00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room podcast!
Yay!
That back voice at the end was a little bit...
Yeah.
A little dirty.
That was a little bit dirty.
I just ate my lunch.
Uh-huh.
My throat wasn't as of a good condition.
Okay.
As it should have been.
Maybe too much oil?
Uh, maybe, maybe.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, excuse me.
But the beginning part was good.
Right, the rapid...
The repetition thingy was...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Your voice okay?
Yeah.
You sound a little bit like what?
You okay?
I'm okay because it's...
I actually did a warm-up.
Like vocal warm-up.
Oh, you did like a vocal training?
Yeah, my voice is a little bit high-pitched, you know?
Like Bruno Mars, you know?
You know what I'm talking?
Like Bruno Mars or Stevie Wonder, you know?
No, no.
That's not what I meant.
That is not where I wanted to go there.
I was just saying your voice is a little bit like husky and like...
Yeah.
Like Bruno Mars, huh?
That's not what I was saying, man.
I don't know why you keep on going there.
Like that's not what I meant.
But you kind of like...
Like Michael Jackson, you know?
You know what?
That's not where I wanted to go with the rail here.
You kind of like...
You know what I'm talking?
No, that is not...
A little bit like Ariana Grande?
That is nowhere near Ariana Grande.
Nowhere near Ariana Grande.
Uh-uh.
You know?
Uh-uh.
Okay.
No.
All right.
But your vocal...
You did a little vocal training, right?
That's why your voice is a little bit unusual than what it was before.
Mentally, I'm unusual.
You're mentally...
You're not sick or anything, right?
I was just worried about that, man.
You're not sick or anything?
No, no, no.
No?
Good.
Yeah.
Good.
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
So...
Yes, we've got a little...
I want you to read it for me, but I got this...
Topic request.
Yeah.
Yes, from Zunko-san.
Okay.
Yes.
Where did you got this?
I mean...
Actually, I got this from...
I did this...
A call service with her.
And she sent me.
She sent it to me.
Right.
So this is from Zunko-san.
Yes.
Yeah.
So, one.
Uh-huh.
(Speaking Japanese)
Hmm.
(Speaking Japanese)
Hmm.
Okay.
Well, first of all...
Right, right.
Thank you.
Thank you for the request.
First of all, I actually talked to her on Zoom.
03:01
Okay.
Because of the call service.
And she had this confidence.
She had the confidence.
Okay.
Like, you can notice that.
You notice that on first sight.
Right?
What do you mean?
Like confidence.
Right.
Like...
For what?
For herself?
Confidence in the way she is.
Okay.
Confidence...
That's nice.
Right.
I can feel that, you know, she...
I can easily imagine her being at Walmart.
Or some other supermarket.
You name it, right?
And then she'd be like...
She'd be standing there really like confident.
Yeah.
She's really natural.
She's not...
She's not nervous.
You know what I'm saying?
And then she...
And then I can understand.
It's not her face that's making it easy for people to ask her anything.
It's the way she...
Her...
Maybe her body language.
Maybe her facial expressions that's making...
That's bringing that confidence up to her.
I don't know.
But...
I thought it was really easy to imagine her.
Okay.
So that people like feel that she knows...
Yeah, she knows stuff.
About the place.
Right.
She knows stuff.
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
But what about...
Are you...
Do people ask you...
They do.
Really?
Like really often.
Really often?
Yeah.
Like in a street.
Like the place I've never been.
But people ask the way.
"Excuse me."
"Where is the department store?"
To you?
Yeah, to me.
And I'll say...
"I don't know what you're talking about."
And I help.
To get there.
I like that.
Yeah.
Are you sure you're not mistaken with, you know,
you talking to them?
Aren't you the one...
Like I do actually.
I do that thing.
I can imagine you doing that.
They asked me.
But they ask you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In reality they ask you?
Yeah.
For real, right?
Yeah, for real.
But I do too.
You do?
Yeah.
If I don't know the place.
Oh, right, right, right.
You have no hesitation, right?
