Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism And Japan - Autistic Girl Went To Japan

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Autism And Japan - Autistic Girl Went To Japan · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  You have arrived. Welcome to the Aspy world.
• 0:04
  Here's where we talk about anything and everything ASD in
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  an upbeat and informative way. And now here's your man on the
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  spectrum, your autism ambassador, Daniel Morgan Jones.
• 0:19
  Hey guys, welcome back to another Ask We will podcast
• 0:21
  episode. What is going down, guys?
• 0:23
  I can see you all listening. I can see you listening and
• 0:25
  you're not subscribed, so I don't need to miss an episode.
• 0:27
  We're uploading daily episodes. So guys make sure you hit that
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  subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.
• 0:32
  OK, So very excited about this guest today.
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  I'm with Priyanka hopes I hope I'm saying this right, who is
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  who was a big influence and about a year or so ago I
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  interviewed her about a book. But you don't look autistic at
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  all, right, which is an amazing book.
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  And you actually sent me a copy, I think, and it was it was such
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  a good experience because we had such a good time talking on the
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  podcast. Last time that you have another
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  book coming out or it's just been released.
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  I think this autistic girl went to Japan and I'm I'm excited
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  stopped by the whole thing because I love Japan.
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  I'm autistic and we're good friends.
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  So do you want to just explain who you are and and what you do
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  and so my audience know who you are?
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  Yeah, of course. Well, yeah, I might even be
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  visible. I'm not even or we just audio,
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  I'm not sure. No, we're visible.
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  We're both. We're on YouTube.
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  And we're visible. OK, this isn't it.
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  Hey. But this just came in today
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  actually, but I had one copy come in like last week, but it's
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  just fresh. I did.
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  Well, I I wrote this about, well, my moves to Japan actually
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  went already like the title already supposed that.
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  But yeah, I moved to Japan two years ago now and that was quite
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  an adventure. Also like there was a pandemic
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  in between. It was an even bigger adventure
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  and. I think I spoke when you you
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  were just about to move right or you would you would like packing
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  up to go to move. I was about to move, but then I
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  didn't move. Yeah, I don't remember because I
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  was, I was staying in Rotterdam because I, I already like, moved
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  out of my house because I was going to move.
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  And I'm not even sure like how long after that I still didn't
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  go. I think we, when we spoke, it
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  was maybe even before the Olympics.
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  So then they, they had like the Olympics in summer and then they
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  were going to open in October or so.
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  But then they, they just made-up like this huge process of like
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  application. And, and then like by the time
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  that I wasn't even finished with that, then you like some Corona
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  variation came out and sort of closed again.
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  Oh man. So isn't never ending now.
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  It was never ending and it took 14 months.
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  Oh, he smokes. Yeah.
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  And in January, like before I went, I came here in March 2022
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  and like January, February, I just went to Korea because I was
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  so done, like sitting some sitting at home doing nothing.
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  And I was like, you know what, I'll go to another country.
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  So eventually, yeah, yeah, I stayed for about two months in
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  Korea and then I went straight on to Japan from there.
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  So I was already like close. Yeah, you're close.
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  You're close enough. Yeah, no, it was easy.
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  Were you tempted to go to Pyongyang when you were there?
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  North Korea. I do think it was possible
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  because of the pandemic, but also no, I wasn't really time.
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  I saw a. Even if you wanted to do like
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  these these demonitrated zone tour things, I think they were
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  cancelled because of Pentagon. Yeah, yeah.
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  Yeah, you can. I did go to Punsong, so I I went
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  somewhere. You can get into North Korea
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  through China. I don't think you can get into
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  North Korea through South Korea yet.
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  But they are building a railways track between the two places,
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  right? With a joint power station.
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  Yeah, I believe. I believe they were like plugs
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  anyway, like holds a whole pandemic part.
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  Yeah, Yeah. Also China was still close too.
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  Yeah, I say recall correctly. Yeah, I mean, they had it
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  started in China, didn't it? Poor guys.
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  Anyway, So what inspired you to want to make this book?
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  You know, it's just a girl who went to Japan.
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  Why? Because I mean, some of the
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  content, right? Can I just say like stuff really
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  intrigues me, like 90 day stickers and Disney bingo, the
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  Japanese sequence, everything. Like I love all these things,
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  like what? You know, expensive houses.
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  Talk to me about it. Like, why did you?
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  What inspired you to make this book?
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  I kind of wanted to make an inspirational, inspiring book,
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  but not in a way I don't want to be like, oh, you all have to
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  like everyone, all autistic people have to be able to like
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  move to Japan or do what I did or, you know, not like that.
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  But still, I kind of wanted to make a positive story about this
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  because I do think it's like cool to show, right?
