Transcript
Speaker: I thought, okay, I've got to go find food. And then I went around and I found Lawson's. I went in there and I'm illiterate. I can't read anything. go to the back where the stuff is kept cold and looking at the pictures on the cartons. And there's a carton with a picture of some white, refreshing looking liquid being poured from this carton into a glass. And i thought, okay, that must be milk. Oh no. So we bought this carton, went home and the boys, they opened up the milk and poured it in their cereal. And then they're saying, oh, this tastes really weird. It tastes like lemonade or something. That turned out to be Calpus. No. Joey and his brother, the first step, right after that, they taught me the kanji for milk.
Speaker: Welcome back to the buying a house in Japan podcast, the number one Akiya podcast in the world. I say it all the time and we say it all the time, Joey, but we have some incredibly special guests here today. Quite literally, this podcast would not be in existence if these guests were not around. So want to welcome Joey's parents, Ron and Kathy Stockerman.
Speaker: Thanks. Thank you. My dad is also the one of the, I would say in the top 1% of podcast listeners. Every single episode, I think the day that it comes out, he goes to the gym and listens to it. So but both podcast sponsors in terms of, I live at home here with my parents. So sponsoring, you know, the business through providing my bedroom and the office space, but also sponsoring the podcast through that as well.
Speaker: We would not be here without you. So thank you guys, but give us a quick intro of yourselves. I'm Kathy and I am Joey's mom and also the mom of two other sons. And ah I was a French immersion teacher in Canada.
Speaker: And um that's how I got my job in Japan, ah teaching at an English immersion school. I'm Ron Stockerman and we've been married 40 years now. Yeah. Three children living in Nova Scotia now. um Retired.
Speaker: But I guess I spent most of my career in either the Canadian military or with NATO. And um but we're here now And life is good.
Speaker: So this like none of this Japan adventure for me would have happened without ah my parents deciding to move to Japan when I was in grade 11. And that's what we wanted to talk to you guys about today on the podcast. I think. um We haven't had too, too many other clients, maybe a handful that are families that have children that are considering purchasing a property in Japan or moving their family abroad into Japan. And that's what you guys did way back in 2005 with me and Ben and Adam, ah my other brothers. So that's, we want to talk to you guys today about your experience doing that. For the audience, how many years were are you guys in Japan for in total?
Speaker: So I had a contract for two years and Joey stayed on to go to a university in Japan. So you spent a total of six years in Japan? Six years, yeah. Yeah. So we were only there for two years, but then ah Ron got a job for NATO and we moved on to Europe from there. So what was going to take us away from Nova Scotia for two years ended up being 15 years in all. You guys really went on a world tour. I think the last time I saw you guys in person, i visited your spot in Germany. Was it Stuttgart or where where were you guys? Just south of Frankfurt. Frankfurt. Okay. You guys have such a beautiful, like huge yard. I remember with Lillian back running around. that's
Speaker: You guys have lived such a colorful international life. What made you guys like... decide like, Hey, let's pick up our things and go. Was it more of a job thing or was it like adventure thing? We had read a book ah called the voyage of the Northern magic. And ah they had taken their three sons who were about the same age as our kids on a sailboat around the world for three years. And I really wanted to do that. But Ron who knows a little bit about sailing was, didn't want to do that.
Speaker: So we both started applying for jobs. I and went to a fair in Toronto and I was offered this job in Japan. I said, no, I had always envisioned in my mind that we would be going to Europe. Japan just seemed so foreign and I was really scared to go. But um in the end, the boys and Ron convinced me, they said, mom, you wanted us to go on an adventure and now you're turning it down. So I contacted them again and um I accepted the job.
Speaker: I don't remember trying to or like i guess it's very vague for me. Like, i don't remember whether i was trying to convince you of it or not or not convincing. Yeah. I think when you came home with the news that that you got it offered a job in Japan, Joe Ben went right away and packed his bag. Yeah. i mean, that was it. Yeah.
Speaker: Joey was a little bit slower, but eventual you got into it, though. You and Ben were both learning Japanese before we left with those books that we had. remember there was like a big fight on the airplane the morning we went there. think I was trying to bring my skateboard in the backpack or something. I remember there was a big fight. were all in a bad mood, I think, leaving Halifax Air Force. I just remember that Joey was sort of getting into a little bit of trouble with friends. And I thought that that was kind of what clinched it in my mind. Like, OK, it's this this might be a good thing. Let's go.
Speaker: And our youngest did not want to go. He said his reaction was, why are we going? Our life is perfect here. Interesting. yeah He was was teaching in elementary school and I was working in Halifax as ah as an engineer.
