The 200th

If you would have told me about 5 years ago what Life in Japan would become, I wouldn’t have believed you. The initial concept was basic and foundational: videos about our family’s life in Japan. The naming and theme of the channel followed the conventions of several other established J-vloggers (those vlogging about their lives here), but instead we’re following a foreign family with 4 kids who are in Japanese schools. This is a family who is constantly adjusting to life in Japan!

After nearly 5 years on YouTube, we see ourselves at 146K+ subscribers and growing. And to celebrate our 200th episode, we took a walk down memory lane and asked everyone their favorite episode of Life in Japan so far.

But Life in Japan doesn’t come without its challenges. In fact many times along the way we’ve considered, strongly at times, stopping the YouTube channel, or at least giving it a break. But each time I feel stressed out about what ideas to film, or what new angles to pursue, of how I’m going to finish another video, I keep coming back to the original premise: our family’s life in Japan. And that takes the pressure of what to produce off my shoulders and I can get back to what it was originally about. Documenting this beautiful process that is adapting to a new place and culture and letting that process change you.

Yes, I know we haven’t navigated everything perfectly. We still often make cultural mistakes that we only find out about after posting a video. But by and large there continues to be a very positive outlook that people from different places and cultures can live together and see eye-to-eye and even learn to appreciate and respect one another. And seeing eye-to-eye is something the world could use a whole lot more of.

So in honor of the 200th episode of Life in Japan, let me ask you: what was your favorite episode?