Hey guys,
I hope you're all having a great weekend so far.
So this week's Patreon Vlog is now available to watch and the main topic of discussion is unsurprisingly how the Coronavirus has affected Japan so far, given I know quite a few of you have trips to Japan booked so far and have been anxiously keeping an eye on the apocalyptic news.
Watch...
Hey guys,
I hope you're all having a great week so far and you enjoyed our recent outing to the Haunted Inn in the latest video. (Although to be fair, the real horror was surely Ryotaro's face).
Unsurprisingly, given the terrifyingly apocalyptic headlines about the C...
Hey guys,
So the first of this week’s 3 videos is now out; What Teaching English in Japan was REALLY Like.
I apologise for the unforgivable clickbait style capitalisation of “REALLY”. I hate doing these sort of titles - I die a little bit inside every time - but unfortunately it does tend to work and get viewers clicking and watching.
And h...
2020-02-10 07:15:12 +0000 UTC View Post
So I’ve just arrived back from an intense Sapporo Snow Festival - I was glad to see many of you were able to make our impromptu live show in the slip-and-slide nightmare that was an icy Odori Park. It was my first live show out and about in public and it was pretty damn intense, but undeniably fun, particularly as we had Natsuki, Pete, Sharla and Chiaki thrown into the mix. 2020-02-06 13:22:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys,
VERY quickly, we're planning a live show from the Sapporo Snow Festival tonight.
It could go well - it could be a disaster.
Either way, there's some great people and it'd be a shame not to take advantage of that!
LIVE SHOW
Hey guys!
So today I come before you with two videos and some exciting news.
The first video is the Patreon vlog above where I examine my recently uncovered JET Application - which I wrote when applying to work in Japan all those years ago - with some surprising findings. I also discuss the upcoming trip to the Sapporo snow festival, where we'll be joined by Natsuki, Pete, Sha...
Hey guys!
So I'm back in Japan and ready to go - I've got the jet lag out the way and a smile on my face (only one of those two things are true).
And I'm looking forward to the first Patreon live hangout of this year, Jan 31st at 7:30am Japan time - a brand new time that hopefully means more of you can join.
One of the benefits of b...
I realised the other day, so much of the luck or success I’ve had over the last few years can be attributed to me saying “Yes” to things I was initially reluctant to do.
The expression, “You make your own luck” is often trumpeted by smug billionaires the world over as underpinning their success - but I have to say, it’s a remark that has some degree of truth t...
2020-01-21 21:04:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys,
I hope your 2020 is off to a great start so far!
(Also, 10 points to Gryffindor if you can work out what we're holding in the above thumbnail).
January is one of my favourite months; it’s a time of reflection and planning - which is easily done when it’s too f*cking cold to go outside. So what am I doing, what’s coming up in the next 3-4 weeks an...
2020-01-15 07:56:15 +0000 UTC View Post
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
As we stand on the precipice of a New Year, let’s take one last look back at a crazy, action-packed 2019 on the Abroad in Japan channel, and the people, places and moments that helped define it.
Top 10 Highlights of 2019 on Abroad in Japan | Patreon Exclusive
► WATCH: 2019-12-31 17:07:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hey folks!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Father Christmas brought you the many gifts you deserve.
I fully intend to show off my gifts on this year's last Patreon live show.
This month's Ask Abroad is on Sunday 29th at 4pm UK time - because I'm currently in the UK it's at a slightly different time than usual, so my apologies to those in Asia/Aus...
No matter where you are out there in the big wide world today, I hope you have a fantastic day! We've still got some more videos to release before 2020 begins so keep an eye out folks, including a Patreon exclusive video wrapping up the highlights of this year.
And if you're wondering what I got from Father Christmas, here's a snapshot of a few of my favourite presents -...
About 7 years ago on this very day, there’s a good chance I was sitting in my cramped bath tub watching anime, desperately trying to improve my Japanese listening skills in the hours after I got home from teaching English at a school in rural Japan.
I would sit in the boiling water in an attempt to stay warm on the cold winter evenings, given that my poorly insulated ap...
2019-12-22 23:36:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys,
I hope you’re all having a pleasant start to the festive season!
So to my surprise this week, I received a ton of presents from Tokyo Creative - presents that had been shipped and sent by many of you guys on Patreon. And so, I unpackaged them in this week’s vlog for all to see! There was a lot of hilarious stuff in there - a huge thanks for sending th...
2019-12-17 02:45:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys!
So here it is, the long awaited Patreon exclusive commentary/reaction video for Natsuki: The Movie, the hit motion picture from last year, funded by Patreon and watched by 750,000 people worldwide.
Critics called it:
- A brand new Abroad in Japan website with the greatest soundboard ever.
- A 20 minute Journey Across Japan epilogue.