Speaker: And so we both asked for a leave of absence from our jobs and you got it, but I didn't get it. Yeah. So, ah so I just had to quit the job. yeah That was kind of hard to do that whole yeah evolution, but we, we'd made the decision and, yeah and so we we went for it. Right.
Speaker: Thought if I have to come back and find a new job, I'll, I'll do that. What was the job market like at the time? i don't even know. I don't know either. that You would have figured it out. the way would have figured it out. Yeah. So I think it was like, Adam didn't want to go youngest brother. i feel like by best of my memory, like I, maybe I could have gone either way. ah Like, yeah I don't really remember. You seem to want to come and Ben really wanted to go. So yeah that was kind of the circumstances there. yeah But none of us, like, I do think, like, up until that point, it wasn't like we had been to Japan or or Asia or like that. Like, what's the closest we've been to Asia? You've probably been to Hawaii before. That was probably, like, the closest yeah any of us had been to Asia and and Europe on the other side. Yeah. So.
Speaker: Yeah. But Hawaii is nothing like Japan. Yeah. But I just mean, like, we had never, like, we had no experience. Right. Like, yeah maybe we went to Chinese restaurants in Nova Scotia. It was kind of like the. There were no Japanese restaurants in Halifax. Yeah. No.
Speaker: So we really, we knew about sushi and that's about it as far as food wise. ah Yeah. Cause I do meet a lot of people in Japan, right? That, you know, would like really love Japanese culture for a long time, loved anime or loved all these other things. and But I feel like I don't, I, I never had that experience. Right. i Kind of just like got, we got thrown into it as a family and figured it out. Yeah. I think a lot of our audience, we have a lot of Americans who are leaving or thinking about relocating their family cause of gun violence and and safety kind of reasons. Was that ever a thought? We just really wanted to open their horizons and that that at the time, Nova Scotia is different now, but at the time, Nova Scotia was very new Scotland. The background of everybody here was mostly white.
Speaker: And we just wanted to open their eyes that you know, it's a big world out there and there's all kinds of adventures and people to meet and food to eat and ah languages to learn. And that really, i think, changed the whole family.
Speaker: once we did Yeah, once we did that. Definitely. did I mean, I remember thinking like Halifax was kind of like, that's the big city. Yeah. that's the yeah What was like that moment? yeah Were you guys all around a table and they're like, okay, Joey, you in? Adam, you in? Benyon? Or was it just like mom and dad going like, nope, we're doing this? but What was a decision making process like?
Speaker: So I had to make a decision. It came to the point where the next phone call was, you need to decide. And I think we just, we had all discussed it and we decided we were going to go for it. Yeah. I don't remember the A discussion, but probably a whole series of them until we finally. Yeah. Probably over supper. How long was it from like that phone call making decision with Dr. Bostwick, I'm assuming, right? Well, we left in March. So this plane the school, the school year in Japan started in March, which was another difficulty for me because I had just started a vice principalship. So I had to, it was something that I was working towards and I had to tell them, sorry, I'm leaving. And, um, so I guess that started, ah a it probably started in September, the conversations.
Speaker: Okay. And then we left. And there was a lot of explaining to me what it would be like, where we would be living sort of, and what life would be like. And then as well of a lot of precautions, they were they were telling us, you know, you're coming over with teenagers. they're going to have to cut their hair. Joey had hair down to here. He's gone through phases. I've seen my phases.
Speaker: Yeah. So it was like a ah six month planning process, I think. I think the decision though was only a couple of weeks, like when they, when you first turned them down and then till we finally decided to go, I thought that was only a couple weeks.
Speaker: Could be. I don't really remember. I don't remember it being that long. So zooming ahead a little bit. um So you got the job in Japan, family moves to Japan. um We can talk about your first experience or like first first few days there. But just to set the the scene of of the story. So my mom taught at the high school slash junior high that me and Adam, my little brother, were attending.
Speaker: And ah in the international baccalaureate program there in ah in um kind of like a smaller city in Shizuoka prefecture. And you started, I can't remember, you you didn't have a job um at the time, but you eventually also started working at the school there. Yeah, they gave me some part-time work as ah as an en English teaching assistant for the regular Japanese side.
Speaker: So it wasn't for for your side, it was for the regular Japanese kids. um And they would have a Japanese teacher teaching them English and I would be in the classroom as a model of English language. Yeah, as a model. And sometimes I had to do everything like plan the lesson and teach it. Sometimes I just had to stand there and repeat words.
