Tony Vega is a talented bilingual content creator who is passionate about the Japanese language, culture, history and helping to uncover aspects of Japanese life, modern culture and its local people that don't usually get much attention- all from his home in Hawaii. Watch the video of our talk here.

Tony brings both the insights of the outside experts of Japanese language, culture, history.. to his audiences as well as insights from local insiders whose unusual stories are often undocumented in media. Here we talk about his experience living and working in Japan as a person with a disability, his passion for the Japanese language from his teens, and his collaborative projects with other language experts, insiders, podcasters and filmmakers in Japan.

Tony Vega is the host of the Japan Station podcast and founder of JapanKyo.com. His latest endeavor is JapanKyo Docs, a YouTube channel producing short documentaries focusing on the lives of people in Japan pursuing their passions.

• JapanKyo Docs YouTube Channel
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoZeoAolqUGpW7EgyjriBvQ
• Japan Station Podcast
• https://www.japankyo.com/category/podcasts/japanstation/
• Ichimon Japan Podcast
• https://www.japankyo.com/category/podcasts/ichimonjapan/
• JapanKyo Twitter
• https://twitter.com/JapanKyoNews
• JapanKyo.com
• https://www.japankyo.com/

JJWalsh is a sustainability-focused content creator who founded InboundAmbassador to help entrepreneurs & SME's promote the value of sustainability in their brand. She hosts Seeking Sustainability in Japan LIVE to support "good people doing great things" in Japan.

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JJWalsh - InboundAmbassador Website http://www.inboundambassador.com

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Music by Hana Victoria

Music rights to "Won't you See" purchased for Seek Sustainable Japan 2022

Hana Victoria Short Bio

My name is Hana Victoria, and I am a Japanese-American singer songwriter who dreams of inspiring, encouraging and empowering others through my music. Every word, melody, and visual comes straight from my heart, and I hope they influence you in some positive way :)

• YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/HanaVictoria
• INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/hanavictoria_cozycorner/
• SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3CHm2w1lJWuiu9txD1wYyq?si=oF7shMElTiid46ZZerCbIg
• APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/hana-victoria/1550597954

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JJ Walsh 0:00

Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining. I'm JJ Walsh based in Hiroshima, Japan. And today we are talking on seek sustainable Japan with Tony Vega. Tony Vega is the founder of JapanKyo, I always want to call it Tokyo Kyoto Japan. Thank you so much for joining Tony.

TonyVega 0:23

Thank you for having me. Yeah.

JJ Walsh 0:25

TonyVega 0:54

Okay, so when I started the website I wanted Japan in it for SEO reasons right people looking for Japan stuff should have Japan in the URL seemed like a good idea. And I was trying to come up with something with Japan that hadn't been done yet. And then I thought of USA Today I thought oh well today's kill Oh, but cure also has a whole bunch of other possible interpretations like kill you good. So I thought kill was a nice ambiguous thing that could also on the basis level just mean Japan today. So

JJ Walsh 1:23

I like it. I like it. Yeah, that makes sense. Kill as in today, you're happening now are correct, right? Yeah, yeah. And you also have Ichi, mon Japan, tell us about each.

TonyVega 1:36

Each one Japan is kind of the the place where I go to have fun with my friend of graduate school like classmate of mine. And we both studied Japanese Language and Linguistics. And we love getting super nerdy about Japanese language and culture and anything and we ask just silly questions that sometimes us as foreigners may be visiting or living Japan or just learning about Japan have, like, do Japanese people have longer intestines than Westerners?

That's something that sometimes you hear in Japan, like it's come up a couple times for me. And so I do like ridiculous amounts of research into this in Japanese in English, to try to find some sort of explanation for these silly things that sometimes come up and puzzle us.

JJ Walsh 2:23

So it is what you're co hosting with? Yeah, you did an Emmy in Japanese, your co host also has an MA in Japanese from Hawaii.

TonyVega 2:33

So we both studied here in Hawaii, but neither of us are originally from Hawaii. But we both moved here to, you know, to attend the master's program. He now lives in Ishikawa prefecture.

JJ Walsh 2:44

TonyVega 3:11

Sure, sure. So Japan station was, well, it was my first podcast, I had been wanting to do one, I thought it was a natural kind of expansion from the website where I was writing about Japan, and news and things that were going on in Japan, I thought it was nice to kind of add this sort of personal connection. But also, I just really liked talking to people. And one of the things that I came to learn from doing a master's degree is that there's tons of really interesting information in the academic world that rarely, if ever gets out into the general public.

So one of the things that I do like to do is talk to academics, I read their books, and I try to pick out those things that will really stand out to the average person and I really try my best to do it in a fun way. I try to get the researchers laughing and really excited about their work. Obviously, if they've, you know, done this for years and years or years, they must be passionate about it. So I try to I try to get that out so that it's not just this kind of dry thing. But I also mix it in with the occasional YouTuber, maybe a musician here or there and try to you know, keep it fun, but you know, also educational and have a few laughs in the process.

JJ Walsh 4:18

Yeah, I love it. And we're gonna talk about a few of my favorite episodes. Oh, Japan, thank you station podcast a little bit later. And then now you've just started at the end of last year Japan to Doc's, tell us about that.

TonyVega 4:34

Sure. So that's our new YouTube channel. And that is really like at best I guess you could call me like the producer of this project because really the man behind this that the man behind the visuals and stuff is His name is Kyle. He lives in Tokyo. He does the Tokyo Splosion podcast. He's also done a YouTube channel called Hard officers about video games and stuff. He's just amazing behind the camera.

