00:01
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
How's it going, guys?
Oh, we need to do a shout-out on this one?
Yes, please.
On Amazon Music, we are doing a show called Kevin's English Room Podcast Plus.
Yes, we do.
And it's a five-minute spin-off version of this show, where on that show, we answer English-specific questions we get from our listeners.
Yes, we do.
For example, what's the difference between police and a cop?
Good question.
What's the pronunciation difference between 天気の weather と 何々するかしないか whether you're going to do this or not?
Things like that.
Yeah. I mean, good questions.
Good questions. Yes, we do.
And it's free. All you have to do is download Amazon Music.
Yes.
And just sign in with your Amazon account. It doesn't have to be the paid version.
And then search for our shows, and you can just start enjoying it.
Yes.
Yeah, you can. So give it a listen, guys.
All right.
Great.
Thank you.
Seven.
That one.
Thank you.
Those are all very nice bitos.
I would love to do all that stuff.
Oh, it wasn't bad, right?
It's not strange, yeah.
It was perfect.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, true, you did a Starbucks.
Right. That wasn't our bito, by the way. That was more like a Seishain.
That's right.
Yeah, I was there as a Seishain.
Yeah. So that's not something you did.
As an albito.
While you were a college student.
03:01
Yeah, that was my second. Tenshoku Saki.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. True.
I was a big albito guy. I did a lot of albitos.
She's a pretty big albito lady.
She's a big albito.
Yeah.
She is.
I've done, longest one was the dagashi.
Dagashi-ya-san.
Yeah, I've worked at a dagashi-ya-san.
Yeah.
Why did you choose that dagashi-ya-san?
So that was the place where it was.
So there was a dagashi-ya-san that was in this shopping mall, right?
And I was very close to that shopping mall.
Oh, okay.
So I wanted to find a place where it was close.
So I wanted it to be in that shopping mall.
And the options that were available at that time.
31 ice cream.
Dagashi-ya-san.
Super.
Like a summit.
Yakkyoku.
Oh, we can walk it.
Yeah, but I didn't know the shikaku though.
And some random green tea shop.
Okay.
My first option was 31 ice cream.
Yeah, because you love ice cream.
I love ice cream.
Like I was interested in how that shit worked out.
And maybe you could eat it.
Yeah, that was probably one of the most, like, kitai thing, right?
That I was able to eat some ice cream.
But I called them.
They were like, oh no, we're not hiring.
Oh, really?
Suspicious, right?
Yeah.
It was written on their store shit.
Yeah, you got a paper on it.
Yeah.
Right.
I saw that.
Yeah.
I was like, hmm, that's strange.
My theory is like, because I was not a lady.
Oh.
Yeah.
But that's my theory though.
Is it like all ladies?
No.
Oh, no?
No.
Oh.
But my guess is that the tencho was a hentai.
Like they only wanted ladies.
That's my guess though.
I see.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because the moment I called them, the tencho was like, oh no, we're not hiring.
Suspicious.
I mean.
Yeah, suspicious.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My second option was the dagashiya-san.
Yeah.
Super and yakkyoku, it was too big.
It was too, like, I wanted to be more like,
I wanted a more raku.
Yeah.
Like I wanted, to be honest, yeah.
I wanted a more rakuna baito.
Right.
Yeah.
And I thought dagashiya-san was like, yeah, dagashi, right?
Like just kids, right?
Like all you have to do is just have kids come to you with their basket of candies.
Right.
And you enter in the numbers and that's it, right?
06:02
Yeah.
So that was my second go to.
I contacted them and they were like, oh yeah, sure.
We'll do an interview and then they hired and did the job.
That was the longest one.
That was the longest one, yes.
That was the longest one.
Since when to, like, when?
Daigaku ni-nensei or san-nensei.
Oh.
Until.
I may be wrong.
But I think it continued for like two years or maybe one and a half.
Or maybe one.
See, my memories are very...
But yeah, I think one and a half or two.
Okay.
And it was long.
The longest in your career.
Yeah.
Other ones?
I've done Gap, the clothing shop.
Oh, Gap.
I remember that.
Gap.
Yeah.
I also did Hollister.
It was the first store in Japan that opened up.
Oh, you wore like the...
