May 2, 2025 • 34 mins
Jizzo shares his first-time travel experience from California to Japan, exploring vibrant cities, experiencing Tokyo Disney and the Star Wars Celebration, savoring delicious food, and immersing himself in the rich culture.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
This could give me for our podcast What Up on
Gizo That is John Magic and we are back.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We took a break. It's almost like a legit vacation
break for me. It was yeah, and then I'm going
on after this episode.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm leaving for mine.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So but I wanted to talk about your vacation because
a few things. That's a major trip. I feel that's like,
it's not like you're just staying in the US. You
left the you left the country. Also, just like some
traveling hacks that you might have and sharing where you
(00:44):
went and some highlights and definitely I mean I follow
you on Instagram, so I definitely saw a lot of highlights.
But that was, yeah, just talking about a major leaving
the country trip, that that whole experience.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, I'm I mean, I'm happy that I did it
because I know in previous podcasts we talked about doing
you know, being about experiences and doing stuff that you
don't normally do, and so flying out of the country
was something that I've never done before. Yeah, So this
was my first time I've had my my uh what
is it my passport? Passport. Yeah, I had my passport
(01:20):
for a few years now, just haven't put it to use.
So I finally went out to Japan, and the reason
I was going out there was for a convention Star
Wars celebration. It's a Star Wars convention. It travels, meaning
it goes to different cities in different countries every couple
of years, and this one was in Japan, and I
was like, Yo, this is like a good excuse to
(01:41):
go out there.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You went to the last one, Right, Where was the
last Star Wars celebration?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That was Chicago? Right? No, it was actually in London,
which I didn't go to that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
One, which was the one that you went to, like.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You, there was one in Anaheim that I went to.
Then there was one in Chicago that I went to.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's the one I was thinking about.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, okay, So the Anaheim one was in was a
twenty fuck what was that twenty twenty two or something
like that, and then like it was like a year
later they went to London, and that almost seemed unnecessary
because it was just a year later. It just didn't
seem like it, and a lot of people that went
said that it was basically like what Anaheim did, but
just two point zero version of it. So I skipped
(02:17):
out on that one, But then the japan one came around,
and I was like, man, I got to just because
I'm a fan of their culture and I just wanted
to experience it for myself. So I was out there
for a total of nine days. And the first thing
I did, I.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Did we we got to start with the airport.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Right, Okay you want to Okay, you want to start
from there?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, because I remember when you planned this trip. I
you know, when I was on tour, I got to
fly to Australia and that was like, I forget. I
think it was like eighteen a twenty hour flight. Ye, yeah,
and you were asking me that, like, y'all, I'm about
to take this long ass flight, and I was trying
to remember that. I remember just kind of.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Obviously, it's not a regular flight where you're just sitting
there for five six hours. I just remember getting up
walking around.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So you went to Australia, there was a fifteen.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Hours yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right, So this one was eleven hours, so it
wasn't as bad, but I mean my anxiety was just like, man,
I think the furthest I flew was maybe like four hours,
which was like to Chicago. So this was just seemed
like a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Did you is there any like planning of let me
get the most comfortable seats for this or where you're like,
it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
It kind of is what it was. I was a
little late on the flights, so there was it was.
The plane that I got on was pretty packed by
the time I gone on it. But I am like
an ale person, so I was able to get like
the aisle and there was like a middle empty seat,
so that was pretty good. So the flight there wasn't
so bad. You get a meal on your way there.
(03:56):
It was eleven hours. It was a new airline, so
everything's actually like pretty new in there. It was Wi
Fi on the plane. There was outlets on the plane
to plug in your phone, so I had all that.
What would I suggest to do is definitely bring like
an iPad or something and download stuff to your iPads
so that you can watch it, because trying to stream
(04:18):
on that Wi Fi was like all bad And that
was the mistake that I made. I didn't download stuff
ahead of time, so when I would try to stream
it just it just lagged. So I was able to
be on social media a little bit, listen to music,
a little bit, but that's that's definitely something that I
would recommend, is that you definitely prepare for the entertainment
(04:40):
side of it. Or if you're somebody that could sleep
that works, you could sleep for a few hours, which.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Is always tough. I can't. It's hard for me. The
only way I'll sleep on a plane is if I'm
super super exhausted where I've had zero hours sleep, because
that's happened where I just knock out and then I
wake up and you're like, fuck, I'm I'm here already.
So I can't do it, man, But just let me
try to go to sleep. I can. It's tough.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I even try to deprive myself the night before and
I still couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I just not too much adrenaline.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, it's too much adrenaline. It's excitement. It's just like
you're not really comfortable sitting up and you know you
get those little those little pillow things you put in
back of your head. Those things are not comfortable to me.
So I can never do that. So I didn't sleep,
but oddly enough, the time didn't go by. It's so bad.
It wasn't it wasn't that bad. You kind of just
like you said, you get up, you stretch, go to
the bathroom, rentse off my face, do different stuff like that,
(05:32):
because you can get up on the plane, which is cool,
walk around if you need to.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
By the way, let me just repeat that because I
think that's a great tip that sometimes I forget is
these streaming services. Well, I just know Netflix. Yeah, I
love that. I love that thing where you can download.
You download at your home because you have Wi Fi
and you download what however many movies you want and
it doesn't require Wi Fi. Once you're on the plane, boom,
(05:58):
you could just watch all the things.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, so that was something I was confused by, and
I guess since I didn't do it's still a little
confused by. So you download it, it's on your phone,
and it goes to your phone. It doesn't you don't
have to like go on the app to watch it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, you do have to go to the app.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, but you're but it's not as slow because you're
not sham.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, I think it's just normal. Okay, it's already downloaded
on the app with no Wi Fi needed.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So you can get on the app without needing Wi Fi. Yes,
oh okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well I didn't do it,
so well you didn't, No, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, I've done that before, which it's so clutch
when you download the movies you want. And then I,
like you said, if you don't either if the Wi
Fi is slow or you don't want to pay for
Wi Fi, and you.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Could just do it. Yeah, you could just watch so
that I saw other people were like ahead of the
game because they were watching shows on their iPad, and
I was just like, damn, I fucked up. But luckily
the trip wasn't so bad.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I'm glad you said that because I mean, my trip's
only five hours, but I forgot to download stuff, so
I still have time to do that. So that's that's
a great tip.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, that's major because like the Wi Fi could not
be that great about landing.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
When you land, you have to go through customs and
all stuff. How was that experience?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, so you got to fill out like some paperwork.
But there's actually something you can do online and I
forgot what the website was, but you can actually do
it online and it gives you like a QR code,
and I think you could just scan that QR code instead,
and it's like a quicker process yet clear I don't
know what it is I forgot. I have to get
(07:28):
back to you on that one though, But it's something
that's easier because then we did that, and then I
saw a bunch of people like off to the side
filling out the paper and I was like, oh, I
already got mine. You can walk quicker and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Hey, that's another great tip.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And then you know, you show them your passport, they
stamp it or they I think mind they actually put
like a sticker on it, which I was like, oh shit,
my first sticker and they take a photo of you.
And then what was dope about Japan is like okay,
So now I got to go get my luggage. I'm
trying to find where the carousel is. Bro tell me why.
When you walk up, there's multiple workers at the grabbing
(08:01):
everybody's luggage for them and just lining it up nicely.
So when I got to the luggage area, I just
saw my suitcases nicely lined up right there. I didn't
have to like wait for them, And I was just like, oh,
just the type of treatment Japan is doing.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now you mentioned to me off the pod, how just
the culture and just the way Japan is how they
move as a community, you know, as people that it
was almost like a culture shock in a good way. Yeah,
when you saw the luggage, was that the beginning of it?
(08:34):
And or did more things surprise you of how they moved?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That was definitely the beginning of it. And I've been
told about how like nice and how nice they are
and how they just move differently than Americans do, and
you just see it everywhere. Everybody is like, no one
is lazy, no one feels entitled, no one is oh,
that's not my job. I don't need to do that.