He's the guy that frames the shots and everything and you know It edits it all. And then we work on it together. But the concept is that because, you know, I can speak Japanese. And you know, I'm not a native speaker, but I do research in Japanese, I can understand Japanese TV shows, I sometimes listen to Japanese podcasts, I've come across a lot of interesting people that I thought would make for good content, but I couldn't do it in a podcast format. And Kyle had been looking to team up with somebody so that he could do a different kind of project, kind of these documentary style videos. And so we got to know each other, we really got along really well. And he said, let's try to do this. And so for the most part, what I do is I try to find people with really interesting backstory, some kind of passion, some kind of thing that they're doing that's maybe a little bit different from the mainstream.

We've talked to a YouTuber that, you know, his whole thing is he has a pump a door, like why, why did he choose to have that style, we've talked to a bar owner, who used to be Kiko Modi. And now she runs a lesbian bar. And her story is just wonderful. We've talked to an emu rancher in Tokyo. And he just edits these beautifully. I do the subtitles, a lot of times I do the interviews remotely. And then you know, we just work on it together, say maybe you can cut this little part here, you can cut this little part here. And we just work together to try to make this thing that we're really passionate about. But it also takes a lot of time and effort to put together. But yeah, we're working hard on that.

JJ Walsh 6:31

Awesome, I'm sharing the screen of the the pompadour. Now we'll talk a little bit more about that about that later. But I love how you are choosing your guests, you're talking a lot about subculture, but also about Japanese language, also about history and heritage.

And now when I first reached out to you to talk on seeking sustainability live or has, I'm kind of playing with the idea of changing the title of the talk show to seek sustainable Japan, which I think might be a little bit more direct and easier to say, I've been stumbling with signature stainability Live since I started two years ago. But you, you said you're a bit concerned that you're not actually focused much on sustainability.

But I would like to say at the very beginning, as people are tuning in the definitely people planet profits in balance is the whole idea of sustainability in terms of my focus, and what you are doing by talking about culture, and perpetuating a higher quality of life for diverse individuals and have more inclusive society talking about history, heritage, gender equality, so many of the social issues is so important to shine a light on and have more discussion about, which is definitely a really important part of sustainability in Japan, and we don't have a future if we don't talk about those things and learn how to live together, you know, a little bit more positive ways.

TonyVega 8:13

Right? Well, thank you. Thank you. No, that's a wonderful, like perspective to approach it from I mean, like I you know, one of the big things that that got me into Japan, all that stuff is of course, it made video games, and I love still talking about that stuff. That stuff does come up from time to time in my content.

Unknown Speaker 8:29

But there is so much more to Japan than just that. And, you know, for me a story is a story. You know, whether it's lesbian barn owner, a guy with a pompadour or, I don't know, wolves in Japan, etc. They're like I've done so I don't know, like 150 episodes, have you combined everything maybe? I don't know if it's not much, but it's somewhere around there. So I've talked about so many different topics and their stories and language, their stories and people's lives. There's stories everywhere, and I just enjoy learning and sharing those stories. So yeah, yeah,

JJ Walsh 8:58

no, it's fabulous. And you're you're great at doing the interviews. You You have studied Japanese for so many years and Japanese culture you're very interested in and invested in. And one thing people might not know about you is you started studying in high school, and you came on the JET Program as well. Is that right?

TonyVega 9:19

Yeah. So I I first started, I picked up a book called Eazy E to Ghana from a Barnes and Noble when I was in like middle school, I think. And then I got the opportunity to study in my high school. So I went from there. And then when I was in college, I went on a trip first trip to Japan after that I did a study abroad and then eventually that took me to the JET Program where I was three years in COVID.

JJ Walsh 9:45

And you talk very honestly, in interviews and in your podcast about your hurdles overcoming sudden blindness as a teenager was language study like studying Japanese Nice and steady about a different culture and heritage was that it became like a passion for you around the same time. Is that right?

Yeah. So, um, right, as I was finishing high school, I became legally blind, I lost most of my eyesight, but I can still see, like, if I use magnification, or up close, um, so I can still see some, but for the most part, like, I can't see people's faces, unless they're super close to me, or big zoomed in, or I can't see street signs, things like that. So, um, you know, it was right around that time where I was, you know, seriously thinking like, am I gonna go study abroad in Japan or this and that, and for a long time, I was thinking like, now I can't do that anymore.

But as I, I kept studying Japanese. And it got to a point where I thought, I think it was like maybe five semesters of Japanese. And it got to this point where I was thinking, like, Okay, I spent so much time like in college and in high school, you know, studying Japanese, it's like, I still can't really speak it. So like, what am I going to do from here? Like, am I just going to kind of brush that away and move on? Or am I going to do something more with this, and that pushed me to study abroad. And in the process, of course, it motivated me to learn Japanese and and study more, because, like, when, when you can't simply see a street sign when somebody like says, points to like, turn there, I can't see what they're pointing at. Right. So if I'm lost in a street in Japan, and I need that help, I need to be able to explain myself, and I need to be able to tell the person, you know, like, I'm sorry, I can't see you.

So that was an extra motivating factor. And then of course, as well, like I said, I do enjoy anime and that kind of thing. And, you know, suddenly, unless it's a dub, you know, I became unable to consume this content that I really enjoyed. So multiple factors kind of came together, to push me to become even more serious about the language. And in the process, I think I became, like, even more appreciative of, you know, learning the language and all the things that come associated with learning the language and spending time there and learning the history and the culture and meeting people, and connecting with people and traveling and all these things that I think for a time when I first started to lose my eyesight, I thought I would not be able to do but thankfully, that motivated me enough where I proved to myself that I can still do that. So I'm very happy that I was able to find this thing that pushed me out of that kind of dark, period. And now I'm very happy with what I've accomplished. And I know that I can still keep doing more and more stuff as I keep exploring you know how to do things.

Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome to find a new focus, and find a new way. And I hear this in your interviews on Japan co docks, and some of your podcasts as well coming out from your guests. I interviewed Josh Grisedale, who runs barrier free Japan. Oh, okay. I'm familiar and and he does great work introducing for people with disabilities, how they can come live, work and travel around Japan and introduces tips and tricks along the way, as well as advises local businesses how they could do a little bit better to accommodate people with disabilities. When you were in Japan, how did you find it compared to America?

So it's, it's a really, that's a really broad topic. And there's a lot of angles I can come at this from but for example, on the surface level, when it comes to blindness, there's certain aspects of life in at least a Japanese city that are just absolutely wonderful, right? Public transportation like one of the reasons why I just did not want to live in Florida where I was living for a very long time before I started going to Japan was that you really need a car to get around right and that is extremely frustrating for someone that wants to do a lot of things in their life but always has to be dependent on someone else.

And so you know getting to be in I live in Osaka I lived in Kobe getting to be in these big cities where that is not an issue whatsoever. I can go meet my friends you know anytime I don't have to rely on anyone it's just absolutely wonderful and freeing and I love Japan for that's one of the reasons why I love Japan. So in that sense, you know you have like the audible crosswalks in a lot of places you have what they call the tangy Boku which are the like raised little lines on the ground. So you know you're in like a central part of town.

There's these little things here and there that are just really nice and you don't see in all over the place in the US for example, so absolutely wonderful. When it came to studying in Japan, people were super nice. I I didn't have to take my own like magnification equipment, but they were very accountable. Updating, you know, they gave me the room to do that I didn't have to do that in the classroom, if I had to take a test, I could set up my thing there. And just made some wonderful friends at Jet. Also, for the most part, I didn't really have any major issues, I also was able to teach at a school for the blind. And that was one of the best experiences of my life that was also just such a motivating experience and getting to know a lot of other people with visual impairments.

And up until that point in my life, I hadn't really interacted with that many people with visual impairments. But that was just such a wonderful experience. And I got to really know that the students it was tiny classes, like one student, two students, three students in a class. So I really got to know them, personalize my lessons for them, I got to, you know, participate in the sports day in the culture festival in the chorus in their games, and just entitle a whole bunch of stuff, I got to know the teachers. And you know, when I when it came time to leave, like I was, I don't know, if I managed to hold back tears, maybe I didn't.

But, you know, it was that kind of like, really, really formative experience for me. So there's, there's tons of wonderful things that that I've experienced, you know, that are unique to me in a sense. But I think that it is in a larger sense, you know, that's just my experience in a larger sense. There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome. For people with visual impairments there, I do believe that there is still this kind of general idea that people with visual impairments in Japan are going to become acupuncturists, or work in some kind of massage, chiropractic, something like that. In the school for the blind, where I work that there were two divisions to the high school, there was the tsuka, which is just the regular division, and there's the like, therapy acupuncture, division.

And so those students got trained in that and they weren't all just like high school age, there were, you know, adults as well, that would come later in life, and get trained in that. And so I think that the visibility of people with visual impairments in Japan, and I mean, like social visibility, like when you see them where they work, like what they do, is still minimal, I think you see much more variety in the US. You see less in Japan. So that's my kind of personal, like observation. I know, there are people doing amazing things that are not that sort of acupuncture and stuff that are visually impaired in Japan as well. But as a larger trend, that's the kind of general impression that I've gotten. So I think Japan can still of course, everybody can still do better. But when it came to my personal experiences, I'm so happy I went to Japan.

Well, that's great to hear. And that in terms of talking about inclusive and being accepted in society, we want all members of society to feel like they can have quality lives, right? This is a part of sustainability as well. And looking for like you said, it's not perfect, but it wasn't horrible. You had a good experience, there's always ways we can improve. And in so many, so many things for sustainability. That is exactly what we need to focus on. It's impossible to buy things without plastic in Japan, for example, but there are some better options, right? So looking for those better options, just having an open mind to making positive change, I think is really important.

Yeah, like, I mean, I think, you know, social media and all that it always pushes the extreme opinion. And you know, those opinions sometimes should be heard. And everybody, like I said, has room for improvement, I have room for improvement. But it's also just because of that it's also very easy to forget sometimes the good stuff that's around. So I always do my best to get to have a balanced approach to things like I'm not afraid to criticize something if it warrants criticism.

But I also acknowledge that, you know, like Japan is I think it's a place that I really like I love still going back. And yes, it has its problems. But there, I still, I still like it, I still am able to do content about this, you know, years since I started, I still, you know, it's been I don't know, like more than 15 years or 20 years that I've been learning about Japan. And it's still I still keep going back and learning more. And there's still a lot more to be discussed, I think.

Absolutely. And I really like this approach that you have, which I think I'm doing to a certain extent as well as an outsider looking at Japan after a lot of time studying and being in Japan and talking to people about Japan, and you're doing the same thing, right and that view from the outside inside view is so interesting and so important for moving the conversation forward. I had that reverse experience when I brought Students from Japan to Hawaii. I grew up in Hawaii.

My students were researching the internet finding things they wanted to do, finding things I never heard about Jay. I was like, Wait, but this is where I'm from. And then I thought, Okay, well, this is why I think I have a role for helping a move and talk about Japan culture and how to make improvements in Japan, even though I'm not Japanese. I didn't grow up in Japan. And I really see that in the work that you're doing as well. Tony, thank you. You're you're talking to experts in insiders about Japan culture, Japan, heritage and language from around the world. But their insights on that topic, help us more deeply understand it, you know, and and so really interesting.

Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you. That's very nice coming from someone who produces content like yourself that, you know, has to think critically about their own content and other people content and thinking like, is this a person I want to have on my show? Well, thank you for inviting me. I guess that was a yes.

