Rebecca’s Instagram account

Interview Video

Interviews

Shunsuke Ochiai
Hi, I’m Shunsuke Ochiai and this is World Insight Interview. Today we have Rebecca joining us. Welcome.

Rebecca May
Thank you.

Shunsuke Ochiai
So, Rebecca, you’re in Japan, but where are you originally from?

Rebecca May
So, I am from the UK originally, and right now I’m living near Nagoya in Japan.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, so you were born in UK.

Rebecca May
It’s in the UK.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Oh, okay. And what made you come to Japan?

Rebecca May
Well, it was quite a lot of reasons, but I mainly came to Japan for work. There were some opportunities over here that I wanted to take related to work. So, I’d say that’s the main reason.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Oh, so you landed and so before you came to Japan, you’ve already had the opportunity and you so you started to live in Nagoya.

Rebecca May
Yes, exactly.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, so how long have you been there for?

Rebecca May
Well, I’ve been in Japan now for about six months. Oh, six months. Well, you’re looking new.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Thank you.

Rebecca May
Yeah.

Shunsuke Ochiai
How is it so far?

Rebecca May
Well, I think I’m still getting used to it, like, it’s quite a big change. So, you know, it’s quiet, it was quite daunting, but I think I’m gradually getting used to it.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, wow. So, what exactly do you do over here?

Rebecca May
I do quite a lot of random stuff. I mean, I’d say my main sort of job is content creation on like Instagram, TikTok, mainly about like language and culture. I have a Japanese audience. So, I kind of get opportunities based on my social media. And secondly, I’m also running a cafe out here with my friends. So yeah, those two things are, I’d say the main things.

Shunsuke Ochiai
What kind of cafe is it?

Rebecca May
it’s kind of like a food truck kind of cafe so we can move around. I’m able to travel Japan as well whilst I’m doing it which is what I really like about it but yeah, we kind of we sell drinks and we also sell Japanese food.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, so, so your cafe is basically a food truck. Well, I saw that on your Instagram. So, you travel around the area of Nagoya or do you go outside of Aichi prefecture?

Rebecca May
Well, so far, we’ve been to a couple of other prefectures. We’ve been around Aichi, we’ve been to Nara, Nara prefecture. Where else have we been? We’ve been to Toyota. Okay. And soon we’re going to be going to Tokyo to do the like Hanami kind of festival. Oh, really? Well, what kind of festival? It’s at a shrine in Tokyo. You know, the Sakura is going to be blooming soon. Yes. There’s going to be a lot of people walking around looking to eat food and stuff like that and celebrate. So yeah, we’re going to be selling some of our stuff over there.

Shunsuke Ochiai
That’s going to be a very huge one because everyone’s going to be out during that time of Sakura. It’s probably one of the biggest seasons in Japan.

Rebecca May
Yeah, the main one, isn’t it?

Shunsuke Ochiai
uh -huh and it’s your it’s going to be your first time experiencing it

Rebecca May
Well, I’ve experienced Hanami in Japan when I’ve traveled here before.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, so you’ve been here before you moved here.

Rebecca May
Yeah, yeah, I try to tip. So, I do know what it’s like. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Sakura. So, I’m, I’m really excited to see it again.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, before you made your move to Japan, were you familiar with any other Japanese culture? Or, you know, like you said, you’ve been here before. How many, like, were you here several times before you made your move? Or…

Rebecca May
Yeah, I came quite a few times before I moved to Japan, which I think is one of the reasons why I was able to move here because I did have an understanding of what the culture would be like from those trips. So, I think it definitely helped. Yeah.

Shunsuke Ochiai
During those trips, you know, what kind of culture did you learn, you know, to

Rebecca May
Um, I guess I got to, uh, I didn’t just go to like the main cities like Tokyo or Osaaka, um, and Kyoto and stuff like that. I also went to the countryside. So, I was able to see quite an everyday kind of realistic Japanese lifestyle, which was probably my favorite thing. Sort of like what kind of foods are eaten. Um, I don’t know, just what it’s like to sort of live your daily life in Japan.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Mm -hmm. What is it like, you know, I guess like what was so different like daily lives in Japan I guess like starting with like taking off your shoes. Oh, yeah

Rebecca May
Yeah, that was interesting. When I came to my friend’s house for the first time, I knew about the shoes rule, but I was so focused on like trying to like enter the house properly, like saying, and being polite that I actually forgot to take off my shoes. And I nearly I was like, just about to step into the house. And my friend was like, oh, wait, like, wait, it was like a big panic. And I was like, I’m so, so sorry. So that was kind of embarrassing. But I haven’t done it since. Okay. Well, that happens.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Yeah, so tell us about your I, you know, I see it on Instagram, going back to the conversation with your cafe. It’s, we call that kind of stuff in Japan a food truck, I guess.

