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I dont really agree. I think fake father is a perfect idea. Every family needs a little of masculinity and feminity. its enery. if the girl has no father figure, she might feel uncomplete in future life and whatever this man prcides he's giving her a a masculine piont of view which baances perfectly family life, how it should look like. I was raised with stepfather like that fpr 18 years and /i'm glad I had him. She would be able later to establish her family on her own, by that experience.

If it sounds fun to rent a dad, why not rent a homeless guy! Take a peek: <a href="http://www.tofugu.com/interviews/homeless-rental-kotani/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.tofugu.com/interviews/homeless-rental-kotani/</a>

I had to do some research while I was in a high school class through Stanford University as to why Japanese high schoolers should learn English! To put it simply, the personal gain isn't as great as the national gain. Japan is trying to cultivate the development of "human capital" that will help lift of Japan's economy, so skills like English are highly sought out - especially if Japanese corporations want to better integrate into the global economy and become bigger exporters. Of course, they totally aren't going to do that if they don't fix how English is taught, but that's what JET is for!

My mother is actually a trained drone pilot, so I can actually comment on this with a little authority. I would recommend not buying a drone specifically because of the legal issues it raises. At least in the US (and I'm pretty sure in Japan considering the legal jargon NHK puts at the bottom of their drone shots) you have to get permits from the government to fly at most - if not all - sites. On top of that, you have to make sure you are not in certain classes of air space, and even then you can't fly higher than a specific point due to the potential for crashes with private plains. Additionally, you have to have a clear view of your drone from the ground at all times or else you are technically violating the law. Basically, I would say just stick with the 4k camera :) I like the up close and personal style anyways

Love the 4K!

Nari Kim

Eh, I'd say no to the drone. There's other vloggers who already do it - some more than others. imo, it's great for those NatGeo-style zooms and pans, and breathtaking scenery and all that - you know, when you need to see the whole landscape to get a feel for its size and beauty. Not so much for travel vids. Plus, uh... what's your experience with drones? It's not exactly a cheap hobby. Takes a while to get used to flying, and if you start right off with something like a Parrot with an HD camera... if you crash, get stuck in a building/wires/some rocks/hazards that randomly appear just to fuck with you (that really does happen. There's a model rocket launch in the middle of the desert here. Miles and miles of absolutely nothing. Except one power line. And every year, there's always ONE rocket that gets stuck in it.) - there's $1000+ you're not getting back. If you have the time and money to learn to fly and work your way up to something expensive (or I guess ask Jun, since he knows how to fly them), then maybe, but... meh. Doesn't seem to fit with the travel videos. Maybe if you wanted to do a different vein, like a more documentary-style video on a particular place's history and lore or something, where sweeping panos of ancient buildings against mountains are the backdrop to you narrating the local legends - I could see that working.

Thanks again for the podcast style vlog. Look forward to listening to it on the way to work.

Sent you a couple of ideas for the students, enjoy !

Michaël Debever

Hey Chris, Here is 9 minutes of fun, dutch site but you get the picture anyway: <a href="http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/7291139/3bad69ec/japanse_gameshow.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/7291139/3bad69ec/japanse_gameshow.html</a>

A good reason to learn English is also one of the reasons why I learned Japanese. They can play Western video games that wont get released in Japan with localisation. Especially if they own a PS4 or the new Nintendo Switch which are not region locked. They could switch the region to US and download Western games that previously wouldn't understand and have lots of fun!

Wow that last story you told is serious disturbing... be that as it may, sorry I'm late with this comment; had a hectic week at work (right up until yesterday)... Drones: just no... ; future vids: as I see it, you are the main draw in your videos. Even though I love your content, your somewhat unique approach is what makes it that much more interesting. So whatever you do, don't forget that you yourself are an integral part of it; Learning English: ask yourself what impelled you to learn Japanese and how that changed your life: then apply it to English learners.

I think a drone sequence at the beginning of videos while you introduce whats happening in the video would be a good use of drones.