(08:59):
No one slacks. It's like everybody has an assignment and
they do it. And you know, I pride myself on
being a hard worker and being an on time person,
and I just obviously in this country not surrounded with
a lot of like minded people. But when I was there,
I was like, Wow, this is like the vibe that
I love and everybody's doing it.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I mean the moments we waited for a shuttle that
was gonna pick us up and take us to our
hotel and tell me why, Like the shuttles would just
be RB stop, get on boom left, like not waiting
for nobody, No one's like, hey, I'm coming on Renope,
there was a time. They're there on that time, and
if you're not there, they're leaving your ass. And it
(09:42):
would be like old guys, like old bus drivers hopped
out of the van or out of the bus. He's like,
you know, he's trying to tell me in his language,
like is this the you know, is this the bus
you need? I'm like yeah, immediately grabs my suitcases. I
didn't tell him too. He just grabs my suitcases, starts
putting them in, grabs other people's suitcases like all right,
ready to go, jumps in and takes off and like
they don't You're not supposed to tip in that country,
(10:05):
whereas in this country, people like are entitled to tips
and they don't even they not even worthly worth the tip.
Most of the time, these dudes were working hella hard
and you don't even tip them. And I was like, damn,
this is like how it should be. They see tipping
tipping as like a bribery, which is like how tipping started,
and so other countries like they actually get offended by tipping.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah you must have loved that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, So I was like, ooh, I don't even do
it in my own country.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, speaking of that, the was there any language barriers?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So for the most part they can kind of like
understand you real.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Quick, let me correct that there was. Obviously there's language barriers.
How difficult was it?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So English is not really that that much that they
it's not that what is like normal life? Yeah, so
they don't really know it. But if you can say
certain things. What I find out is like when you're
talking to them, try not to say like a lot
of fluff and unnecessary words words. Just try to hit
the main words. Like if you're saying, oh, I need
(11:04):
to go to my hotel, just be like hotel and
the name of the hotel or something like that, so
they can get the words a lot easier. Plus, you know,
we have we we have you know, like when you're
not spoken, but you can use like your hands and
signs and points of stuff like that. Like, so you
do all that, you get the thing of crass across. Also,
what also came in Clutch is the Google Translate, so
(11:27):
that you can type and then it'll shoot back like
in their their language or some signs would be in
you know, Japanese writing, and you can actually put the
camera up to the sign and then it'll live translate
it for you.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yes, I've seen those before. Okay, those are great tools that.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Have Yeah, so definitely get the the Google Translate. Also,
something that was that I used a lot was chat GBT,
like talking to that thing and asking that thing. It's
it's crazy how knowledgeable like the AI shit.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Is and what are you asking? Like what are some
of the things is that you used it for?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Like sometimes I would ask, you know, I'm here at
this country, I'm here in Japan and I need to
go here, like what's the best way to like explain
it to them? Or I used it a lot for
the train station because the train thing is like how
they travel out there, like you know in other cities
it's taxis ubers out there. Their train system is crazy,
but it's hard to like learn it because one it's
(12:23):
in a different language and two like wein got no
damn train system out here, so I don't know nothing
about train systems. And so I would talk to Chad
GBT and like, Hey, I'm at this hotel, I need
to get to this location. What do I take? And
it would literally tell me step by step where I
needed to go what I needed to take. So that
helped me out a lot. That's better to me, that's
better than googling it. Like I'm actually kind of over
(12:44):
googling stuff now because the Chad GBT was like a
game changer when I downloaded it. So I asked that
a lot of questions and if you want to ask
you know about Japan, it'll spit things back at you.
So that was something that I wanted to do because
I didn't want to be like a typical American and
being like he's American the way he's acting. So I
wanted to like respect their culture and not be so
(13:05):
American out there. So that was one thing that I
suggest you do is what's appropriate and not appropriate in
Japan to be doing, because it's different, They move different
out there. So some of the things is it's more
it's definitely more chill and more quiet.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You're telling me about the trash.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, there's no trash. When I say, there's not even
a gum wrapper, there is no trash in the gutters on.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
The streets, there's no trash cans.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
You told me there's not even trash cans. Yeah, exactly,
because they see that as probably like dirty. So if
you have trash, carry around a bag, because you might
be carrying around a while until you find like a
trash can. If you go inside like a restaurant or something,
they'll have a trash in there or a convenience store.
But there's not just trashes like on the side of
the streets like how we have here. Also, there's not
(13:52):
any water faucets anywhere on the side of the streets either,
because I'm sure they probably see that as dirty. So
that was one thing I kind of struggled with, especially
when I was at the convention. There was just like
no water fountains anywhere, and I'm like, yo, I'm thirsty,
damh what I'm saying. So you actually got to go
buy water or something like that. But yeah, get familiar
with the culture, especially like going back to the train thing.
(14:12):
The trains get dumb ass pack from people from getting
out of work, going to school wherever, going to city
to city. But it's quiet on the trains because that's
just how they roll. So don't be a loud American
on the trains, because there was a few times I
took trains and it was loud and I'd look over it. Yeah,
it'd be like an American or European or something being
all loud and obnoxious. So yeah, don't don't be a
(14:35):
loud American like that.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, there's definitely a different culture over there.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You don't be throwing trash on the ground.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, I know, right, ruin the system. Yeah man, So okay,
So I know you were there for a few days,
so I saw that you did a bunch of things. Yeah. Yeah,
So like what was the first thing, first major thing
you did?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
The first major thing I did is, you know, obviously,
being a big Disney person, I had to go to
the Tokyo Disney out there, and they actually have two
parks once, like the Tokyo Disneyland that's essentially our Disneyland,
but it's more catered to their culture. But they have
some of the same rise. They have like a Jungle Cruise.
I went on that. It was kind of funny because
you know how they do the jokes on Jungle Cruise.
(15:15):
I had no idea what they were saying, but they
were so animated that that alone was funny. They have
Haunted Mansion, I went on that, but one of the
better rides that they have over there is the Beauty
and the Beast ride. Man that that that thing is crazy.
I don't know if you've seen it on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, just YouTube, big Yeah, I have seen it. You said,
there's two parks built the same, like Disneyland and California Adventure,
where it's just right across from each other.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Walk not right across from each other, pretty close, but again,
like you take the train. So I went to the
the Disney Cea is like they're to me, is like
they're better park, which is probably because it's bigger and newer,
and that that thing is dope. I mean some of
the rides that they have there, they do have like
a Tower of Terror version. I know, we have like
Guardians and Galaxy next where it drops. They don't like
(16:02):
thrill rides over there. I could tell they don't really
like thrill rides. I think only dropped like three times.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No roller coasters, no roller.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Coasters, nothing like that. I stayed at a Disneyland hotel
that was like connected to Disneyland Park. But just the
vibe that you get at their parks is a lot
different than ours. You got no kids running around screaming.
It's once again it's not necessarily quiet, but you just
don't have that, like, I don't know that annoyance of
people just being loud and obnoxious. Everyone just follows rules,
(16:29):
stays in line. No one ever feels entitled. Oh. Another
thing that's crazy about like their culture is man they
have patience. There are some rides that were super long.
I've never seen a ride that said two hundred minutes.
They had a few of their rides that were over
two hundred minutes. Luckily, they don't really have like a
(16:50):
fast pass or what do we call it now, Jeanie place,
I don't know. We switch it up all the time.