I think your barrier to talking to strangers is a lot lower than mine.
Oh, really?
Yeah, right, right, right.
But I, for me, I hardly ever get asked on.
Really?
Yeah, I don't...
Yeah, people don't really ask me.
People don't really talk to me.
Do you know why?
Probably earphones.
Right.
I usually have earphones.
Have you been talking about that recent days?
Or...
Throughout my whole Japanese life.
Really?
I've had earphones on ever since I came here.
So maybe that's why.
Yeah, that's why.
And also, like in recent days you are trying to kind of hide yourself from other people.
Right, right, right.
You have like caps on and all that shit.
Yeah, we have masks.
Right.
So maybe that's probably a huge reason why.
06:02
But before that, even before I was like a Tiktoker or something like that, people didn't really...
I was never asked on.
Okay.
I don't know why.
I have smiles on my face every day.
I don't know why.
But I'm feeling like, I feel like you are a little bit like, you know, like, you know, strong.
You look like a little strong man.
Right.
Like a little macho.
A little...
Right.
My face.
Yeah, a little bit.
If I have like a no emotion face on, I look kind of scary.
Yeah, yeah.
I do look kind of scary.
Right, right.
Okay.
Right.
Even if you were in the United States, people don't ask you about...
No, no, no.
People don't know.
Even if I'm in the United States, people don't ask me anything.
I don't think...
Well, I mean, I was in Rome, Rome City.
So that's a very rural place.
So I don't...
There was nobody that was here to like...
Like strangers.
Right, right, right.
Okay.
All right.
So, she sent us two messages.
So the number two.
Can I go over?
Yeah, sure.
Let's go.
Yeah, let's go.
Hello, Kevin-chan, Yama-san.
Hello.
Hello, Kevin-san, Yama-chan.
That's okay.
Yeah, it's okay.
Like, you know...
She doesn't call you Kevin-chan.
Yeah, right.
Have you ever been called as Kevin-chan?
No.
No?
No.
I'm gonna call you Kevin-chan.
You sure?
I'm open for that.
Okay.
Hello.
Hello.
I'm from Los Angeles, so I enjoy your podcasts.
Yeah, she mentioned that.
That's a long time ago.
I used to study abroad, but at the age of about the age of...
Do you know what it is?
I know what it is.
I know what that is.
(Speaking Japanese)
(Speaking Japanese)
Ah...
Societal pressure.
Yeah.
The topic.
Yep.
That's the topic.
Okay.
Huge topic.
Yeah, you like this topic.
09:00
I think about it a lot, you know?
Not that I like it, I just think a lot about that stuff.
It's just...
As far as my life went, it's of course job.
You know, as I've mentioned in the past episodes, the rail, right?
The rail of me being, you know, a salaryman, you know?
Stay in one company for a very long time versus me doing my own thing, right?
That's a huge theme.
And...
I'm sure you can imagine there's a lot of societal pressures and there's a lot of, you know, unnecessary pressures that come along with it.
So that's one.
Okay.
That's definitely one thing.
Okay.
Can you think of anything else that's societal pressure?
In Japan?
Yeah.
Talking about, like, "gakureki" pressure?
Right, "gakureki" pressure.
Like, going to the university or better university.
Do you feel the pressure?
I do.
That's a first.
Really?
Yeah.
Not from my family, actually.
But when I was a high school student, you know, my friends, like, we all went to the juku.
Yes.
And studying for a really long time and talking about which university should we go.
And this university is better than this.
Like, this "gakubu" is better than this.
And this "gakubu" is the best.
If you go, if you can't go to this "gakubu," you will be, like, finished.
Let's kind of...
Like, thinking back about that time now, I don't think that's... that was correct.
You didn't think that was healthy, right?
Yeah.
But at that time, that was kind of everything to most of high school students.
Right.
Subconsciously, you start thinking, right?
Because of the environment that you're in.
Yeah.
But for me, I went to France.
So, it was kind of going out from the rail.
Right.
So, I was a little bit different from other students.
