What I Wish I Knew BEFORE Moving To Tokyo! | Sandals In Japan (4K)

[scraping frame rails] oh no [CRASH] wee okay let's go hello everyone, it's Sandals and today we're going for a little cruise in the Cressida, because we thought that that would be really funny we're doing the grand finale to the Sandals in Japan series in the penultimate video, "Ultimate Car Weekend in Tokyo", I told you guys to ask some questions about what you'd like to know about moving to Japan I'll be answering some of those questions and also kind of just going over what I wish I knew bef

ore- hello? it died? we are so back I'm going to be answering some of the questions that you asked me about what it's like to live in Japan then I will be talking about my own experience, and some of the things that I wish I had known before moving to Japan in the first Sandals in Japan video where I talked about  moving to Tokyo, I explained that I was going on an exchange semester abroad the university that I go to has a partner school in Tokyo, so we set up an exchange, and I went there, and

I was living there for about 5 months oh I'm getting gapped right now overall it was a really great time, it was my first time living abroad, I was all by myself and I didn't really know what to expect but it was definitely a ton of fun and I am glad that I did that I went there about a month early so that I could have some fun and go travelling before school started I did have a lot of fun, and I travelled a lot, and I went to a bunch of really cool places but I also spent almost my entire savi

ngs that I had arranged for my trip, so that was pretty brutal overall I don't regret it, obviously during the time that I was travelling around I had a really great time and a lot of good experiences time is more precious, so don't save for retirement just have a great day every day "how expensive is it to live in Japan?" it really depends on you and how you're trying to spend your money, it's easy to spend money when you want to travel around and have a great time you can spend anywhere from $

10 a day on food, if you're eating cheaply, to upwards of $100 a day on food if you want to do activities, it adds up living expenses, I don't remember off the top of my head exactly how much my rent was it was a flat rate in JPY but I don't remember the amount right now, overall it was probably like $1,000 a month a car can get pretty expensive, especially with parking and all that I would take the train a lot, and the train is $3 to $5 depending on where you're going this is all in Canadian d

ollars for reference, do with that as you  will overall, it's a little bit cheaper than living in Canada but it again really comes down to what you're doing "how do you get a visa?" there are a number of different ways that you can get a visa, obviously I was there on a student visa so you have to go to a school that will sponsor you if you get into a Japanese University then you can go in on a student visa, or you can go on exchange and get a student visa like I did you can also do a working vi

sa, you need to have a company that sponsors you working holiday visa is the simplest one to get, I think you can just go and apply for it and you can live there for up to a year and a half but there are certain restrictions, I think that you have to be under the age of 30 or you can fall in love and get married with someone from Japan "is it hard if you don't speak Japanese?" you can certainly get by without speaking Japanese, the question is what are you intending to do there? if you get a job

you will need to speak Japanese 99.9% of the time "is it hard to learn?" obviously learning a language is very difficult and there's a lot of nuances to it I was studying before I went using a textbook called 'Genki', I also used Duolingo, I watched a lot of Japanese movies, and listened to Japanese music so I could listen to the language, and then tried to practice with other people as well "is it it true that there are cool cars everywhere?" there are a lot of cool cars. are they everywhere?

not really I would say, on an average day, I probably saw at least one  cool car "how many Gundams are there?" the only thing you should do when you go to Japan is find Gundam, that's the only thing that matters you go, you get off the plane, you go find Gundam, and then  you can go home "is it easy to make friends?" I think it really depends on yourself. if you are outgoing and you're not scared to approach people then yes, it is pretty easy to make friends if you have a job there you can talk

to your co-workers, if you're going to school it's easy to talk to your classmates and get to know them a lot of people don't speak English because that's not the language in Japan, it's more common with younger people but if you want to meet people you will have to know the language so, it's just about putting yourself out there, and being able to communicate with people "do you feel like you got treated differently as a foreigner?" you will definitely stand out, in a lot of circumstances I wa

s one of the only foreigners around, especially when you're not in a major city people would ask me "hi, what are you doing here? are you enjoying Japan?" so maybe I did get treated differently because I did stand out, but most people were really nice to me. They just wanted me to have a great time and enjoy my favourite part about living in Japan is the food, honestly, as cliché as that is I love being able to just go into a café or a little restaurant that seats about six people and know that

I'm going to have a great meal "is it difficult to get typical Westerner ingredients or food?" I have a very fond memory from the day that I moved into my house, I was walking around and down the road was a Red Lobster oh, an R34, that's so cool but there are a lot of chain restaurants from the West, like Denny's or McDonald's some things you can't get there, I don't think I saw regular peanut butter, for example but if you're living in Japan, you should really enjoy Japanese food because it's d

elicious if you are planning to move to Japan or live there for an extended period of time, my number one recommendation is honestly to learn Japanese or at least try to learn the basics you should at least know some of the basics, like hello, thank you, things like that I don't know just stuff like that like just download Duolingo and do that for as long as you can, and as much as you can "what did you do in your spare time?" I really liked walking around and travelling places, I think that the

re is a lot of good nature, there are a lot of parks if you have a full day you can go on a day trip somewhere. if you only have a couple hours, you can travel around and experience different places, go to different restaurants and cafes if you're bored as a car enthusiast, I would recommend looking up different shops that you think are cool and pay them a visit if you watch the Alex in Japan series, you can find a bunch of different shops that you can visit it is great to rent a car, it is supe

r fun being mobile and getting to go places like Daikoku PA, which you need a car to go [Crashing sounds] that was the worst possible route! I'm so sorry okay, let me out, let me out! this is terrible! okay so that is all for the last Sandals in Japan video overall it was a really great experience, so if you do have the chance to move to Japan for an exchange, or for anything, I highly recommend it push your boundaries and just go do it, because who knows when you will have that opportunity agai

n thank you so much to everyone for watching this filming the Sandals in Japan videos was a daunting task, in the first videos I wasn't super comfortable with filming, but, I feel like in the end I got better at it it was a lot of fun getting to learn that skill set, and it gave me the opportunity to go to events that I was able to share with you I really appreciate the support throughout the whole series, and all of the comments, I really liked that I can't say enough good things, that was so m

uch fun, and I can't wait to go back one day thank you, buy a keychain, and have a great time BOONT [Music]