The opening staff.
The opening staff of the Hollister.
Right.
I mean, wasn't Hollister, like, only hiring some, you know, like, macho guys?
Yeah.
I was not hired for the entrance macho guy.
I was hired as, like, the back staff.
Oh, back staff.
Yeah.
Okay.
Right.
So I folded clothes and I went into the store and sort of, like, arranged the shit.
That's what I did.
Okay.
Right.
I wasn't in front of the door.
I thought you were, like, you know...
Body building.
Yeah.
I was not doing that.
Yeah.
Yeah, I remember that.
Yeah.
Do we have Hollister still in Japan?
Yeah, we do.
We do?
We actually do.
Yeah.
Do they still have those guys?
No, not anymore.
Because of, like, the, you know, the masculinity, you know, like, diversity and inclusion and
all that stuff.
Okay.
They changed their style.
Okay.
Yeah.
I see.
Yes.
I did Umi no Yen no Vaito.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
I did that.
I did that, yeah.
I did juku, like a local juku koshi.
Oh, really?
I did that.
I didn't know that.
Yeah, I did that.
You taught English?
Chugakusei too.
No, all subjects.
All subjects?
Yeah.
But it was a local juku, so, like, it was not that difficult.
You did, like, chugakusei ka?
Didn't they have, like, kobun and those things too?
Japanese and...
Oh, okay.
All subjects.
I think it was English?
Math?
Okay.
English, math.
Okay, maybe that's it.
Oh.
Yeah.
Like, I definitely remember not opting for kobun or some of the talks that I'm not good
at.
Yeah.
So, I guess, yeah.
English and math, I guess.
Well, I mean, those two are, like, you're very strong at.
Oh, yeah.
Obviously English and...
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I didn't know that.
Yeah.
09:00
So, that's another one.
Haizennin.
Haizennin?
That was more like haken.
For the restaurants?
Yeah, for, like, weddings and restaurant parties at a hotel, like, you know.
Okay.
Like, you serve food at a viking, and then you collect the plates back to the kitchen.
Wow.
Or, like, at a wedding.
Like, you know those kousuryouri no wedding?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, you know, they serve food.
You serve it to the front of the table.
That's right, yeah.
I suited up and I gave all the food at a wedding.
Wow, you did that?
Yeah, I did that.
Yeah.
Like, you know, those big hotels?
Yeah.
Huge ones.
Yeah.
Huh.
Yeah, the biggest one I remember was nothing fancy.
Like, nothing fancy was open.
Like, Grand Hayato or, like, I don't know, Four Seasons or, like, those brand hotels.
They would never hire anyone from, like...
Arbiters.
Yeah.
I think the biggest hotel I went to was, like, the one in, like, Chinatown in Yokohama.
It's a random hotel.
Okay.
Yeah.
The chefs were fighting.
Yeah.
That sounds very interesting.
Interesting, yes, but, you know, very toxic environment.
Oh, I see.
Very toxic.
I see.
Actually, they're fighting.
They're fighting, yeah.
So, you can't really ask questions because they're too busy fighting, you know.
Is this ready?
Or, like, hey, should I bring this to...
Is this...
Are these two the same place?
Is this ready?
You can't really ask any other questions.
You just have to sort of, like...
Oh, then that's very difficult as a working place.
Yeah.
And all the other people that are around me, very not friendly, you know.
There was an ojisan, right, that was right next to me when I had a question.
I asked the ojisan.
It looked like an experienced guy.
I asked him.
I was like, hey, where should I return this?
He was like...
Very toxic environment there.
Very toxic.
He probably knew, but just didn't want to communicate, I guess.
Yeah.
That's difficult.
Toxic.
Yeah.
Very toxic.
How did you survive that?
I didn't.
I stopped working there after that event.
Yeah.
Not worth it.
Yeah.
I also did TGI Fridays.
Oh, you did?
Yeah, TGI Fridays.
I worked there.
You did also AD...
Oh, yeah.
Right?
AD for...
Yeah.
The TV.
TV, yeah.
I don't know if I can say it, but yeah, I did it.
For like a TV...
TV station.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They were...
They opened...
They had an opening position for like a...
Not an AD, but like, I guess, like, yudo staff.
