This is Micaela for those of you that haven't seen her yet.

- I exist on the internet.

My name is Micaela.

Hi.

- She is the original Japan blogger.

I started out by watching her videos,

and now we're friends and it's weird.

(laughing)

- It is weird.

We look the same.

We came from the same place.

We do the same thing.

- Yeah, Micaela was originally from BC as well in Canada

so our hometowns are super close,

and we've both been living here for over 10 years now.

How did you start out in Japan?

- I came as an exchange student when I was 17 years old.

I'd always wanted to study abroad,

and I went to a school in Canada

that had lots of Japanese exchange students

so when I asked about opportunities for myself,

if I could travel abroad, they hooked me up,

and I ended up going to Kyushu, which is in southern Japan,

and I went to high school in Miyazaki for a year.

- My first time here, I was 17 as well

but I did like a two-week homestay high school experience

but it wasn't like a real year in high school.

- It wasn't immersive?

- No. - Yeah.

- It was just like I joined some classes and we had some fun

but I had a really cool homestay experience

but then the next time I moved to Japan,

I just started out working as an English teacher.

- I went back to Canada 'cause I had to graduate

and finish my education in Canada,

and then I got a working holiday visa,

and I came back.

- Same with me. (laughs)

- Yeah, and then I did that.

It was really good

because it came with training and everything.

They trained me for the job and that kind of set me up

with skills that helped me even in later years in Japan.

- Yeah, I feel like most people that come here

to teach English, they're not trained to be a teacher

but lots of jobs do prepare you (laughs)

for what you're gonna be doing, which is nice.

I also had the same experience.

I worked in a private English school, which was awesome.

My boss was great.

He was from New York.

We still talk.

It was really fun.

I taught English for about three years,

and then I went to university in Japan.

I did education both in Canada and Japan.

Yeah, I was almost ready to graduate in Canada

but then I moved here because of the earthquake

and wanting to be in Japan

and I ended up finishing my education here.

That's kind of my history,

and now I do YouTube and translation and that kind of stuff

and Micaela does--

- I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. (laughs)

I taught English for a little bit.

I also went to college in Japan for music and entertainment.

- That's so cool. (laughs)

- Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

I graduated.

I joined a talent agency,

and then there was a bunch of years of that,

and I quit that because it wasn't for me.

It wasn't what I thought it would be,

and now I'm kind of just scaling back.

My boyfriend just quit his job

so this year, we're probably gonna start our own company.

- That's so exciting.

- Yeah.

- So because we've both been here for so long,

I thought it'd be cool to talk to you guys

about why we decided to stay here

and what kept us in Japan for this long.

For me, I think the main reason is that it's so exciting

and I have so many different opportunities

that I feel like I wouldn't get back in Canada

so I speak English obviously and Japanese

so jobs like translation or like being a tour guide

or all these things that just wouldn't be so easy

to get back in Canada, I could just do if I wanted here

and I get lots of offers for stuff.

I mainly do YouTube now because it's enjoyable and I love it

but if I want to quit YouTube,

I could easily get a job doing translation full-time.

I like that.

I think I'd be worried to go back to Canada.

I wouldn't know what I would do there. (laughs)

- I have to say though.

I think with that kind of experience

like coming to Japan and becoming bilingual

in English and Japanese, it's a super valuable skill

even if you go back to Canada

because the west coast in Canada has such a big--

- It's very multicultural.

- I think once you come here for a while

and you've built up both languages and the skills

to communicate between cultures

like even if you went back to Canada,

I think you'd find something.

- I hope so 'cause I am planning to in the future. (laughs)

I like it being exciting.

There's something new to explore.

I come from a relatively small town in Canada.

Micaela's is an even smaller town.

(Micaela laughs)

- Yeah.

- And we know it like the back of our hands.

We've seen every little corner

but even just Tokyo, it's so freaking huge.

There's so many cool side streets to go down

and shops to see.

People-watching is fun.

There's so many people here, cool fashion,

stuff like that.

I don't know.

It's just really interesting.

- It's stimulating.

- Yeah, that's the word.

You never get bored.