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  OK, I did this also. It was the most hard the the the
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  most difficult thing in my life I ever did.
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  Wow. But also just for myself, I kind
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  of just also wanted to chronicle my, you know, adventure because
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  especially the first year when I was in Japan, there were so many
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  things I had to do that I feel like I was just living in some
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  kind of, it's loud, you know, it's like, what am I?
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  I don't know. I don't remember anything.
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  So I'm very happy I wrote things down, because otherwise maybe I
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  wouldn't even remember. That's fascinating.
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  What is it just also interesting and funny.
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  I think, you know, Japan as a country like a lot of people
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  think, it's just really interesting and I think
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  personally, well, how do I? Sorry English.
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  It's OK, It's OK. You take your.
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  Time like. We're all good, We're all good.
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  Yeah, so for me also just Japan is just such an interesting
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  country and there's like stories in there like the one point and
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  I wanted to get them, you know, like a phone subscription before
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  that. Like when I first came to Japan,
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  I could only use like a foreigner slow Internet phone
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  service. And then finally when my visa
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  got extended, I could get a normal 1.
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  So then I just went to your store and it's just very
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  interesting how things go in another country and especially
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  Japan so far away. So many things are different.
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  100% so. So tell me, what part of Japan
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  are you in? Because it's a big place.
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  I'm in Tokyo but sometimes people think Oh my God, how can
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  you be in Tokyo? Isn't that like super crowded?
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  But I am in like, the West of Tokyo, in a more quiet area,
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  which is still very easy to reach.
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  Like I'm in in just over 30 minutes.
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  I'm in the city center, but it's way more quiet here.
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  So yeah, I've noticed that. And cheaper.
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  Yeah, of course, like Kotoku is a crazy place, but one of the
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  two things that struck me first thing is, is it Shibuya that has
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  the the the big color? Crossing.
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  Crossing. That's the busiest crossing in
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  the world, right? I think so, yeah.
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  Yeah, because it's because the population's so dense.
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  But what's really interesting about Japan, it's very organized
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  and it's organized to bite sized factions.
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  So like, you know, it has the highest density of of vending
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  machines in the world. There's one vet, sorry, there's
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  one vending machine per 20 people in Japan.
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  That's the average. And the other thing is that like
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  they have this whole empty houses epidemic in Japan where
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  people are at a house in the Paris, right?
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  But you can't afford the taxes and stuff that goes on there.
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  So the house just sits there. They do nothing.
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  And you're sitting in like a cab, like tiny apartment, like a
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  cardboard box, you know, the size apartment, which is
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  fascinating. Now the other thing, and This is
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  why I think Japan is great for autistic individuals.
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  And so in Japan, more than 20% of all printed media is, is, is
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  manga like so it's like cartoon, like graphic novels, right?
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  And they have different levels of it.
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  So you can have like manga for kids, teens, adults, aging
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  adults and really old people. And they cover all aspects of
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  stuff. Now, the reason this is
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  interesting is because autistic individuals have visual
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  learners, right? So Japan kind of is is is
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  helping their autistic population even though they
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  don't address it by having literature available in it's
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  signposted through graphical content?
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  Oh, that's so interesting. Like I'm absolutely, I know
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  nothing about manga. I don't ever read it, so I
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  cannot say. But but I do think like it's not
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  just in in manga, it's everywhere.
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  You look like posters with like warnings and stuff.
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  They're all very visual too. Yeah, they have like these
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  illustrations like very do this, don't do this.
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  And then they draw like what? Like if you just really,
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  somebody gets hurt and they draw that.
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  Yeah, yeah, exactly. Fire and death.
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  Yeah, yeah. And it's kind of like it's
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  accessible, right? Japan is accessible and they
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  have the the the DAT right, which is very fast speed train.
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  And I think like even the subway system in Japan is, is
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  efficient. And this is another thing,
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  right? And I'll say this, I want to
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  know your experience and I'll get to it.
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  Why I'm asking. I feel like Japan is, is
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  probably one of the, the perfect places for artistic individuals,
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  not only because they're signposting, because of the, the
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  organization. One thing, everything's very
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  organised. The other thing is their
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  conservative nature in how they, they're not very social in the
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  way that you are. In the Western ham.
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  It's like, you know, in the UK, people go out and to the pub and
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  get absolutely like, you know, drunk as a skunk or fall over
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  going sick everywhere and get into fights and stuff.
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  And if you're on a train, there'll be somebody shouting at
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  you. I've been on the New York subway
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  and people having fights and pulling guns out and like, what
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  on earth is going on? But in Japan and the subway,
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  they're just like, everyone's quiet, right?
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  And that quiet because you you can actually relax on the subway
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  on the way home, which is crazy. Yeah.