Rebecca May
Yeah. Yeah. Like a kitchen car, right?

Shunsuke Ochiai
Kitchen car yeah, yeah, yeah, and what is the name of it?

Rebecca May
Ah, it’s called Essential Club

Shunsuke Ochiai
Oh, I’m sorry, you broke up a little.

Rebecca May
Oh, sorry, it’s called Essential Club, the name of the food truck.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Essential club. Why did you get that name?

Rebecca May
It’s a cafe kind of has like a health element to it. So, we kind of want to sell like healthy food and drink because I’m quite into fitness and stuff. So, in our drinks, sleep is kind of like cacao and vanilla based supplement that’s meant sort of to have like a healthy kind of vibe to it. And that’s got like essential like nutrients and like amino acids and stuff health. So that’s why we called it the club.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, so it’s not just a cafe, but it’s a cafe that focuses on your health and I guess, you know, like training, like people, for instance, it’s good for people who goes to the gym regularly and stuff like that as well.

Rebecca May
Yeah, definitely kind of. I mean, when people think of food trucks, I think they might think of unhealthy food like crepes or like hot dogs or, you know, not really healthy stuff. So, we kind of wanted to, I don’t know, give people an option to eat something that’s not necessarily really like bad for you. And just something like we sell, for example, Japanese curry that has like lots of like veg in it. And yeah, we still think that kind of food is enjoyable. So yeah.

Shunsuke Ochiai
What do you think about like Japanese diet because, you know, many Japanese people are very conscious about what they eat. Is that like different from Europe or where you’re from UK?

Rebecca May
Yeah, definitely. One of the main things I think that surprised me was that Japanese food or like Japanese desserts don’t really have much sugar in them. Like they aren’t very sweet. Whereas in the UK, our stuff is like crazily sweet. Like I could taste the difference here. Like when I first read like Japanese like snacks or like chocolate, I was like this isn’t sweet at all. Like, you know, there’s not much sugar in the food. So, I think that’s a part of it.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Yeah, especially like Japanese traditional desserts that are made from mainly from soy, soybean. Yeah. And, you know, that a lot of vegan sweets are available. Yeah. Which is, which is Japan being a country of like broth and all about the broth, you know, and animal and fish broth. It’s kind of like really hard to be, to have a vegan, you know, to be a vegan in here, but actually Japanese food originally originated from vegan food.

Rebecca May
Yeah, isn’t that because of the like Buddhist kind of food?

Shunsuke Ochiai
Mm hmm. So, if you if you do, we call that kind of food, Shoujin Ryori, which is like Buddhism, Shoujin means to take an effort or continue to be in the in the right path of Buddhism. And Buddhism is, you know, originally not, you know, originally against eating animal meat. Yeah. So yeah, it’s really

Rebecca May
changed.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Yeah, it has really changed in Japan now, you know, but yeah, and also like on you owning a cafe. Um, what do you think about the food safety over here.

Rebecca May
think it’s very strict actually. When we opened up our cafe, we had to meet a lot of like food safety regulations and stuff like that. And actually, whenever we go to a new event or like a new prefecture where we want to sell our food, we have to go to the office in the prefecture and then someone comes out from the office and then looks inside our food truck and like make sure we have all of the safety features and stuff. So, I think it’s quite strict.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Hmm. And, um, yeah, and I heard there’s a Japanese word that you really like. Could you tell us about that?

Rebecca May
It’s kind of embarrassing, but it’s one of the first words I learned, which was Ninjin.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Ninjin.

Rebecca May
indeed

Shunsuke Ochiai
Wow. What does that mean?

Rebecca May
It means carrot, and it’s quite a bad reason, but I just love the way it sounds, like the pronunciation to me just is really satisfying to say, so Ninjin.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Ninjin’s “Nin” kind of represents people.

Rebecca May
Oh, that’s true. The kanji ning, yeah. What was it, Nin or Jin? Jin, maybe.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Jin is like to participate, I think. Sanka NinJin, I think. Maybe I’m wrong, so I’m going to Google it really quick.

Rebecca May
Yeah, that seems unrelated to a carrot. It’s quite a deep meaning for a carrot, isn’t it? I think…

Shunsuke Ochiai
Yeah, sort of like it kind of resembles that the shape kind of resembles a human being.

Rebecca May
That’s true. I can see that. Yeah.

Shunsuke Ochiai
green part is hair, you know, the red pop body becoming, you know.

Rebecca May
Yeah, I noticed something like that.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Oh, okay. And yeah, growing up, were you familiar with any Japanese cultures?