I'm always happy when people say yes, you know, when you're really interested in, you're really interested in what they do. And then they're too busy. It's so it's sad, because I want to share what they're doing. Right, exactly. But I wanted to ask you that, like, how do you find your guests? How do you choose your topics? You talked a little bit before about trying to balance the pop culture, like the the easy catch of the audience kind of topics with the more deep subculture type of interviews and stuff? How do you how do you decide what to focus on?

It's a well, some are people that I seek out, some are just wonderful little accidents, and I don't know everything in between. But you know, what, one The one thing is, of course, you know, I'm just looking at what's coming out what, what new books are coming out? Like, can I approach this topic in a way that I think will be interesting to the audience, right. And then, you know, I try to, I often I try to read the book before and then you know, think about, you know, I write my questions and try to find those little nuggets that I think are going to excite the guests, but also the people listening. Other times, it's just maybe I just happened to stumble across somebody on Twitter.

Other times, like, because here in Hawaii, I've also been working for a magazine called wasabi. We're not publishing right now due to the pandemic, but I'm still doing stuff for them. And through that job, I've gotten to talk to some really interesting people that I wouldn't have had access to otherwise, I got to do an in person interview backstage at the Blaisdell center, that means something to you, maybe not to the viewers, but with crystal K, the singer. I got to talk to Stan Sakai. Somebody else, he's a cartoon, comic book artists, that is also from Hawaii. And I this is not for the podcast, but I got to interview cainy Scotty the tennis player in person here in Hawaii.

So, you know, sometimes these things just pop up, I have the opportunity to do it. And I go for it. Other times. It's just, you know, finding people online and just trying to think about like, How can I approach this interview? What can I do that I think is going to bring value bring education and entertainment to the listeners?

Well, I think you're doing a great job sharing sharing the screen right now Japan Q. Now Japan. q.com is like your main hub. And then all the links can go from Japan, Kyoto, and you often introduce like the latest short documentary from Japan, co ducks, or the latest podcast episode for each emo in Japan. You can find everything here. It's it sounded like you also started with the website writing articles from Japanese news stories. Yeah, I'm in Japanese and picking up on it and trying to be the first to break this story in English. Is that right?

Yeah, so that was the original idea for the website. And right now because I'm producing like the podcast and helping with the video. It's like, I don't have time to write articles anymore. But the whole idea was that I was noticing stories that were or sometimes just random YouTube videos or random tweets that were getting covered Japanese media that we're either not making it into English or we're taking maybe two three days to make it into English.

And so I managed to break a few stories that they got picked up by like major publications like the sun and vice and Sora news and a bunch of other websites. And so that I think that started getting some traction and like SEO optimization on the website, and a lot of the stories still get hits every once in a while like I still get cited for Some random story that I wrote like three or four years ago, like one that I wrote, again three or four years ago was about like this robot wolf that was being used to scare off like deer and pests. And all of a sudden that got cited like maybe a year ago by a whole bunch of stories.

So some of these stories, I guess, didn't get much coverage at the time, but sometimes they still kind of pop off. And that's always fun, because it's like, I was just doing it for fun. I wasn't thinking that would be something that would get noticed, but all of a sudden is like oh, hey, look, vise just like linked me. Their stories like that's pretty cool. So yeah, I get I wish I could do that more still, but I just don't have enough time to be doing that.

I get that and you talk about that will story. When you interview the Japan wolf historian, expert writer. Yeah. Alex, Katie Martin, who I'm gonna have on on my show later this month talking his tracking of the trackers. trackers, a great story. Interesting episode. Yeah.

Great story. Super nice guy. And it's just one of, you know, it's this kind of mystery meets nature kind of story that of course, it makes for a wonderful read and great talk to.

Yeah, looking back through some of your articles, I came across this one about a key bit echo event. And Japan's answer to environmentally unfriendly disposable bento boxes. Yeah, I really liked this idea. And you know, this is written maybe a few years ago, and I don't see it anywhere. Yeah. So it seems like an idea that didn't take off at the time. But it's a great concept. You have like a plastic layer between the bento box and the food, right that it doesn't get dirty.

And then they can more easily reuse the box itself. They just I guess throw away the the top layer, the plastic that was covering the between the food and the bento box. So it's a great idea. So even even though like some of these articles that you did are years old. I think a lot of them have ideas or concepts or stories that are relevant or like fashion, they'll keep coming back. Right?

Yeah. Yeah, I think I remember that. That story about the echo Ben, I think it was a trial in in the Tokyo area. And it was among like a certain, like, complex of buildings. And so multiple restaurants and food places were participating in this, which was a really great idea. Like, you know, if once you get more than just one place doing this, then you know, it seems like you can get some momentum going but I like like like you just said I keep an eye on Japanese news and stuff. And I haven't heard any updates on that story, unfortunately.

But the whole you know, the whole concept of reusable reusable anything is always better than single use anything and there's too much single use plastics in Japan. You just see so much plastic packaging. Luckily last year, they have the plastic bag, free plastic bag ban, which helps reduce a lot of the plastic shopping bags Hawaii has done this is right. Yes.

Yeah, but one interesting thing that I've noticed as someone living in Hawaii is that while yes, you don't get the free plastic bag at most places. What some places do is they give you a bag without handles. So I guess that's some sort of loophole where maybe they allow it because maybe that classifies is like a garbage bag or something because it doesn't have handles so sometimes when I go get takeout I'll get like here you go and it's like a bag that they tie up so that you can have somewhere to hold it but it doesn't have handles

they do that at supermarkets in Japan now. Since they had you have to charge for the plastic shopping bag. But you can use these plastic bags without handles to wrap all of your foods and have multiple plastic bags. It's it's not perfect. see improvement

progress progress

progress. Another article you did years ago was about website for can I use this onsen if I have tattoos? Oh, yeah. Another one like from years ago about the need for more inclusivity you know, the the fashion modern person who has fashionable tattoos versus the reason they made this no tattoo allowed rule in the first place, which which is a certain segment of society that they did not want entering the onset, right?