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  Except for. Except for when you're like,
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  standing. Like.
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  Yeah, you stand. Up.
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  Yeah, but I mean, you're still only negative.
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  But even even like standing, standing like standing in the
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  subway and in a very crowded subway is not as bad if that
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  everyone is shutting on like it's quiet and just, you know,
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  So usually even if it's full, it's, it's OK because people
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  don't say. That exactly and I think you
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  know, because people aren't people are very kind of like,
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  you know, self conservative. They want to keep themselves
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  themselves in Japan and I love that.
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  The other thing is they their work ethic is is crazy and like
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  anybody else I've ever seen, they will they will literally
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  work themselves to death. But I love that attitude of just
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  wanting to. We love.
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  Working to that. Not the death part.
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  I'm like, I love the, I love the I'm going to get this done
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  regardless. Like, and the work comes first.
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  Sometimes it's a downfall because you're a single person
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  or you're like an autistic person will get obsessed with
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  something. I want to see through to the end
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  and I I. Think that people like strive
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  for perfection more and I do believe that if you're autistic
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  then I think you will not stand out as much as you would in the
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  rest. Because sometimes you see like
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  on TV like they interview some kind of scientist or some person
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  who does works for the real ways.
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  And this dude is explaining like, OK, we're doing this
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  product and this and this and this and you're looking at this
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  dude you're like he looks a bit autistic yeah, I guess there was
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  a it has two sides like one side is a lot of autistic here.
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  They just well get away with it without trouble because they
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  need fit lines. But the people who don't, they
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  have more difficult time because there's trouble recognizing it.
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  And so they when you just say autistic, their image goes
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  quickly to like. A kid.
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  Feeling very yeah the kids in a very severe like support needs.
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  Yes. And they don't really notice it
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  as trust in somebody who's like working.
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  So that could cause trouble for people like not knowing what's
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  happening with them. Because even in Japan, like
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  especially in Japan, there are some companies they have like
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  every Friday, then you go drinking with your coworkers.
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  I would hate that. I would just be like, OK, can I
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  go? Home and karaoke, right?
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  Karaoke's a staple. Yeah, yeah.
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  Drinking karaoke, kind of like. And it's like, if you don't go,
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  I mean, you could, but it's not really helping you.
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  Like you're not really getting anywhere in your job.
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  So yeah, yeah, I would hate that.
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  And I think it could be difficult for some people.
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  You know, it's funny because that is the thing, you know, the
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  Japanese culture are behind on understanding and identifying
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  autism and what they could do to implement help.
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  Even though they have done, you know, they've got all these
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  things going on that that friendly for autistic
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  individuals. I think there's all the things
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  that are detrimental as well. Yeah.
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  So what's it like your inexperience?
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  What's it like living there for autistic person?
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  What do you think the good parts?
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  What do you think the bad parts are?
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  Well, when I rent here, like I, I already like before I moved
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  here, I went to Japan like every year and for months.
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  And I would just take a bunch of work from home and, you know, do
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  the work in that room and then like in the afternoon, go
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  outside, do some shopping, do some exploring, traveling.
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  So I already noticed that when I came here, I just feel like I'm
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  coming, like Connors coming over me because that's just less,
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  less noise, less destruction. And there's also like these
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  things like convenience stores, very simple, but they're open
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  24/7 and they have healthy food that's actually tasty.
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  So every time I would just be completely like in my deep focus
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  on my on my work. And then it's like, oh shit.
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  And then I need some guys on here I.
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  Can just go, can't just go out, get some food that's 35.
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  So I just noticed that. I just felt at ease, like
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  sometimes I go to Starbucks to work and it depends on which
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  Starbucks you go to. But there's some stores that
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  are, it sounds like a, a classroom.
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  It's just quiet there and everyone is just sitting there
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  working. And even if people are talking,
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  they, they, I don't know how they do it, but Japanese people
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  can talk like so quietly, but still very understandable.
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  They're not like whispering, they're just talking very
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  quietly for some reason. And it's such a big difference.
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  And at some point, you know, like, an American tourist enters
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  the place and he starts like, yeah, you can't get
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  cheeseburgers like. Shouting everywhere.
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  Oh my God, yeah. No offense America, we love you,
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  but you can definitely notice. Like Dutch people?
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  Yeah, it could be anybody, right?
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  Yeah. Yeah, so they just come in and
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  completely unaware of the whole surrounding that I learned after
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  like living here for a while. It's like you, you become aware
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  of it. So if the place is quiet, you're
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  quiet. Yeah.
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  But yeah, foreigners, tourists, they don't, they're not aware.
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  So they just come in completely loud and.
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  And I'm like, don't you notice? You're the only one.