But still, I felt that pressure from other people.
Right, right, right, right.
Um, another thing would be, um...
Marriage.
Oh, yeah.
That's a big one.
We're all "otoshi goro," right?
"Otoshi goro"?
We're all "otoshi goro" for marriage.
Yeah.
Don't you think so?
Yeah.
Like, 25, 26, 27, around there.
"Otoshi goro" - can you explain the word "otoshi goro"?
"Otoshi goro" is like, the age.
I mean it as like, the age for...
For whatever.
Yeah, right, whatever.
12:00
It depends on the topic that you're talking about.
Like, marriage?
"Otoshi goro" for marriage?
Yeah, "otoshi goro" for marriage, "otoshi goro" for, you know, your romantic feeling starts coming in your body.
So, "otoshi goro" for...
"rikon"?
No, because "rikon" is...
Not everyone goes through "rikon," right?
Then "otoshi goro" for retiring?
Retiring the company?
"Otoshi goro" for having grandchildren?
I don't have an image of being an "otoshi goro" that's higher than like, 40 or something.
Okay.
I feel like the... when you're an "otoshi goro," I think your mentality is still unstable.
Okay.
Like, that's my image of like, "otoshi goro."
Alright, alright.
Am I correct?
Actually, you're kind of correct.
Because "otoshi goro" means that those people who are like, age of...
From 12 to like, 18 maybe?
Oh, that's a lot younger than I expected.
Yeah, so we are not...
We're not "otoshi goro," actually.
Gotcha.
Like, "otoshi goro" means if you're "otoshi goro," people ask you like,
"Chotto futotta?"
Then you will be mad at them.
"Nakka kyou fuku kawaii ne?"
And you will be like, angry about that.
Like, you know.
Angry?
Yeah.
They don't want judgments?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
About looks, about behaviors.
Their ego is still...
Building up, maybe.
Not growing up enough.
Right.
Not mentally mature enough.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.
Got it.
That's "otoshi goro."
"Otoshi goro."
Okay.
So, not "otoshi goro," but we're like, at the age of like, marriage, right?
People...
Our colleagues are getting married and stuff like that.
I personally am not feeling the pressure.
Like, I feel like I have control over my life enough.
I don't want to get married.
I probably will not get married.
But I do feel like a lot of people are under that pressure.
A lot of my friends feel like they have to get married as soon as possible.
Like, they don't want to be left out from the other girls, right?
All the other girls are...
They've got husbands and some of them starts...
Are having children and like...
And, you know.
Right.
And I don't have any boyfriend and things like that.
I can imagine.
Especially females, you know?
Of course males too.
But like, especially females, I can feel around the 20s.
Like, the late 20s.
Start feeling societal pressure, right?
I'm sure...
I'm sure you don't.
Why?
Why is that?
I feel like you're at a stage in life where you want to do what you want to do.
Yeah.
And maybe...
I'm thinking marriage is not an option.
15:00
Right.
At least I don't feel pressure.
Right, right, right.
How about you?
No, I don't.
I don't.
Okay.
Aside from...
So, you're saying aside from if you want to do or not, you're not feeling pressure.
So, it's a different story.
Right, right.
If you want to or not.
Right.
Do you?
Actually...
Not now.
Not now.
Okay, I think here, right?
Yeah.
Not now.
But I...
You know, I...
I like my family actually.
Okay.
I really do.
So, one of my dream is to build a family like my parents did to me.
So, in a long time, I really want to have a family.
Yes.
Like...
So, I want to marry with somebody.
Right, eventually.
Eventually, you do.
But the same here, like I do.
I do. Eventually, I want to have a family.
I want to have children.
Right.
That's my dream, but not now.
Not now.
You've got your own thing.
Yeah.
Alright.
So, that's about it, guys.
Thanks for listening again.
Let's talk about this topic.
Sure.
A little bit more...
Yeah, let's deepen it down a little bit.
It's been 16 minutes, so...
Alright.
See you in the next episode, guys.
Bye-bye.