They have it to where you can pay for certain
only certain rides and it's only like ten but us
so some of the rides that were like two hundred minutes,
I'm like, hell no, I ain't waiting. And it's funny
because like as Americans, we held it, don't like waiting,
And so when I would buy like the quote unquote
(17:11):
fast pass for a certain ride, everybody in that line
was like all Americans or foreigners, and all the Japanese,
all the Japanese, they stay in the regular line, and
I'm just and they're just cool chilling, like yo, you
guys are chilling for like two hours, and they're they're
good with it, and for us, I was like, nah, man,
like we're trying to cut the line fifteen minutes. So
that was something that was like really different. Chuo's not
(17:31):
really a thing over there. They fuck with popcorn tough, though,
Like the popcorn stands crazy at Disney Line. The consumerism
not really man. I mean you go to the stores,
I mean, how many fucking stores are in Disneyland and
it's just packed with merchandise.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah over there in sections, Yeah, different what character, what color,
what size, what style?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Over there, it's pretty minimal, like.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It's almost like a convenience store.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, like just maybe like one shirt of each color,
you know what I mean? Only a few ears. They
don't really fuck with the ips that much, like you
won't see Star Wars ears or Marvel ears. They love
like more of the classic animals. And what's even crazier
is Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse, who Donald Duck is king
out there? Oh wow, yeah, have you heard about that? No,
(18:16):
they fuck with Donald Duck tough. Like even at the
Disneyland park, you walk in and he has his own
shrine and he's wearing it's funny because he's even wearing
like a Donald Duck king hat because he's like king
out there. All the people dressed like Donald Duck, like
they love Donald Duck. Mickey. You don't really see Mickey
too much, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so that's one man that's on my bucket list
for to go to Japan and to experience Tokyo Disney. Yeah,
and you were telling me about how cheap it is
to go to the parks.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, so what are parks here? What like over one
hundred dollars usually over there for a park ticket? Sixty bucks?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Sixty bucks, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I mean I think on the high end, on like
a popular day, maybe seventy.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And then you were telling me that they have this
thing where if it's a half day, it's a different price.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah. So they don't have like hopper passes, but you
could pay to go to both parks, or you can
wait till after five o'clock and each of the parks
are like half the price. So I started off at
Disney C and I got most of what I wanted
out done by like four o'clock. I'm like I'm good,
And I was like, well shit, in an hour, I
can hop over to Disneyland, and it's only going to
be thirty bucks.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Thirty bucks what time they close? Like obviously the price
already it's worth yeah yeah, but how many hours.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I think they go to I think they go till nine,
So you figure from five to nine you're paying thirty bucks.
I mean I was able to get a few rods
in yeah yeah, and in thirty bucks. I mean that's
how much we charge for fucking ears at our park.
Ears of parking, Yeah, ears over there, fifteen dollars. I
stacked up. I mean some ears gotta be some merch.
So I would definitely highly recommend going to the Disney
(19:52):
parks out there. They do have a Universal Japan and
that's where they have like their Mario World is like
way better than ours. But that was a lot, a
lot of hours away, so I didn't I didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You were in that side of town? No, all right?
So did you just stay there the whole time or
did you move hotels?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I moved hotels, got closer to like more of like
the city, and I visited u Shabuya is a big city.
It's like it's been like if you've seen like Tokyo drift,
like there's some scenes in there.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Say that's like the New York.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, it's like the Hollywood Boulevard, the the you know,
the different the tourists kind of areas. They have, like
the major crossing where everyone crosses from all directions and
it's just like a group of people that cross all
at once. That's like a famous area. Actually took like
a pretty dope photo right there. And they do like
Mario Kart, like well, I don't know if it's called
Mario Kart, but people can drive the streets and go cars.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I've seen that YouTube.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I was just like chilling and I just saw people
driving and go carts. I was like, Okay, that's that's
different and it's legal. They have a bunch of just
places to eat at night. It looks dope because they
just stay light up everything they have like a Nintendo
store that I wasn't able to go to, like a
Hello Kitty store that's big I wasn't able to go to.
(21:08):
But Shibuyah, I would say it's probably a dope city
if you watch someone to walk around and see cool shit.
Side note, they drive on the opposite side of the
road and they drive on the right hand side the
wheels on the Yeah, the wheels on the right side.
That's a little different.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, that's wild because in Australia is the same way
to the other side, wheels on the other side. And
I remember when I was there, the guy who was
taking us around, he was like driving and I was like,
no way, because we're gonna die. But yeah, it was
just I needed to experience it, so I got to
experience driving.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, and it is.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
It is so fucking weird, even like when you're in it,
it's kind of weird, like, oh shit, like we're over
here on the left side and you're watching cars drive
on the right side.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah. You brought up eating. You brought up eating a
lot of restaurants. I was the dude, you know, yeah,
what was the food situation like over this?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
So of course I had to eat sushi, you know
what I'm saying. I had to eat ramen.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Did you stay away from the things we have here?
Which that's always one of my big rules is you're
gonna go somewhere, don't go to McDonald's. Don't want a cheesecake.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Fact, yeah, you got to try the food out there,
So I definitely did so I had sushi a lot,
I had ramen, we had, we had a bunch of
food out there, and man, it just it just hits different.
Bro Like it's fresh. I don't know if like if
if people are familiar with how sushi is supposed to be,
it's pretty basic compared to like how we do it here.
It's usually just rice and then a piece of fish
(22:31):
or aw fish on top. You would know that magic.
And out here, you know, we fucking put in cucumbers
and in all types of shit. Yeah, it's over there,
it's more simple, it's smaller, but man, it is good.
It is good. It's cheaper.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Wait, but do they have you know, one of my
favorites is you know the shrimp and poorer ones have
that over there?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
They do, Ok, Yeah, they have wagou out there. So
I would definitely highly recommend getting the sushi. It's it's good,
it's fresh. And one thing about other countries compared to
our countries is as you know, man, they put in
they put some bullshit in our stuff, preservatives, things that
are like borderline probably should not be in our and
out there you can really taste the difference in everything,
(23:14):
their water, their their drinks, their food. You can taste
the freshness of it, and it just made it. It's
almost alarming because you're like, damn, what are they putting
in our shit back at home? And then, like I said,
everything is cheaper, like super cheaper. So we would go
and get a bunch of food and it'd be like
twenty dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Was exchanging the money thing? Was that like a hassle?
Or was that pretty easy? Can use your car?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, so that's probably one of those tips I would
suggest we did both. We did. We exchanged our American
dollar for yen, and luckily our dollar is more so
one US dollar is one hundred and forty five yen.
It's essentially the same. They use bills and they use coins.
It's just higher numbers. So don't get intimidated by the
(23:59):
numbers because something you'll see something for like twenty thousand
yen and you're like, oh, what's that, and you know
it's just like a few dollars or whatever, so you
can't you know, again, I would translate so in our calculators,
like if you've an iPhone, on our calculator that comes
standard with the iPhone, you can actually do a currency
thing on there. So we would tap in how much
yen and then it would spit back out how much
(24:19):
dollars that would be, just so that you know, like, okay,
I'm spending this much. But so what I would do
I was, I would definitely exchange dollars for some yen.
You could do that with your bank. You can do that.
At the airport, you could do that.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
They have like a little booths.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, they had for whatever reason. Seven elevens are the
shit out there.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
That's right here.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah. Seven elevens is like where they shop, so they
have they have ATMs and you can pull money out
that way. So we ended up doing that. Your card,
like I use my card, my credit card. The one
thing that you would do is just notify either like
your bank or your credit card company so they know they, oh,
you're going to be out in Japan or whatever. It's
not on flag you yeah, yeah, yeah, And for it's
(25:00):
different for everybody. But it's a three percent charge every
time you swipe it. And I know that sounds bad,
but I literally spent thousands of dollars out there and
all the charges was like one hundred and twenty bucks,
which some of the people might say, yeah, that's still
hundred twenty bucks. For me, wasn't that big of a
deal because, like I said, I spent thousands of dollars
out there, and it just made it more convenient. But
(25:22):
everybody's different.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So the big thing, the reason you went out there
was for the Star Wars celebration.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
How was that the most disappointing part of the whole trip? Yeah,
it really was.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
With that, That's what I was thinking, Like, you about
to experience all these things. Yeah, and this is nothing
against Star Wars celebration, No, no, no, but you've just
you've experienced it so many times already.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah. I just think it's dope that they do it
in other countries. However, when you do it in other
countries where it's not as big, you lack vendors and
booths and just production wise because it's a more of
American thing. So I would say the amount of booths
that I saw in Japan was about a quarter of
(26:08):
what I've seen in America. Like, that's how much smaller
it is. Because to me, what makes it fun is like,
you know, the cost players. Of course, they had some
really dope Japanese inspired cost players. I got some photos
of that but I like to go for like the
merch the collectible stuff, and you're really just asking Japan
to supply that, you know what I mean. And American
(26:28):
you know, vendors, they're not going to fly all their
shit out to set up shop in Japan, so you're
really relying on like either the big companies that maybe
have some flagship stores out there, or like local vendors.