So that article doesnt seem so crazy people dont want to put in the time for relationships because society no longer has a place for it.... every one works ergo what society wants and is able to provide becomes smaller and smaller and because we have an expectation of work culture (ask the femnazi's they will tell you all about it) of course we fill this societal need with a proffession. Its a logical conclusion to me if we want to have a society that we actually think we want then we would have to value people above stuff... I just dont see that happening fast enough to matter at this point. I think the current global work culture will be the next centuries slavery. The thing that if you are willing to have decendants will be working hard to eradicate from there lives or we'll be like the observers from ahhh fuck whats that show...FRinge thats it... thoughts?

Who wants to see Chris in a host club not a dodgy one either?!

I found that one of the best things of knowing English is you finally understand what those songs that you sang in made-up words when you were a younger actually say. You can watch Friends and laugh at jokes that get lost in translation. You can appreciate David Attenborough's accent too! (doubt 15 year-olds care about that, though) You can listen to the Harry Potter audiobooks read by Stephen Fry. You can watch so many movies without getting having to focus your view on subtitles. Also, of course, it makes your life so much easier. You will always find someone that speaks English or a translation in English, but not always in your language. I think the drone is a cool thing to have and, yes, you get amazing footage with it, but your channel doesn't need it. And... what was the third question? Oh, what to do next year. To the questionnaire!

Milena Raschia

As far as suggestions of things to film, I will still push Koyasan on you. I unfortunately went when it was raining and cloudy, but that added atmosphere to the amazing Okunoin. The train ride and Koyasan cable car ride were made more beautiful by the clouds hovering at the mountain slopes. The cemetery and village are wonderful, full of temples and shops, and the surrounding mountains are beautiful. Shoshazan in Himeji was also nice, with a beautiful view of the city and a fun ropeway ride up the mountain. Koyasan can be done cheaper with the Kansai Thru Pass, and Shoshazan is cheaper with a combo ticket purchased at the bus station at the Himeji JR station, for foreign tourists using train passes instead of car rentals. Also, a fun little touristy thing I did last year was Enoshima island and the sea caves on the other side of the island and the local dragon legend associated with them. I was disappointed, honestly, at the last cave, but if done with humor in mind, a video of it could be quite funny. But the island and rocky beach are beautiful with great views.

There have been some really great suggestions so far, and I fear being repetitive, but here are my thoughts on giving reasons to kids. 1. Remember with little kids they have a short attention span and will only stay interested if it is funny and it is something they can relate to. Speaking of things like jobs and world community through speaking a common language might be a bit too much for them to fully comprehend if they are under 10 years old. So keep those topics short or you'll lose their attention unless the topic includes things like games, movies, comics, etc. 2. I would do a 10+ list...10 things that are important that you can expand on, then a bunch of shorter and possibly funny reasons, like "knowing the difference between 'shrimp' in other countries." I ordered shrimp in Tokyo and got these tiny little river bugs, but in the USA, 'shrimp' are at least 2-3 inches long and I think in Japan they are prawns. 'Fish and chips' in England are 'fish fillets and fries' in the USA and usually catfish in the south and cod in the north. Pictures also help keep the kids engaged, so maybe includes slides or something, or even a quiz that's funny and engaging with multiple choice or true/false, or explain what Marvel comics characters names mean if translated into Japanese if that's funny to them. Heck, if it's got to be almost two hours, you might need all of these suggestions ;-)

You can actually give a custom amount to Chris each month rather than the $5. Just edit pledge and change it to whatever you want.

Hey, Chris I just became a Patron. Only $5 a month though. I would love to be the ultimate patron and contribute the $20. Do you not plan on opening more spots for that., or do you have your hands full? My fiancee and I plan honeymooning in Japan and I thought it would be nice for you to do a guide video on that. Like, from ticket/hotel bookings to going off the beaten path and not sticking to the typical tourist attractions. We really want to get a real feel for Japan. I would even pay to use you as a tour guide lol. Anyway, keep up the good work and the videos. I have been following your channel since you're first video. I'm very proud of you!