Speaker: But depending on the on the Japanese teacher what they wanted. So where did you guys end up moving? Yeah, so the school is in Numazu and the home was in the neighborhood where I was working so I could walk to school. The boys could walk to school. We could see Mount Fuji. It was a two story, quite modern home at the time. and in a really sweet neighborhood and just it had a tatami room and sleeping on futons. And like you were just we were just immersed in Japanese culture from the second we got off the plane. And that was actually my first impression being there. And I just thought looking around at all the signs, everything's in Japanese. and I think I'm completely illiterate here.
Speaker: And then the next hour, oh my gosh, what have I done? yeah What have we just done? Have we just made the biggest mistake in our life? What an adventure you guys like landed. And again, like no phones, like no conception of like what was happening in Japan. Like no Google maps. like Well, you guys know, like you know, you get directions in Japan.
Speaker: Well, maybe it isn't so now because you have GPS, but, uh, But then it was like, yeah, OK, you drive down this road till you see the Rossens on the right and then you make a left and then you go down there until you see the big tree and then you turn right.
Speaker: And those are the kind of directions you had because streets didn't have names or they didn't have signs. but They had signs that we couldn't read. So it was always. Yeah, that's true. You're saying this is when someone gave you directions. Well, even on the even on the like the little cards you would get, you know, people in the street would hand out little packages of Kleenex and they'd give directions to their to their restaurant a landmark and there'd be a landmark that you would go to this landmark and then turn right. and That's kind of how it worked. and It all worked really somehow.
Speaker: Even I drove in Japan, which I find amazing on the left-hand side of the street. Yeah. i think driving Japan is good though. Yeah. Yes, it was it was ah a lot safer than driving in Europe. We've driven by Numazi like I think like 12 times at least now. And every time we stopped by at a viewpoint, Joey's like, that's yeah know that's where I went to high school. And we used to drive by a mall. And Joey's like, that's where I'd go on dates. And it's it's cold. And now we we go back to Numazi actually freak more frequently than I thought we would.
Speaker: Yeah. Because it's like when you leave Tokyo, it's like exactly two and a half, three hours. So it's like a good place to like stop and eat. Down the toll. I guess for the audience who are not familiar familiar with Numazu, Numazu is in Shizuoka, but like, how would you describe it? Just at the top of the Izu Peninsula. So between the bay and Mount Fuji, and we were right sandwiched between them. So one side, one way we go up Mount Fuji, the other way we go down to the bay, but down to the beach. Let's hear your story about putting the, ah when you make coffee for us the first morning. Oh, yeah. first The very first morning.
Speaker: So, got up in the morning and... Yeah. Now, for some reason, and I don't remember why, but Adam brought a box of cereal with him. Cheerios. Cheerios or something. He brought a box of cereal. Which is a brilliant idea because because we got there. We didn't.
Speaker: There was no food. We did. I had to go get up in the morning and ah and I had to look for food. and There was no map. I didn't know. So I walked out the front door and I thought, OK, I've got to go find food.
Speaker: Because he needed milk. needed Yeah. So we knew we had cereal. So I needed some milk for the cereal and maybe some juice and anything else I could find. And the first thing I saw, we're all sleeping. Yeah, everybody's asleep. i was ah It was a beautiful, brilliant day. it was just gorgeous out. and And Mount Fuji was right there.
Speaker: But the first thing I found was a boss coffee machine. and and i And I thought, oh, I heard about these things that that you get your coffee out of the machine and it comes in a can. And thought, OK, well, and it's not and it's hot. And then I went around and I found the first thing I found was a Rawson's, a Lawson's. I went in there and I'm illiterate.
Speaker: I can't read anything. go to the back where the the the cold stuff is kept cold and looking at the cartons and there's a, looking at the pictures on the cartons and there's a picture, a carton with a picture of some white refreshing looking liquid being poured from this carton into a glass. And I thought, okay, that must be milk. Oh no. So we bought this carton, brought it home.
Speaker: And then on the way home, I picked up some, ah I picked up a bunch of coffee, cans of coffee from the boss machine. And I had them all stuffed in my shirt because I didn't have a bag or anything.
Speaker: And so I went home and put the coffee on the table, put the milk on the table. And the boys, they opened up the milk and poured it in their cereal. And then they're saying, oh, this tastes really weird. It tastes like lemonade or something. Yeah. So I don't know. some of your listeners might know that turned out to be Calpis. No. No. And that was breakfast and coffee. And it has kind of a lemony taste to it, doesn't It does have a bit of a lemony taste.
Speaker: Yeah, so flavor it is, but it's not milk flavored. It's like a juice. So Joey and his brother, the first step, right after that, they taught me the kanji for milk. Oh, they taught you the kanju for milk. Okay. Yeah, they didn't know it, but they knew it. Gyu knew. Yeah, look for Gyu. This explains a lot, Joey. Joey always goes for the boss coffee. Every time we go to a vending machine, and we're we're thinking about maybe starting a vending machine business, and Joey's like, let's put only boss coffee in it. So this is the origin story that started it all.