And how many it really wasn't that much, so that
part was disappointing. There was a bit of an unorganization wise,
how they kind of dealt with stuff out there. I
(26:50):
don't I don't know if that's like a culture thing
or it was kind of hard. I don't know, but
it was like pretty unorganized, Like there was a lot
of standing in lines out there, and the lack of
like food, and like I said, they don't have water fountains,
so there was like I was like dying of thirst,
but you can only get something like out of food
booth and those were like cracking. So it was actually
like kind of a bad experience. I got like the
(27:12):
collectible that I wanted out there, and I did what
I wanted, but I didn't even put it this way.
I didn't even go to the third day. There was
like a third day.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
As did you cut that short?
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I cut that short? Yeah, I was like, let me
go to citymore. So I did some more exploration. I
went to go see the hotel that has like the
big Godzilla on the top of the building, which is
pretty cool. Yeah. Man, just walking around and just seeing
how everybody rolls. I mean I went to a mall
because I was just like, you know, their fashion is
like pretty dope. I want to pick me up some pieces.
(27:42):
And man, I left with just a bunch of bags
and it was like two hundred bucks. Like it was
just like dumb ass cheap shopping there, and you get
like a discount that you're from America for whatever reason.
You just show your passport and they gave like a discount.
So shopping was fun if you go into their stores,
which is dope because like malls are still a thing
over there, like they still like standalone story thriving. Yeah.
(28:05):
So you know how here, like fucking our malls look
like they're being abandoned. No, Like people shop like every
store there's like three I went to a mall was
like three levels. And what's cool is about is when
you go into stores, they're playing American music. So you go,
like they're playing hip hop, they're playing Drake like and
it's in English, and so it's like that's where they
really fuck with Americans. They really fuck with like our music, entertainment.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
They fuck with the hip hop culture.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Yeah, hip hop culture for sure, movies for sure, like
all the movie shit you would see here like they
have there, Like they fuck with like our entertainment shit.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
The last thing, I mean, the last thing I'll ask,
just because you just brought up entertainment, did you get
to do anything on that side and entertaining side a
show club or was it just strictly tourists stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
It was like a lot of tourist stuff. It was
funny because there was at one of the malls that
I went to, there was a couple, uh what is it?
K pop? There's a couple of K pop groups. I
don't think they were anybody because like no one was
like going crazy over them, but actually ended up talking
to one of them was trying to okay, and I
was just like, damn, I wonder if like how they
(29:12):
would feel if I told them that I worked in
the radio. I decided not to go down that route,
but it was cool trying to chop it up with
these these these K pop dudes I did. They're big
on these cat cafes. Have you heard of these? I have.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I've seen that on YouTube as well too, and I
kind of don't pay too much attention to it, yea,
because I'm allergic to cats.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, okay, So you go into a cafe and it's
like coffee or tea or whatever, and you sit there
for like thirty minutes or an hour, depending on how
you pay for it, and there's just cats roaming around.
They'll jump on you, sit on your lap, you can
pet them, so I didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
So, yeah, you told me about this one, and I
at first I thought it was some animatronic shit, but
go ahead and tell people where you went.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So I went to what was called a pig cafe,
real live pig, real live like what they call piglets
or guinea pig or not guinea pigs but pot belly
pigs or whatever. And so I went to this and
this one was happened to be in the mall, and
you pay for it like thirty minutes or whatever, and
you just sit on the ground. They give you like
a little blanket and you put over your lap, and
(30:14):
I didn't know what it was. I thought like you
would just chill and then like, oh, you're lucky if
a pig happens to come up to you or whatever,
like they tell you not to grab them. But you sit,
you know, you sit, you cross your legs, you sit
on the ground. Immediately, five pigs just come up to you,
sit on your lap and just started crashing out. And
I mean they're small, like small, like tiny, a little
(30:35):
bit bigger. We do that and that was fun.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I've always been a fan of pigs growing up. I
always wanted a pig myself. And it was just a
cool experience to just like sit there and these pigs
are just like snorkeling. They'll come on your lap. They
just crash out and it just and at one point
I'm just like sitting and looking down. I'm like, I
have five pigs on my lap right now for no reason.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
So that one, there's no food involved in your.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I mean you get like your drinks and stuff like that,
but yeah, there's no food. Yeah, I don't know. It's
just like a thing out there. And I'm glad that
I did the pig one because the cat one would
have been like whatever to me, you know what I'm saying.
But the pig one was like a really fun experience. Yeah,
so that I just out of curiosity.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
How much is that?
Speaker 1 (31:14):
How much was that? You know? It wasn't that bad.
I think for like an hour it was like thirty
bucks or something like that. Yeah, snakes cheap, Yeah, and
it's it's it's definitely worth the experience. We did an hour.
Didn't really realize you didn't need that. We only stay
for like twenty minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
So you would have stayed the hour. Yeah, I'm staying
the hour.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So you could do like twenty thirty minutes and you're good.
You get like what you want out of it. So
that was like that was actually one of the last
things I did, and that was actually pretty cool. What
else did I do entertainment wise? I mean that was
kind of it. It's just you you want to do
a lot of exploring and just like kind of get
to know like the culture and obviously eat the food.
(31:54):
I know they're big on like you know, like temples
and like the cherry blossoms that are out there in
son of like the landmaruse I didn't really see too
much of that stuff. I didn't really go deep into Tokyo.
I was kind of more out to tourist spots. But
I mean, all in all, in Japan is just like
they just know what they're doing out there. Man. Like
people wise, it's disappointing how we are as a culture
(32:18):
out here. Obviously I love America. It's not an anti
American conversation, but just like how I am with my life,
how ocd I am, how much I work hard, and
how like I'm on time with everything. It's like a
bunch of mes in Japan walking around, and I was
just like, damn, I was striving this country.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, I mean you were telling me, like, I think
I would move there.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, it would honestly be a country that I would
seriously think about moving to because they just they know
what they're doing out there. It was a lot of fun, man,
I highly recommend it. Oddly enough, a lot of people
I keep talking to either like they went to Japan
recently or they knew somebody in Japan recently, and it
just seems like a lot of people are going out there.
I don't know if it's this time of the year,
maybe for spring. But I just everybody even just has
(33:01):
good things to say about it all the time. Magic.
I think you would like it out, Yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yeah, it's one of my my bucket list travel destinations
for sure. Yeah. Wait, one more thing on my end
is was this a good time to go? How is
the because you know, you and the weather? Yeah, yeah,
you know, I like a place where I could wear
a sweater, Like, how is the weather during this time?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
The weather was perfect? It was it was it was
it was like here, so this because I kept kind
of like times warm. Yeah yeah, so like it's spring
over there too. They got the cherry blossoms. Actually when
I got there, there were more like on the tail
end of that. It was weird though, because at certain
times it would be windy, like really windy because you're
kind of by the water a lot a lot of
the times by the sea, but it wouldn't be it
(33:44):
wouldn't be cold. It wasn't like cold wind, you know
when you go to the bay and you're like, damn,
this is kind of cold. Nah, Like I didn't even
there was times where I didn't need to wear a sweater.
