brought filmmaking to manga34:20 Becoming the manga professor37:52 Manga as a cross-cultural art form43:34 Is there a market for foreign manga?49:36 Kofi's manga53:39 Publishing manga57:28 Working with Japanese manga schools1:01:54 Exhibiting manga in an art gallery1:06:13 Kofi's work in US-Japan cultural relations--Follow Kofi:https://www.kofimanga.com

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Sandul, a real estate agent in Tokyo. He sits down to talk to us about the reality of renting, the difficulties of renting as a foreigner or student, and how to settle in as a new resident in Japan.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Sandul

1:27 Scholarship in Japan

10:00 Sri Lankan student association

14:27 First job in Japan

21:47 Start in content creation

25:27 Japanese house tour videos

31:29 Why do people let you film their house?

34:30 Start in real estate industry

38:20 Foreigner friendly apartments?

42:54 Biggest surprises in real estate

47:07 What makes a good property?

49:24 How long it takes to rent

54:06 Where Sandul lives

57:05 Sandul's favorite stories

1:04:50 What people should know about his interviewees

--

Follow Sandul:

https://www.instagram.com/sandulvinsuka/

https://www.instagram.com/vinsuka.fromtokyo/

https://www.instagram.com/japanhometours/

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Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Christiane, an actress based in Tokyo. She sits down to talk to us about her work in theatre in improv, performing for Japanese vs. English audiences, and her roles in projects like Death Stranding and Godzilla.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Christiane

5:42 Coming to Japan

12:52 Start in acting

16:09 Start in improv

25:29 Performing improv in Tokyo

37:19 Role in Shin Godzilla

46:10 Being scouted for Death Stranding

49:45 Performing motion capture

56:40 Looking back

1:01:04 Support group for female actors in Tokyo

1:09:28 The magic of theatre

--

Follow Christiane:

https://www.christianebrew.com/

https://www.instagram.com/christianebrew/

Follow us:

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Today we sit down again with Anton Wormann, an akiya renovation specialist and content creator based in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about his renovation projects, the legal regulations about renovations in Japan, the failure and abandonment of his Chiba farm project, and the lessons he's learned along the way.

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0:00 Intro

0:49 Meet Anton

1:38 First commercial project

7:41 Documenting the work

9:43 The Chiba farmhouse

13:26 The dream waterfall house

16:05 Chiba farmhouse failure

21:38 Lessons learned

25:22 What you should know about akiya

30:45 How to buy akiya responsibly

33:52 How the tax system creates akiya

36:38 Tokyo's anti-renovation legislation

40:18 Anton's Japandi company

43:16 Getting a real estate license

48:56 Renovating the waterfall house

1:01:34 How much did it cost?

1:06:00 Next steps

1:09:39 The power of social media

1:13:04 Looking back

--

Follow Anton:

@ANTONINJAPAN

https://www.instagram.com/anton.injapan

https://www.tiktok.com/@antoninjapan

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091063962376

-

https://www.antoninjapan.com

https://www.japandihouses.com

https://www.japandirealestate.com

-

Follow us:

https://unpacking.jp/

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Dan Wilson, a Tokyo-based comedian performing manzai and stand up between America and Japan. He sits down to talk to us about going to comedy school and finding a manzai partner, signing to and leaving an agency, and the ins and outs of the Japanese comedy world.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Dan

2:09 Growing up half Japanese in America

8:05 Discovering Japanese comedy

16:02 Going to comedy school

25:09 Getting signed

27:48 Manzai is a marriage

33:48 Being funny as a non-native

40:55 The reality of comedy agencies

45:56 Social media & Japanese comedy

53:54 Going independent

1:01:48 Performing in English vs. Japanese

1:12:01 Looking back

1:15:35 How to do dirty comedy well

--

Follow Dan:

https://www.instagram.com/danielywilson

https://www.tiktok.com/@danielywilson

@Badonkadonk_official

@SUPERGREATTIMETOKYO

Follow us:

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Hori Benny, a tattoo artist and owner of Invasion Club tattoo studio in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about the history and changing culture of Japanese tattoos, his own grueling apprenticeship, the challenges of running a tattoo business in Japan, and his own anime-inspired "otattoo" style.

--

0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Hori Benny

7:14 JET Programme in Kagoshima

14:21 Introduction to tattoo culture

20:31 Tattoo apprenticeship in Osaka

32:12 First time tattooing someone

35:26 What makes a good tattoo

44:22 Opening Invasion Club studio

46:24 History of Japanese tattoos

50:27 Japanese police vs. tattooers

56:25 Otattoo style

1:03:33 Benny's tattoo philosophy

1:10:55 Taking on an apprentice

1:14:32 Expanding to Tokyo

1:22:23 Looking back

1:26:40 What's next

--

Follow Hori Benny:

https://horibenny.com/

https://invasion.club/

https://www.instagram.com/horibenny/

Follow us:

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Akira Tokuhiro, a Japanese Canadian nuclear engineering professor based in Ontario, Canada. He sits down to talk to us about the current and future role of nuclear as a clean energy source, Japan's response to incidents like Fukushima, and how we can move towards carbon net zero.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Akira

9:06 Interest in nuclear

19:25 Types of reactors

24:04 Working in Japan

28:36 Japan Atomic Energy Agency

30:58 Japan's reactors

33:51 Nuclear safety and earthquakes

37:12 What happened at Fukushima

39:38 Government response

44:05 How reactors are shut down

54:06 Restarting reactors

56:08 Life cycle of a nuclear plant

58:28 Problems with prolonged shutdown

1:00:50 Current public opinion

1:05:54 Nuclear's role in carbon net zero

1:14:22 Regaining confidence in nuclear

1:19:42 Developing nuclear technology

1:21:49 Expanding global nuclear energy

1:28:00 How to educate about nuclear

--

Follow Akira:

https://x.com/TokuhiroAkira

Follow us:

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet Aki Yamaguchi, a Thai-Japanese content creator and MC living and working between both countries. She sits down to talk to us about growing up in an international school abroad, finding her own identity and starting a visual kei band, and how her unique background led her to where she is today.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Aki

1:16 International school in Thailand

7:19 Embracing Japanese side

11:27 Finding her own style

13:20 Starting a band

20:38 Bringing the band to Japan

25:50 Start of MC career

31:33 Covid and growing on TikTok

44:32 Addressing stereotypes online

47:40 Aki's unique opportunities

50:40 Branching out to English content

59:22 Content between languages

1:03:01 Aki's message to the dreamers

Follow Aki:

@akinoyuutsu

https://www.instagram.com/akinoyuutsu

https://www.tiktok.com/@aki_yamaguchi

https://www.facebook.com/akinoyuutsupage/

Follow us:

https://unpacking.jp/

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Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!

Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/