Rebecca May
Yeah, I say when I was young, like very young, I used to always watch Pokémon on TV before school. So that’s something I really enjoyed. And then as I grew older, I became quite interested in like Japanese history and culture, architecture and stuff like that. So, it’s kind of, I’ve always liked different elements of Japan at different ages in my life.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Mm hmm. Were you able to like visit those architectures that you like?

Rebecca May
Yeah, I was. I actually really enjoyed looking at stuff around Nagoya. I don’t know if it’s still called Owari, but like all like the Nobunaga stuff. I liked looking at that. So yeah, that was, it was a really exciting moment in my life to come to Japan for the first time and see like all of the castles and stuff for real. So yeah.

Shunsuke Ochiai
So, there’s in Nagoya, there’s Nagoya Jo.

Rebecca May
Thank you very much. Yeah.

Shunsuke Ochiai
And then in Gifu there is, I think there’s still some castles left in Gifu Jo or something like that. But yeah, that’s very interesting. Yeah, in Japanese culture, they do have stuff. Himeji -jo is probably the world heritage that’s still standing. The original, you know, the original castle is still standing, I think. But so how long are you going to stay here?

Rebecca May
Oh, I mean, I want to continue staying here. I haven’t sort of set a date where I’m going to go home or anything. I’m just sort of continuing with what I’m doing here. And yeah, I don’t really have a date to go home yet.

Shunsuke Ochiai
What are your goals or other stuff that you want to try while you’re here?

Rebecca May
Yeah, I was thinking of doing some private English teaching maybe, setting up, because I know a lot of my followers, they enjoy content about language and culture, and I think some of them have asked me if I’m going to be doing lessons and stuff like that, so that’s something I might consider setting up soon.

Shunsuke Ochiai
So, you do on your Instagram, you do share like language content as well.

Rebecca May
Mm -hmm.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Could you tell us about that as well?

Rebecca May
Yeah, I mainly, I mean, I started making videos about the differences between like British and American English, which I think Japanese people found quite useful, because like when they’re learning English, it’s good to know the differences in like vocabulary, grammar and stuff like that pronunciation. So that’s kind of the concept of my language content. And then when I started learning Japanese, I started making videos about what I found difficult about Japanese.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Mm hmm.

Rebecca May
compared to English and stuff. I just think it offers like a foreign perspective to Japanese people, which is maybe interesting. So that’s currently the kind of videos I’m making.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Could you give us like one example of it?

Rebecca May
of like British versus American English.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Or, you know, yeah, yeah, you can do that.

Rebecca May
Okay, like, I don’t know, for example, like, I’m currently at driving school in Japan, and they say like, wink, like, for the car, but in British English, we say like, indicator.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Okay, wow

Rebecca May
quite different. So, it’s just stuff like that, like examples like that, that I would, like, say online.

Shunsuke Ochiai
And the Japanese word or

Rebecca May
Oh, like difficult. Oh, I really don’t like Atatakai Atatakai. Yeah, like Atatatatata. I can’t even say it now. Yeah, that’s a hard they say Aatamemasu ka. Like, do you want to warm it up? There’s too much atatata sound and it’s difficult for me.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Atatame Masuka. But, you can actually say Atatame Masuka. Or Attame Masuka.

Rebecca May
I recently learned that. Only recently I learned I didn’t have to keep struggling. Could just say like, Attakai instead, yeah, that’s fine.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Well, that’s cool. So lastly, I would like to know, like, what do you want people to learn about our country who’s really not familiar of Japanese culture or, you know, Japan itself?

Rebecca May
What do I like people to learn?

Shunsuke Ochiai
or, you know, what did you learn or.

Rebecca May
I think in Japan, what I like about it and what I think is important to know is that it is a country that is based on order, and everyone following the rules and everyone behaving in a way that, you know, means everyone can live peacefully. Just, yeah, the environment here is quite controlled, but I do think it is a good thing because society kind of knows, everyone knows what they’re doing, and everyone knows how they should behave, and I think whilst that can be challenging for foreigners to kind of accept if they move here, I think gradually you will get used to it, I think, so just try not to sweat it too much, and I think that’s what I’d like to know.

Shunsuke Ochiai
It’s we do have those small unwritten rules that are kind of like really hard to understand and yeah, I guess we call it like Kuki Wo Yomu, which is like read the room

Rebecca May
Yeah, yeah, I kind of, yeah, but that said, though, I, I do think that other countries as well kind of have this, like, thinking in Japan is kind of more, you have to look, read the room even more. That makes sense. So yeah, just, I think that’s kind of hard to adapt to at fast. It’s, it’s, it’s.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for your time, Rebecca. Yes. Thank you. So, thank you for joining us. That was Rebecca, and we’ll see you soon. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you very much.

Rebecca May
Yeah, thank you very much. Bye.

Shunsuke Ochiai
Bye.