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  Now like making loads of. Phone and screaming here, but
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  now they don't have this. It's so fun.
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  I like that, yeah, the the. The Japanese culture is like
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  they're they're so respectful, right?
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  Like, you know, you've got like gun cons and stuff.
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  You can't even have your shoes in the house, right?
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  And like, I don't know why I know so much stuff about Japan,
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  by the way, I've never been there.
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  I just like I seem to be like just spelling off all this stuff
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  like I find you. I know I have all the fight
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  autism. No, but it's you know, it's
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  funny if they come and let's let's say the IKEA person comes
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  when I just moved here. So I ordered all my furniture
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  on. The whole place was like empty.
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  And then they come with with like a big closet, huge happy
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  book and they still tried to take off their shoes in the gang
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  con to enter. Like, first of all, they enter
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  your house, they say some some word I don't exactly know what
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  it is, but they say something like I'm coming in words like
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  sorry, I'm coming in. Yeah And then he tried to take
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  off his shoes and I was like, no, it's okay, you're carrying
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  this heavy thing, dude put it there.
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  So how this empty? I don't care.
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  My God. Yeah.
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  Yeah, I. Don't know, I think it's most
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  funny about that. It's like they are definitely
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  the most respectful culture in the world, yet their history is
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  not like the, the Empire of Japan where they tried to take
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  over the Korean Peninsula. The, you know, Japan was one of
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  the only historical nations to ever enslave their own people.
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  Like, it was great right up until the Second World War,
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  like, you know, enslaved their own women.
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  Like this was crazy. And so coming from that, I feel
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  like the the whole kind of like nuclear age threat changed
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  Japan, right? Because I don't if you know
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  this, but basically after the Second World War, World
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  government when it came together and stuff like United Nations
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  and things, they said, look, Japan will help rebuild your
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  entire systems because we completely flattened you with
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  nuclear weapons. But what we will do is we will
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  put a ban on you spending any of that money on an army.
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  So Japan was like, cool. So Japan built these amazing
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  futuristic research centres that the stuff that you'd never even
• 18:01
  dream about. Why loads of technology comes
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  out of Japan because we paid for it.
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  Yeah. In the UK, in America, we still
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  have these factories and stuff from like the 1800s that were
• 18:08
  still kind of relatively OK, but we didn't have to rebuild our
• 18:10
  infrastructure where Japan had nothing.
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  So it was really funny after the Second World War, Japan just
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  changed this whole idea of, of where it stood in the world.
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  And I was like a world leader in electronics, right.
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  And I just, it's just wow, that's so fascinated me.
• 18:23
  Yeah, well, it's interesting. Like yesterday we were at the
• 18:26
  flea market and some guy was selling like a literal Nazi
• 18:30
  sweater. And so we were looking were
• 18:33
  like, look at the hat. But some people here have some
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  kind of strange, I don't know, they just don't see it as that
• 18:43
  bad or something. They're there are just flat out
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  rain. It's just like, you know,
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  running around in their super fans with all these slogans on
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  it and yelling around it where it's just shit like like we
• 18:56
  should take back the islands. You know, there's there's some
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  items in the north that are now from Russia and there's South
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  and it's like, no, there are islands.
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  We should all take them back. And they're just going running
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  around like that and you know, and collecting like Nazi shit.
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  And I mean. Yeah, that's.
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  Crazy. Some weird.
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  You know, There's also like a shrine dedicated to soldiers
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  from the Second World War, but like Japanese ones.
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  So in our eyes, like the bad guys.
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  And then apparently you have to do some kind of remembering
• 19:27
  them. And it's always controversial.
• 19:29
  Jeez, but that's the thing. Like Hirohito sided with Hitler,
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  right? And so it was, it was actually
• 19:36
  Joseph Stalin who was the Russian kind of dictator at the
• 19:38
  time from the USSR. It was his idea to double back
• 19:42
  on, on Hirohito to tell the Americans where you would be at
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  a certain time. And that's how the Americans
• 19:47
  kind of helped bring the war to an end with the nuclear weapons
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  and stuff, which is completely bonkers that we ever used
• 19:51
  nuclear weapons. But it did bring about the means
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  for then. Well, anyway, I'm left with
• 19:55
  Japanese history. What is modern day like?
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  Like what is your typical day in Japan versus where you were in
• 20:01
  Europe? Like what's the main difference
• 20:03
  you're finding that actually is beneficial to you as an autistic
• 20:05
  person? Well, and found out that there's
• 20:12
  also like there's pros and cons and one of the pros is like the
• 20:16
  time difference in both a pro and a con.
• 20:18
  Actually, the good thing about it is when I wake up and I start
• 20:22
  working, I have like, well, half the day, nobody's bothering me.