Mm hmm. Yeah, I do remember that one. Yeah, I showed that one to my friend and she said like, well, I didn't even know that like tattoos. Were supposed to be like not good in Japan like She didn't know that so that, you know, people apparently I to us, sometimes that's just such a obvious thing. Like, we all know that, but there are people outside of our little bubble that don't know about these things. So hopefully that helps somebody.

Yeah. And for many years now, I've been working with the inbound travel, like into international travelers coming to Japan. And of course, in the last 510 years, almost everybody has a tattoo of some kind. So that's a really big hurdle in terms of onsens, or hotels, they want to welcome everybody. But there are still these traditional rules, which they have to find ways to do a workaround, right.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's kind of tricky. And eventually, I guess it's like a numbers thing, right? It's like, the more that people come, then the less they have to find ways around it, and eventually just become so much that maybe it's not such a thing anymore, but I don't know, right.

Now, one of the main focuses of your podcasts, and your I assume you're gonna talk about in your documentaries, as well, is about the Japanese language. And this is because you studied it as a Master's like a graduate level degree as well. I really enjoyed your podcast with Dr. Wesley Roberts. It was so interesting about all the different kinds of Japanese writing and why and his passion for the topic is so infectious while you're listening, it was so fun.

Yeah. So he is a socio linguist. So what that means is, basically you look at how people use language, because what we are taught in school is or like what Japanese people are taught about English in school is like I am blah, blah, blah, right? Like, that's the grammar that people get taught. But that's not how we talk, right? We we break the rules, we do stuff that a teacher would say is wrong. We create new words, we use language in creative ways. And what socio linguists do is they, you, they, they record people, they look at, like written records, and they try to figure out like what people are doing with language. And that was my area of expertise.

There's multiple, like, expertise might be saying too much. But that was like, that was my jam, right? I really loved like, like recording people and kind of deconstructing, like what they were doing. Because to me, as a person that was learning Japanese, like, that's what I was already kind of doing, in a sense, like, I was trying to figure out like, why did they just say that this way. And Dr. Wesley, Robertson, he, he's a socio linguist, as well. And what he was doing was, he was doing that, you know, with the hiragana, and katakana, and Kanji why people were doing things in certain ways using one instead of the other.

So when I get to talk to somebody like that, like, that's like, that's my dream interview, I'm always looking for, you know, the socio linguist that loves like talking about their research, and we get to kind of like dig deep into, you know, the language and like, why some women might say this, but actually, it's not only women that use this sentence, final particle, because also men use it in this way. And what are men doing when they use this traditionally, quote, unquote, female particle? Is this actually a male female distinction? Or is there something deeper going on there? And you can just dig and dig. And there's so much this guy's there. So I love that stuff. I absolutely love that stuff.

Yeah. And it's not something I had really thought about before. And that's, for me, that's the best kind of podcast or the best kind of video to watch. Or the best kind of book to read something that gives me an idea, a new way of looking at something. And then from then on, I can't not see it.

Now whenever I see like, strange use of Katakana versus kanji versus hiragana. Yeah, I think of what you guys were talking about. It is so interesting.

Yeah, like, there, there's a reason even if the person speaking or writing can't explain it to you, there is something going on there. Right? When something that is usually written in hiragana, or kanji, all of a sudden is written katakana. There is something going on there. Now the complicated thing is that not everybody may interpret that in the same exact way. And that is what makes this super, super interesting. There's all sorts of meanings hidden there. And there might be some sort of core thing going on there. But that doesn't mean that everybody interprets it the same way. So I like I said, I love things about this and talking about this kind of stuff. So getting to talk to somebody like him was super fun. Yeah.

And it also it's not just I mean, the socio linguistic part is so interesting how it relates to culture. Yeah, how it relates to bias, right? Yeah. But also just linguistically there's so so much confusion from katakana. Like, What language is it? It's a foreign language usually, but it's often German. It's not English, right? So I had this big confusion the other day, I can't remember what the word was. It was in katakana. And then in romaji, in the same word, and I had never seen it before. I didn't know what it was. It was like a kind of food that you can reheat. It's ready to eat. Yes, yes. And they kept saying it to me in English. And I was like, I've never heard that word. That's right. Yeah.

And apparently, it's, it's like a German origin. Like, Miko is an origin, right? That impression in Japan is all of these words are English. But you know, quite often you're like, what? And then recently, I did a an article on my blog about woven city, and I know you've covered this as well. When they say woven city, though, in katakana. It sounds like urban. Yeah, yeah. urban city, right. For years, I heard about this great sustainable idea from Toyota. But I thought it was called urban city because the way it was pronounced sounded almost exactly like urban, right. So yeah, no, I'm glad to have that confusion. You're like, lifted. So now I can research more about this exciting project. But it is a big hurdle, right?

Yeah, we actually, I think maybe the next episode of each one, Japan is pretty much about this topic. It's all about confusing, sometimes annoying. Katakana words, how sometimes they're actually more accurate to the original. Or language of origin, then the English language is to the language of origin, right? Like a lot of times like for example, just Jesus for example, like yes, I think that's actually closer to the Hebrew or whatever that I'm not sure what the original languages but yeah, exactly.

That kind of words for for other countries is actually it's what it should be. Right? Yeah, it's close enough in English.

Yeah. Just some very you know, English aside thing that the original speaker might not be the original speaker of the language might not be able to identify but sometimes the cut the gun is actually more accurate, which ends up being confusing for us.

Yeah, yeah. Italia Roma.

Yeah. Well, PAN, right? Like, I mean, to a Spanish speaker. I speak Spanish as well. It's like, Oh, I know what that is. But if you don't know Spanish, if you don't know Portuguese, which I believe that's where it's originally from. That's not bread, right? Doesn't sound anything bread. So you may not know right away.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, so another theme. So language is a very important theme across your podcasts and your your videos, all your content. Another theme that I've noticed is about connection to society. Now a lot of the documentaries like this first one you did about this guy who style his style is Pompadour, which is it's, it's like a mohawk.