- An hour long Natsuki: The Movie commentary exclusive to Patreon.
- A Retro Pacman game unboxing feat. Natsuki on Abroad Perspective
- A Rockstar documentary that may finally have been approved by Universal music.
- And eventually, 25 Japanese Phrases You...
Hey folks- Hope you've all had a great week so far!
I'm pleased to announce this month's live show on Sat 30th November at 22:00 JST.
Admittedly, this month has been more quiet than I'd have liked - it's been a month spent planning what's quickly lining up to be an action-packed December, from a trip to Tokyo with Natsuki and re-launching the second channel, to wrapp...
Hey guys - hope you all had a cracking weekend!
(Not sure if the word 'cracking' is used in that way in North America?!)
So I tend not to normally post new video releases here on Patreon (so you don't get bombarded with notifications outside of exclusive releases). However, as the new channel Abroad Perspective is still flying under the radar, I thought I'd le...
One Patreon Post. Two pieces of news.
- Thrice the excitement.
NATSUKI: THE MOVIE | DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY (Feat. Natsuki)
In a couple of weeks Natsuki the great and I will be hanging out in Tokyo to produce a couple of new videos to release on the channel over December. I'm really excited as it's the first time him and I have hung out in T...
2019-11-19 13:50:51 +0000 UTC View Post
It's refreshing - to pull out a camera and film something at 10 seconds notice, film it in 15 minutes and have it uploaded within an hour. Sometimes I wish I was an actual vlogger...
While I'm proud of Abroad in Japan and where the channel is after 7 years of hard work, I can't help but feel recently that my hands are tied and I have no quick mouthpiece to the world any ...
So, recently I’ve been feeling slightly empty.
I feel like the captain of a pirate ship, and the ship is loaded with enough barrels of wine and enough tins of spam to sail wherever I want upon the high seas. Hell, the ship is even staffed with an enthusiastic team of the finest shipmates a captain could hope for. (Aka. regular Abroad in Japan viewers). 2019-11-06 15:47:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys,
Hope you all had a fun a Halloween - I spent mine filming with Ryotaro in a field at 5am in the morning. Suffice to say, it was far worse than any horror film.
THIS WEEK The Japan Times invited myself and Sharla down to Tokyo for an interview on the Japan Times Podcast. It was a lot of fun chatting about life in Japan as a Youtuber and a nice chance to reflect on ...
Hey folks,
I hope you're all having a great week so far!
Many thanks to all of you that sent in your questions at such short notice over the weekend for this week's Q&A vlog. There's nothing quite like turning a road trip into a Patreon vlog and making the long 4 hour journey through the mountains fly by.
If your question didn't picked this time ar...
2019-10-30 14:46:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys!
I hope you all had a great week so far!
Just quickly, this weekend I’m off to see Natsuki for filming some videos - Patreon vlog included and I figured like we did earlier this year, it’d be fun to do another road trip Q&A along the way. Everyone seemed to love the idea of answering questions while driving around.
And I’m usually at my happiest and most cl...
2019-10-25 16:42:06 +0000 UTC View Post
So initially last month's live Patreon Hangout with Natsuki didn't go according to plan, when we pulled the webcam out midway and had to reboot the show! AND YET ironically, it went on to become one of our most watched and successful live shows of all time (I'm guessing the notifications announcing the second half reminded a lot of people to jump in).
It was hilarious as...
Hey guys,
I hope you’ve all had a great week so far!
I’ve had a rather strange week; it's one of those weeks that started off badly but has progressively got better.
So last week I finally released the long awaited Fukushima Documentary and upon release - to my absolute relief - it was received incredibly well by viewers. In terms of comments and like the video ...
2019-10-19 15:33:30 +0000 UTC View Post
So today has felt like quite a long day.
First off, thanks to everyone who reached out to myself and the team asking if we're all ok. Natsuki, Ryotaro and I are all doing well and have been relatively unaffected by the events of today. And by events, I mean the smorgasbord of natural disasters that Japan has endured in the last 24 hours.
At about 3pm this afternoon ...
2019-10-12 18:03:39 +0000 UTC View Post
The documentary about Fukushima is finally up!
► Watch: https://youtu.be/YDvKkG1FTbU
Now this was a tough one.
I made at least 12 versions of this documentary until I felt I finally had something that wasn't awful.
What that means is I'd finish it, render...
You’d think I’d have learned my lesson after Journey Across Japan, to just go back to making simple videos in my living room, sitting on a sofa and speaking with a sarcastic, moderately agitated demeanour.
And yet for some reason, after I wrapped up editing the 28 part never-ending series, I stupidly dived straight into producing two heavy-hitting mini-documentaries a...
2019-10-07 14:49:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Sorry about that - we pulled the webcam out!
Now Live Here:
https://youtu.be/Qz5uBXzswbQ