00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast!
Hello.
Oh.
Hi guys.
So this is gonna be the last episode.
For the day.
For the day.
Yes, for the day.
It's gotten so much darker.
True.
Yeah.
Oh, it's beautiful when it gets dark like this.
The window, the kira-kiras.
Yeah.
It is beautiful.
Lights and...
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
That guy needs to buy some curtains, you know?
Yeah, over there.
Yeah, I can literally see everything what he's doing in there.
Yeah, he's walking.
He's walking, probably heading over to the kitchen.
He came back.
Yeah.
Yep.
He needs to buy curtains.
Yeah.
He sat, no.
Obviously, he has curtains.
Yeah.
But you know, he enjoyed the view.
Yeah.
He must have a nice view.
Yeah, a really good view.
Yeah.
From there.
You can see Shinjuku from that angle, I think.
Really?
Yeah, because Shinjuku is this way, right?
It's not that high.
It's like five, six floors.
I know, but Shinjuku is high, right?
Oh, that's true.
Okay.
Okay.
So, this is from Haru-san.
Haru-san?
Yes, Haru-san.
Thank you.
Thank you, Haru-san.
This is a question for the podcast.
Okay.
Nice to meet you.
Hello.
I'm Haru, and I always enjoy listening to your talk.
Thank you.
I'd like to ask you about your feelings about your return to Japan.
Okay.
My high school daughter is currently studying music in Germany.
Okay.
Cool.
She's returning to Japan this summer, and she's starting to attend Japanese high schools.
Okay.
She's not worried about her parents,
and she's not worried about her parents' interest in her university entrance exam.
On the other hand, she doesn't seem to have a sense of returning to Japan yet.
So, I have a question for you two.
When you started living in Japan as a returning teacher,
did you have any problems?
Also, did you want your family or people around you to be so considerate?
Also, did you want them not to treat you like this?
Ah, okay.
I don't have any experience in studying abroad, so I didn't know what was going on, so I asked you a question.
I'm looking forward to your future interesting streams.
Ah, okay.
Oh, that's a really good question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
True.
So, do you have anything that you suffered?
Yeah.
That you get?
See, the one that I most suffered was how to be normal around friends, right?
How to fit in.
Yeah.
How to, like, how to be cool amongst friends.
Like, what's the cool way of saying hi?
Yeah.
What's the cool way of starting a line conversation?
Yeah.
What's the cool way of, like, saying hi to a girl that I like?
03:00
Yeah, that's right.
What's the cool way of, like, deepening the relationship with a friend?
That was what I wanted to, like, know.
That's something nobody tells you, nobody teaches you.
Yes.
You have to see and have to learn.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, that's something that I wanted to know, but also at the same time, I feel like it's
difficult for mothers to tell, to teach their kids, right?
Of course.
Because who would want to learn from their, like, who would want to learn coolness from
their mother?
True.
Right?
See, that's against the nature of who they are as a teenager.
Yeah.
Right?
So, that might be a little bit difficult.
Another embarrassing thing that happened to me was, this is me probably being immature,
but I was at, I was riding bus with my mother when I first got here and my mother was like,
"Okay, Kevin, this is how you get off the bus, okay?
If you don't have the coins, you put the bills in the machine and you wait for the coins to
come out and then, okay, you get the coins and then you put how much is shown on the
display here."
And I was like, "Mom, you're embarrassing me.
There's people back here waiting.
Come on, mom."
I was like, "Come on, Kevin, I'm just showing you how to ride the bus.
I know, but like, I'm a little embarrassing."
That's what happened.
I remember that happening.
I can easily imagine that.
Yeah.
But she's really kind.
Yeah, she was being very kind.
I have to teach you how to use those public transportation.
Yeah.
But I was so worried about, like, how I would look in public, right?
Like, I didn't want to look so, like, stupid or something in public.
I'm like, "Oh, this guy doesn't even know how to ride the bus."
True.
Yeah, so that was one thing I remember.
True.
Oh, that's funny.