And he spends hours on it. But he and a few other people you've interviewed and their costume. So for him his hairstyle has helped him reconnect to society. He was kind of isolated. He was kind of shy before. And then when you talk to the lesbian bar owner in Tokyo, and she says a very similar thing she was he called Modi. And then that helped her transition to be more of a communicator, connect with other people. Really beautiful stories you're you're telling on the documentary?

Thank you. Thank you that that means a lot. I mean, Kyle, like I said, he he's the one who approached me with this idea. And you know, he really wanted to find you know, people that have some kind of, you know, passionate kind of story like that something that might be inspiring in some way to to viewers. And just for example, you know, Yuki, who is the guy with the pompadour, like, you know, you see this guy, he's got a big pompadour wears leather jackets in sunglasses, and, you know, like, maybe ripped up jeans or whatever, you know, and you have an instant, kind of, like, just assumption of who this person might be.

But, you know, I got to interact with him. I was the one that did the interview, I got to set up everything I talked to him we did a pre meeting, and I got to know him a little bit. And, you know, the person that I got to know was just this super nice guy who just loves fashion. And this this exterior, like you put it, you know, is this kind of his way to like break the ice with people and he's just like, I mean, he even now he comes off as a little shy sometimes like even though he does YouTube. He's very like low key. You know, he's not like some I don't know, like, ruffian or anything like that.

He's is a really nice guy. And he's the kind of guy that I would love to just go and hey, like, let's let's go grab a drink together or something like that I want to get to know you better I want I want to be friends with you, right? Like, just super nice guy, he just happens to look a certain way. But at the end of the day, he's just, he's just a person, like, like, you're me, just normal guy, you know, but because of that, you know, it's harder for him to get, you know, the typical office job, you know. So there's certain things that even in Japanese society, even us, you know, we assume about him. But hopefully, I think one of the things that we want to do in the interview is just show who He is beyond that surface. And I think you get a peek into that.

Yeah, definitely. And I looked onto his channel that you link from your interview, and his video to show how he makes his hairstyle has 1.5 million views. It's just amazing right? Of interest. But he that comes across so well in your interview is that he's he's just a really nice guy. And I love that part where he's saying he wishes he had more interest from young girls, like, just with a lot of interest from old man. Talking to him, right?

Yeah, yeah. Cuz, like for anybody that's not aware, like the pompadour is this thing associated with like Yankee, which are these kind of like juvenile delinquents in Japan, especially from the Showa era. So we're talking like 30 years ago, or 40 years ago. And so he was saying in the interview, that it's really like these older guys that maybe we're kind of these like, you know, juvenile delinquent ruffian kind of guys. That's like, Oh, hey, kid, you you've got a puppet or, Hey, let's talk, let's have drinks. But you know, in reality, of course, he's a young guy, and he, you know, he wants I don't know if he has a girlfriend or not, but, you know, he would prefer to have a nice girl, okay, hey, you look so cool. But I guess that doesn't happen too often.

is great. So, so cute. And this is something about Japanese culture that I come across again, and again, when I was a jet when I came out years ago as a jet that that really shocked me how the image of Japanese people is that they're shy, right? But then you would have a school festival, all these really shy students who would never say a thing in the classroom, or on stage doing karaoke performances, you know, like, there is a real interesting insight there into Japanese culture and how doing an official event or doing an official speech, or wearing a cosplay costume, or having a crazy hairstyle can help you take that scary step to connect with other people. You know, I mean,

yeah, I think and, you know, generalizations here, but it's not necessarily that people are shy in Japan, of course, there are plenty of shy people. But, you know, it's more like, there's, you know, there's a whole thing of like, Ky, right. kukio, Yama, like, you kind of know what the situation is, and what you're supposed to do in that situation. And so, you know, it may not be an appropriate situation in the office to break the ice and start talking about your papa door. But if you're walking outside in the street with a pompadour, now people, that's kind of like a cue for them to say, like, oh, this person must be okay with me, approaching them on the street and saying, Can I take a picture with you? Right? So the people do find ways and people try to find ways as well to to signal to people it's like, yeah, you know, like, maybe I'm not talking to you in the classroom. But I'm actually you know, a person that loves to sing, I'm actually a person that loves fashion, I'm actually a person that loves this or that.

And in those situations, like you were saying, in the culture festival, they let it all out, you know, they can be amazing singers, they can be amazing, whatever it is, you know, fashion people, and you know, they have certain situations where they let it out. And so when you see that, but you remember back to in the classroom, they go like, well, they weren't saying anything, like I didn't know this one. But there's a person there. We're all just people. It's the kind of little things in society that sometimes make us like, push down our personalities happens in the US as well, but maybe a little bit more in Japan. And, you know, it's just fun to scratch beyond that surface and get to know these people.

Yeah. And it's also a great reminder, right? Not to judge a book by its cover. Someone might look like a typical salary, man. But he might be amazing at playing the saxophone. Like you just you don't know, like, there are so many unique people in Japan like anywhere. No, I think there there is a temptation to just assume that everybody is the same. It's not a monoculture. Yeah. And that is what I love about all the content you're creating is you are unraveling that stereotype that it is a monoculture. Because it's not, right.