12:03
And you also did like a maesetsu or things like that?
Yeah, I did that.
I did the maesetsu for like a...
For an event.
For that TV station.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I had to remember, like, the specific Japanese...
Yeah.
Set of...
Yes, yes.
With a megaphone, right?
It was...
I got nervous on the first try and I stuttered a lot.
Yeah.
And then I got...
And I just left.
But it's okay.
They were all worried about, you know, the event.
They didn't really listen to any of the staff, so it's okay.
They're focusing on the event.
Yeah.
What were some of the other ones that I did?
Juken no kanshiin.
I did that one.
Yeah.
I think that's the very first advaito I did, ever.
You see in front of the students?
Yeah.
You read some...
At my own boku.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Like, they would ask the high schoolers who has finished everything to be like,
Hey, we're going to do an entrance exam.
Would you guys want to join the shit?
And then I applied.
For the koukou juken?
Yeah, for the koukou juken.
Well, I mean, that's a good system.
Oh, yeah.
Because for the chuugakusei, you can actually see the high schoolers.
The actual student, right?
Oh, that's him.
And he's in the school.
Right, right.
You can see his vibe.
Yeah.
Wow.
Akogare no koukousei.
Right, right, right.
I was the akogare no koukousei, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, right.
I did eikaiwa koushi.
You did?
I did.
I did.
Yeah.
Isn't it like online thing?
It's an...
You match online, but you actually have a conversation at a cafe.
Oh.
Yeah.
I remember doing that.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you must be good at it.
Yeah, I had fun.
Yeah.
I had fun.
Yeah.
And I was asked to have a conversation with a child of one of theirs.
And I was like, fuck, I hate...
I hate to do that.
It will be fun, no?
No, it was not fun.
Tiring?
Yeah.
Okay.
It's tiring.
Yeah.
That's how I ended the baito.
Okay.
Yeah.
So a lot.
A lot.
Yeah.
A lot.
A lot.
A lot.
All the others, very short.
How short?
Like three months, two months, once.
Okay.
That's very short.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you've tried many.
But yeah, I wanted to try many.
Yeah.
That's good.
And you found Okashiya-san.
Yes.
Yes.
That was the most enjoyable.
Yeah.
That's good.
15:00
And I remember you were doing the gyudon.
Yes.
Gyudon-ya-san, right?
Matsuya-san.
Yes.
How was Matsuya, man?
I mean, I felt the vibe.
You felt the vibe.
Yeah.
Which was?
So I was a college student.
Didn't know about, you know, the society.
The society, right?
Yeah.
And I wanted to experience it.
So I wanted to do arubaito at places like, you know.
Iwaiyuru arubaito?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or like?
Not like fancy restaurants or like fancy, you know, French shop or those.
Those are like, it's like a, you know, I wanted like something very, you know.
Like hands-on?
Yeah.
But you mean like construction site?
Yeah.
Those ones.
Or like, yeah, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like a security guard.
Yes.
Like, you know, like.
Or like dorokouji.
Yeah.
Those ones.
Yeah.
And yeah, I felt the vibe.
What was the vibe?
I mean, there were some drunk guys.
Customers, right?
Yeah, customers.
Yeah.
Or like, you know, like a very tired Saturday man.
Very tired Saturday man.
Like you mean like looks depressed?
Yeah, like.
Like their energy level is at a minimum?
Yeah.
Like if I push him like this and he's going to fall.
That's some real shit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was very good as an experience.
I see.
You know, some like foreign guys.
That did not speak Japanese.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then try to communicate and like find how to use the machine and things.
Yeah.
You know, those.
Or like very gyaru, yankee.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know what ages were they, but you know.
The customer side, that was interesting.
Very interesting.
And the others like this side, like the employee side.
Yeah.
That was also very interesting.
They were like a baito leader.
Uh-huh.
Like around 30.
Yeah.
He was very young.
Okay.
But he was like proud of.
Oh, I see.
Being baito leader in a wrong way.
Like he had ego.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he was like, oh, my.
Kind of like that.
And, yeah.
That was, reminds me of, for example, like junior highs, bukatsu.
Uh-huh.
You know, those like, you know.
Yeah.
And the way he talks to me.
Kind of, you know.