Yeah, but I guess you already felt, you know, some part of your mind that you are a little
different from the other people from the day you came back to Japan.
You start, you know, feeling a little bit that maybe I'm a little different from other people.
So that's why you really, you know, you were really careful about other people's, you know,
eyes and if you're not strange or not, if I'm correct or if I'm normal or not.
Yeah.
Right.
That's maybe all that, you know, "kikokushijou" people feel.
Yeah.
Yeah, so...
Did you have any, like, when you came back from France or wherever?
I, you know, when I went to France, that was second year of my high school.
So I have first grade and with my old friends in my Japanese high school.
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And I went to France and just came back.
So it's not like different culture, different environment completely.
So it's not that difficult.
It's just me came back.
So people knew me and they were so many friends in there.
I've got some communities, so not that difficult compared to yours.
Yeah.
You know how you got used to "bizu"?
"Bizu"?
"Bizu".
"Bizu"?
Yeah.
Like the kiss on the cheek, right?
And did you have to, like, put brakes on you?
Yeah.
That's one thing we have to care about.
I was too used to doing this "bizu" and bags and clothes, you know, contact.
So when I came back and first day I went to the high school, I met my classmate girl
on the way to the school and I was really happy to see her.
It's been a while.
So "oh, it's been a while!"
And I hugged her and clothes almost "bizu" her.
But I stopped.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, not this one.
But I, you know, hugged her.
So she was like, "oh, oh."
She said to me, "you've become quite aggressive."
Oh, man.
Oh, no, no.
Is that when you, like, "oh, my God, it's a different culture."
Then I realized, "oh, yeah."
That was kind of like your first punch in the face.
Yeah.
So then I realized that, "oh, I have to stop it.
I shouldn't do this in Japan."
And yeah, I kind of forget.
When I was in Noma, it was a quite usual act in Japan.
Yeah, I remember that.
She's a good friend still.
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, yeah.
But I had nothing special that, you know, something wanted to be treated.
Just, "please treat me as an usual guy."
Like, I would rather prefer, like, "treat me as an usual, just usual high school guy."
Not like someone who was, you know, studying abroad for one year at France and came back,
speak French, and all those.
Just usual high school guy who belongs to that football club.
No.
That was the thing that I wanted to be treated.
Similar to that point.
I feel like, you know, to the mother that gave us a DM,
I don't think you have to push yourself so hard to try to support her,
to make sure she fits in and everything.
It's the experience that she, you know, the fact that she experiences everything,
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the fact that she experiences the difference in the culture,
and she feels difficulties with it,
that's what becomes, enriches her experience, the history of her.
So, like, you should just go with the flow, let her do her thing.
If she asks for help, then just be there for her.
But, like, I don't think you should just push so hard to, like, just try to navigate her.
Just let her do the navigation.
If she asks for help and if she may look like she needs some assistance,
just go in there, maybe just offer her a hand or something.
But I don't think you have to push so hard.
Oh, that's a good idea.
That's a good one.
That's really important.
I mean, you know, you getting that punch in the face was a good learning experience, right?
Yeah, it's like me, you know, me, like, texting to somebody and, like, getting a weird reply
was a good learn, was a good learning experience.
So, like, yeah, it was worth it.
It was so worth it.
Like, if you look back at it now.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
That's really good advice.
You know, we've not been giving those great valuable podcast episodes for a while, but
hope this helps.
Yeah.
I guess that was fun.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
So thanks for listening, guys.
Bye-bye.
Did you want to say something?
No, no, I just hope she will return safely.
Yeah.
That's all.
True.
Yeah.
It's true.
And yeah, one thing is just listen to her story.
What do you mean?
While she was abroad, she was in Germany in this case.
There were so many stories that she wanted to tell.
Oh.
So many things that she experienced in that country.
So just try to listen to her story.
Ah, right.
And be accepting.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, oh, is that what you went through?
Okay.
Kind of listening makes her experience much richer.
That's important to her.
I agree.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