You could never be bored living in Japan.

You could wake up at four a.m.

and stores would still be open.

You could go to karaoke.

Even if there weren't shops here,

I live out in the countryside now.

I was in Tokyo for a few years

but I moved out to the countryside

and even just like exploring around my town.

You always find like cute little temples

and there's pretty mountains

and there's just so much to see,

and I really like that.

I think that's really what kept me.

It's just so many new things to see.

- I think with my experience, it's a little bit different

because I live in southern Japan down south

in a place called Fukuoka,

which is slowly, slowly gaining more worldwide attention

and popularity because of its startup culture.

We have tons of young people coming to Fukuoka

'cause it's cheap and it's not as expensive as Tokyo

but there's still a lot of things to do there.

We even have a startup visa for--

- No way.

- Yeah, for foreigners who want--

- That want to start a business.

- Yeah, in Fukuoka, you can get a startup visa

where they give you a visa for a year

to try to make a business happen

in Fukuoka. - That's really cool.

- Yeah, for Fukuoka for me,

it's not so much about the fashion

but there is a lot of energy with young people

trying to create things and make new things happen

and put new things into the world.

It's just really exciting to be with people,

a lot of people like me

who are kind of in this gray zone now

where it's like we're not working a nine-to-five

but we're still making money doing the things

that we have expertise in.

It's just a really exciting time to be alive.

It's an exciting time to be in Fukuoka too.

I really like it because it's very stimulating.

There's lots of things going on

in comparison to countryside in Canada.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it is very exciting

but for me also the thing that I really like

about living in Japan is that it is so close

to so many other

really interesting countries. - That's so true.

- You can visit so easily.

- Yeah, even in the past two or three years,

I've been to Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea.

We've been to Seoul.

We took the ferry to Busan.

I love traveling and it's so easy to just hop on a plane

to a neighboring country and in each country,

everyone has their own different culture

even though it's like the same general proximity.

- It's so different.

- Canada is huge but like whether you're in Vancouver

or Calgary or Toronto--

- It doesn't differ very much.

- People speak the same language.

They have the same moral values

but you can hop on a plane from Japan to Korea,

and be stunned by--

- Completely different worlds. (laughs)

- Yeah, the difference in politeness.

Yeah, it's really, really interesting,

and that's really exciting for me.

- I think another thing I like

is just being constantly challenged.

Even though we both speak decent Japanese,

I would say that, I don't have that much trouble

with my day-to-day life.

I never feel like, "Ah I can't speak well enough,"

but stuff like renting your own house or like doing taxes--

- Oh my God.

- It's a learning experience

every time we need to do something like that.

I don't know.

I like that challenge.

I get bored if I'm not learning something new,

and even if I'm not picking up a new hobby,

I'm always learning something new with the language

and having to interact with people

and work with Japanese every day.

I really like that.

Even if you don't force yourself to study at home,

you'll just be learning it

by going out and doing things and living here

so you always feel like you're improving yourself.

- I don't think there will ever be a point in my life

where I'm like, "I know all the Japanese there is to know.

"There is no more learning.

"Close the books.

"We're done."

It's never gonna happen.

I was just at Miyazaki for a month

doing a, I don't know how to say it, like a tanki taizai.

- Short-term stay.

- Yeah, like short-term stay for tourism and stuff

in a small town in Miyazaki prefecture.

- A really small farming town.

- I loved it.

I remember the first day I was there.

Everyone was talking to me about,

they kept saying words like munouyaku,

which means no pesticides.

It's like pesticide-free.

- Oh munouyaku, yeah yeah.

- Yeah, munouyaku or then they have for organic vegetables,

they're saying yuuki nougyou for organic farming,

and I thought they were talking about like snow.

I was like, "What are you farming?"

- Snow farming. (laughs)

- They're like, "Yeah,

"we're really into that yuuki nougyou,"

and I'm like, "So like snow farming?"

(Sharla laughs)

And they're like, "No."

Yeah, the kanji is totally different

but the first day I was there,

I had no idea what anybody was saying to me.

I'm like, "Yeah, yuki nougyou.