Speaker: On that trip too, I found our first bicycle. Remember that the blue one that you used. Speaking of Gomi fines, I think we learned um there a few times, like you can't just pull a bike out of the Gomi because if the police ever pull you over, they'll get the serial number and they're like oh this bike was stolen years ago. They're going to blame you for stealing the bike. Let's let's hear another Gomi story where I think, I don't know what it is, but you didn't sort the trash right. And then the late the old ladies of the neighborhood figured it out. You scolded us for doing that. I think it was more that there's a place for everything. So it's it was like ah a street corner where this park was.
Speaker: And it's a long curb and everything like glass jars were here and cans were here and cardboard was here. And also everything had to be and everything had to be flattened and cleaned and put nicely. You can't just.
Speaker: throw your stuff there. You've got to, you know, you've got to put your jars so that they're standing up. You can't be on the side rolling around. so it's going to be in. so i think I'm sure that didn't take them long to figure out who messed up. And I didn't really know what I was doing. So i just, there are bags. I knew we were recycling. So I just put all the recycling there. And then, and then I think you have a neighbor.
Speaker: who saw me doing this, she picked them up and brought them back and, and then dragged and, you know, it's all sign language. And, uh, it was, he got to and like one other foreign family in the, in like the, almost the whole city. Right. Yeah. so but like Other than the teachers that were teachers. Yeah.
Speaker: Now I feel like on social media, I'll see like, you know, you'll learn about these things likely before you go to Japan. I'll be like, Oh, you know, yeah be careful about the trash situation in Japan. Like we, like we just figured it out. Like we had no, no one telling us these things. Yeah.
Speaker: um How many times throughout that first, let's say, couple months of moving to Japan, did you go like, oh, no, was this a mistake, Ron? You kind of mentioned it once or already. But like, Kathy, I'm curious, did you go like, oh, I made a mistake? I spent the first year really tense. I i worked from eight zero in the morning until seven at night. So you never went home until the principal left the building. All of my lesson plans belong to the school. So whatever ah I did belonged there. And it was pretty clear that we're counting on you for two years. So I sort of had the double worry of, yeah, I really have to perform well at work. But also my family is a reflection on me. And they're coming from a very laissez-faire school environment to a school where they had to wear a uniform, cut their hair, take their shoes off when they walked in. wash the bathrooms at lunchtime and they had to be engaged in an after school activity or two, I think. and know um
Speaker: I guess I worried needlessly about them because they adapted. And young people just meet young people easily enough. They also had each other. Joey and Adam, our two youngest, sort of had each other. I worried needlessly for that first year. And I kept comparing how difficult things seem to be with how they were at home until finally a colleague said to me, everything is different.
Speaker: Just accept those differences and enjoy them. And when I got that through my head, i really did relax and i I really did enjoy it much more.
Speaker: I remember being very tough that international it was the International Baccalaureate program. But I also think that likely Japanese high schools are on a similar ah level to the IB program. I remember being really tough, like, yeah i you know, had to put an effort almost for the first time in school there. But but but well what made it easier? Because think i I was very much like just kind of, you know, do what my peers are doing.
Speaker: And i lot you know, in contrast to ah the friends I had here in Canada, I think just generally the kids in my class in Japan were were trying much harder at studying. You know, they wanted to go on to university and get into a good school. i think a much more of a culture of that there. So I didn't want to be the dumbest one in the class, you know? So you kind of just match what everybody else is doing. And I think that that was a great experience for me. They they made us proud when we were there.
Speaker: didn't bring shame upon the the Stockerman family. I guess I've always kind of thought like probably most parents out there listening to this, if they're considering moving their family to Japan, I have a feeling they're thinking more like when the kids are in elementary school, the kids are going to have an easier time doing it in, ah you know, moving abroad to a new country and making brand new friends when they're in elementary school versus later in life when they're in high school, maybe they're more involved in school. or sports or something. I definitely think it would be easier moving with a young family. And some of my colleagues did that. They moved there when their children were little and their children went through the whole Japanese system. And that being said, i think high school is probably like it's a formative years of your life. And I think it's like, I don't know, kind of fun to go to a different country.
Speaker: Maybe I didn't think so at the time, but in in retrospect, I think it was like a great experience to be there in high school, whereas elementary school, I kind of feel like it's going to be almost like you're going to maybe the same everywhere. Or I don't know. I feel like Japan is so different as you start to become an adult than I think Canada, Canadian experience would be that I think it was, you know, interesting in that sense. Well, it was definitely more of a culture shock for, for you. Whereas if you're right, if you went in elementary school, it would be like, well, this is what school is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah yeah exactly. Yeah. Although it is really safe in Japan and ah you see little children walking around on their own all the time. And and that was thing. train.