Oh interesting, Yeah, I would be cool like you some
people would because like the wind bothers them. But I
would go the entire time not wearing a sweater. Maybe
when it got not I would throw one on, but
even then I could have survived. So it doesn't really
get cold to Honestly, I think this is probably the
(34:05):
perfect time, springtime, April. It's the same out there. It
would just be maybe a little few degrees difference.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Man. I mean if people are not wanting to go
after listening to this, because man, I think if I
want to put it out there, yeah, I'll say twenty
twenty six, I'm there, yeah, man, around this time.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Okay official, And then you know, when you get back,
we got to talk about your trip.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Whcare's about Hawaii
This could give me for our podcast What Up on
Gizo That is John Magic and we are back.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We took a break. It's almost like a legit vacation
break for me. It was yeah, and then I'm going
on after this episode.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm leaving for mine.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So but I wanted to talk about your vacation because
a few things. That's a major trip. I feel that's like,
it's not like you're just staying in the US. You
left the you left the country. Also, just like some
traveling hacks that you might have and sharing where you
(00:44):
went and some highlights and definitely I mean I follow
you on Instagram, so I definitely saw a lot of highlights.
But that was, yeah, just talking about a major leaving
the country trip, that that whole experience.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, I'm I mean, I'm happy that I did it
because I know in previous podcasts we talked about doing
you know, being about experiences and doing stuff that you
don't normally do, and so flying out of the country
was something that I've never done before. Yeah, So this
was my first time I've had my my uh what
is it my passport? Passport. Yeah, I had my passport
(01:20):
for a few years now, just haven't put it to use.
So I finally went out to Japan, and the reason
I was going out there was for a convention Star
Wars celebration. It's a Star Wars convention. It travels, meaning
it goes to different cities in different countries every couple
of years, and this one was in Japan, and I
was like, Yo, this is like a good excuse to
(01:41):
go out there.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You went to the last one, Right, Where was the
last Star Wars celebration?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That was Chicago? Right? No, it was actually in London,
which I didn't go to that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
One, which was the one that you went to, like.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You, there was one in Anaheim that I went to.
Then there was one in Chicago that I went to.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's the one I was thinking about.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, okay, So the Anaheim one was in was a
twenty fuck what was that twenty twenty two or something
like that, and then like it was like a year
later they went to London, and that almost seemed unnecessary
because it was just a year later. It just didn't
seem like it, and a lot of people that went
said that it was basically like what Anaheim did, but
just two point zero version of it. So I skipped
(02:17):
out on that one, But then the japan one came around,
and I was like, man, I got to just because
I'm a fan of their culture and I just wanted
to experience it for myself. So I was out there
for a total of nine days. And the first thing
I did, I.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Did we we got to start with the airport.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Right, Okay you want to Okay, you want to start
from there?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, because I remember when you planned this trip. I
you know, when I was on tour, I got to
fly to Australia and that was like, I forget. I
think it was like eighteen a twenty hour flight. Ye, yeah,
and you were asking me that, like, y'all, I'm about
to take this long ass flight, and I was trying
to remember that. I remember just kind of.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Obviously, it's not a regular flight where you're just sitting
there for five six hours. I just remember getting up
walking around.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So you went to Australia, there was a fifteen.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Hours yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right, So this one was eleven hours, so it
wasn't as bad, but I mean my anxiety was just like, man,
I think the furthest I flew was maybe like four hours,
which was like to Chicago. So this was just seemed
like a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Did you is there any like planning of let me
get the most comfortable seats for this or where you're like,
it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
It kind of is what it was. I was a
little late on the flights, so there was it was.
The plane that I got on was pretty packed by
the time I gone on it. But I am like
an ale person, so I was able to get like
the aisle and there was like a middle empty seat,
so that was pretty good. So the flight there wasn't
so bad. You get a meal on your way there.
(03:56):
It was eleven hours. It was a new airline, so
everything's actually like pretty new in there. It was Wi
Fi on the plane. There was outlets on the plane
to plug in your phone, so I had all that.
What would I suggest to do is definitely bring like
an iPad or something and download stuff to your iPads
so that you can watch it, because trying to stream
(04:18):
on that Wi Fi was like all bad And that
was the mistake that I made. I didn't download stuff
ahead of time, so when I would try to stream
it just it just lagged. So I was able to
be on social media a little bit, listen to music,
a little bit, but that's that's definitely something that I
would recommend, is that you definitely prepare for the entertainment
(04:40):
side of it. Or if you're somebody that could sleep
that works, you could sleep for a few hours, which.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Is always tough. I can't. It's hard for me. The
only way I'll sleep on a plane is if I'm
super super exhausted where I've had zero hours sleep, because
that's happened where I just knock out and then I
wake up and you're like, fuck, I'm I'm here already.
So I can't do it, man, But just let me
try to go to sleep. I can. It's tough.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I even try to deprive myself the night before and
I still couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I just not too much adrenaline.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, it's too much adrenaline. It's excitement. It's just like
you're not really comfortable sitting up and you know you
get those little those little pillow things you put in
back of your head. Those things are not comfortable to me.
So I can never do that. So I didn't sleep,
but oddly enough, the time didn't go by. It's so bad.
It wasn't it wasn't that bad. You kind of just
like you said, you get up, you stretch, go to
the bathroom, rentse off my face, do different stuff like that,
(05:32):
because you can get up on the plane, which is cool,
walk around if you need to.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
By the way, let me just repeat that because I
think that's a great tip that sometimes I forget is
these streaming services. Well, I just know Netflix. Yeah, I
love that. I love that thing where you can download.
You download at your home because you have Wi Fi
and you download what however many movies you want and
it doesn't require Wi Fi. Once you're on the plane, boom,
(05:58):
you could just watch all the things.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, so that was something I was confused by, and
I guess since I didn't do it's still a little
confused by. So you download it, it's on your phone,
and it goes to your phone. It doesn't you don't
have to like go on the app to watch it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, you do have to go to the app.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, but you're but it's not as slow because you're
not sham.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, I think it's just normal. Okay, it's already downloaded
on the app with no Wi Fi needed.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So you can get on the app without needing Wi Fi. Yes,
oh okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well I didn't do it,
so well you didn't, No, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, I've done that before, which it's so clutch
when you download the movies you want. And then I,
like you said, if you don't either if the Wi
Fi is slow or you don't want to pay for
Wi Fi, and you.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Could just do it. Yeah, you could just watch so
that I saw other people were like ahead of the
game because they were watching shows on their iPad, and
I was just like, damn, I fucked up. But luckily
the trip wasn't so bad.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I'm glad you said that because I mean, my trip's
only five hours, but I forgot to download stuff, so
I still have time to do that. So that's that's
a great tip.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, that's major because like the Wi Fi could not
be that great about landing.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
When you land, you have to go through customs and
all stuff. How was that experience?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, so you got to fill out like some paperwork.
But there's actually something you can do online and I
forgot what the website was, but you can actually do
it online and it gives you like a QR code,
and I think you could just scan that QR code instead,
and it's like a quicker process yet clear I don't
know what it is I forgot. I have to get
(07:28):
back to you on that one though, But it's something
that's easier because then we did that, and then I
saw a bunch of people like off to the side
filling out the paper and I was like, oh, I
already got mine. You can walk quicker and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Hey, that's another great tip.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And then you know, you show them your passport, they
stamp it or they I think mind they actually put
like a sticker on it, which I was like, oh shit,
my first sticker and they take a photo of you.
And then what was dope about Japan is like okay,
So now I got to go get my luggage. I'm
trying to find where the carousel is. Bro tell me why.
When you walk up, there's multiple workers at the grabbing
(08:01):
everybody's luggage for them and just lining it up nicely.
So when I got to the luggage area, I just
saw my suitcases nicely lined up right there. I didn't
have to like wait for them, And I was just like, oh,
just the type of treatment Japan is doing.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now you mentioned to me off the pod, how just
the culture and just the way Japan is how they
move as a community, you know, as people that it
was almost like a culture shock in a good way. Yeah,
when you saw the luggage, was that the beginning of it?
(08:34):
And or did more things surprise you of how they moved?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That was definitely the beginning of it. And I've been
told about how like nice and how nice they are
and how they just move differently than Americans do, and
you just see it everywhere. Everybody is like, no one
is lazy, no one feels entitled, no one is oh,
that's not my job. I don't need to do that.