First of all, love the videos. Drone? Don't care, do whatever you like... I like your videos the way they are have not once missed drone images. What to make videos about? I always like the food videos and videos of stuff you do in Japan. I'm a huge gamer nerd and would love some insight in the gaming scene in Japan... but if thats not something your interested in, I won't fly over to force you ;) (would love to fly over to force you btw, but flying from the Netherlands to Japan, only to force you make a specific video, is quite expensive I think. You already received some lists, but let me try to think of my own 25 reasons I would learn English if I was a Japanese boy.... or girl... I could perhaps be a girl.... 1. You could work as a translator of manga, anime or games. 2. You can work in international businesses. 3. You can work in tourism 4. You can understand things that the west makes (read Harry Potter, watch movies, play games, understand music lyrics, read shakespear / other poetry) 5. You can travel the world more easily 6. You can become a chef cook and talk to all guests even the foreigners 7. As mentioned, you can translate other people's stuff, but you can also write your own material 8. You can become a YouTuber! Just like Chris, but the other way around (a Japanese boy / girl living somewhere else and vlogging about it) 9. You can teach Ikebana in the West (or online) 10. You can become a taijutsu master and give seminars around the world 11. Working at Playstation... and become the next Shuhei Yoshida 12. You could study other cultures (you could de that without learning english, but often material will be written in English I think) 13. Meeting a foreigner you could help them... or not... or pretend you do not speak english and listen if they curse or say rude things, and then tell them that they are bad people! 14. I've seen videos of Chris on Engrish in Japan... I laughed my balls out of my pants (we sometimes say that in the Netherlands), but really, you could make a difference and help Japan use english as it is meant to be used! (I fit well in sake daddy?!!! the childrens chothing store named Starvations :D :D ) 15. You can become an english teacher 16. It (probably) looks well on your application letter 17. If learning english goes well, perhaps other european languages are easier to learn (all being Germanic languages) This is harder than I though Chris, thinking of 25 reasons. 18. You can work with programmers around the world (usually the main spoken language will be english) 19. You can look cool to your friends, throwing around cool english phrases 20. You'll finally learn how to use the word "fuck" properly ;) 21. You can break the prejudice that no single Japanese person can speak english 22. Make the japanese culture more known to people in other countries... probably this is the same as having a youtube show, but I'm really out of ideas here 23. DO write Engrish texts... because you understand English you can write text you are sure that are wrong, but still funny as fuck! 24. Become friends with all kinds of people over the world (through online communities or whatever) 25. Help others find reasons to learn english. You know the language, you can tell people how it helped you in your life, tell others and help others! Damn that was hard, but I really hope it helpes, even if it is just one thing, of one thing that made you think of a really good thing. However, Chris, keep up the great videos. My girlfriend and I always love watching you tell us something about your life an seeing stuff from Japan!

As a research psychologist I'll second this! I agree there is a huge difference in understanding a culture when you learn the language too. It made a massive difference to my experience when I lived in the Netherlands years ago, and also taught me a lot about myself at the same time. And right now, I'm having Japanese lessons with a good friend who is a native speaker.

There have been plenty of studies about how learning a new language affects your health. And there are dozens of great benefits you can get from it! Including better and stronger memory, faster neural network, better creativity etc. Even thought a Japanese person can outlive a turtle it also has lots of benefits that will be important when you get older. As decreasing the chance, and delaying Alzheimer’s and I forgot the others, but I link an article about it that has linked it’s sources at the bottom of the page. <a href="https://www.google.no/amp/s/www.mosalingua.com/en/benefits-of-learning-a-second-language/amp/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.google.no/amp/s/www.mosalingua.com/en/benefits-of-learning-a-second-language/amp/</a>

Personally, i'd like to see a video with Chris, Natsuki, and Ryotaro. I don't think all three have ever been in a video together? C'mon let's see it. The three amigos!

Dr. Cheeks

For Japanese speakers, learning English would probably make learning some other European languages a lot easier. French has similar vocabulary, but makes more structural sense, as does German.

The only vlogger I've ever seen use a drone really well is probably 'SerpentZA', an expat vlogger in China. He ends the bulk of his videos with a really nice drone shot. Take a look if you can't imagine what you might do with one. I'd love to see some overhead sweeping shots of Tohoku.

As a person who just likes all the toys, I vote for you getting a drone! Just say no to the impulse to be corny (like we do with drugs, right) when it arises and you never know—you might find ways to use it that you haven’t thought of before!