No, there's all kinds of people. I mean, you know, you may not see it, but maybe you got to know where to look and hopefully, you know, the stuff that I'm doing is kind of showing like, hey, look, there's all these kinds of people. You know, they may look different on the exterior, but you know, we're all just people kind of finding the things that we love to do, right

And that sense of commonality or trying to make an effort to find out something real about the person is is such an important reminder. No matter where you live, not not just Japan anyway.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Now another really great a talk that I love listening to was about the O'Neill. Oh, talking. You were talking with Jennifer you yeah about her research into Japanese monsters and ghosts. And I had a great discussion with Hiroko and Matt out about 30 years ago, and they've written great books about monsters and Uday attack, I think is one of their books. But in this conversation, there's so much about Japanese history, heritage, her research on gender and how women were portrayed as ghosts, and vengeful ghost, where does that come from connecting you know, compared to the male, vengeful ghosts and how they would be appeased and stuff. Really interesting interview.

Yeah, one of the big, like, really simple takeaway that I can bring up from from that interview is how the, the traditionally the classic sort of female ghost tends to be this jilted lover or some sort of, you know, wife or something like that, right? Whereas the vengeful male ghosts tends to be this, usually some important historical figure, some politicians some ruler, you know, and so there's far far far fewer male ghosts, but they tend to be some sort of, quote unquote, important person, whereas a lot of these female ones are nameless, kind of allegories, these these stories that are supposed to characterize I don't know, this kind of like, evil woman sort of thing.

And so it's, it's just really interesting to think about what what that does, like what impression that leaves us with, and that continues to influence you know, modern day like these stories live on right, like, there's tons of these vengeful ghost stories that are still very popular, and to some extent, also, like live on in the form of Sadako from Ling goo, and and these other you know, Japanese horror films. And so, Jennifer, really interesting research she she's also University of Hawaii, PhD candidate, and so I learned about her through an email that I get from you ah, still. And I watched her presentation. I thought this was really interesting. So, thankfully, she agreed to come on the show. And yeah, anybody interested please go go check that one out. It approaches the whole genre of Japanese ghost and I think a slightly different way.

Yeah, definitely worth listening to. We will put all the links below to everything that we talked about in this episode. Of course, one of your first documentaries was on the anti COVID. wear a mask Japanese mascot I love this is so fun, and I love the idea that the entrepreneur who started it, yes, he was in the event industry like voting events for non events, which of course, took such a hard hit during Coronavirus. So he created this kind of positive way to encourage people to wear masks in a very Japanese cute mascot way

right? Yeah, yeah, like I absolutely love mascots and cute characters. Love them love them. I love Mundo mascot is the Twitter account. I love him. I got to interview him. Great guy. I love what he does. I love these wacky wacky characters. And so you know, whenever I get to do something about that, I'm super happy. And so I he he actually tipped me off to cotinine, which is this cat mascot that was passing out the masks. And so I thought, let's try to figure out who is doing this, right? Like, what what's the story behind this character? And I'm so happy I did that. Because like you said, we got to talk to this entrepreneur guy from Osaka. But he was living in Tokyo and he had this sort of event related company. And the story that he tells is just such a nice story. Like he was thinking like, we're a tiny company.

We were not a medical company, we can't produce a vaccine. We can't medically like help people. What can we do? Okay, I have these employees. Let's design a character. We're just going to try to make people a little bit happier. We're going to pass out masks, and we're going to do the tiny thing that we can do to maybe cheer up somebody just for a second. And apparently, like the character was pretty popular when they were passing out masks, people were pretty happy and taking pictures and they got all sorts of requests. And it's a very cute character. And so rather than I don't know, just shutting down the company or whatever, I'm sure he wasn't making money but nevertheless, he found a way to do something that that I guess the employees enjoyed, but also brought a little bit of joy to just even me for example, So, I love that kind of story. You know, like you think I'm sorry with this little mascot. What the heck kind of story can you get out of that? Actually, there was a really nice story behind that.

Yeah. And he was such a positive guy like he was. He said he was worried about starting it. Would people be upset that he was he was even talking about Coronavirus, but they had so many fans right away. People that love the mascot idea love to get a mask from the mascot.

Yeah, yeah. So you know, everybody has a story, right? It's just you gotta sometimes find the right questions to ask. And then you sometimes you get something absolutely wonderful. Yeah.

And it reminded me of the the podcast you did with Dr. Chelsea shandy shear. Yeah, because you were talking about her wonderful book about the COVID revolution and the student activists that she studied and wrote a beautiful book about really interesting, but also about the kaiju. And how, how we're talking about, they don't have many stories yet. Our anime yet or pop culture yet, which is connected to Coronavirus or climate change? Right? Yeah, she was talking about how Godzilla has like a very climate change focus, theme and stuff. So that's definitely worth listening to, like really interesting variety of topics you had there.

And what I really enjoy is, you know, these, these researchers, you know, they spend years doing this. And, you know, I like to find those little nuggets there. But I also really, really, like, for example, in the case of Dr. Chelsea Finley theater, like when I when I find this kind of random little thing that I asked the interviewee, and all of a sudden, they light up and they go like, Oh, I'm so glad you asked me that, like after the interview, sometimes they'll tell me that, and they light up.

And you know, you can hear us laughing and smiling. And because I just happen to come across this tiny thing that was mentioned somewhere in the book, or maybe on their Twitter profile, and something that maybe they don't get asked a lot about, but it turns out to be the thing that they really enjoy. And they have a lot to say about and I end up learning and hopefully the listeners end up learning. So to me, that's the value of, you know, really looking into somebody before you you you talk to them, because you can find these little nuggets that maybe they haven't talked about elsewhere so much.

Absolutely. And that's the value that we can bring to the conversation as as people who are doing our homework before we talk to people in the interviews, right? And then you're able to help your guests tell the story in a way that you found really exciting. So probably your listener is awesome. Really interested in that part of it, right?

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I think, especially when it comes to audio, you know, you? Well, when it comes to audio, all you have is your voice, right? So if the listener can hear you smiling, if the listener can hear you laughing, I think that to some degree that gets across, and sometimes it's contagious. And, you know, I know it happens with me when I'm listening to a podcast and you know, the host are having a good time and they're laughing sometimes I find myself before I even realized that I'm smiling too, right. So if I can do that for the listeners in my own little way, then I'm very happy.

