Has Japan Changed Me?

Learn Japanese pitch-accent and pronunciation from my Patreon Series "Japanese Phonetics"

Dogen / Dōgen / Japanese / 日本語 / Has Japan Changed me? / 25 Ways Japan has changed me / 日本に染まった？ / 自分は日本人っぽくなったか？

Doing a live talk-show / meet-and-greet style event in Osaka this Sunday with Mr. Yabatan—details below! Smaller venue, so it may be better to buy a ticket in advance!Note that we’re doing the same event twice the same day such that more people can come, and that the earlier event will be streamed online (behind a $15 paywall) for anyone who’d like to watch live or after the fact.Hope to see all of you there!

関西にいる方へ！今週末、9/18（日）、大阪梅田で友達のミスターヤバタンとイベントをやります！是非来てください！以下詳細。

皆さんに会うのを楽しみにしています！

[thesyntaxtree]

“I started using LINE stamps and forgot how to express myself with words.”

Can’t wait for Emoji Movie 2: The LINEning, starring Dogen!

Also, “Sorry, I still can’t read the air” was such a great line!

[Jaxymann]

“I now often say it at the end of a sentence - the object”

As a newcomer to Japan and beginner learner of Japanese, that sentence is infinitely accurate.

[anthonynelson]

The absolute efficiency of your scripting and edit! I admire how you're able to make your humor so layered that people of differing language proficiency levels can still be left with giggles from such a compact skit/video. Now wishing I had Joey's Japanese language skills in my brain so I could discern all the easter-eggs you've tucked into this thing.

[ChiEKKUsama]

When you have complete strangers chase you down for dropping something small, you definitely feel like caring about others.

[casimirgythe]

I now agree that green is in fact a shade of blue...
I now understand why its necessary to be able to buy beer, coffee, and women's underwear from vending machines on the street.
I now understand that a person's character, life history, and value can be determined by how neatly they write.
I now understand why fax machines are part of the critical infrastructure of business.
I now can squat for hours while smoking.
I now pretend to be asleep on trains during rush hours despite the ojisan tapping my foot with a cane.
I now admire the dexterity it takes women to apply make up while on a train.
I now believe that mobile phone charms and accessories in sufficient quantity are in fact a modern ninja's weapon.
I now hunt down specific types of ramen in convenience shops even if it requires a cross-ring commute.
I now admit that no matter how odd of a hobby or interest I have, there is in fact a cafe for that somewhere in Japan.
I now understand that "kondo" will never come.

[_KITE]

These are *exactly* the sorts of insights I wish non-natives spoke to whenever they give their takes on "how Japan changed me" 🤣

[Bomfyable]

I just moved to Japan and I'm used to bringing my own bag whenever I go shopping. However, every time I go to my local konbini the older woman is extremely insistent that I take a plastic bag and there is a tension between us every time I reach the counter. Often she asks twice, once at the start of the transaction and once when I'm packing my bag. I've gone from a polite 大丈夫です, to a flat いいえ, in the hopes she will get the message.

I'm afraid she will eventually use one to asphyxiate me if I keep refusing. But this is war and I will win.

[christinalozada]

The fighting with the store clerks about not needing plastic bags really spoke to me. It's like they can't fathom not giving a plastic bag. Every shopping trip is a battle.

[Dogen]

Doing a live talk-show / meet-and-greet style event in Osaka this Sunday with Mr. Yabatan—details below! Smaller venue, so it may be better to buy a ticket in advance!

Note that we’re doing the same event twice the same day such that more people can come, and that the earlier event will be streamed online (behind a $15 paywall) for anyone who’d like to watch live or after the fact.

Hope to see all of you there!








皆さんに会うのを楽しみにしています！

[SkullCloud]

「今では人の親切心につけ込んでいる」

I LAUGHED SO HARD I CANT-

[JeremyCanned]

I don't speak Japanese or live in Japan and yet somehow the more I watch Dogen, the more I begin to feel like I understand the jokes. Is this a good thing?

[EnderVoice]

The N1 kanji and vocabulary joke made me cry a little bit inside 🥲

[KumaKaori]

The backpedaling on Shiba killed me XD. That was brilliant.

[uityuvw]

LINE stamps are just too convenient. Every word you enter, in Japanese or English brings up so many options!! Do they have a whole office team just making stamps???

[Thoraxe]

Every video should end with that thumbs up

[nickjones]

I only spent 2 years in Japan and yet I'm surprised at how many of these I could relate to...I can only imagine how it would have been if I stayed longer

[joshz]

I have a broken rib and I literally had to stop this in the first 30 seconds because it hurt so bad, hahahaha. Keep em coming! even a Special Others reference in there, nice (thumbs up)

[Oblithian]

"I began telling this lie to myself and others" 😂

[Jordan-inJapan]

Thanks for reminding me of the ways Japan has changed ME. (I’ve been here so long I can’t remember what I was like before.) I think “still can’t read the air” was one of my favorite lines, although I suspect that it might actually just be an excuse to “play the gaijin card” and be selfish without seeming to be selfish, since you have an irrefutable cultural excuse. (I admit I catch myself doing that from time to time…)

[Tumimj]

Had to do a double take when he mentioned Special Others. Haven't met a single other person who's heard of them and then to have them appear in a Dogen video. さすが