(08:59):
No one slacks. It's like everybody has an assignment and
they do it. And you know, I pride myself on
being a hard worker and being an on time person,
and I just obviously in this country not surrounded with
a lot of like minded people. But when I was there,
I was like, Wow, this is like the vibe that
I love and everybody's doing it.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I mean the moments we waited for a shuttle that
was gonna pick us up and take us to our
hotel and tell me why, Like the shuttles would just
be RB stop, get on boom left, like not waiting
for nobody, No one's like, hey, I'm coming on Renope,
there was a time. They're there on that time, and
if you're not there, they're leaving your ass. And it
(09:42):
would be like old guys, like old bus drivers hopped
out of the van or out of the bus. He's like,
you know, he's trying to tell me in his language,
like is this the you know, is this the bus
you need? I'm like yeah, immediately grabs my suitcases. I
didn't tell him too. He just grabs my suitcases, starts
putting them in, grabs other people's suitcases like all right,
ready to go, jumps in and takes off and like
they don't You're not supposed to tip in that country,
(10:05):
whereas in this country, people like are entitled to tips
and they don't even they not even worthly worth the tip.
Most of the time, these dudes were working hella hard
and you don't even tip them. And I was like, damn,
this is like how it should be. They see tipping
tipping as like a bribery, which is like how tipping started,
and so other countries like they actually get offended by tipping.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah you must have loved that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, So I was like, ooh, I don't even do
it in my own country.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, speaking of that, the was there any language barriers?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So for the most part they can kind of like
understand you real.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Quick, let me correct that there was. Obviously there's language barriers.
How difficult was it?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So English is not really that that much that they
it's not that what is like normal life? Yeah, so
they don't really know it. But if you can say
certain things. What I find out is like when you're
talking to them, try not to say like a lot
of fluff and unnecessary words words. Just try to hit
the main words. Like if you're saying, oh, I need
(11:04):
to go to my hotel, just be like hotel and
the name of the hotel or something like that, so
they can get the words a lot easier. Plus, you know,
we have we we have you know, like when you're
not spoken, but you can use like your hands and
signs and points of stuff like that. Like, so you
do all that, you get the thing of crass across. Also,
what also came in Clutch is the Google Translate, so
(11:27):
that you can type and then it'll shoot back like
in their their language or some signs would be in
you know, Japanese writing, and you can actually put the
camera up to the sign and then it'll live translate
it for you.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yes, I've seen those before. Okay, those are great tools that.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Have Yeah, so definitely get the the Google Translate. Also,
something that was that I used a lot was chat GBT,
like talking to that thing and asking that thing. It's
it's crazy how knowledgeable like the AI shit.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Is and what are you asking? Like what are some
of the things is that you used it for?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Like sometimes I would ask, you know, I'm here at
this country, I'm here in Japan and I need to
go here, like what's the best way to like explain
it to them? Or I used it a lot for
the train station because the train thing is like how
they travel out there, like you know in other cities
it's taxis ubers out there. Their train system is crazy,
but it's hard to like learn it because one it's
(12:23):
in a different language and two like wein got no
damn train system out here, so I don't know nothing
about train systems. And so I would talk to Chad
GBT and like, Hey, I'm at this hotel, I need
to get to this location. What do I take? And
it would literally tell me step by step where I
needed to go what I needed to take. So that
helped me out a lot. That's better to me, that's
better than googling it. Like I'm actually kind of over
(12:44):
googling stuff now because the Chad GBT was like a
game changer when I downloaded it. So I asked that
a lot of questions and if you want to ask
you know about Japan, it'll spit things back at you.
So that was something that I wanted to do because
I didn't want to be like a typical American and
being like he's American the way he's acting. So I
wanted to like respect their culture and not be so
(13:05):
American out there. So that was one thing that I
suggest you do is what's appropriate and not appropriate in
Japan to be doing, because it's different, They move different
out there. So some of the things is it's more
it's definitely more chill and more quiet.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You're telling me about the trash.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, there's no trash. When I say, there's not even
a gum wrapper, there is no trash in the gutters on.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
The streets, there's no trash cans.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
You told me there's not even trash cans. Yeah, exactly,
because they see that as probably like dirty. So if
you have trash, carry around a bag, because you might
be carrying around a while until you find like a
trash can. If you go inside like a restaurant or something,
they'll have a trash in there or a convenience store.
But there's not just trashes like on the side of
the streets like how we have here. Also, there's not
(13:52):
any water faucets anywhere on the side of the streets either,
because I'm sure they probably see that as dirty. So
that was one thing I kind of struggled with, especially
when I was at the convention. There was just like
no water fountains anywhere, and I'm like, yo, I'm thirsty,
damh what I'm saying. So you actually got to go
buy water or something like that. But yeah, get familiar
with the culture, especially like going back to the train thing.
(14:12):
The trains get dumb ass pack from people from getting
out of work, going to school wherever, going to city
to city. But it's quiet on the trains because that's
just how they roll. So don't be a loud American
on the trains, because there was a few times I
took trains and it was loud and I'd look over it. Yeah,
it'd be like an American or European or something being
all loud and obnoxious. So yeah, don't don't be a
(14:35):
loud American like that.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, there's definitely a different culture over there.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You don't be throwing trash on the ground.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, I know, right, ruin the system. Yeah man, So okay,
So I know you were there for a few days,
so I saw that you did a bunch of things. Yeah. Yeah,
So like what was the first thing, first major thing
you did?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
The first major thing I did is, you know, obviously,
being a big Disney person, I had to go to
the Tokyo Disney out there, and they actually have two
parks once, like the Tokyo Disneyland that's essentially our Disneyland,
but it's more catered to their culture. But they have
some of the same rise. They have like a Jungle Cruise.
I went on that. It was kind of funny because
you know how they do the jokes on Jungle Cruise.
(15:15):
I had no idea what they were saying, but they
were so animated that that alone was funny. They have
Haunted Mansion, I went on that, but one of the
better rides that they have over there is the Beauty
and the Beast ride. Man that that that thing is crazy.
I don't know if you've seen it on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, just YouTube, big Yeah, I have seen it. You said,
there's two parks built the same, like Disneyland and California Adventure,
where it's just right across from each other.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Walk not right across from each other, pretty close, but again,
like you take the train. So I went to the
the Disney Cea is like they're to me, is like
they're better park, which is probably because it's bigger and newer,
and that that thing is dope. I mean some of
the rides that they have there, they do have like
a Tower of Terror version. I know, we have like
Guardians and Galaxy next where it drops. They don't like
(16:02):
thrill rides over there. I could tell they don't really
like thrill rides. I think only dropped like three times.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No roller coasters, no roller.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Coasters, nothing like that. I stayed at a Disneyland hotel
that was like connected to Disneyland Park. But just the
vibe that you get at their parks is a lot
different than ours. You got no kids running around screaming.
It's once again it's not necessarily quiet, but you just
don't have that, like, I don't know that annoyance of
people just being loud and obnoxious. Everyone just follows rules,
(16:29):
stays in line. No one ever feels entitled. Oh. Another
thing that's crazy about like their culture is man they
have patience. There are some rides that were super long.
I've never seen a ride that said two hundred minutes.
They had a few of their rides that were over
two hundred minutes. Luckily, they don't really have like a
(16:50):
fast pass or what do we call it now, Jeanie place,
I don't know. We switch it up all the time.