If you're gonna watch the ramen shop documentary, there's a director's commentary in the description, I definitely recommend watching that as well.

When you go to Osaka, why not visit the life-sized replica of Brockhampton Church, Herefordshire, on the 20th floor of the Monterey Grasmere Hotel? (It's on *my* list.)

Actually super weird that you said "girlfriend from Australia" because my salaryman boyfriend in Tokyo made it his mission to learn English as a kid and now...has a girlfriend from Australia I guess.

Use Ryotoro as an example of why they should learn English, he has had a great life so far and knowing English has opened a lot of doors for him. Don't narrow it down to specifically English when doing your research, I googled 100 reasons to learn a foreign language and there were loads of results <a href="http://www.lingolearn.com/related-articles/124-100-reasons-to-study-a-new-language." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.lingolearn.com/related-articles/124-100-reasons-to-study-a-new-language.</a> Don't know what style they expect your talk to be in but you could do an interactive section such as guessing English idioms (Rachel and Jun did a good video on that). 1hr 45 is a bloody long time, hopefully it won't be assembly style and you could give them some activities to do to break it up?

What's so special about Dan Radcakes accent? Now James Mason....that's an English voice to appreciate. ;-)

If you learn english you gain access to a whole new ubmnivers of knowledge and resources for self development especially considering how huge it is in the world economy. (Try google-ing ìslandic vulcan erruptions using hindu.. go on) same goes for alot of lanfuages ofc.

If you learn English, you can play baseball in the MLB and give your own interviews without a translator

What is Japan's obsession with "Love Live" all about? You could do that video in both Tokyo and Numazu.

JBS

Now the game is how quickly I can write a movie about the Rent-a-Friend guy begins

John P Kowalchuk

An Australian girlfriend is perfectly reasonable... but a lot of the Australian girls are crazy haha

I also listen to prayers in Eigo. So that's another.

The RadishGod

English is the de-facto communication medium for IT fields. If you want to get into it you *need* to learn it. You might explore this reason.

The RadishGod

If you learn English you don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself by wearing one of these t-shirts. <a href="https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-english-translations-t-shirt-fail-asia-broken-engrish/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-english-translations-t-shirt-fail-asia-broken-engrish/</a>

There are ofc more than 25 reasons for them to learn English but no diggedy no doubt, they should learn it to be able to enjoy a good Pitbull song.

Well Im from A Spanish speaking background currently living in Australia for 10 years now. Ill Say To learn any language is an amazing resource to have but in the case of English I personally founded that open doors for communication with people from different countries as is the most universally teach and encouraged language to learn even from early years. In my case English allowed me not only to make a big move to a different country but also open the doors for me to develop into my professional skills. So to learn any material online nowadays you need to know english as most resources are in this language. As well if you are looking for a job even in a non speaking english country a second language preferable english is highly regarded and to open communications lines with international partners. This include travelling and just meeting people on the street in Chile and other latin american countries english has become incorporated to everyday as spanglish so everyone knows at least one word and the meaning of it and use it as an everyday slang. but in any case conclusion: want to travel, learn english. want to make international business, learn english. want a job, learn english and if you can add another language it will upgrade your resume (cv) and will be regarded as better qualify for a job!

Forgot to say that 1.English speaking Japanese young persons, would give teenagers all over the English speaking world the hope that they could actually have a chance, albeit slim of finding a cute Japanese girl/boyfriend. 2 dubbed Anime (shudder) could have Japanese accents and nuances instead of those Horrible American ones. 3 I could travel to Japan knowing that if my crappy Japanese got me in a pickle, some nice Japanese person could step in and help. 4 leaving language learning till later in life (I'm 61) is a REAL pain. 5 multi lingual people are more Beautiful.

Forgot to say, Japanese

Hi Chris, please don't use a drone in your videos, they're like assholes on YouTube now, everybody's got one.

It's important to note that English one of the most. if not the most used languages in the world. I think that alone is a good enough reason to have at least a basic grasp of it.