• 20:26
  Because. Most people are in Europe and
• 20:29
  they're all asleep. OK, so it's quiet.
• 20:32
  But the bad part about it is if I want to speak to somebody,
• 20:35
  they're not there. So if I want to speak to
• 20:38
  friends, we have to schedule like really insane times.
• 20:41
  Like for example, I have to get up at 7:00 in the morning and my
• 20:44
  friend is it's already like 11 or 12 and in the evening.
• 20:49
  So, and then usually, you know, it's, it's very tight.
• 20:52
  I had to speak only at that time.
• 20:56
  But. And what I and it's also
• 20:59
  protocol. I like to work a lot and I like
• 21:01
  to just, you know, in the morning, just go to my store.
• 21:04
  I was sort of, I don't know, begin my office, do some work.
• 21:07
  Yeah. But at the same time, I notice
• 21:09
  it can be very lonely sometimes. So I think a lot of things are
• 21:13
  protocols. One of the biggest pros is when
• 21:18
  I have like time off, I can travel and travel.
• 21:22
  Traveling here is way more interesting than traveling in
• 21:25
  the mirror. Like I would never just be like,
• 21:28
  oh let's go and see the windmill or something.
• 21:31
  Here I am just I correct? Yeah.
• 21:35
  The whole country is so, so interesting and I want to see
• 21:38
  everything with my work. I can do a lot of things on my
• 21:42
  laptop. So I can even just take my
• 21:44
  laptop and do I do some work in the morning and then exactly the
• 21:47
  city in the afternoon. Yeah, yeah.
• 21:50
  So. That it's.
• 21:53
  Honestly, in my life, like my day-to-day life has become very
• 21:57
  horrible. So it's kind of like in the
• 22:01
  beginning, you want to travel a lot and at some point you're
• 22:03
  just going like, you know, you're working in your house and
• 22:06
  an old person anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:08
  Yeah, but it's a less material. That's too.
• 22:12
  Yeah. But I notice when I go back to
• 22:14
  the Netherlands, there's so many things just annoying me.
• 22:18
  Like you forget, you forget these people in the store and
• 22:22
  somebody is trying to get in front of you or super loud or
• 22:27
  100% train is super disgusting. And you're like, oh, oh, yeah,
• 22:31
  yeah. And it's not Japan here.
• 22:34
  Yeah. It's the discipline, right?
• 22:36
  Because one of the most interesting things is Japanese
• 22:39
  school kids cook their own lunch and clean their own classrooms,
• 22:43
  right? And, and I find this really
• 22:45
  interesting because they're learning so many life skills.
• 22:47
  And if you're neurotypical or artistic, what what you're
• 22:50
  finding out is that the repetitiveness of doing these
• 22:53
  notions will actually help you remember and learn those things.
• 22:56
  And those are life skills that you'll have to take on forever.
• 22:57
  And I think that's. Yeah, that is fascinating.
• 23:01
  I don't actually know any of. That and I really like the idea
• 23:03
  that. I don't know any of the culture
• 23:05
  that does this. No.
• 23:07
  And I think what the children are thought is that like, you
• 23:12
  should always think of other people.
• 23:14
  Like how will my actions impact other people?
• 23:17
  Yeah. And that's just, I don't like
• 23:22
  people are always like, oh, Brad, aren't you like always
• 23:24
  stressed about that? I'm like, no, it's, it comes so
• 23:27
  natural after a while. Yes, exactly.
• 23:30
  And I think, you know, it's, it's like, almost like survival
• 23:35
  skills, right? Because like, you know, you're
• 23:37
  learning real life stuff. And I think, but like you said,
• 23:40
  you know, like having, having the, having the mindset of
• 23:43
  things need to be clean. And, and this is really
• 23:45
  interesting because I feel like a lot of autistic individuals
• 23:48
  and myself included, for a very large portion of our life, we're
• 23:51
  so focused on trying to live and, and just survive that
• 23:55
  hygiene and clutter. This becomes this it's, it's if
• 23:58
  you get, if you don't get to do it, it's OK because you're just
• 24:00
  surviving, right? You're in the shell of a person,
• 24:02
  but if you're, if you grow up around this, this treatment of,
• 24:06
  of space, you learn it alongside survival.
• 24:09
  And I think that's really interesting.
• 24:10
  And I think Japan does that really, really well.
• 24:13
  Yeah. So tell me about although.
• 24:16
  There can be people that have like trash houses.
• 24:19
  I mean, look. There's no here.
• 24:21
  You could do all you want, but there's still some people who
• 24:23
  just like, have got a whole stuff.
• 24:24
  It's interesting because I have, I have those like garbage
• 24:29
  schedule and they, they just put the new one in my mailbooks and
• 24:33
  garbage here is like next level science.