Speaker: Yeah. And people really respect rules and nature. And it was just beautiful from from that perspective. I remember once going down Gakou and Dori.
Speaker: I still remember the name. And there was a woman um weeding the cracks on the sidewalk. I remember stopping and looking at her and then until she gave me the stink eye and I had to move on. But it was just amazed that someone would take it upon themselves. Public space. Yeah, be five public space to take care of public space like that.
Speaker: Joey, I actually want to go back. We get a lot of folks who do ask about schools in in Japan because they are considering moving, let's say, folks and their kid children who are in high school. Joey, talk a little bit about the IB program. you you know You were quite successful through high school and went to good university and you know ended up at a great master's program. like Do you think that set you up more so than if you were staying in Canada?
Speaker: say like the two hardest times i ever studied, i think, was the IB program in high school and then later my master's degree. I feel like I learned more about high schools in Japan when I was at ICU university in Tokyo. And that's ah how me and talking to each other, like kids from ASIJ, which is like the big American school in Japan and Tokyo, they were always like a little crazier, like a little bit, uh,
Speaker: yeah part Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Big partiers. I think ASIJ or like the international schools in Tokyo, I think there's a British school and and maybe a couple of other American affiliated ones.
Speaker: I think that's more of like the American Western experience. I think maybe you have like Japanese classes, but I think curriculum wise, it's like they've they've taken an American system and they've put it in this building here in Japan versus the sort of international schools that do the IB. I think though, i don't know, maybe because I had that IB background. I think like I,
Speaker: I liked those kids better. I think that I see that like I think they they were nicer. They tried harder, maybe less of partiers. My advice would if if you're trying to put your kids in a high school somewhere in Japan is find an international school that's not an American school in Japan or like the British school in Japan. i would just find like a regular international school and and very likely it's going to have the IB program. Well, you had a really unique experience in that it was a Japanese school with an English immersion stream.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. How many other schools are like that in Japan, Jerry, outside of the main like Tokyo, Osaka kind of area? Yeah. so this school was, it was a Japanese high school, Kato Gakuen Gyoushu. But it started in elementary. There was another building that was the elementary school. Yeah, they had the full K-12, whatever they call it, um so that kids can go through the the English international baccalaureate side of this program um throughout their whole years of schooling.
Speaker: I don't know about the elementary school, but at least the middle school, high school, it was a real Japanese middle school, high school. And then within that, there was like one was it one class per grade year that was the ah IB side of it.
Speaker: And immersion English immersion. And there's about 30 kids maybe per class through it. ah But what was interesting, so all my classes, except for, i think two were in that English stream.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But outside of that, we still had to do all the regular Japanese high school things like physical education was part of the Japanese side of the school. So we had PE with all the other kids from classes that we didn't have lectures with. But the the other side of the school, we had assemblies with the entire school that were you know all in Japanese. We had um you know Bukatsu or club after school is with the Japanese school. um I think I had a health class that was with the Japanese side. So but And the festivals. the Yeah, all the school festivals, the Bunkasai, the Taikasai culture festival or the ah PE festival ah was all the Japanese side. The cleaning the school aspect of it was, I think, again, unique. like I don't know if at Sacred Heart in Tokyo or these other um international schools, whether they clean the the schools as well, whether they have to you know rake the field and do all these things that they do. at Cut the grass with scissors. Yeah. Crass or scissors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mop, wax the floor. It was like military. but there was like a rotation of jobs. So you didn't always have the same job, but you weren't with your whole classroom when you did that.
Speaker: I don't know how it worked, but it's always with my friends, so how I how it gets read up. Maybe it's like the kids kind of figured it out themselves. i so and know I can't remember how that worked, but the the bathroom cleaning was actually the best one because I don't People might think it's gross, but it's actually people kept it pretty clean. Well, there's no future oversight that teachers don't come in there. So you can kind of just go in there and and not really clean it.
Speaker: It's already pretty clean. You just kind of like splash some water around a little bit and then do nothing. if you're in the classroom and maybe the teacher's there, you know, you really got to move the desks. You had to like sweep the floor, wax the floor, all that kind of stuff. So that the bathroom was actually the best one. That was a shock during my first week there. There was always a meeting with the Japanese staff. So there was this, the day started with a staff meeting and it was always in Japanese and we had a translator. And this one day it was just going on and on and on forever. And people looked really shocked and dismayed. And what had happened was somebody found a gum wrapper in one of the bathrooms. And not only had someone broken a rule, but they lied about it. Oh, no.