Japan did have something called Rent a Ryotaro, but then the people were never heard from again.... XD jk love Ryotaro. Perhaps a Series of videos on a day in the life, of various people around japan, similar to the natsuki movie but with a light tone. A couple of possible topics to bring to the students are 1. Learning to speak English in order to spread the Japanese culture and way of life to all corners of the earth, and 2. To unlock the ability to talk about a secret with your friend without another japanese only speaking student overhearing ;)

- Listening to Podcasts,Videos and even Audiobooks in English - Reading stuff in English (like everything) - Understanding Japenglish Advertising - Localize your own Website in English so that the nigerian prince can email you for giving you money - Write english lyrics on your favorite japanese song for your oversea friend which dosen't understand anything they sing about - Avoiding spelling misstakes: "fucking cleaner" so that your friend can't make fun of you the rest of your life there are probably more - others have ideas too :p

25 reasons: 1) Being able to listen to songs in English 2) Communication with people from all around the globe 3) Getting a different outlook on life by adopting a point of view of another nation aka a foreign language 4) Being able to travel freely 5) YOU CAN WATCH CHRIS BROAD ON YOUTUBE 6) WITHOUT SUBTITLES 7) English is lingua franca of gaming (japanese people like games) 8) Learning foreign languages develops your brain 9) You decrease the risks of mental illnesses in the old age 10) Career opportunitites 11) You can live in another country 12) English movies 25) You can say words like: "doughnut" and "pipsqueak" Phew! Finally done Hopefully, that wil be useful

Alexander

I haven’t read all the comments but maybe one reason it would be nice to learn English is to play online games with people worldwide. Not a very academic reason but might be a good enough reason for some. 😃🎮 As far as the drone... I’m actually really curious to see what kind of visuals you could produce with that equipment but I totally dig the idea of keeping things down to Earth, in many ways, for the viewers. Do what you feel is right! You could always borrow one right? 😃

Laura Beaumont

I don't see a reason for you to get a drone. Unless you want to have it just for fun :) Regarding the reasons to learn english one is of course that they can watch videos like yours on youtube or elsewhere. There is so much information but also funny stuff you find only in english. Or at least you find more sources. This can be really helpful for school/ university. For example when you have to write an essay. As you already said it helps a lot when you travel but also if you are in Japan tourists might ask you for help. It will make you feel proud that you could help them. Many jobs nowadays require english as well. When you plan to study you can take an semester abroad in so many countries which is usually quite an adventure. When you like reading and/or movies/series you find out that many are original in English. So if you want the story as intended get (all) the jokes you need to speak english. You can mostly watch/read them earlier too. Because, be aware the internet is full of spoilers ;) so be fast to watch popular shows early and you will have a lot to talk with other fans. Of course also in English ;) Also you would know what kind of nonsense is written on tshirts and stuff ;) this could help you not to embarrass yourself. Know what it is you order at Starbucks &amp; co. and know how to pronounce it correctly. Want to buy fancy stuff in international shops? Learn english. *** For next year I really like your idea of traveling more. I went to Tokyo and Kyoto this year. It was my first visit and the internet is full of information about them. It was great but I really want to see more of the countryside as well next time. Smaller cities, beautiful nature and interesting spots to see which you usually do not visit being the standard tourist. I think most vloggers focus on the cities everybody knows (at least the name) but I would like to see more about unknown places in Japan. That would be really nice. :)

Don’t get a drone. We don’t want to see your videos from Godzilla’s point of view

Lyall Moffitt

ALSO: Chris, would you consider doing a NEW apartment tour? It seems like you've moved into a new place even since your last video on the topic, unless I missed another video in between.

Marx

No thanks about the drone. I'd prefer you to keep doing it the way you're doing it. What value could a drone bring to your videos? Some people have mentioned transitions...I disagree. I think drone footage would completely undermine the personal touch your videos have, and that personal touch includes the transitions. I go from sitting at a nice Japanese dinner with you and Ryotaro to walking the streets at night in a flash - no stupid, high-flying drone footage to take me out of the moment. It's immersive, it's relaxing, and it's entertaining. Keep doing what you're doing.

