Welcome Back to Breakfast with Lisa & Josh!

When I first came to Japan 12 years ago, it felt like I walked into an alternate dimension.

Bright lights, unfamiliar symbols, not a lick of English being spoken anywhere. I was totally lost in just about every single way. It felt amazing and overwhelming. Coming to Japan for the first time is an experience like no other, and I wish I could wipe my memory so that I could do it all over again.

The first time I came, I didn’t even have anything on me that could connect to the internet. Even if I had, Google Maps was far from useful in Japan yet (it’s the best mapping app by a mile here now), so the best I could have done was pull up a map of the subway system and pray.

I remember arriving at the airport, fresh from New Zealand and Australia feeling like I knew everything there was to know about this travel thing. Those were the first two countries of my first ever trip outside the US, when I quit my job for the first time to travel for a year. Easy to travel around, everyone spoke my native language (well, that’s debatable), so I figured, how different can Japan be?

My overconfidence was about to get destroyed.

I got off the plane, through immigration, and then just stared blankly at the room-sized map of the Tokyo subway system. I knew I had to make it to Asakusa station, but how would I know which is which? Red loops, blue lines, green circles, all filled with hundreds of stations I couldn’t read.

I stood there, dumbfounded, for well over 2 hours. I was (and in a lot of ways, still am) too stubborn to ask for help, especially when it came to directions. A midwestern trait that I had not yet shaken. I went through all 5 stages of grief in front of that sign.

Denial of my own inability to do the simplest thing here, and that I hadn’t really learned as much about traveling as I had thought.

Unreasonable Anger that there wasn’t anything in English anywhere in Japan.

Bargaining that I could just hop on any old train and make it there eventually.

Depression as I sat in the corner staring at my feet sipping my Pocari Sweat that the wonderful JAL crew had supplied me.

Acceptance, eventually, that I was wholly overconfident and underprepared for this.

I needed help.

In true Japanese fashion, before I even had a chance to ask for it, a watchful train station attendant came literally out of the ticket machine to help me (see below…yes, that’s a screenshot of a YT video…)

They found my hostel, pointed out the right station, provided me a ticket for free (presumably because I had been there for so long, and only had Aussie dollars), and wrote out the directions as best they could in English.

I had never experienced such hospitality anywhere, nor such care. I’m sure they rightfully thought I was an idiot, but that never showed. I was gently guided to where I needed to go.

So off I went, on the 2 hour train, fully disconnected, my pride and ego fully swallowed. I was in over my head, but I suddenly had a feeling that everything was going to be OK. I just had to ask for help, and I would receive it here.

“Rugged midwestern individualism” had gotten me as far as it could. My old way of thinking had to die to survive here.

It was, and still is, one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned. Of course, it was the hard way, as many of the best lessons are.

It was the best thing that could have happened.

There’s something about travel today that has removed any chance of that occurring anymore. Sure, was it hard in the moment? Definitely.

But I learned something. I changed.

Travel had forced me to see another perspective. I couldn’t just bring my old beliefs with me, I had to adapt to where I had landed.

Maybe it’s the hyper-connectedness, maybe it’s the ability to instantly get directions from anywhere to anywhere. Maybe it’s the ubiquity of the internet, and social media ruining the surprise of every single new experience by showing us exactly what it is months before we even get there (this all sounds too close to home, we know.)

It’s all super convenient, but I also feel like a crucial piece of connecting, truly engulfing yourself into a place has been lost as of late. We’re all so connected that we aren’t really, truly in the place we tried so hard and flew so far to get to.

Maybe it’s just nostalgia. But I miss that struggle. I miss getting lost, having my mind changed. Especially if I didn’t ask for it.

I feel like I’ve become a bit too set in my ways recently.

I miss that fully disconnected kind of travel.

As I’m writing this, I realize how lucky we are to even get to do this—travel, at all. And moreover, to be able to share our travels with all of you who are kind of enough to come along on the journey.

To help us get back to the feeling of disconnected travel, we’re spending a bit more time doing things intentionally (and unintentionally.) Like working—we are trying to only film when we feel ready and like we have a story we truly want to share. And the rest of the time? We’re intentionally trying to spend it. Like when we went to Spa World (best onsen experience ever) in Osaka twice in a week (see above picture for adorable onsen outfits.)

And about that stubborn individualism? Well, being back in Japan has a special way of reminding us of how much help we really do appreciate when traveling. Just this last week, after trying for hours to make an online account, translate entire websites from Japanese to English, and write our names in Katakana just to book overnight ferry tickets, Lisa finally decided to ask the front desk at our hotel for help. They were incredibly kind, friendly, amazingly accommodating and patient. They spent 30 minutes on the phone making the reservations and even offered to walk her to the local 7-11 to pay for the tickets (yep, people pay for tickets for things like this at the convenient stores.)

The next day, I spent another hour working with the same hotel staff to book tickets to the Grand Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka. They never once made me feel bad, they were kind and generous with their time, we laughed and cried together, and finally, all got through the whole booking process together. (Then we also went to the 7-11 to pay for and pick up the tickets.) It was the best day.

Today

Thanksgiving!

The (Near) Future

Flying to Hiroshima, then sumo!

Videos This Week

It’s so good to be back. You’re gonna love this one.

Worst Capsule Hotel vs Best. Whew.

So delicious.

See you next Sunday…ish :)

- josh (and lisa)

Oh, and if you want to learn how we afford to take all these trips after quitting our jobs last year, you’ll likely be interested in our Skillshare course on Travel Hacking and Frequent Flier Miles. It’s been really taking off lately, but we still have a few uses of this link left for those of you who want to see the class for free. It comes with a free month of Skillshare, which is more than enough to watch our class and any of the other great courses on there!

Check it out here: https://skl.sh/lisaandjosh02221

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