Speaker: So it was I was just, i thought, wow, this is really different from home. Such a contrast. I think in high school in the US, s at least like no, there's no kind of regiment or like duties of to clean the place, which leads people to just trash the high schools. So I think that's such a good um cultural difference, I guess, between the high schools and probably good for you, Joe. You're good cleaner now.
Speaker: yeah good he is The other other interesting thing about this, the rules apply to the students on your commute to and from school too. So like you can't wear like a non-approved school, like coats over your uniform on your commute to and from school. that That's still like considered you're like at school during that time too. So like the rules like, they they kind of leech into.
Speaker: and your behavior. So if, because you are recognized by your uniform. So if you misbehave, Uh, somewhere while you're wearing that uniform, the, whoever, the police or whatever will come to the school first and talk to your home room team They can give out punishments. Okay. Got got a, got a lot of good context. I'm curious, what other the challenges did you guys face? Just moving the entire family over there? it seems like the school worked itself out, but like feeding diet, like just upkeeping the house, talking to the neighbors, anything that comes to mind. I mean, I had a great experience because I, I was, Kathy was working full-time long hours. but She was working Japanese hours.
Speaker: I was just a part time guy. So I only just had to show up for my classes and then go back home. So I was like the house husband. So I would get everyone up in the morning, get everyone off to school.
Speaker: And then I'd go back and I'd clean the house up. And then I would go and jump on my bicycle and go into town ah to get some groceries. they Pretty much bought groceries every day.
Speaker: And so I had this little route that I would drive around or ride around on the bicycle. And there was maybe four, three, four, five grocery stores that I would visit and see what's on special that day. Every day was something different on special and bring that home.
Speaker: and then And then maybe I'd have a class in the afternoon. So i would I would get dressed and I'd go to class and then come back and and then start cooking supper. And then everyone would come home and they'd eat supper. And then and then I would have to help them with their homework. Okay.
Speaker: I know I'm not answering your question. No, no, no. This is good to hear. but One of the most difficult things I remember though, is trying to keep the house warm. Yeah. It took us a while to figure out that, that propane, propane heater. And I'd have to go to the gas station. Cause that's with a big jerry can and fill it up with kerosene. That's what it was. Yeah. Big, So you fill it up with kerosene and I make a big mess pouring it into there and I had to figure all that. Yeah. remember the house being cold a lot. Yeah. This was like a 1990s build. If I had to guess based on all the homes I've seen now, probably like new, you know, maybe 10 years old. over and time
Speaker: um Yeah. Pretty good house. Yeah, it was. Where could it go wrong for a family thinking about doing this? Like, or like what type of person would be good for this? I think you have to really be willing to um conform to the rules of society, of where you work, of your neighborhood.
Speaker: ah you know, there's there's no rebelling in in Japan. they As you you two probably know, the saying, the nail that sticks up is going to be hammered down. You just have to go and this is how this society works and you're going to have to try to go with it and not say, well, they do things better where I come from whatever.
Speaker: Maybe we could do it a different way. um it's It's a lot about you don't want to embarrass your colleagues either. ah you You want to, even if you have a different idea, you don't you don't just come out with it.
Speaker: um you You let them maybe lead them to it. You never take credit for things. it's ah It's a very humble society and very respectful of other people. And so if you're okay in that kind of environment, then you you'll you'll do okay. And especially if you go knowing those things.
Speaker: I personally had issues, trouble with that kind of thing, but mean, I'm still going back to Japan. Yeah, Joey did. You know, it's like, it can't work, but it's a frustrating time when you're the nail that sticks up. Yeah.
Speaker: We see that in our business a lot. You know, there's so many inefficiencies. Like, why are they doing it this way? doesn't make sense, especially when we work with some of these larger Japanese corporations. It's just like a completely different game. yeah That's what i was going to say. Like when you're said, when you talk about like not just coming out with the idea or like that kind of stuff, I was like, oh, I hear those stories of like large Japanese corporations. I didn't realize that was happening at school. You would never, you would never confront somebody in um well the it Within in the experience that I had. as a So not as a teacher at the school, but as a parent, your relationship to the school, was there like, did you have issues there?
Speaker: Was anything like that came up with, um I don't know any sort of difficulties there? No. Having kids in the Japanese school? No, i don't I don't think so. I think they really prepared us ah before we went I remember we weren't ready for the cost, even though your tuition was free. We had to buy uniforms and yeah little bags that they eat, the official bags and all. oh there's And there's costs related to the IB as And there's costs related to the IB. So there was there was more costs than than we expected. But the so the salary was generous in the end because they withhold part of your salary just in case salary you decide you're going to run away. you can live And ah you wouldn't get this.