• 24:35
  It's like I have 4 different trash cans and they have like
• 24:38
  every two weeks there's some other thing you can put out like
• 24:41
  magazines, oops clothes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:44
  Like glass, plastic. And they have so many different
• 24:47
  categories and for every like my normal garbage should be in a
• 24:50
  blue bag, my unburnable garbage should be in a yellow bag.
• 24:53
  These bags you have to buy in a store or there's some packs on
• 24:57
  them. So you they're more expensive.
• 24:59
  So you're already paying for the tax to take the bag away.
• 25:02
  Yeah, but I can't really understand.
• 25:04
  If you're very overwhelmed, this can easily become an issue
• 25:08
  because it's like so much and then at one point you missed the
• 25:11
  bottle day and then the next one is 2 weeks later.
• 25:14
  So you're like, shit, now I'm stuck with my bottles for to
• 25:17
  work. So it can be very overwhelming
• 25:20
  too. But well, I just I gave my my
• 25:24
  trash down there like a nice book on the wall, right?
• 25:27
  I live by the thing. Yeah, it's like, OK, the first
• 25:30
  thing you can do, we got the week.
• 25:31
  What is it today? What day is today?
• 25:34
  I am both of them so I have to really do it.
• 25:36
  I'm stuck with them for two weeks.
• 25:38
  So I have, so we have here as well in the UK we have it's like
• 25:42
  every three weeks, we have different ones that go out every
• 25:44
  few weeks. So like it's a residual waste
• 25:46
  this week and then it's like kind of like a like biomatter
• 25:51
  waste. You'll say you had a kid and you
• 25:52
  had diapers, you know, that's every two weeks.
• 25:54
  And then you'd have a garden waste, you know, like that's
• 25:56
  every two weeks, but recycling goes on every week, which is
• 25:58
  kind of cool. However, this is going to be
• 26:00
  really helpful to you and any autistic individual listening to
• 26:03
  this who needs to take out their own garbage.
• 26:04
  The, if you have an Alexa, you know, the, the, it's a little
• 26:07
  assistant thing. The Alexa, there's a calendar
• 26:11
  you can get for it's called the, it's called the garbage calendar
• 26:13
  or a bin calendar. And it will tell you, you
• 26:16
  basically set it up as like a skill and you set up the days
• 26:18
  that you say, oh, well, every three weeks, blah, blah, blah.
• 26:20
  And so you can teach it the calendar that you've got there
• 26:22
  and it will tell you rather to get your residual trash this
• 26:25
  week or whatever. So maybe it's worth you doing
• 26:27
  because you'll never. Forget, that's why.
• 26:29
  Yeah, well, for me also you have to you kind of just like take
• 26:35
  your bottle, throw it in there. You have to RIP off the label,
• 26:38
  rinse the bottle, put the the the lid in another one in a
• 26:43
  plastic one. And then the bottle you squish
• 26:45
  it and that it's like they have they have your full operation.
• 26:49
  Even if you remember it, it's like you have to process the
• 26:52
  whole stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's just
• 26:54
  crazy. All right, So look.
• 26:56
  We don't go to that one. It helps because there's there's
• 26:59
  like very little trash and a lot of office recycled and there's
• 27:04
  no garbage on the streets without break.
• 27:07
  I, you know, I love it and I cannot stand clutter and dirt.
• 27:11
  So tell me, Bianca, like, how do people, how do people get your
• 27:15
  book? How do people learn more about
• 27:16
  you? If you have social media like
• 27:18
  your website, what's the deal? How can people get hold of you
• 27:20
  and buy yourself? Yeah, yeah, well, all my social
• 27:22
  media is at Bianca Toops. And you're right, that TOEPS.
• 27:30
  Yeah, and yes, and the books there are for sale basically
• 27:35
  everywhere. Amazon is the biggest 1, so you
• 27:38
  can just get them there and but also they can be ordered like
• 27:43
  even in your local bookstore. You're just like on my website
• 27:46
  it's dot NL, take OEPS dot NL and the other things and I still
• 27:53
  have it. I also have Japan, but it
• 27:56
  directs to the same. OK.
• 27:58
  Good, the JP. So if you just like copy the
• 28:03
  ESPN number and just let every store order something that's
• 28:07
  not, and there's a ebook and a print book and I'm still
• 28:11
  thinking about audiobook because my first one has an audiobook
• 28:16
  and that one is going really well.
• 28:18
  Like way beyond my expectations as well.
• 28:21
  Apparently people like to listen to things instead of read them.
• 28:25
  I only get audiobooks in. Yeah, so I still need to get the
• 28:30
  new one produced, which is a project.
• 28:33
  So if I do it, it will take a while.
