The Tokyo Cheapo Podcast

Angela An This week the pod team sits down with Angela An of the very popular YouTube channel ‘Intenatoinally Me.’ Angela shares some horror stories from working at a Japanese ‘black company’ and how, after a well-deserved recovery holiday, she slowly worked her way up into becoming a successful full-time YouTuber. Plus, her fascinating plan for leverging her channel into helping the dying Japanese countryside. And on our Tokyo Stories this week, we’re down a cheapo as Greg is off handling real business. Meanwhile, Chris talks about having some fun with Japanese at a coffeeshop in London, and Taryn reveals the embarassing story behind why her foot is broken. Produced/edited/mixed by Taryn Siegel Music by Ryan Carter Links https://www.instagram.com/internationallyme/?hl=en https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW_yDyDfu1bpqDNxeobW02Q

Joseph Tame This week, we welcome to the pod an old friend, known to some as ‘Tokyo Marathon Man’, ‘Sakuraman’, or, our personal favourite, ‘The Running Christmas Tree’ – Joseph Tame. Jospeh tells the podcast team some amazing tales, including living on top of a mountain with a terrifying Swiss lady, being caught on CNN running around Tokyo inside a Christmas tree, and gradually building a successful creative agency. Plus, Joseph explains why he came to the podcast recording wearing 4 massive pinwheels – the answer to which kind of explains his whole Japan trajectory. And this week on our Tokyo Stories, Chris ‘hogs the mic’ to tell Greg and Taryn what it was like to attend the Fuji Rock music festival in the middle of a typhoon. Produced/edited/mixed by Taryn Siegel Music by Ryan Carter Links http://josephtame.com/ http://wildtame.co.jp/

Selena Hoy This week the pod team sits down with freelance-writer success story Selena Hoy, who boasts pieces in everything from the Atlantic to the Independent to Playboy. Selena has spent the past 15 years in Japan trying her best to marry her two loves: writing and social work. She shares some harrowing tales from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, discusses Japan’s bizarre refugee policies and tries to explain how she actually found success as a full-time freelance writer (and what other aspiring writers should do too). Plus – on our Tokyo Stories this week, Taryn, Greg and Chris reunite after a 2-month separation. Chris shares an expert travel tip, Greg brags about landing Olympic tickets after much queueing, and Taryn spins a tale about working at an inn on a remote island in Nagasaki. Produced/edited/mixed by Taryn Siegel Music by Ryan Carter Links Follow Selena on Twitter Check out Selena’s impressive portfolio

John Daub This week the pod is thrilled to sit down with hitchhiker, videographer and Naked Man festival participant John Daub, best known for his mega-famous YouTube channel ‘Only in Japan’. John tells the pod crew about being royally set up by a sneaky newspaper columnist, losing $30,000 on a popular video series, and turning all that around to become one of Japan’s most sucessful YouTubers. Also, John shares some moving but devastating stories about being in Japan during the 2011 earthquake, and how that changed his whole Japan trajectory (in a good way). Plus! On our Tokyo Stories, while Chris is gallivanting around Europe, Greg and Taryn swap tales about gallivanting around Hiroshima. Greg finds himself on a pink train and Taryn finds herself stranded on an island. Produced/edited/mixed by Taryn Siegel Music by Ryan Carter Links Only in Japan (main channel) Only in Japan GO (live stream channel)

Jasper Degens This week, the podcast team sits down with teamLab’s Jasper Degens, one of the geniuses behind the Borderless Mori Digital Art Museum. As one of teamLab’s first and only gaijin, Jasper tells us about landing his dream job with zero Japanese and a lot of ingenuity (and persistent e-mailing), plus arriving in Vietnam without a job or plan and teaming up with an engineer/DJ. And here in Japan it’s festival season! So in our Tokyo Stories Greg hops the mic to tell us what it’s like to actually join a festival – from buying a festive loincloth to shaking a 400 kg portable shrine. Got something to share with the podcast team? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@tokyocheapo.com. Produced/edited/mixed by Taryn Siegel Music by Ryan Carter Links teamLab homepage Apply to work at teamLab! Jasper’s friend Quan’s FB page Questions for Jasper? E-mail him! jasper@team-lab.com