Speaker: it's It's almost like equivalent to pension money over two years. You go to the there's one bank machine in town or maybe two. JP Post. Yeah, but that was it. Like if you were in Japan, there's no way to get cash. You have to get it from our bank before you leave. And slide your little bank book into the slot and it would print out, they took out, you know, 10,000 yen or whatever. And then, and then it would come out with the money. The currency exchange rate has changed so much since what, to in the 2000s. Like, did it feel like it was way more expensive than Canada or? You know, living there and and buying groceries and paying your rent and that sort of thing wasn't expensive.
Speaker: I didn't I didn't feel that that was. No, I didn't feel that either. If you go to Tokyo you have to stay in a hotel. Yeah, that's expensive. If you got to eat at restaurants all the time. But just living in Japan like like a Japanese.
Speaker: I mean, you can't go and buy steaks because theyre they are obscenely expensive. So you just have to live with the little slices of beef that you get at the at the grocery store and and then make sure there's lots of other vegetables around that. I remember you guys talking about like, I don't know, going to some izakaya with the other teachers at the school.
Speaker: Obviously, i wasn't going to izakaya, but like a Hyakuen beer place or something in the Mazu. Yeah, that seems quite cheap. Yeah. 100 yen for a Nama beer. It was cheap then too. But yeah okay it was a draft. You got a draw a glass and then... That's a great deal. 60 yen, 60 cents for a beer. Yeah.
Speaker: During this time, where what was Ben doing? I know Joey and Adderhor in high school. What was your oldest son doing? Ben had six months with us and then he came back to Canada and then he went to ah China for two years.
Speaker: So we were able to visit him there and he came to visit us as well. Berries. So when he was with us for the first six months, yeah, he didn't actually have much to do. He would just go out exploring. That's awesome. But then in that mall downtown, there was a shot of Nakamise, like a shotengai, like a cupboard. And there was a Brazilian shop in there called Berries. And Berries, they sold computers, they sold Brazilian food, like beef and cans of Brazilian beans and things like that.
Speaker: And he went in there and and asked for a job. And they gave him a job because the story was could speak English. ah He could also speak some Spanish. Okay. The owners of the shop spoke Japanese and Portuguese and a little bit of Spanish.
Speaker: Now, what they had in that tire factory that we mentioned before, there was Indians that were working in there. So they had Indian. They brought in Indian workers who spoke maybe Hindi and English, but they would all be coming to this shop. So they hired him because he could speak English. He could speak to shop people yeah in Spanish. And was it all worked out.
Speaker: So he was there. there' doing A couple of language hops, but a couple language hops, but it all it all could come together. So now they had all these ah Indian customers that could go there and and and stop and speak to them. And so he did that for a few months.
Speaker: And he could, and they could speak a little bit of Japanese or read it before we went because they had been practicing before we went. Yeah. He knew a little Japanese. And didn't you and Adam have like private Japanese lessons? At the school. yeah Yeah. With a tag. know Joey's language ability is quite good, but at the end of that high school experience, would you say you were like pretty competent in communicating with your your peers? And how about your brother? I mean, maybe OK-ish. Like all my friends in high school, they also spoke English.
Speaker: um I would say that my language ability got much better at ICU over the four years that I was a university in Tokyo. But it was pretty good, I would say, going into ICU. Like I think like out of kids that weren't like half Japanese, half something else, or had not fully grown up in Japan. I was probably like at the top of language ability coming into ICU at that time. So I think that, you know, it pretty pretty good, I would say, um having to, you know, having...
Speaker: two years and all my classes in English, I think just speaking, i think a lot of it came from hanging out with them outside of school. Cause as soon as I'm hanging out with them outside of school, there's other kids that like, we would go to the skate park and there's other kids there that didn't go to the the IB course that we're in and everybody's hanging out together. And so it was like in those situations that I think, um, you know, just trying to be part of those conversations is where my Japanese ability really improved. So I do think like,
Speaker: Like I wasn't, I didn't do much sports. i i I skateboarded and I was snowboarding, but I do think like sports are important for kids to to make friends, especially in other languages and cultures, because you can do that activity still. yeah And like while hanging out together, you don't really need to have like two in-depth conversations. Right.
Speaker: What did Adam do, your your younger brother? Like you guys obviously decided, hey, let's leave Japan after two years. Like was he considering staying in Japan? I know, Joe, you obviously went to university there, but what was his situation? He still needed another year of high school.
Speaker: I got a job in Italy. Oh, that's right. Okay. And so we we went there and ah Adam went and finished his high school in a, like a Canadian high school in Lunciano. Yeah. Yeah. I do think that's kind of like the general like event that happened in this is a stockerman's family here going to Japan is like it changed the trajectory of where of what the family did next kind of thing. yeah You guys bounced around through Europe after that. I i stayed in Japan for bit and now I'm coming back to that. Like i think yeah it it really, you know.