They have it to where you can pay for certain
only certain rides and it's only like ten but us
so some of the rides that were like two hundred minutes,
I'm like, hell no, I ain't waiting. And it's funny
because like as Americans, we held it, don't like waiting,
And so when I would buy like the quote unquote
(17:11):
fast pass for a certain ride, everybody in that line
was like all Americans or foreigners, and all the Japanese,
all the Japanese, they stay in the regular line, and
I'm just and they're just cool chilling, like yo, you
guys are chilling for like two hours, and they're they're
good with it, and for us, I was like, nah, man,
like we're trying to cut the line fifteen minutes. So
that was something that was like really different. Chuo's not
(17:31):
really a thing over there. They fuck with popcorn tough, though,
Like the popcorn stands crazy at Disney Line. The consumerism
not really man. I mean you go to the stores,
I mean, how many fucking stores are in Disneyland and
it's just packed with merchandise.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah over there in sections, Yeah, different what character, what color,
what size, what style?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Over there, it's pretty minimal, like.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It's almost like a convenience store.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, like just maybe like one shirt of each color,
you know what I mean? Only a few ears. They
don't really fuck with the ips that much, like you
won't see Star Wars ears or Marvel ears. They love
like more of the classic animals. And what's even crazier
is Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse, who Donald Duck is king
out there? Oh wow, yeah, have you heard about that? No,
(18:16):
they fuck with Donald Duck tough. Like even at the
Disneyland park, you walk in and he has his own
shrine and he's wearing it's funny because he's even wearing
like a Donald Duck king hat because he's like king
out there. All the people dressed like Donald Duck, like
they love Donald Duck. Mickey. You don't really see Mickey
too much, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so that's one man that's on my bucket list
for to go to Japan and to experience Tokyo Disney. Yeah,
and you were telling me about how cheap it is
to go to the parks.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, so what are parks here? What like over one
hundred dollars usually over there for a park ticket? Sixty bucks?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Sixty bucks, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I mean I think on the high end, on like
a popular day, maybe seventy.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And then you were telling me that they have this
thing where if it's a half day, it's a different price.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah. So they don't have like hopper passes, but you
could pay to go to both parks, or you can
wait till after five o'clock and each of the parks
are like half the price. So I started off at
Disney C and I got most of what I wanted
out done by like four o'clock. I'm like I'm good,
And I was like, well shit, in an hour, I
can hop over to Disneyland, and it's only going to
be thirty bucks.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Thirty bucks what time they close? Like obviously the price
already it's worth yeah yeah, but how many hours.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I think they go to I think they go till nine,
So you figure from five to nine you're paying thirty bucks.
I mean I was able to get a few rods
in yeah yeah, and in thirty bucks. I mean that's
how much we charge for fucking ears at our park.
Ears of parking, Yeah, ears over there, fifteen dollars. I
stacked up. I mean some ears gotta be some merch.
So I would definitely highly recommend going to the Disney
(19:52):
parks out there. They do have a Universal Japan and
that's where they have like their Mario World is like
way better than ours. But that was a lot, a
lot of hours away, so I didn't I didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You were in that side of town? No, all right?
So did you just stay there the whole time or
did you move hotels?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I moved hotels, got closer to like more of like
the city, and I visited u Shabuya is a big city.
It's like it's been like if you've seen like Tokyo drift,
like there's some scenes in there.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Say that's like the New York.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, it's like the Hollywood Boulevard, the the you know,
the different the tourists kind of areas. They have, like
the major crossing where everyone crosses from all directions and
it's just like a group of people that cross all
at once. That's like a famous area. Actually took like
a pretty dope photo right there. And they do like
Mario Kart, like well, I don't know if it's called
Mario Kart, but people can drive the streets and go cars.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I've seen that YouTube.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I was just like chilling and I just saw people
driving and go carts. I was like, Okay, that's that's
different and it's legal. They have a bunch of just
places to eat at night. It looks dope because they
just stay light up everything they have like a Nintendo
store that I wasn't able to go to, like a
Hello Kitty store that's big I wasn't able to go to.
(21:08):
But Shibuyah, I would say it's probably a dope city
if you watch someone to walk around and see cool shit.
Side note, they drive on the opposite side of the
road and they drive on the right hand side the
wheels on the Yeah, the wheels on the right side.
That's a little different.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, that's wild because in Australia is the same way
to the other side, wheels on the other side. And
I remember when I was there, the guy who was
taking us around, he was like driving and I was like,
no way, because we're gonna die. But yeah, it was
just I needed to experience it, so I got to
experience driving.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, and it is.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
It is so fucking weird, even like when you're in it,
it's kind of weird, like, oh shit, like we're over
here on the left side and you're watching cars drive
on the right side.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah. You brought up eating. You brought up eating a
lot of restaurants. I was the dude, you know, yeah,
what was the food situation like over this?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
So of course I had to eat sushi, you know
what I'm saying. I had to eat ramen.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Did you stay away from the things we have here?
Which that's always one of my big rules is you're
gonna go somewhere, don't go to McDonald's. Don't want a cheesecake.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Fact, yeah, you got to try the food out there,
So I definitely did so I had sushi a lot,
I had ramen, we had, we had a bunch of
food out there, and man, it just it just hits different.
Bro Like it's fresh. I don't know if like if
if people are familiar with how sushi is supposed to be,
it's pretty basic compared to like how we do it here.
It's usually just rice and then a piece of fish
(22:31):
or aw fish on top. You would know that magic.
And out here, you know, we fucking put in cucumbers
and in all types of shit. Yeah, it's over there,
it's more simple, it's smaller, but man, it is good.
It is good. It's cheaper.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Wait, but do they have you know, one of my
favorites is you know the shrimp and poorer ones have
that over there?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
They do, Ok, Yeah, they have wagou out there. So
I would definitely highly recommend getting the sushi. It's it's good,
it's fresh. And one thing about other countries compared to
our countries is as you know, man, they put in
they put some bullshit in our stuff, preservatives, things that
are like borderline probably should not be in our and
out there you can really taste the difference in everything,
(23:14):
their water, their their drinks, their food. You can taste
the freshness of it, and it just made it. It's
almost alarming because you're like, damn, what are they putting
in our shit back at home? And then, like I said,
everything is cheaper, like super cheaper. So we would go
and get a bunch of food and it'd be like
twenty dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Was exchanging the money thing? Was that like a hassle?
Or was that pretty easy? Can use your car?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, so that's probably one of those tips I would
suggest we did both. We did. We exchanged our American
dollar for yen, and luckily our dollar is more so
one US dollar is one hundred and forty five yen.
It's essentially the same. They use bills and they use coins.
It's just higher numbers. So don't get intimidated by the
(23:59):
numbers because something you'll see something for like twenty thousand
yen and you're like, oh, what's that, and you know
it's just like a few dollars or whatever, so you
can't you know, again, I would translate so in our calculators,
like if you've an iPhone, on our calculator that comes
standard with the iPhone, you can actually do a currency
thing on there. So we would tap in how much
yen and then it would spit back out how much
(24:19):
dollars that would be, just so that you know, like, okay,
I'm spending this much. But so what I would do
I was, I would definitely exchange dollars for some yen.
You could do that with your bank. You can do that.
At the airport, you could do that.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
They have like a little booths.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, they had for whatever reason. Seven elevens are the
shit out there.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
That's right here.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah. Seven elevens is like where they shop, so they
have they have ATMs and you can pull money out
that way. So we ended up doing that. Your card,
like I use my card, my credit card. The one
thing that you would do is just notify either like
your bank or your credit card company so they know they, oh,
you're going to be out in Japan or whatever. It's
not on flag you yeah, yeah, yeah, And for it's
(25:00):
different for everybody. But it's a three percent charge every
time you swipe it. And I know that sounds bad,
but I literally spent thousands of dollars out there and
all the charges was like one hundred and twenty bucks,
which some of the people might say, yeah, that's still
hundred twenty bucks. For me, wasn't that big of a
deal because, like I said, I spent thousands of dollars
out there, and it just made it more convenient. But
(25:22):
everybody's different.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So the big thing, the reason you went out there
was for the Star Wars celebration.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
How was that the most disappointing part of the whole trip? Yeah,
it really was.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
With that, That's what I was thinking, Like, you about
to experience all these things. Yeah, and this is nothing
against Star Wars celebration, No, no, no, but you've just
you've experienced it so many times already.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah. I just think it's dope that they do it
in other countries. However, when you do it in other
countries where it's not as big, you lack vendors and
booths and just production wise because it's a more of
American thing. So I would say the amount of booths
that I saw in Japan was about a quarter of
(26:08):
what I've seen in America. Like, that's how much smaller
it is. Because to me, what makes it fun is like,
you know, the cost players. Of course, they had some
really dope Japanese inspired cost players. I got some photos
of that but I like to go for like the
merch the collectible stuff, and you're really just asking Japan
to supply that, you know what I mean. And American
(26:28):
you know, vendors, they're not going to fly all their
shit out to set up shop in Japan, so you're
really relying on like either the big companies that maybe
have some flagship stores out there, or like local vendors.