• 28:36
  Yeah, I did mine out. So I did or a day and a half.
• 28:38
  I did my last book. I went from studio and I'd yeah,
• 28:42
  this on the odds of I just yeah, dude, like it was crazy.
• 28:45
  Oh no, I just I was just like, I'm going to just absolutely
• 28:49
  smash it. So it's all Penguin because
• 28:50
  Penguin were like, how fast can you do it?
• 28:52
  And I was like, just give me two days because I was, I was
• 28:54
  expecting a baby any moment. My my partner was about to have
• 28:57
  our baby. So I was like, have a good dad
• 28:58
  in 2 days. I can't, I can't afford the
• 29:00
  other day, but I did and it just, it just worked, dude.
• 29:03
  So you oh wow, you can do it. You bring your mind so you can
• 29:05
  do it easy. Now my 2 I think 3 or 4
• 29:10
  afternoons and after and there was a Dutch 1 so it was just my
• 29:14
  native language and I was dead. Like every day I had to read.
• 29:19
  I just forget to breathe. I was like, you know, reading a
• 29:21
  sentence and not. Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
• 29:25
  That was crazy, people. Say they like they like my voice
• 29:28
  or they like how it sounds, so I'm happy with that.
• 29:30
  So I can imagine if you have a shitty voice and people have to
• 29:34
  listen to that for four hours. It's like a Donald Trump.
• 29:37
  That's really, hey, guys, it's Trump here, can read my own book
• 29:40
  to you. Like, imagine he's got such an
• 29:42
  annoying voice. Like, you know, politics aside,
• 29:45
  because voices. Yeah.
• 29:46
  Yeah. Anyway, nothing.
• 29:49
  Again, no hate against Donald Trump, but I'm just saying,
• 29:51
  like, his voice is really funny. But yeah, I think, yeah, there's
• 29:56
  the the audio books always do well, I think because an audio
• 29:59
  book is accessible, right? You're giving people who be
• 30:02
  actually sighted or even blind the ability to read your book.
• 30:05
  And I think that's really, really important.
• 30:07
  Yeah, for the English one, I hired a voice actress.
• 30:10
  It was really funny actually. Like I, I did like a promotion
• 30:12
  video for my Kickstarter for my first and I hired this voice
• 30:16
  actress just to do like a few sentences and everybody liked
• 30:19
  her. So I, I just got her on fiber
• 30:22
  and then I went to the audio book.
• 30:23
  So I went, I was like, OK, I'll just ask the same person because
• 30:27
  people like her and stuff. Well, turns out she became quite
• 30:30
  famous in the meantime. Oh, like 2 years later, this
• 30:34
  woman is like, oh, the woman's name was actually going home.
• 30:38
  So I asked her like, hey, can you still do that?
• 30:41
  And she's like, well, I don't really do it anymore, but for
• 30:44
  you I can because I, I remember the project we did and I liked
• 30:47
  it, but this is the price. Like I didn't, I didn't because
• 30:54
  I already did. You wanted.
• 30:55
  Her. Yeah, yeah.
• 30:57
  But for my new book, I'm sure I can't do it anymore.
• 31:01
  So I'm now also for the other reason is that I need someone
• 31:04
  who can pronounce Japanese stuff.
• 31:06
  Yeah, that's true. That's true.
• 31:07
  Yeah. Otherwise it will be an
• 31:09
  disaster. So I'm looking for a voice actor
• 31:13
  right now like. The Japanese English voice.
• 31:16
  Yeah, yeah, wow, interesting. Well, Bianca, look, it's been
• 31:20
  fascinating catching up and I love talking about Japan and one
• 31:23
  of my favorite things is gotcha pan, right.
• 31:24
  And I know you Japan is they go gotcha pan.
• 31:26
  And so everybody doesn't know what that is.
• 31:28
  Go Google it. But I, I actually get the these
• 31:32
  the gotcha pan crates sent to my house because I, I pay for them
• 31:35
  because like, I don't have gotcha pan where I live.
• 31:37
  Yeah, you'd like a. Like the balls with the things
• 31:39
  in it or the whole machine? No, no, the the actual balls.
• 31:42
  So they. So a company goes to all the
• 31:44
  machines downtown, collects a bunch of random stuff, puts it
• 31:47
  into a box, packages it and sends it to me.
• 31:50
  Wow, that's cute. Yeah, and I just I, you know, I,
• 31:54
  I don't know what it is like. I, I just love gotcha pan.
• 31:56
  I have so much gotcha pan stuff like yeah, I, I.
• 32:00
  Where do you put all the? Where do you put all these
• 32:02
  things? Some of it is on my somewhere.