Marx

well, a reason is to learn english, is that my employer uses english. and i live (and work) in the netherlands. :)

Woo, that's my camera! One of my lenses too! Does this mean I can be a pro YouTuber now?

Nope

25 reasons to learn English: 1. You can watch Hollywood movies without subtitles and understand the subtle jokes. 2. You can meet interesting new people and have a way to communicate with them. 3. You can watch English cartoons and discover through them a new culture. 4. You can prank call someone in English. 5. You can go to a supermarket in a different country and not worry about what you’ll buy because most labels are also in English. 6. It will help you in your future career. 7. If you know English, you will learn that you still won’t understand hip-hop lyrics. 8. You will sound cool. 9. When travelling, you don’t have to be stressed that you can’t find out where the toilet is. 10. You will know swear words. 11. Your mother will love you more. 12. If you google in English, you’ll probably get more search results back. This pretty much helps with anything. (especially homework) 13. You’ll be able to sing all the popular songs which are written in English. (important for karaoke purposes) 14. You’ll understand how silly foreign people can be. 15. You’ll have more confidence. 16. You’ll be able to play video games which aren’t released in Japanese. 17. You will still hate Marmite. 18. You will be able to watch popular English speaking Youtubers and learn how to play the guitar, put make-up on, learn about their culture, etc. 19. You’ll be able to go to UK, Canada, USA, Australia, South Africa and a lot of the European countries and meet a lot new interesting new people. 20. Laugh at all the funny English t-shirts in Japan. 21. You'll be able to watch Abroad in Japan Kids channel. 22. You will be able to read English comic books. 23. You can help others that don’t know it. 24. You can apply for summer camps in the UK 😊 25. It’s fun to learn it.

A few reasons for learning English - you can watch Harry Potter (other films are available) without subtitles. You can talk about how different the culture is in Britain/any other English speaking country, and how learning about it is so much easier if you know the language. Lots of jobs are available for people who are bi-lingual; every sector and field will have roles for it. Also don't forget to mention most of these jobs pay more. It makes traveling easier as a lot of the world speaks it. On top of all that, I've heard that learning a language helps improve your ability to perform in almost all other academic areas, but you might want to check that one. Finally you get to understand how silly a lot of product names in Japan that use English sound to foreigners.

Hello there Chris. Got som amusing and maybe inspiring reason to learn English for you, not 25 but a few at least ^.^ 1. You can enjoy the wonder full world of Japanese English labeling. 2. You will be able too get a taste of other countrys sens of humor. 3 . You will have the chans to make lots of foreign friends , after all there are quite many foreigner that want's to learn Japanese. 4. All of the English printed t-shirts will make you laugh when you realize what they actually mean. 5. And the last one i got for you, All the reasons for you to learn English comes down to what you value the most and if the langue barrier keeps you from enjoying it to the fullest then i see no reason for you not to learn English. might not be much but hope it helps you out :) btw looking forward to hearing natsukis song you where talking about.

Hi Chris. i dont know if its too late but one good reason to learn English is that if you have an emergency while traveling outside of Japan, it will be easier to communicate with the emergency operator. Even if its not an English speaking country, chances are that it is a second language. Hope that helps. As for the drone, I own several and the laws are very strict in most places. They are great tools but the quality of your videos are very good so having one wouldnt be necessary in my opinion.

6) You can talk to foreigners who come to your country. In the case of Japan, you have booming tourism and I guess that many foreigners who come to Tokyo for the Olympics will also travel to other destinations in Japan during their trip. Successfully using your English to give directions to a foreigner can be a pretty rewarding feeling after spending countless hours on learning a language. 7) Something I noticed during the process of learning English is, that it somehow changes yourself a little in a positive way. I think you mentioned the same phenomenon, when you talked about studying Japanese in one of your videos. 8) When your own language is filled with English loanwords, isn't it kinda odd to not speak or learn at least a little English? Especially in Japanese, where you have TONS of them. 9) We live in a world where globalization plays a huge role. People who are in their teens now will have it much easier to leave their country and travel, while it's also becoming more and more likely to meet people from far, far away. 10) You'll be able to notice and understand all the crazy Engrish that is printed on shirts and is written on shop signs. It's pretty amusing and lowers your risk of eating Bon Jovi chicken significantly. That's about it. It turned out a little bit longer than expected but after all you're trying to fill a 100min presentation (minus the time you need for your 自己紹介). I hope, I could help at least a little. Good luck next week! PS: This comment didn't seem to show up the first two times I tried to post it, so I split it into two. Sorry for the spam, in case the other comments still appeared somehow anyway.

