Unpacking Japan

Meet Derek, co-founder of YukiHomes, a service that helps people overseas buy cheap homes in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about his own journey buying an akiya in Japan and running a business from overseas, as well as how YukiHomes fits into Japan's problems with depopulation and gentrification.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Buying their first home in Japan

7:14 Skiing in Japan vs. the U.S.

12:28 Why Japan?

14:18 Discovering akiya

18:49 Regulations on rental properties

26:36 Why buy property in Japan?

29:21 Should foreigners be allowed to buy property?

32:19 Building community businesses

34:15 Operating a business from overseas

41:20 Getting stopped at the airport

44:42 The "right" way to buy akiya?

49:14 Aging ski infrastructure

52:14 Dealing with an old Japanese house

55:22 Next steps

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Follow Derek:

https://www.yukihomes.com

https://www.instagram.com/yukihomesjapan

@YukiHomes

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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 Martin Fackler, a journalist and author based in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about his career in China and Japan, what went into reporting his biggest stories, and the problems with Japan's kisha club system.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Meet Martin

8:50 Advantages of a foreign journalist

15:48 Journalistic autonomy

29:20 Japanese bank extortion story

37:42 Managing information as a journalist

44:23 The Hainan incident

49:15 Running from the Chinese police

55:08 Responsibility to international conflict

59:54 The Japanese banking crisis

1:09:45 Responsibility as Tokyo Bureau Chief

1:15:34 The Fukushima disaster

1:31:45 Journalism vs. safety

1:40:53 Why don't we know what happened?

1:46:33 Failure of the Japanese media

1:56:07 The Japanese press oligarchies

2:06:28 Social media's influence on journalism

2:19:28 Why AI can't do journalism

2:22:53 Looking ahead

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Follow Martin:

https://x.com/martfack

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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 Philip, an author and photographer who's spent years documenting Japan's jazz kissa, who sits down to talk to us about his work and the cafes he's explored in his book. He tells us about the history and culture of jazz kissa, and the growing interest in analogue culture.

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0:00 Intro

0:50 Coming to Japan on JET

10:40 What he learned as a JET teacher

19:54 Starting photography in Yokohama

22:39 The importance of Bebop Square

32:02 Next photography projects

36:05 Documenting jazz kissa

45:25 Origin of jazz kissa

51:02 Why jazz kissa are so special

59:34 Are jazz kissa dying?

1:02:30 Looking back

1:10:06 Future projects

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Follow Philip:

https://www.philiparneill.com/

https://www.tokyojazzjoints.com/

https://www.instagram.com/philiparneill/

https://www.instagram.com/tokyojazzjoints

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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 Hanna, an activist who has been living with chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as PTSD. She sits down to talk to us about her experiences living with invisible illness in Japan, and her views on Japan's medial and social welfare systems.

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0:00 Intro

0:26 Some context from Tobi

2:32 Meet Hanna

3:14 When her pain started

5:13 Response from doctors

7:40 Realizing her situation is not normal

9:39 Breaking free from her family

12:27 What are Hanna's illnesses?

13:50 Understanding her own life

15:08 Starting social media

17:37 Japanese health care/social support

20:04 Daily life for Hanna

23:13 Hanna's medication

24:37 Social media response

26:26 Has Hanna's messaged reached researchers?

28:58 What should change in Japan?

32:12 Starting a GoFundMe

38:31 Hanna's goals

39:59 Hanna's dreams

42:14 How Hanna experiences pain

44:41 Dealing with prejudice

45:44 Message from Hanna

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Follow Hanna:

@hanna_with_pain

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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 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

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Follow Roland:

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

https://x.com/rolandkelts

https://www.japanamericabook.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 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

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Follow Sayaka:

https://nihongodekita.com/

@NihongoDekita

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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 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

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Follow Sandul:

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

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

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

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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 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

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Follow Christiane:

https://www.christianebrew.com/

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

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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

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Follow Anton:

@ANTONINJAPAN

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

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

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

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https://www.antoninjapan.com

https://www.japandihouses.com

https://www.japandirealestate.com

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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/