Life in Japan Episode 1 – A Walk Through the Manga Section

Update: Thanks to everyone who checked this out.  I decided to take the video down for the moment, just because I’m not too happy with the audio and I don’t feel the I was able to do the subject justice, given the filming circumstances.  I’ll grind on a way to make a bookstore walkthrough that’s more in line with how I would like to do it, and re-post when I do.  Stay tuned.

YouTube video #2 is something I’ve wanted to do for a while.  Take a walk with me through the manga section of a typical Japanese bookstore – someplace where I spend a fair bit of time.  Sorry for the video quality but I had to do this on the sly (and doing anything on the sly is never easy in overstaffed Japanese retail establishments).

Stay tuned for more manga, anime, and Japanese life – and of course I’d be grateful is you subscribe, like, and comment!

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12 comments

  1. R

    Love the video! I kinda got dizzy but it’s understandable, I can only commend the courage and sneaking skills required in the making of this video. I also love bookstores, with media becoming more and more digital, the true joy of owning, holding (and smelling) a physical copy of something you love is still quite the experience, I can see myself acting like a kid with that many manga around me even if I can’t read Nihongo. Btw, do some bookstores there contain English-translated mangas or just English sections in general?

  2. The really big ones have English sections (especially the ones in cities like Tokyo and Osaka), and will generally have a smattering of translated manga. The really big bookstores will have small sections for other languages as well.

  3. E

    I can finally say, after your debut, that this channel is giving me late ’00s YouTube vibes, no massive edits whatsoever and a feeling of genuineness that lacks in a lot of modern channels. I’d still recommend to improve your editing skills if you’re aiming for a larger and mainstream audience, but this usually came with time.
    Good luck Enzo

    Going back on topic, it’s still a trip reading responses from Americans (I think) that are so shocked about bookstores or comicstores in other countries.
    Here in continental Europe buying Manga or western comics from those stores is way more common than reading scans online, people do it to get an idea of what that specific series may convey to them and then BOOM, they’re on their way to the store to own a physical copy, that’s especially true for manga.

  4. Is that what we call a left-handed compliment? ;-P

  5. E

    I mean, there’s always room for improvement, no? 🙂

  6. My model is ralfy.com. Passion about the subject off the charts, some verbal eloquence, alacrity, not much polish or slickness, 100K subscribers.

  7. Just pointing out a small thing, Enzo. Maybe you should try for your vlogs to have comparitively slow camera movements as you walk around. If the camera pans so rapidly from point to point in the distance, it gets a little dizzying, especially with headphones on. That said, good job! And all the best for the upcoming videos 🙂

  8. Yeah, my plan is definitely not to make a ton of videos of this nature – this one is an exception, but I did want to show a manga section even if the filming was going to be very difficult. When you’re constantly on the lookout for snooping employees you just can’t take the time to linger over anything. If it’s a place where I can openly take video that’s obviously not going to be a problem.

  9. H

    Just some constructive feedback: A good budget microphone with EQ would go a long way.
    https://youtu.be/1oqDz6GUKzA

    I’d also avoid long intros with just the text coz you’ll probably lose the attention of viewers if you don’t get straight into it. The disclaimers could go along side the commentary.

    I’m just being my typical nitpicking self though. It was good video regardless.

  10. I have a rather good mic in fact but for some reason, the sound quality on this one was kind of tinny – no idea why. Have recorded many podcasts (and the YKK video) with it and had no issues.

  11. Y

    What if you recorded a friend going through the bookstore as if you’re u were a tourist? Would they still give you a hard time? The first time I went to Japan, I went to a pachinko and started taking pictures with my big ass DSLR… I had no idea it would be a problem. They definitely didn’t like it 😛

  12. Pachinko is 100% Yakuza-run, so that’s an even worse idea.

    Hard to say about the friend idea. I suspect they’d treat it exactly the same but I really don’t know.

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