Rather than giving those students 25 reasons to learn Japanese, I'd alternatively tell them about 10 reasons but talk about them in much greater detail. Instead of just mentioning the reasons and explaining them a little, you could tell some stories of friends or subscribers who learned English and put it to good use in a certain way. When I learnt English in school, I saw how it would be useful later in my life and was really motivated to study it. Same thing goes for studying Japanese at university. Meanwhile, when I learnt French in school, I didn't really see the purpose of it and my grades were terrible. You probably thought of similar reasons already but (my) reasons for learning English are/ were: 1) Since English is a universal language, you can make use of it almost everywhere in the world. If you ever want to leave the country you were born in, being able to speak English is great. It doesn't matter whether you go to a country where English is spoken as the native language or if you go to Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands or pretty much any other first world country, people will understand you, if you speak English. (Whenever Natsuki travelled with you, he didn't necessarily need to speak English, but I think he was glad that he learnt it. You'll probably get a way better and more detailed response by him though, which might help filling ~20min of your presentation) 2) You can understand English literature, songs, videos, books, websites and pretty much everything else that's available (sometimes solely) in English. One good example might be a certain YouTube channel where not every video has a Japanese subtitle (yet). Might be a little cheesy though. 3) You get to meet tons of people, on the internet and likely in real life as well, who speak English, so you can have a chat with them and become friends. Imagine you wouldn't speak Japanese and none of your Japanese friends spoke English. Overcoming the language barrier is great. 4) You can learn about another country's culture much better in the language of said country than in your own language. It's especially interesting to read the original sources of two countries who fought out wars or had other conflicts in the past. The nuances in the original sources can be quite interesting. 5) You obviously get better job opportunities. It's often the case that you qualify for well-paying jobs just by knowing a second language. It gets better the more languages you speak. Maybe you know a polyglot who can give you a fitting story for this.

I shouldn't bother with the drone unless you're visiting a place that really makes you wish you had one. It would also mean having to be mindful the locals of wherever you're headed moreso that you already have to.

I bought the 'Like a magic' mug yesterday, I hope it arrives soon!

rafa UGM

Ok. So i'll take up for the get a drone side. Yes your shots are great and i also like the "in the moment feelings" of your videos, but a drone could help you transition clips and help the audience see a side of something they never have. For instance the one video of you eating food that is sent down a zip-line to you. Imagine filming that with a drone to show how far down the gorge goes. Or to show a crowd size so we can get an understanding of the scope of stuff. On the argument that it takes long to setup I have a Mavic Pro and it is flying with in 5 minutes. It is small and stays in my backpack with a laptop and two cameras. It is only $1,000. And the new one is much more quiet so it will not disturb others. So i say get one to give us a new perspective of Japan, because sure we have lots of aerial shots of New York but how many big YouTubers give us aerial shots of Japan?

Getting a drone? Naah, it would of course allow for some great footage if you were to make a video of Japanese Gardens, castle grounds or hiking trails but even then it's not necessary for a fantastic video. It's the content that matters, I am sure you'd be able to make an interesting video with a potato. Learning English? For me, coming from a country of 5 million, it's an absolute necessity. Although for a Japanese person it may not be as of now, it sure may be so in the future. English is such an universal language that it should not only be considered from the point of view of native speakers vs non-native. It's the world's most spoken language as a second language. In fact, I've used it more to talk to non-natives than to native speakers. One can't study all the languages in the world, so luckily there's English that is common to most of the people. So yes, universality is an important point I would make. Ideas for videos? I really like your own vision. Of course Japan having such a rich history, I wouldn't mind a video or two about it. It wouldn't have to be a boring history lecture but for example hike in Nakasendoo in Kiso Valley or something similar.

Totally with you, Edgar.