Yeah.
And then, yeah.
And like, obachan are the baito.
The interactions and, you know, everything.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was pretty, yeah.
I remember a lot.
18:00
Uh-huh.
Like the whole vision and whole images.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
The floors, you know, how sleepy the floor was.
Okay.
And, yeah.
How was it, the koishitsu was like.
Like in a bad way?
I mean, it's not completely bad.
I mean, so it wasn't clean.
Okay.
It was clean as I want my room to be clean.
Okay.
Sure.
But it's how it was, you know.
Yeah.
It was great to like experience that, you know.
How, it's like, as a college student, I felt, oh, this is how people live every day
and people work every day.
Yeah.
And then, oh, this is the kind of real world.
Yeah.
And then, I feel so like matured in that moment.
Like, oh, I'm.
Like you're in society.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thriving.
Yeah.
You know, it wasn't like, the payment was very low.
Uh-huh.
But the work itself was kind of tough.
You have to be very quick.
Yeah.
And then, I was very bad at it, by the way.
Oh.
So, it's like I learned, you know, oh, it's really difficult to get money.
I do this and then got this.
Oh.
That's, I see.
So, it was more like you wanted to experience work.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was kind of your whole mission.
Yeah.
Well, of course, the money was, you know, one goal, of course.
Right.
Yeah.
Mainly, I wanted to do it, you know.
Like you want to be.
Yeah.
A man.
Yeah.
In society.
Yes.
Like responsible man.
Uh-huh.
That's what I wanted.
I see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it was too difficult for me.
It didn't work out.
Like, yeah, I mean.
Scheduling.
You have to be quick.
Yeah, the scheduling.
Right.
And the work itself.
It was very, I mean, I am still very bad at.
Like hands-on.
Doing things and like.
Shit.
Yeah.
And quickly and do all the things.
Yeah.
So.
Oh.
Yeah.
Didn't work out.
Didn't work out.
But still.
Yeah.
Good experience.
Yeah, good experience.
Always good experience.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
I remember that.
Do you still go there?
To the shop that you worked at?
I mean.
I remember you were at the big road.
Yeah.
On this side.
And the other side was like tumble-ish.
Am I correct?
No.
Oh, okay.
Is it close to the station?
Yeah.
Okay, so I don't know what you're talking about then.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I was at the station next to that station.
The place you were living in.
Yeah.
You were in that station.
I remember.
Next station.
Next station.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:00
Matsuya.
Oh, I see.
Matsuya is the closest to the university.
Yes.
And I was living in the station next to that station.
Okay, okay.
And Matsuya was this station.
Oh, okay.
So you were in your royalties.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
But after I quit at Matsuya, I was like kind of, I didn't properly say goodbye to the store.
I was like kind of faded out.
Kind of, okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That happens.
That's something I didn't do and still.
Kind of regret?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So after that, I didn't, I mean, I couldn't.
Oh, because they would like get you.
Yeah.
Where were you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was like.
Okay.
There were some moments that I was very hungry and I wanted to get a gyudon, but not this
place.
Kind of, yeah.
And it just passed through.
Yeah.
A little bit rushed.
Yeah.
That's, you know.
Still in you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You could probably go now, right?
It's true.
It's true.
And sort of enjoy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love it.
Right, I should go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love going to old workplaces.
I love it.
I love it.
Did you?
I go there a lot.
A lot?
Like I go to the Starbucks that I used to work in, but would never walk in the store.
I would just look at it from afar.
Why you don't?
Because I don't want anyone to like say hi to me.
Like I don't want to have a conversation.
Okay.
Okay.
I just want to see it from afar, see how they're doing.
And, you know, if I know somebody, that's great.
Yeah.
I don't want to be like, oh, that person's still there.
That's great.
But you're not going to talk.
I would never talk to them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
I love doing that.
Have you been to Okashiya-san?
Yes.
Oh, yes?
Yeah.
And yeah, they were, some of the people were still there.
Oh.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I should, I should go.
It's pretty fun.
Yeah, yeah.
Pretty fun.
And I'm not sure if that, you know, Matsuya is still there or not.
Yeah.
You know, it's possible, right?
It'll be fun.
Yeah, it'll be fun.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.