• 32:05
  It's on my shelves behind me. So none of it is like hanging
• 32:09
  up. Like there's random pieces
• 32:10
  everywhere. But some of it is, most of it
• 32:12
  actually is is just in a box. And I keep it because I love it.
• 32:15
  I just love taking out. I'm looking at it and put it
• 32:17
  back in the box. And I was just really lean to
• 32:18
  leave it. But yeah.
• 32:20
  And also, here's another thing I know about Japan.
• 32:23
  Tamagot is egg, right? Yes.
• 32:26
  And I already know that because Tamagotchi.
• 32:29
  And it's like egg monster or something like that.
• 32:32
  Oh, like something because Tamagotchi.
• 32:34
  Yeah, I'm yeah, it's it's from town ago indeed, but I'm not
• 32:38
  sure what the other part once again, I I did read it
• 32:41
  somewhere, but I. I have, I have a Tamagotchi
• 32:45
  that's like a little egg character.
• 32:46
  You know that tamagotchi, it's like a little character.
• 32:50
  It's like a little character. It's like an egg yolk character.
• 32:52
  The cartoon. Oh goody, Tama.
• 32:54
  Yeah, goody Tama. Yeah.
• 32:55
  The lazy, Yeah. Yeah, the lazy.
• 32:57
  He's like a. Yeah, yeah.
• 32:59
  Well, I have the goody Tama Tamagotchi and that's so cool.
• 33:02
  I was in Comic Con and I was like, do they need this?
• 33:03
  Like I collect Tamagotchi So so I was learning Japanese.
• 33:08
  I've got a book called it's like a it's like learning Japanese
• 33:11
  through like symbols. And it was saying that carpetto
• 33:16
  is like carpet in Japanese. Oh, probably it's just England.
• 33:20
  Yeah, and it was a little basseter keiki, which is like
• 33:23
  birthday cake. It was like that's just that's
• 33:25
  just that's just saying birthday cake with an accent versus the
• 33:28
  cakey. Yeah, right.
• 33:29
  You. Just, yeah.
• 33:29
  But that's a lot of, that's a lot of work here.
• 33:32
  Yeah, because it's it, but it's, it's moving more towards like an
• 33:35
  English based version of Japanese, right?
• 33:36
  Like every language is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:39
  And you can like sometimes if you just come and let's say I'm
• 33:43
  like, I'll just start with and I say like I want to a strawberry
• 33:47
  Frappuccino and I go like, hey, can I have a strawberry
• 33:50
  Frappuccino? And I look at you like, and then
• 33:53
  you go, can I have a throw of any food?
• 33:55
  Like, yeah, I didn't do brow, but you just put the accent in.
• 33:59
  It's it's like like hamburgers, hamburger.
• 34:03
  It's sorry. You just like throw the accent
• 34:05
  in. And they're like, honestly, I
• 34:06
  get it. Yeah.
• 34:07
  That's really interesting. Yeah, yeah.
• 34:09
  And you're right there. Was one it was Japanese words
• 34:11
  for for anything yeah, sometimes they also know the English 1 and
• 34:15
  you can just. Get away with.
• 34:18
  That Yeah, to this, to this morning at Starbucks.
• 34:20
  I was like ordering something to heat up and that is they ask
• 34:27
  heating up. So I said yes.
• 34:30
  And then a guy turns around, says to his colleague, heating.
• 34:33
  He's just. Saying that idea, why are you
• 34:37
  having that different? Language.
• 34:41
  Why are you gonna just said that right?
• 34:43
  Yeah, but I mean, I understand both, but it was just funny.
• 34:47
  Oh my God, I had a lot. Japan's crazy good place.
• 34:50
  So really good friends are from Japan as well, and our Japanese
• 34:54
  Americans. It's a great place.
• 34:55
  Anyway, Bianca, thank you so much.
• 34:57
  And I everybody definitely check out the new book.
• 34:59
  It's called Sister Girl Moves to Japan, and yeah, tops dot NL
• 35:05
  There you go on when to Japan. There you go.
• 35:08
  When to Japan? Yeah, I went oh, and you will
• 35:11
  not believe and you will not believe what happened next.
• 35:16
  Oh, there's a cliffhanger. I've got it like I I read it and
• 35:21
  it was not even surprising. It's a joke.
• 35:24
  Yeah. Because people are Dicks
• 35:27
  sometimes, and that's fine. OK.
• 35:29
  Yeah. OK.
• 35:30
  Thank you so much. Take it easy.
• 35:35
  Hey guys, thank you so much for checking out this podcast.
• 35:37
  Make sure you are subscribed because there are people
• 35:40
  listening right now who are not subscribed to this podcast.
• 35:42
  I can see you. Make sure you subscribe.
• 35:44
  OK, guys. See you in the next one.
• 35:46
  Piece, uh.