Shin

Walk with Shin

Everyday Japan, seen a little differently.

About me

I'm Shin, 51. I live in Tokyo.

I'm still learning English. I can't build these sentences on my own yet, and I've stopped hiding that.

Before this

I used to live in Kanagawa, next to Tokyo, and I have had many jobs. I made tofu in a factory. I drove trucks, a 10-ton dump truck, and a tour bus. I worked in real estate, and on a soft drink production line.

That soft drink plant taught me the most. In the end, I couldn't keep up there. But what I learned still shapes how I think, and how I look at small things.

I started studying English before the pandemic. I made a friend overseas, online, and planned to visit. Then the world closed. I have still never left Japan.

So I did the next best thing. In 2024, I started driving a taxi in Tokyo, so the world would come to me.

Now, most days, someone from far away sits in the back seat, and I get to try my English.

My days

I get up at 4 every morning and go to bed at 8:30 at night. It has been this way since I started studying English.

At 4: coffee, protein, and about a liter of water. Simple arithmetic drills. Typing practice in Japanese and in English. Ten minutes of Duolingo. Then I post the day's reel.

Over breakfast, I read your comments and messages. They are my best English lesson. After my shift, I come home and answer the rest.

My narration takes many tries, and editing does not always go well. So I keep a few finished reels in reserve.

My days off are for filming. Sometimes alone, sometimes with my mother, sometimes my son drives us.

If you'd like to support this

I'm not asking for a subscription, and I have nothing to sell.

But my time is small. If a reel made your day a little better, you can buy me a coffee.

It goes to train fares for filming. If it grows, I can show you places that cost money to enter, not only the free ones.

And if there is a place in Japan you'd like to see, tell me. I can't promise, but I may go and film it.

Someday

I have never seen your country. But I hope that someday, I can show someone mine.

I have very few free days, so I can guide only a few visitors a year.