You should hire a rent-a-friend to be Natsuki for a week and make a video on your Black Mirror-esque adventures. Or hire them to be you and run your Youtube channel. It will be like you never existed! 😂

I'd say don't get a drone, the best thing about your videos is watching you out and about in Japan doing stuff, you don't want to waste time setting the drone up just to get a shot which is cool but just like every other drone shot: things but from really high up. Also the cool thing about your channel is that you're not like other youtubers (I still remember laughing loads at your video where you actively mock the way most successful youtubers do their vlogs) That's my view anyway!

I don't know why I mentioned Mike Chen as that had nothing to do with anything, BUT if you're going to do food, take a look at his stuff. I challenge you to eat as much in one day.

Great shout-out to Life Where I'm From. Fantastic stuff and really eye-opening, and his kids are hilarious. My wife and I honeymooned in Japan last Xmas at the same time Mike Chen from Strictly Dumpling was there and discovered that channel around the same time, whilst pining for the Nagano fjords (I know there aren't any in Nagano, but it sounded good).

Get a drone; you've mentioned it a thousand times haha here's the reasons to speak english: 1) being able to order fish and chips in england 2) being able to follow the crucial instructions to the cha cha slide 3) being able to tweet english speaking stars 4) being able to read japanglish and laugh at it 5) being able to understand pen pineapple apple pen 6) being able to sell usb cigarette lighters to english people 7) being able to understand david attinburgh 8) being able to sing british punk music 9) being able to write a letter to the queen asking her if she really is; england grandma! 10) being able to explain to all british japanese takeaway owners that their food is shit 11) being able to play british board games and show us all how it's done 12) be able to watch british television and realise how rubbish japanese tv truly is :P 13) be able to pretend to be a tourists in disguise in your own country who can't speak japanese and get away with murder! 14) be able to come to england and become prime minister and save us all 15) be able to understand the best youtube jvlogger without subtitles 16) be able to speak to canadians (seriously they're so lovely lol!) 17) be able to play rock paper scissors in english countries (this is important for the japanese lol) 18) be able to identify what a vacuum cleaner is without becoming the face of a notepad 19) become a ventriloquist with a doll that speaks english 20) become a english teacher in japan 21) become a successful youtuber in japan that's popular with lots of countries 22) be able to sing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody 23) be able to appreciate british swearing 24) be able to speak to me ;) 25) become a legend in japan Also as for a video idea BULLET TRAIN!!! :P

Just rent a drone if you really need to one but yeah, don't follow the others. Keep it real, keep it drone-less.

I had that same question whilst watching :)

When you describe your production as 'we' who are you talking about?

James Keen

Hhmm... I think being able to go to the Guinness factory in Ireland is a good reason to learn English. GUINNESS!!! MIAMMIAMMIAMMIAM 🤤

I'm still forever grateful that you post the mp3:s. Especially now when i'm backpacking around Australia.

no to the drone because it doesnt suit the style of your videos! unless you're planning on doing more parody videos...

My best reason to learn English properly was probably that I met my best friend through that. It's so easy to make friends all over the world because English is such a universal language and it brings a lot of opportunities. I got to experience a whole different country and culture thanks to my best friend and we really only talk in English 99% of the time. Obvious positive effects are better chances for jobs and understanding Western movies/series without having to wait for subs. For me personally it's just really convenient to not have to think much when I'm being addressed in English (both work and living in a touristy city), I can just reply right away. Not sure if those are good reasons for some Japanese teenagers though.

Woah, that's not good. I know they're fairly strict in urban areas, but it's still a bit vague on where it's ok and where it's not. It'd be a pretty depressing reason to get deported!

Abroad in Japan

Let me just give you a heads up right now. DON'T BUY A DRONE! and to everyone else DON'T BRING YOUR DRONE TO JAPAN! I genuinely got arrested earlier this year for flying a drone in Japan, and got told in no uncertain terms that Drone laws in Japan, and especially around populated areas are VERY VERY strict! Basically what I was told was "don't fly a drone anywhere close to people". And I flew a tiny hand-sized selfie drone (the Dobby, if anybody was wondering) So yeah, just a heads up.