Speaker: Adam did want to come back to Canada, though. And after he finished that year, ah that grade 12 year, he ended up coming going to university in Halifax. Coming up on the two-year point, was there a moment where you're like, I want to stay in Japan? Or you guys knew like, hey, we're here for two years and we're out? yeah I had already left to start work in Naples.
Speaker: That's a culture shock. I mean, in Naples, that couldn't be more opposite. But yeah, so I went along. We were just excited about the next adventure by that time. And and yeah I think i um I got an extension from my job here in Nova Scotia for another year. And then I ended up quitting because it didn't look like we were coming back.
Speaker: Anytime soon. And then Joey, what was your your zone here? Just like, I love Japan. I'm staying here. Or is it was the next natural progression? I think it felt like the next natural progression in the sense of like my friends were in Japan at that time. It's hard for me to remember.
Speaker: i think you had have had changed so much from your friends that you had in Nova Scotia that there was almost no going back. Could be. And like, I guess at that time I realized, OK, Tokyo is way bigger than Halifax. Seems are more exciting. um I think also around like maybe six months before the IB examinations and graduation, i think kids started preparing for a university like a lot of it was about half the time preparing for the exams and then half the time.
Speaker: uh, you know, trying to pass entrance exams to Japanese universities, which is what a lot of, a lot of the Japanese speaking kids had to do. I, I, thankfully with ICU, I didn't have to pass an entrance exam, but they were studying for these two different examinations at the same time. And I think that i just like, everyone's applying to universities and studying for university exams. Like, you know, what was I going to do with my time there? So I think I also just started exploring, okay, what would it be like to go on to a Japanese university? And, and I think that's,
Speaker: Kind of how it went. If we bought the boat, maybe we'd all be in the Caribbean. Or at the bottom of the Pacific, you know. And actually, when I think about Joey going to university in ah Tokyo, we kept...
Speaker: ah cottage here in Nova Scotia that we had bought in 1999. So that that was always our our pieta. We always had something to come back to. And I think he always knew that he would have that connection with Nova Scotia. So that was kind of a yeah, I can go away to university and I can always come back.
Speaker: All final question. Again, our audience are mostly folks who are looking to maybe move their family to Japan. a lot of people have visited. They know the landscape. They're thinking about buying a home.
Speaker: What kind of advice would you have for someone who's just about to embark on this venture, minus reading that? They definitely should read that book. I want to read that book myself. What advice would you give someone who's making that leap, maybe with a family like you guys did in the past? i think that leap was probably the best thing we did in our life.
Speaker: it It changed our trajectory. And i think it changed its absolutely none. No. And had everything to I it again at the drop of a hat. Yeah. In fact, I still think about doing that. Maybe we should go and do it again. know. You kind of.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. Just ah be open to the differences and accept the differences and try to go along with it. yeah And just enjoy it. And people are will accept you, will be much more open to you if you appreciate their culture and environment.
Speaker: Number one top life decision. Wow. That was it. Sell the house. All you guys out of school. all our junk in storage. Move to Japan. The initial days are really lovely because you're kind of living in this family bubble. You've left this life where anybody could contact you on the phone and the kids had all kinds of activities all over the place. And then you're all of a sudden in this bubble with your family. And it's it was pretty cool. Amazing.
Speaker: Well, thank you guys so much for again, you know being on the pod, helping us create this business. Ron, especially thank you for being one of our super fans. We hope that if you guys decide, Hey, you want another adventure in Japan, me and Joey can help you buy a house in Japan. And if anything, come visit us.
Speaker: Well, there's one for sale in Numazu right now. Right across from the pool, actually, just now on the market. yeah Good. We can make it happen. um But anyways, thank you guys so much. Thank you. And we never thought we'd be YouTubers. Yeah.
Speaker: Thanks for having us on the on the number one Akia podcast in the galaxy. Like and subscribe. Click the button. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Take.
Speaker: Thanks, Joe.
Speaker: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Buying a House in Japan. If you find the show helpful or at least entertaining, give us a five-star rating. Takes five seconds and really goes a long way. If you or someone you know is looking for a Japanese home, check out Akiyamart.com, our English-friendly site that lets you browse over half a million listings. That's A-K-I-Y-A-M-A-R-T.com to find your dream home in Japan. If you've got questions or feedback, drop us a line, email contact at akiamart.com. You can also find us on Instagram as well as TikTok, where we post properties, tips on the home buying process, and updates on our own purchases and renovations. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.