And how many it really wasn't that much, so that
part was disappointing. There was a bit of an unorganization wise,
how they kind of dealt with stuff out there. I
(26:50):
don't I don't know if that's like a culture thing
or it was kind of hard. I don't know, but
it was like pretty unorganized, Like there was a lot
of standing in lines out there, and the lack of
like food, and like I said, they don't have water fountains,
so there was like I was like dying of thirst,
but you can only get something like out of food
booth and those were like cracking. So it was actually
like kind of a bad experience. I got like the
(27:12):
collectible that I wanted out there, and I did what
I wanted, but I didn't even put it this way.
I didn't even go to the third day. There was
like a third day.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
As did you cut that short?
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I cut that short? Yeah, I was like, let me
go to citymore. So I did some more exploration. I
went to go see the hotel that has like the
big Godzilla on the top of the building, which is
pretty cool. Yeah. Man, just walking around and just seeing
how everybody rolls. I mean I went to a mall
because I was just like, you know, their fashion is
like pretty dope. I want to pick me up some pieces.
(27:42):
And man, I left with just a bunch of bags
and it was like two hundred bucks. Like it was
just like dumb ass cheap shopping there, and you get
like a discount that you're from America for whatever reason.
You just show your passport and they gave like a discount.
So shopping was fun if you go into their stores,
which is dope because like malls are still a thing
over there, like they still like standalone story thriving. Yeah.
(28:05):
So you know how here, like fucking our malls look
like they're being abandoned. No, Like people shop like every
store there's like three I went to a mall was
like three levels. And what's cool is about is when
you go into stores, they're playing American music. So you go,
like they're playing hip hop, they're playing Drake like and
it's in English, and so it's like that's where they
really fuck with Americans. They really fuck with like our music, entertainment.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
They fuck with the hip hop culture.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Yeah, hip hop culture for sure, movies for sure, like
all the movie shit you would see here like they
have there, Like they fuck with like our entertainment shit.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
The last thing, I mean, the last thing I'll ask,
just because you just brought up entertainment, did you get
to do anything on that side and entertaining side a
show club or was it just strictly tourists stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
It was like a lot of tourist stuff. It was
funny because there was at one of the malls that
I went to, there was a couple, uh what is it?
K pop? There's a couple of K pop groups. I
don't think they were anybody because like no one was
like going crazy over them, but actually ended up talking
to one of them was trying to okay, and I
was just like, damn, I wonder if like how they
(29:12):
would feel if I told them that I worked in
the radio. I decided not to go down that route,
but it was cool trying to chop it up with
these these these K pop dudes I did. They're big
on these cat cafes. Have you heard of these? I have.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I've seen that on YouTube as well too, and I
kind of don't pay too much attention to it, yea,
because I'm allergic to cats.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, okay, So you go into a cafe and it's
like coffee or tea or whatever, and you sit there
for like thirty minutes or an hour, depending on how
you pay for it, and there's just cats roaming around.
They'll jump on you, sit on your lap, you can
pet them, so I didn't do that.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
So, yeah, you told me about this one, and I
at first I thought it was some animatronic shit, but
go ahead and tell people where you went.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So I went to what was called a pig cafe,
real live pig, real live like what they call piglets
or guinea pig or not guinea pigs but pot belly
pigs or whatever. And so I went to this and
this one was happened to be in the mall, and
you pay for it like thirty minutes or whatever, and
you just sit on the ground. They give you like
a little blanket and you put over your lap, and
(30:14):
I didn't know what it was. I thought like you
would just chill and then like, oh, you're lucky if
a pig happens to come up to you or whatever,
like they tell you not to grab them. But you sit,
you know, you sit, you cross your legs, you sit
on the ground. Immediately, five pigs just come up to you,
sit on your lap and just started crashing out. And
I mean they're small, like small, like tiny, a little
(30:35):
bit bigger. We do that and that was fun.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I've always been a fan of pigs growing up. I
always wanted a pig myself. And it was just a
cool experience to just like sit there and these pigs
are just like snorkeling. They'll come on your lap. They
just crash out and it just and at one point
I'm just like sitting and looking down. I'm like, I
have five pigs on my lap right now for no reason.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
So that one, there's no food involved in your.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I mean you get like your drinks and stuff like that,
but yeah, there's no food. Yeah, I don't know. It's
just like a thing out there. And I'm glad that
I did the pig one because the cat one would
have been like whatever to me, you know what I'm saying.
But the pig one was like a really fun experience. Yeah,
so that I just out of curiosity.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
How much is that?
Speaker 1 (31:14):
How much was that? You know? It wasn't that bad.
I think for like an hour it was like thirty
bucks or something like that. Yeah, snakes cheap, Yeah, and
it's it's it's definitely worth the experience. We did an hour.
Didn't really realize you didn't need that. We only stay
for like twenty minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
So you would have stayed the hour. Yeah, I'm staying
the hour.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So you could do like twenty thirty minutes and you're good.
You get like what you want out of it. So
that was like that was actually one of the last
things I did, and that was actually pretty cool. What
else did I do entertainment wise? I mean that was
kind of it. It's just you you want to do
a lot of exploring and just like kind of get
to know like the culture and obviously eat the food.
(31:54):
I know they're big on like you know, like temples
and like the cherry blossoms that are out there in
son of like the landmaruse I didn't really see too
much of that stuff. I didn't really go deep into Tokyo.
I was kind of more out to tourist spots. But
I mean, all in all, in Japan is just like
they just know what they're doing out there. Man. Like
people wise, it's disappointing how we are as a culture
(32:18):
out here. Obviously I love America. It's not an anti
American conversation, but just like how I am with my life,
how ocd I am, how much I work hard, and
how like I'm on time with everything. It's like a
bunch of mes in Japan walking around, and I was
just like, damn, I was striving this country.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, I mean you were telling me, like, I think
I would move there.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, it would honestly be a country that I would
seriously think about moving to because they just they know
what they're doing out there. It was a lot of fun, man,
I highly recommend it. Oddly enough, a lot of people
I keep talking to either like they went to Japan
recently or they knew somebody in Japan recently, and it
just seems like a lot of people are going out there.
I don't know if it's this time of the year,
maybe for spring. But I just everybody even just has
(33:01):
good things to say about it all the time. Magic.
I think you would like it out, Yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yeah, it's one of my my bucket list travel destinations
for sure. Yeah. Wait, one more thing on my end
is was this a good time to go? How is
the because you know, you and the weather? Yeah, yeah,
you know, I like a place where I could wear
a sweater, Like, how is the weather during this time?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
The weather was perfect? It was it was it was
it was like here, so this because I kept kind
of like times warm. Yeah yeah, so like it's spring
over there too. They got the cherry blossoms. Actually when
I got there, there were more like on the tail
end of that. It was weird though, because at certain
times it would be windy, like really windy because you're
kind of by the water a lot a lot of
the times by the sea, but it wouldn't be it
(33:44):
wouldn't be cold. It wasn't like cold wind, you know
when you go to the bay and you're like, damn,
this is kind of cold. Nah, Like I didn't even
there was times where I didn't need to wear a sweater.
Oh interesting, Yeah, I would be cool like you some
people would because like the wind bothers them. But I
would go the entire time not wearing a sweater. Maybe
when it got not I would throw one on, but
even then I could have survived. So it doesn't really
get cold to Honestly, I think this is probably the
(34:05):
perfect time, springtime, April. It's the same out there. It
would just be maybe a little few degrees difference.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Man. I mean if people are not wanting to go
after listening to this, because man, I think if I
want to put it out there, yeah, I'll say twenty
twenty six, I'm there, yeah, man, around this time.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Okay official, And then you know, when you get back,
we got to talk about your trip.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Whcare's about Hawaii
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