Awesome. Another one that I was I was really interested, so many of your podcasts are amazing. I am looking forward to listening to all of them. I just recent fan. So I will I won't get to them. But with Dr. Robert Heliar about the green tea history, and the connections of green tea history from Japan in America, even back to the Boston Tea Party. Yes. Incredible.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, I mean, I said it in that interview at the end of the interview, but it's like, tea is an interesting topic, but I didn't know how to approach it in a different way. And then I read his book, and I, okay, this is what I was looking for, because he does the history of like, green tea in America, but also how it connects back to Japan and China. And of course, racism, and all these various things that happened in the past, I don't know, like century and a half at least, and his own family history that like he has a connection back to like maybe the late Edo period, if I remember correctly, where they were like tea traders as well.

So there's all these different angles that he brought to the book and the interview that I thought was a really, really interesting and kind of unique way to tell the story of green tea as it relates to Japan in the US. So I love finding, you know, these ways to cover these topics that you think have been covered a million times. And quite frankly, green tea, of course, has you know, everybody talks about green tea. Everybody knows what it is. But I thought that he did it in a kind of unique and different way. And so I was very happy to get to talk to him about that.

Yeah, really interesting. And the connections, like once again, going back to that that outside view of Japan insights that you wouldn't get unless you were outside You know what I mean? Like he said he would his family would never be in America, if it wasn't for Japanese tea. Like, there's some really interesting connections between America and Japan there. And then like in your talk with Dr. Wes, and he's in Australia, but he's studying Japanese language. And he has all these great insights from looking at Japanese language from outside the country. You're just you're helping with what you're doing, Tony? Oh, Krige.

Thank you. That's very nice of you to say thank you, thank you.

I think this this concept that you get, you have to be in Japan or you have to be fluent in Japanese to understand or connect with Japanese history, culture language is just is not true. And you're you're helping to show that, that there are different ways to appreciate and learn from and connect with Japan in into your life, no matter where you are right. Now. I

mean, I do what I can, from where I am, I'm not in Japan, but I can still produce the best quality content that I can. And thanks to having a wonderful friend in Tokyo. Now I can produce content that is based there as well. And we have a nice mix of it all. And hopefully it all complements each other.

Now one more, I'd like to point out from the documentary series, before I asked you a question about what other podcasts you are interested in, and you would like to pay it forward by promoting someone else. So I'll ask you that in a minute and get somebody in mind. But your video with the is I chan the legit lesbian bar owner in Tokyo, and how she was able to reconnect to her community and create kind of a welcoming space for people in the LGBTQ plus communities and especially women, and making it more inclusive for lesbian women in Japan is a topic that we don't often hear about, how did you connect with is on.

So one thing that I have been doing is looking Japanese language, like blogs and articles for an insert of guests, right possible interviewees. And sometimes, like I just do random, like just whatever occurs to me like he can bakudo interesting places or I might Shibuya bar or something just like but in Japanese, right. And I try to like find these lists. And it was somehow in one of those just random searches that I did, I came across a list that had her bar on it. And so then I went to her Twitter.

And then right on her Twitter, she says like, she used to be Ajikko Modi. And but now she runs a bar. And then I found her her blog for the bar. And you know, I learned a little bit about her. And I thought like, this person has a very interesting story. And I'm sure like, I think this this is something worth telling. And I'm happened to find an interview article that she did print, and I read it and I thought Yeah, okay, perfect person. So I reached out to her and she was just incredibly nice, just such a warm person. And, like, I think you can, obviously you can tell that in the interview, like the way that she tells her story. He's not in a sad way, despite the fact that she brings up some sad things, she's able to kind of laugh at some of the things that she was doing laugh at her own mistakes. And in the process, at least, I mean, depends on the person, but I don't get depressed hearing her. Maybe because I already knew the end of the story, but but, you know, I see her laughing and kind of her own story and giggling and then, you know, I see that she's just in a in a place at least happy on the surface. I mean, I can't see into her mind, but she seems very happy with where she is and where her life has taken her now and and I am so happy that I got to you know, talk to her and interact with her even through like DMS and stuff and always super nice and was allowed us into her bar to film and all that. So yeah, wonderful story.

And a really beautiful, short, short film that you've created there. Really enjoyed that. Yeah. So at the end, this is new for 2022 I would like to ask my guests, where do you get inspiration? Like are you a fan of somebody else's podcasts or video series that keeps you motivated?

Um, so I consume a lot of podcasts. But in terms of something that I enjoy in the Japan focused area, Japan by river cruise I do listen to them every week. You've been on the show, and I've interviewed Bobby I've interviewed Ollie both episodes. You can find them on Japan station that was before they were doing the podcast. And so yeah, I listen to that every week, another one that I discovered recently, which is, it's it's definitely an academic show. So they only speak to academics. But there's a lot of interesting topics there. And I may end up stealing a guess or two from there, but I think it's called Beyond Japan.

I hope I'm getting that right. It's produced by I think it's a University and a PhD candidate is the host. And he's had on some really, really interesting people, a lot of PhD candidates that are doing research into Japan focus topics, that because they haven't published their PhD yet. They haven't published the book yet. Like, it's not stuff that you can easily find. And so I've listened to some episodes of that and learn some new things that I didn't know about. So that's a podcast that I'm keeping an eye on. And like I said, it may come a time where I may steal a guest or two.

It's not stealing. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Tony, you are doing such great work. Once again, if people want to find out more, check out Japan kjo.com. You can see all of the links to all of the amazing content you're creating. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you. So we'll have to get together again. About six months time or years, cuz you're here, keep developing so much stuff.

Thank you. Thank you. Great. Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone for joining.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai