00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast!
Cast, cast.
Alright!
How was that?
We did a little collaboration echo right there.
Yeah.
I don't know, I couldn't tell if it was good or not.
It really depends on the audience.
So if you could give us a feedback on that.
Yeah, yeah.
Right.
The answer.
Right.
Maybe they could review us on Apple Podcast and give us like the ratings for the whole podcast, right?
Wow.
It's a huge risk we're taking here.
If our echo was good, they're gonna give us a 5 star for the whole podcast rating and if this sucked...
We shouldn't.
Alright, let's not do that.
Alright.
Alright.
Okay, so in last episode,
Yes.
We talked about the pressure
Yes.
From the society.
Mmhmm.
Okay.
And can you read this message again?
Let's go.
So it was from Zunko-san.
Zunko-san, thank you.
And...
Los Angeles?
*laughs*
That is some...
That is pretty far!
*laughs*
Jeez!
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
It's the third time she mentioned this.
*laughs*
So...
*reads from the message*
*reads from the message*
Mmhmm.
Okay, so we didn't really actually answer the question she was asking in the last episode.
So she's asking about the difference between the United States and Japan.
Mmhmm.
So...
Um...
Like I do feel like there are societal pressure.
Like, it exists.
Societal pressure do exist.
And...
And...
Um...
For example, the one we gave as an example in the last episode,
Um...
Like the "what job are you gonna do for your life?"
Or "are you gonna get married?"
Mmhmm.
Or "what school do you go to?"
That's...
Those kinds of societal pressure do exist.
Okay.
In the US too.
So that's kinda the same...
Right, especially if you go to more urban cities like New York or San Francisco or whatever.
Right?
Um...
So, those do exist.
Um...
Uh...
But I do think Asia is more severe.
Yeah.
Right?
Like Japan, Korea, India...
03:01
Yeah.
Those countries have a lot higher, you know, the pressure is a lot more intense.
Right?
From the expectation from the parents are a lot...
Um...
A lot higher.
Yeah.
Than in the US.
Okay.
I actually went to the US once.
Mmhmm.
And I did only one month of homestaying.
So I actually don't know about the pressure.
Right.
But I also went to Korea.
Mmhmm.
I did also homestaying.
Okay.
But my host, he was the same age as mine.
And during the homestay, he went to Juku.
Mmhmm.
Even I was in his place.
Mmhmm.
And he was like, "Oh, sorry, it's time to go to Juku."
Oh.
"So, I'm so sorry, but can you stay here?"
Mmhmm.
And he went, like he left that place.
Mmhmm.
And he went to Juku.
And I was alone at his place.
What do those hosts usually do when a guest is there?
Like, usually, at least stay together.
Right.
And if they are, like, nice, nice family, they bring me some places, like sightseeing places.
Sightseeing places.
Like restaurants, like cultural places.
Right.
You know?
You know, the host family was really nice, but he has to go to the, he had to go to the Juku,
like, you know.
The priority was so much higher.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
For him to get the education.
Right.
As much as possible.
Yeah.
In that family, like, the father was working, like usual.
Yeah.
And the mother was working, too.
Oh, okay.
So they were not at the place.
Yes.
And my host and the younger sister, they both, like, had to go to the Juku in the evening.
Oh.
So I went to Aoun's house.
What's that?
Aoun's house.
Oh, Aoun's house.
Aoun's house.
Right.
How was that?
Aoun's.
Ant.
Ant.
Ant.
Ant.
Right.
Yeah.
I don't want to talk about the literally.
Not that, right.
It sounds...
Is it a little bit the same?
Ari is ant.
Okay.
And I think "aunt" would be, I think, even if you say "ant," it would make sense.
Okay.
Like, it would, people would understand it.
But if you really want to differentiate it, like, it's "ant" is the "ari."
And "ant."
"Ant."
Is that "ari"?
That's "ari," right.
"Ant."
Yes, that's right.
And "aunt."
"Aunt."
Would be the...I don't know what it is in Japanese.
"Obasan."
"Obasan."
Okay.
"Aunt."
So I went to Aoun's house.
Right.
And had time at her house.
06:01
Oh, not the host's house.
Watching television.
The little TV game.
Why did they even accept you in the first place, right?
I don't know.
I don't know.
But, yeah, what I want to tell you is that Korea is...
Right.
Is really, like, educational pressure.
It is much more higher than Japan.
Right, right.
That's...we hear that.
Even us Japanese people globally has a higher educational pressure amongst the parents and peer pressure.
But even in Japan, we get news that Korea has the extreme...
It's a college degree society.
Kind of.
You know, with the police sending the students to the college on the day of the exam.
Police?
Yeah, on the day of the exam.
On the day of the exam, when the student, the examinee is late for the test, the police will come.
And they pick them up and they send it to the examination place.
Really?
Right, that's how much of a big day it is.
That's unbelievable, right?
Unbelievable.
It's a national event.
Fuuuuck.
It happens.
They call 911.
I don't know if it's 911.
I don't know if it's the exact number, but they call the emergency number.
It's an emergency for them.
Fuuuck.
It's unbelievable.
It's a big deal.
Yeah.
It's maybe from the Chinese culture, ancient Chinese culture.
Oh, is it?
Like, kakyō.
It's called kakyō test.
Oh, so that's...
It's kind of entrance examination for having jobs, especially.
For being national job.
National job?
What do you say?
Like, what do you mean?
Like, kandō, kokkakomen.
Like a government related job?
Government jobs.
Right.
Maybe it comes from that culture.
East Asian.
Right, right.
Wow.
That's pretty, you know.
So compared to this in the United States, the pressure is a little bit lower?
Yeah, it's a little lower.
I do think that the US has a little bit more of a freedom, you know, the cliche, the American
freedom kind of thing.
I think that really do exist.
Like, I think, you know, parents are not expecting as much from their children when you compare
them to Asian countries.
So, but I'm not saying it doesn't exist.
It does exist, but not as much.
09:00
Yeah.
Does Juku exist?
Kram school?
How do you call them?
Kram school.
Kram.
No, I don't...
Probably in New York or, you know, somewhere in the big cities, but not usually in the rural
places.
It's not like usual place for students.
Yeah.
When you're done, you're done.
Like with school, like, you know what I'm saying?
Like there is no after school classes.
Yeah.
After school, you play video games.
Okay.
You go to social media.
Yeah.
And chill.
What about marriage?
Marriage pressure?
Yeah.
I get that marriage pressure do exist, but definitely not as high.
You know, I don't think it really, I don't think it's that high.
Yeah.
Like the culture that I grew up in, people married really fast.
And I'm not, I don't, I've never seen someone who's like, who was like really pressured
into like, oh, I gotta get married.
Okay.
Even though people married very fast, I didn't really...
Hmm.
So there's not many people who are alone.
There are.
Okay.
But I don't think the pressure's there.
Okay.
I don't think that the pressure from the parents are there.
Hmm.
Maybe peer pressure might be there, but I'm not too certain about that.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm not too experienced on that to explain that here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
So that's about 10 minutes.
All right.
Thanks for seeing guys.
Okay.
Thank you, Zunko-san.
Yeah.
Well, did we answer all the questions?
So...
Oh yeah, let's answer that.
Let's answer that question.
I'm sorry about that.
Oh really?
You should answer the other question.
What was the biggest reason you decided to move to Japan?
Uh, culture, right?
Culture.
I've...
Yeah.
I think I've explained this before.
In the past.
But I wanted to be with a Japanese person.
Like, be as in also marry and also friends and coworkers, right?
I wanted to be around Japanese people.
And I also loved the city lights.
Yeah.
Right.
You know, the...
The latest technologies and like the urban...
Urban-ness.
Urban-ness of Tokyo.
Yeah.
It was so appealing to me.
It was so...
It was romantic, you know?
It was almost at a point where I think it's romantic for me.
Not as in like...
As in like boy-girl romance.
I'm talking about like, romance.
Yeah.
12:00
Like, as a man.
As a human being, I felt like me being there was like a huge goal.
Wow.
I mean...
So, um...
Yeah, that's why.
So that's the reason.
That's the reason.
Okay.
I'm enjoying it now.
Yeah.
I really am.
I know you are like going out and walking around.
Yeah.
I found this great place.
Oh, really?
In my new town.
Okay.
It's...
There's a building up above a hill.
Oh.
And you can see Tokyo.
Wow.
But from afar, right?
Yeah.
It's a kind of gala, so it's very far away from Tokyo.
But you can see Skytree here.
Oh, really?
Tokyo Tower here.
Wow.
Roppongi City here.
Wow.
It's amazing.
That must be quite a high place.
That's a pretty high...
Yeah, it's a pretty high place.
Wow.
It's like a small mountain almost.
And...
I went there and I saw the night view and I was like,
"Kevin, you're...
What the fuck are you worried about?"
Yeah.
"You've made it, man.
Like you've made it here.
This is...
You're living it."
Yeah.
"There's...
You're happy.
Like I've made it."
Yeah.
Like I was...
That moment really...
It was an eye-opener for me, you know?
I was like, "It really reminded me of my origin."
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Like how I started this journey in Japan.
And I...
It was to be around the Japanese people,
be in the culture,
and experience Tokyo, right?
And I'm doing it.
Like I'm...
I'm living it, Kevin.
Yeah.
So that really opened up...
Wow, that's sweet.
My happiness there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I hope and I will strive to continue to feel that every day.
Yeah.
You know?
That's what I'm hoping.
Wow.
I'm trying hard to do so.
But it's hard, you know?
You get used to things.
So it's really hard.
I have to push myself not to take this for granted.
Yeah.
But it was a great experience.
Wow.
Yeah.
Nice episode, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thanks for letting me share this.
Yeah.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
