16:43 Wow, that car actually stopped for you to cross. Here in America, they would have accelerated and hopefully YOU didn't bump the car's rear bumper crossing. Then, they'd probably stop cuz YOU hit THEM.
I just found your channel, this was fascinating. I used to live in Tokyo years ago. Your ride through Nagoya made me want to move to Nagoya. It looked like fun.
We're excited that you can stay longer in Japan now that you have a new job. True, it would be great if you both went back to Vietnam, but to have more opportunities like showcasing small bike and ethnic shops makes it worth-while viewing. Cheers !
Teaching is an art, a form of painting enthusiasm on a canvas with words. When you are smiling and the students are smiling then they are learning. Good luck with your new job. Sad that you don't have Saturday off.
Wow, I wasn't aware you still planned to move to Vietnam when it's safe. I misunderstood that you were planning to acquire the permanent resident status in Japan over the next few years. Good luck with all your plans! Doubtful to make the livestream since it's 5am PDT but will try! Happy New Year! 🙏🎉🥂 PS. Proud of you for learning some Vietnamese! Keep it up, Cruise! 📑👍
Cruise, My bike has saved me in 2020. I am a teacher here in America and you are right - things have been upsided down in my country for a year. I have not been in my own classroom in 10 months. Teaching elementary school kids in a virtual envrionment. In and out of lockdowns. Daily long rides on mountain roads have kept me sane and grounded (for the most part). My bike=good medicine. Congrats on new job!
My prediction was correct. Your channel now has over 60k subscribers before the end of the year. I hope next year will be an even better year for your channel.
I came across your channel before and again by accident. I thought you already moved to Vietnam. Glad you'd stayed in Japan for now due to the pandemic. I would agree with most peeps about suggesting you stay in Japan rather than moving to Vietnam. I came to the State (WA) from Cambodia when I was in my teen. Now I am working for the aviation industry and had traveled the globe. Japan by far is the friendliest place I ever been. We had our project at Narita Modification Center with ANA and JAL Airlines. One of my colleagues commute on road bike to work.
I feel on you as my former job is also a bicycle company in Kyoto that serves the customers most of the time....Now I am happier and appreciated to be in the manufacturing end.
Good luck for the couple! I hope things become better. The world is a little crazy now, but it helps watch you showing and talking about different places. It wold be incredible watching you living in Vietnam in the future (pehaps). I`m from Brasil.
I hope you move to Vietnam eventually. Japan is nice to live in, but opportunities are harder to find there. Please continue making the cycling stuff either way!!!
Hey man, another great video. As you know I really like the cycle path rides and a chance to see things we might never otherwise get to see. Congratulations on your new job BTW. Regarding other people’s views on staying in Japan.... follow your heart, Vietnam will offer you new opportunities that are not available to you in your present situation, stability for you and your wife in relation to citizenship etc, business opportunities, and I think as someone who has traveled extensively in SE Asia a more layed back life style. It will also provide much more scope to grow your channel. Good lunch in what ever course you decide on and a happy new year to you both.
glad to hear about your new job, I realy enjoy about riding in japan, hope I could be there after I retired. But I have to wait a little bit longer because I have a goo job here in Indonesia with "tempting" income. I wish to see you guys someday. Anyway, I love walking also and it is good for my weight loss program.
Good news to cap off 2020, so that's not too bad. Knowing your ends are met, I think your mind will be put at ease for the time being, and we're happy to know that
Work allots oodles of vacation time. So, I travel to Japan on a yearly basis. My bike, Nimbus, is usually with me during these trips. Unfortunately, the pandemic didn't allow for such the luxury this year. Thanks again for the videos. They are an elixir for this wanting to wander heart. Congrats on the new job in Japan.
I'm the guy from Seattle who was asking about a starting point for your trip so that I can follow you on google maps. I found the Yado River and the 363 but that was about as close as I could get. Thanks for the ride.
Hi Cruise and Thuong, happy new year to you 2! I have watched most of your clips for a few months now. You obviously both like japan and it surely is an interesting place . Sounds like you are keen on starting your own business...... As Japan has a declining population , especially in the countryside, have you ever considered a business which would promote the beautiful and piece full japanese countryside as well as cycling in Japan. This vlog with its amount of subscribers is already a great start. best regards, Eddy
thanks for your reply, we live in nz and have been many times to Japan we are considering moving to there, we already bought a place to stay if we go there for holidays, its in Ibaraki where my wife is from. But am thinking about what kind of business we can do there....... we have a little $ we can invest . Also im a bit ( a lot ) older than you and financially dont have to panic for a little while. I invy you , my japanese is hopeless and dont have the time to do cycling and its not safe in new zealand. We live currently in Auckland but it has become an unlivable city, it has a very inefficient infrastructure( on average people commute well over 2.5 hours a day by car. And property prices have gone crazy with the average being over 1million nzd in auckland. Those good investments and booming markets are certainly not good for everyone.......
Merry Christmas Cruise. Happy to hear that you find a new job and life becomes better. Hope the travel could be easier after the vaccine works. My gf and I has been separated for the whole year between Germany and China 😞
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you both! Glad that you guys are safe and doing well. Hope we can all cycle safely without worrying getting COVID. I appreciated biking again as I got my bike out of storage due to necessity. Wishing you guys the best! Much love from the Philippines! 🇵🇭 (Yeah making a long comment too lol)
congrats on the new job Cruz! hopefully get to see more JP content for another year before you decide to leave. if you decide to leave for Vietnam after the world returns back to normal.
Happy holidays from Malaysia 🇲🇾. Glad to hear you've settled into the new job and that your staying in Japan until Sept at least. Really enjoy watching the videos about daily life in Japan and seeing the great rides you guys take 👍. Wishing you both all the very best for a Happy and healthy 2021. Stay safe 😷........and keep posting.👍
Happy new year to you too. I am pleased to hear you two will be raining in Japan for a while longer. I enjoy the sites of vernacular Japan and, of corse, the walking tours!
@@TwoWheelCruise I want to go there one day and just get lost in the country side. I'm learning Japanese in my spare time and it's a ton of fun. Might enter a race there some time and explore the mountains. Only issue would be riding on the other side hahaha!
Personally, I would just stay in Japan and find a way to sort things out there. But that's just me being based in the Philippines where things are not so great in terms of opportunities related to what I'm doing (cycling-related startup). In fact, my plan is to move my company to Japan when things open up again. Happy New Year!
Hi Two wheel cruise, I’m happy to hear you and your wife are doing well. Merry Christmas. It’s great you have a new job. I look forward to getting vaccinated in February. I hope you guys will get yours soon too. As you say the virus has gotten bad again here in the US. But hopefully the cold inter weather will keep people home, and help stop the spread of the disease. Keep up the fun videos. Happy holidays.
I really can see you both becoming bilious. I've started watching your channel not too long ago. I own a Overfly electric bike. I enjoy bike riding. Ironically I had a penpal from Nagoya. I got to meet her but she was in the states at the time. I can finally see Nagoya through her eyes by watching your channel. WISHING you both a Happy New Year
Good to hear you're both safe most of all. I think the pros outweighs the cons and both of you seem like the glass half full types. I look forward to seeing more of these river path vids and wish u and Tuong a safe, healthy and happy ridings for 2021.
Hi TWC, I’m riding my bike on the trainer for every video you post and having a blast doing it so thank you for uploading your rides, I’m stuck at home and your videos are great, thank you. May 2021 be prosperous for you and your wife...
Thank you for another great video. I miss bike touring, so I enjoy tagging along on your adventures. Glad you were able find a teaching position. And you’re right. People here are not taking the pandemic seriously enough. You’re lucky you’re there. Blessings and Happy New Year!
"Nothing but love for Thuong and Vietnam, her home country, but now's not the best time to be trying to reinvent yourself in a new country"....I had been secretly thinking since Spring when you guys dropped news of your plans. I'm relieved you're staying in Japan. I mean, I never even met you but 😂
True, the timing is not good. We love Japan, but the work restrictions are tough compared to what we want to focus on until we can get permanent residency.
Congratulations, Two Wheel, on getting that Eikaiwa gig! Though working nights and splitting those days off does take a toll, it might be better than the college gigs now for a few reasons. 1 - If and/or when you make the jump to Vietnam, for the same reason you gave regarding not returning to the Japanese company, it may be easier to leave an eikaiwa job at your own convenience rather than worrying about the bind in which you might have left an institution. I started my career through a couple of years in a conversation school in Tochighi-ken. Though I made good friends through that school, and there were some sad goodbyes, there were plenty of people willing and able to take my place when I left. For conversation-communication type classes, the teacher's personality and temperament are more important than publish-or-perish academic research skills ... so that leaves a large pool of prospective employees who can fill in for you when you leave ... housewives, retirees, and young people who are interested in experiencing and exploring Japan for a few years. 2 - As I described in detail under your 'Why Foreigners Leave Japan' post, unless one has influential Japanese connections or already unlimited resources (which would beg the question of why bother to work to begin with), when push comes to shove, Japanese labor law and work contracts are not worth the paper they are written on. This is just as true for Japanese as it is for foreigners, and the pandemic policies are only making it worse. Suicides, mostly due to economic reasons, are at a record high, with more suicide deaths in November, alone, than deaths by the corona virus since the pandemic began about a year ago. When it comes down to an individual's rights, the law is heavily weighted on the side of the whims of the institutionally entitled at a school or corporation. Even a win by the plaintiff, will be a long and costly, pyrrhic victory at best. If even the likes of Ghosn did not fare so well in the Japanese legal system, teachers really have their backs against the wall. 3 - The colleges are increasingly distancing themselves from dealing directly with foreign instructors by outsourcing them through hakkengaisha. Some of those intermediaries are one-man shows just in it for the money, and they can take a hefty cut from what would have otherwise been a decent salary for an instructor hired by the traditional academic route. Though I can't name the school for fear of legal reprisal, a few years ago, I did part-time work for one of the new business colleges with campuses in Tokyo and Chiba. And though the owner of the outsourcing company who hired me was not academically qualified (nor even a native speaker of English), he struck a deal with the school for additional income by writing and selling his own program to the school, selling the material to the students, and requiring the instructors to follow his program. The 'textbooks', rather than designed to build communication skills, were just typed and stapled print-outs of unnatural dialogs (such as shopping for panties in a department store) and drills and tests of brute memory for random vocabulary and grammar with little communicative context. The dialogs had not even been proofread and corrected by a native speaker, but the students and instructors were required to use that material, and that material only. Neither the instructors nor the students were impressed with the program, but the school was also just a slipshod business - looking for the easiest route to quick profits rather than putting in the time and effort for an educational program worth its salt. The bar for being hired as an instructor did not require any TESOL background or graduate degree. Just being a foreign native speaker was enough. But for a 2 year college, academic qualifications were less important than whether the teachers enjoyed their work. And they did not. Though they were not happy as replaceable cogs in a machine, the instructors had their own families to feed, and so were grateful to have any job at all. The students were similarly stuck in a hard place. They were more motivated than typical Japanese college students (at least at first) because most of them were from Vietnam and China, and in Japan looking for work. Because the current law for non-skilled immigrant labor had not yet been implemented, a student visa was the easiest route. Along with higher motivation, they were also more expressive than typical Japanese counterparts, and loads of fun to teach. I had never met the boss of that one-man outsourcing scheme, and he had not even visited the school while I worked there because of 'health reasons'. On behalf of the students and doing the right thing as an educator, I spent weeks in late night e-mail exchanges, trying to dissuade him from micro-managing the classes from his home. But he proved to be as stubborn as he was greedy - and determined to maintain strict, though unprofessional, control. Rather than be trapped between a rock and a hard place, I raised the issue with the school's administration, but received no positive response. As I was willing to resign from a former tenured position for similar reasons, I sure as hell wasn't going to bite the bullet for scraps, so I left him and that school to their own devices. Now looking on the school's homepage, I see no indication the English program still exists. Other than a short study-abroad exchange program with a small school in the U.S., there is no indication that there is even an English program at all. 4 - Even the outsourcing companies are now in danger of being outsourced. Yesterday's 6:00 pm NHK news (Dec. 27) announced that the Ministry of Education (MEXT) would be creating a database which would connect colleges in search of teachers with under-employed corporate employees, most likely Japanese citizens. The main target classes? Shushokukatsudo (job-hunt training) ... and English. The academic qualifications, experience, or skill-sets that make for a good college English instructor, or even as a viable job prospect, are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Partially because of the pandemic policies and (connected or not) with a world-wide increase in nationalism and economic contraction ... and partially because of existing laws and a mind-set prioritizing employment of Japanese citizens, the institutional career path for foreigners in Japan is quickly shrinking. This is not 'Japan-bashing'. A prominent American political opportunist, who shall remain unnamed, ran on a policy of 'America First' and 'Make America Great Again'. I would challenge that sentiment as neither morally fair nor meritocratic ... and therefore, not a sustainable economic model for society. Ancient Greece, China, and Egypt had their day in the sun, but that day would have been much shorter if they had closed down their trade routes and free movement of people. I think that you made a good choice in going Eikaiwa rather than academia. I just bought a copy of Ivan Hall's 'Cartels of the Mind; Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop'. First published in 1998, I'd say it is as prophetic of 2021, as descriptive of the 1990's. www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Ivan-P-Hall/dp/0393347761/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Probably for most viable conversation schools, the working hours are necessarily rough on home life and leisure time. But as you know, making friendships and having fun through working and teaching in good faith, goes a long way in making the days goes fast, and the time for you two making a big move, all the closer. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the wind be at your backs, and the uphill pedal as smooth as a downhill glide. Cheers, Two Wheel and Thuong.
Thanks! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's definitely a mix of positives and negatives, but for us for the next year this solution works out perfectly.
Subscribe for more cycling videos in Japan th-cam.com/video/pJ9ZQpcVjy4/w-d-xo.html 4k Ralaxing Walk videos with Thuong - th-cam.com/video/VZW5pXfHCyM/w-d-xo.html
Thanks 4 the updates and happy New Year to all. I hope u started Thuong’s application for U.S. status already, given that process does take a long time, or you could do what some Americans were doing and apply for Canadian status. :-).
Portugal? That’s odd as I don’t recall you mentioning them in prior videos, but I could be losing memory nowadays. That’s on the retirement bucket list, as I would like to try their version of “Feijoada”, after living in Brazil for 5 years. You might have to hire an immigration attorney for clarity. I got Canadian status first and finally got US notice for interview after 15 years. Yours should be quicker given husband wife status.
We haven't mentioned it in a video yet, but will be talking about it on patreon soon. It's a new consideration for us which is very tempting. More to come soon 😉
Happy to hear your sityation has become more stable. Hang in there guys and stay safe.
Thank you! :)
16:43 Wow, that car actually stopped for you to cross. Here in America, they would have accelerated and hopefully YOU didn't bump the car's rear bumper crossing. Then, they'd probably stop cuz YOU hit THEM.
Leaving a comment to help you with the algorithm
Much appreciated!
Good to see you man !
She getting really good at "Let's go!"
It's her new catchphrase :)
I just found your channel, this was fascinating. I used to live in Tokyo years ago. Your ride through Nagoya made me want to move to Nagoya. It looked like fun.
Nagoya is a really nice city
We're excited that you can stay longer in Japan now that you have a new job. True, it would be great if you both went back to Vietnam, but to have more opportunities like showcasing small bike and ethnic shops makes it worth-while viewing. Cheers !
Thanks! Yes, still many places I want to show here 🙂
Teaching is an art, a form of painting enthusiasm on a canvas with words. When you are smiling and the students are smiling then they are learning. Good luck with your new job. Sad that you don't have Saturday off.
Leaving comment to help you with the algorithm, discovered your channel today!
Thanks! :)
Merry Happy CruiseMas for Cruise and Thuong. Wish you the best for both of your channel to grow. Cheers :)
Thanks! Merry Christmas! :)
Congratulations on your new jobs. Hope you'll enjoy it.
Thank you!
Hope it works out for you two Happy New year
Happy new year!
Congrats on your new job...😃👍👌👊🚴♂️🚴♀️
Thanks! 👍
i like your channel especially about biking in japan.
Thanks! 😃
A Lot of enjoying the moment both of you have some fun riding 👌✨💖💖💖🚵🚴
Wow, I wasn't aware you still planned to move to Vietnam when it's safe. I misunderstood that you were planning to acquire the permanent resident status in Japan over the next few years. Good luck with all your plans! Doubtful to make the livestream since it's 5am PDT but will try! Happy New Year! 🙏🎉🥂
PS. Proud of you for learning some Vietnamese! Keep it up, Cruise! 📑👍
We're keeping both options on the table and will make a final decision as we enter the summer.
Happy new year!
Cruise, My bike has saved me in 2020. I am a teacher here in America and you are right - things have been upsided down in my country for a year. I have not been in my own classroom in 10 months. Teaching elementary school kids in a virtual envrionment. In and out of lockdowns. Daily long rides on mountain roads have kept me sane and grounded (for the most part). My bike=good medicine. Congrats on new job!
Thank you! Bikes help bring sanity 😁
Hope you and your wife stay safe and healthy no matter where you are. Love watching your videos to relax and wind down before going to sleep.
Thanks! 😁
My prediction was correct. Your channel now has over 60k subscribers before the end of the year. I hope next year will be an even better year for your channel.
This was a great and pleasant surprise 😁 Thank you so much for supporting us along the way! We're aiming for the 100k next year, lock on!
Saludos desde Ecuador y un excelente año 2021
thanks for sharing man
Cheers! 🙂
I came across your channel before and again by accident. I thought you already moved to Vietnam. Glad you'd stayed in Japan for now due to the pandemic. I would agree with most peeps about suggesting you stay in Japan rather than moving to Vietnam. I came to the State (WA) from Cambodia when I was in my teen. Now I am working for the aviation industry and had traveled the globe. Japan by far is the friendliest place I ever been. We had our project at Narita Modification Center with ANA and JAL Airlines. One of my colleagues commute on road bike to work.
Thanks! We do love living here
Happy to hear that you have found a new job in Japan, congratulations! Happy New Year to both of you!
Thank you! Happy new year!
18:00 Oh! A bodega. Glad to hear that you have settled in a new job.
Thanks!
Merry Christmas Cruise
Merry Christmas!
You guys are very fortunate staying there in Japan. May you have a very prosperous new year ahead of you.
Thanks! 😁
I feel on you as my former job is also a bicycle company in Kyoto that serves the customers most of the time....Now I am happier and appreciated to be in the manufacturing end.
Manufacturing end is much simpler and happier :)
Good luck for the couple! I hope things become better. The world is a little crazy now, but it helps watch you showing and talking about different places. It wold be incredible watching you living in Vietnam in the future (pehaps). I`m from Brasil.
Thanks!
I hope you move to Vietnam eventually. Japan is nice to live in, but opportunities are harder to find there. Please continue making the cycling stuff either way!!!
The videos will continue no matter where we end up :)
We love Japan, but we do want to try experiencing a Vietnam chapter of our life.
Glad to hear things are working out for you and Thuong. All the best for 2021. Be safe and well.
Thank you!
Happy Holidays & A Prosperous New Year to both of you
Thank you! 🙂
I love your channel. Please keep posting new video. Your story is so fascinating.
Thank you, we will :)
Congratulations on yet another chapter for the TWC
Thanks!
Good job on your decision. Stay safe and keep on riding.
Thanks!
Hi Cruise! Just wanted to say that your videos inspired me to cycle to work, and I'm now doing my own vlogs about cycling, too! Happy new year!
Awesome! Happy New Year!
Hey man, another great video. As you know I really like the cycle path rides and a chance to see things we might never otherwise get to see. Congratulations on your new job BTW. Regarding other people’s views on staying in Japan.... follow your heart, Vietnam will offer you new opportunities that are not available to you in your present situation, stability for you and your wife in relation to citizenship etc, business opportunities, and I think as someone who has traveled extensively in SE Asia a more layed back life style. It will also provide much more scope to grow your channel. Good lunch in what ever course you decide on and a happy new year to you both.
Thank you! 🙂 that's all true
Just found your channel and subscribed. It's great! I'm moving to Japan in March, so I hope you'll stay and make more videos in Japan.
Thanks! 🙂
Wow, your situation is very complicated. Take care and all the best with your new job.
Thank you!
glad to hear about your new job, I realy enjoy about riding in japan, hope I could be there after I retired.
But I have to wait a little bit longer because I have a goo job here in Indonesia with "tempting" income.
I wish to see you guys someday. Anyway, I love walking also and it is good for my weight loss program.
Thanks! It's a great place to retire
This channel is awesome. You guys are awesome! Wishing you all an amazing 2021! ❤
Thank you! 🙂
Good news to cap off 2020, so that's not too bad. Knowing your ends are met, I think your mind will be put at ease for the time being, and we're happy to know that
Thanks! That's very true :)
Work allots oodles of vacation time. So, I travel to Japan on a yearly basis. My bike, Nimbus, is usually with me during these trips. Unfortunately, the pandemic didn't allow for such the luxury this year. Thanks again for the videos. They are an elixir for this wanting to wander heart. Congrats on the new job in Japan.
Thanks! I need to find a job with lots of vacation.
@@TwoWheelCruise I've worked for a few universities; they typically grant a ton of vacation days. I am very grateful to still be employed.
Merry Christmas! Let's Go!
Merry Christmas!
I'm the guy from Seattle who was asking about a starting point for your trip so that I can follow you on google maps. I found the Yado River and the 363 but that was about as close as I could get. Thanks for the ride.
This time I added the route data on strava 😉
@@TwoWheelCruise Oh great, thanks
@@TwoWheelCruise Oh great, thanks
loving your videos :)
Thanks!
Stay together in Japan, its hard to be alone. i know the felling of being alone for a long time.
Hi Cruise and Thuong, happy new year to you 2! I have watched most of your clips for a few months now. You obviously both like japan and it surely is an interesting place . Sounds like you are keen on starting your own business...... As Japan has a declining population , especially in the countryside, have you ever considered a business which would promote the beautiful and piece full japanese countryside as well as cycling in Japan. This vlog with its amount of subscribers is already a great start. best regards, Eddy
Thanks and yes.
thanks for your reply, we live in nz and have been many times to Japan we are considering moving to there, we already bought a place to stay if we go there for holidays, its in Ibaraki where my wife is from. But am thinking about what kind of business we can do there....... we have a little $ we can invest . Also im a bit ( a lot ) older than you and financially dont have to panic for a little while. I invy you , my japanese is hopeless and dont have the time to do cycling and its not safe in new zealand. We live currently in Auckland but it has become an unlivable city, it has a very inefficient infrastructure( on average people commute well over 2.5 hours a day by car. And property prices have gone crazy with the average being over 1million nzd in auckland. Those good investments and booming markets are certainly not good for everyone.......
Merry Christmas Cruise. Happy to hear that you find a new job and life becomes better. Hope the travel could be easier after the vaccine works. My gf and I has been separated for the whole year between Germany and China 😞
That was one of my biggest fears, hope you can both reunite soon!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you both! Glad that you guys are safe and doing well. Hope we can all cycle safely without worrying getting COVID. I appreciated biking again as I got my bike out of storage due to necessity.
Wishing you guys the best! Much love from the Philippines! 🇵🇭
(Yeah making a long comment too lol)
Thanks!
Happy new year and hopefully 2021 will turn out much better. Stay safe and I will be staying tune to your videos.
Thanks! 😁
I am glad to hear you got new job in Japan! I hope you are having nice Christmas and will have awesome new year 2021 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thank you! Happy New Year :)
Congratulations on the new job. Hopefully 2021 will be a better year, so Two Wheel Cruise will be in Vietnam. Stay Safe
Thanks! 😁
Nice ride today. Nice that you can still ride in Japan without too much snow. It is also cool to have a Vietnam shop within short ride from your home.
I miss the snow rides, but it is nice not having to clean our bikes :)
Great informative video!
congrats on the new job Cruz! hopefully get to see more JP content for another year before you decide to leave. if you decide to leave for Vietnam after the world returns back to normal.
Thanks! :)
Happy holidays from Malaysia 🇲🇾. Glad to hear you've settled into the new job and that your staying in Japan until Sept at least. Really enjoy watching the videos about daily life in Japan and seeing the great rides you guys take 👍. Wishing you both all the very best for a Happy and healthy 2021. Stay safe 😷........and keep posting.👍
Thanks! Will do 🙂
Yay! Congratulations on your new job in Japan! Glad to see the channel still going strong. Keep riding!
Thank you! :)
Nice video again. Like your comments and stories as always.
Thanks! 🙂
Congrats on your new job!
Thanks!
Hi your chanel inspire us as a couple we bought a bike just like you guys..thank you.. merry christmas and a happy safe new year..
Awesome! Merry Christmas!
Happy new year to you too. I am pleased to hear you two will be raining in Japan for a while longer. I enjoy the sites of vernacular Japan and, of corse, the walking tours!
Happy new year!
This channel has grown so much! I remember back in 2017 when you only had like 65 subscribers and now its 60k. Hope you guys have a happy new year!
Thanks! 😅 we've come a long way.
Congrats on the job :) I love following your progress. One day I would love to visit and ride around in Japan
Thanks! It's a fun place to ride
@@TwoWheelCruise I want to go there one day and just get lost in the country side. I'm learning Japanese in my spare time and it's a ton of fun. Might enter a race there some time and explore the mountains. Only issue would be riding on the other side hahaha!
Lots of fun events and great mountain roads for exploring
Glad to see that everything is running your way ! 😃. All the very best for this new year!!!!
Thanks! :)
leaving comment because i support this couple
Thanks!
@@TwoWheelCruise oh my god you notice me im so happy 😊
Happy New Year from Bloomfield Hills!
Happy new year!
Personally, I would just stay in Japan and find a way to sort things out there. But that's just me being based in the Philippines where things are not so great in terms of opportunities related to what I'm doing (cycling-related startup). In fact, my plan is to move my company to Japan when things open up again. Happy New Year!
Philippines is a growing cycling market, Japan has a big market but is saturated and decreasing. Happy new year 😁
Happy new year 🎊
Happy new year!
Hi Two wheel cruise, I’m happy to hear you and your wife are doing well. Merry Christmas. It’s great you have a new job. I look forward to getting vaccinated in February. I hope you guys will get yours soon too. As you say the virus has gotten bad again here in the US. But hopefully the cold inter weather will keep people home, and help stop the spread of the disease. Keep up the fun videos. Happy holidays.
Thanks! We're hoping they will be available in Japan by next Spring/Summer
I really can see you both becoming bilious. I've started watching your channel not too long ago. I own a Overfly electric bike. I enjoy bike riding. Ironically I had a penpal from Nagoya. I got to meet her but she was in the states at the time. I can finally see Nagoya through her eyes by watching your channel. WISHING you both a Happy New Year
Thanks! Happy New Year! :)
@@TwoWheelCruise I meant to say bilingual. Oh my Goodness!!! I really dislike spell check. I'm so sorry that is not what I wanted to say.
No problem 😅
Happy holidays to both of you
Thanks! Happy holidays!
Good for you, guys. Thanks for sharing! Greetings from El Salvador.
Thank you!
Merry Christmas Thoung and Cruise...safe ride
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing on such an amazing video Cruise.
Thanks Andy!
@@TwoWheelCruise you’re welcome Cruise.
Happy New Year to the both of you. Catching up on your videos, congratulations on you new job. Good luck for 2021
Thanks!
Good to hear you're both safe most of all. I think the pros outweighs the cons and both of you seem like the glass half full types. I look forward to seeing more of these river path vids and wish u and Tuong a safe, healthy and happy ridings for 2021.
Thanks! Happy New Year!
Great to know things are working for you guys,great news 👍
Thanks! 🙂
Hi TWC, I’m riding my bike on the trainer for every video you post and having a blast doing it so thank you for uploading your rides, I’m stuck at home and your videos are great, thank you. May 2021 be prosperous for you and your wife...
Thank you, glad they help 🙂
It's good to hear that the job's working out, and that you two are managing okay.
🙂
Congrats on the new job be well
Thanks! 🙂
That shop looks very nice. That empty back wall could use some artwork, maybe a large poster of some pretty places in Vietnam. 😃
Good idea!
Looking forward to a lot of cool cycling videos from Vietnam!
Can't wait!
Thank you for another great video. I miss bike touring, so I enjoy tagging along on your adventures. Glad you were able find a teaching position. And you’re right. People here are not taking the pandemic seriously enough. You’re lucky you’re there. Blessings and Happy New Year!
Glad you enjoyed it, happy new year!
Good luck with your new job
Thank you! 🙂
Congratulations 🍾🎉🎊🎈 on the new job!! Thanks for the update.
Thanks! 🙂
Merry Christmas, I hope both of you are healthy and economy is improving. あなたのTH-camのビデオをありがとう。
Thank you! 🙂
Glad with the news! Happy New Year guys!
Happy new year!
Great blessing for the coming Year
Thank you! :)
Very glad for you getting a new job! Happy new year!
Thanks! Happy new year!
"Nothing but love for Thuong and Vietnam, her home country, but now's not the best time to be trying to reinvent yourself in a new country"....I had been secretly thinking since Spring when you guys dropped news of your plans. I'm relieved you're staying in Japan. I mean, I never even met you but 😂
True, the timing is not good. We love Japan, but the work restrictions are tough compared to what we want to focus on until we can get permanent residency.
Okay, I gave in, I subscribed.
Have a great new year keep the entertaining videos coming
Thanks! 🙂
I just got some ngk spark plugs and they say Nagoya Japan on them :) sending love to you guys I’m glad you’re doing ok!
Thanks! And nice surprise!
Glad to see you guys are doing well. Keep working on that business plan!
Thanks! 😁
congrats on your new job!!!!
Thanks!
Glad to hear about a new plan for the next upcoming year. Haha, I am actually in the same shoes but in HK at the moment.
Do you live in HK then? How do you like it overall?
Have to leave a comment to show my supports.
Thanks! :)
Happy new year Cruise and Thoung.Greeting from Thailand.
Thanks! Happy New Year!
Congratulations, Two Wheel, on getting that Eikaiwa gig!
Though working nights and splitting those days off does take a toll, it might be better than the college gigs now for a few reasons.
1 - If and/or when you make the jump to Vietnam, for the same reason you gave regarding not returning to the Japanese company, it may be easier to leave an eikaiwa job at your own convenience rather than worrying about the bind in which you might have left an institution.
I started my career through a couple of years in a conversation school in Tochighi-ken. Though I made good friends through that school, and there were some sad goodbyes, there were plenty of people willing and able to take my place when I left.
For conversation-communication type classes, the teacher's personality and temperament are more important than publish-or-perish academic research skills ... so that leaves a large pool of prospective employees who can fill in for you when you leave ... housewives, retirees, and young people who are interested in experiencing and exploring Japan for a few years.
2 - As I described in detail under your 'Why Foreigners Leave Japan' post, unless one has influential Japanese connections or already unlimited resources (which would beg the question of why bother to work to begin with), when push comes to shove, Japanese labor law and work contracts are not worth the paper they are written on. This is just as true for Japanese as it is for foreigners, and the pandemic policies are only making it worse.
Suicides, mostly due to economic reasons, are at a record high, with more suicide deaths in November, alone, than deaths by the corona virus since the pandemic began about a year ago. When it comes down to an individual's rights, the law is heavily weighted on the side of the whims of the institutionally entitled at a school or corporation. Even a win by the plaintiff, will be a long and costly, pyrrhic victory at best. If even the likes of Ghosn did not fare so well in the Japanese legal system, teachers really have their backs against the wall.
3 - The colleges are increasingly distancing themselves from dealing directly with foreign instructors by outsourcing them through hakkengaisha. Some of those intermediaries are one-man shows just in it for the money, and they can take a hefty cut from what would have otherwise been a decent salary for an instructor hired by the traditional academic route.
Though I can't name the school for fear of legal reprisal, a few years ago, I did part-time work for one of the new business colleges with campuses in Tokyo and Chiba. And though the owner of the outsourcing company who hired me was not academically qualified (nor even a native speaker of English), he struck a deal with the school for additional income by writing and selling his own program to the school, selling the material to the students, and requiring the instructors to follow his program.
The 'textbooks', rather than designed to build communication skills, were just typed and stapled print-outs of unnatural dialogs (such as shopping for panties in a department store) and drills and tests of brute memory for random vocabulary and grammar with little communicative context.
The dialogs had not even been proofread and corrected by a native speaker, but the students and instructors were required to use that material, and that material only. Neither the instructors nor the students were impressed with the program, but the school was also just a slipshod business - looking for the easiest route to quick profits rather than putting in the time and effort for an educational program worth its salt.
The bar for being hired as an instructor did not require any TESOL background or graduate degree. Just being a foreign native speaker was enough. But for a 2 year college, academic qualifications were less important than whether the teachers enjoyed their work. And they did not. Though they were not happy as replaceable cogs in a machine, the instructors had their own families to feed, and so were grateful to have any job at all.
The students were similarly stuck in a hard place. They were more motivated than typical Japanese college students (at least at first) because most of them were from Vietnam and China, and in Japan looking for work. Because the current law for non-skilled immigrant labor had not yet been implemented, a student visa was the easiest route. Along with higher motivation, they were also more expressive than typical Japanese counterparts, and loads of fun to teach.
I had never met the boss of that one-man outsourcing scheme, and he had not even visited the school while I worked there because of 'health reasons'. On behalf of the students and doing the right thing as an educator, I spent weeks in late night e-mail exchanges, trying to dissuade him from micro-managing the classes from his home. But he proved to be as stubborn as he was greedy - and determined to maintain strict, though unprofessional, control.
Rather than be trapped between a rock and a hard place, I raised the issue with the school's administration, but received no positive response. As I was willing to resign from a former tenured position for similar reasons, I sure as hell wasn't going to bite the bullet for scraps, so I left him and that school to their own devices.
Now looking on the school's homepage, I see no indication the English program still exists. Other than a short study-abroad exchange program with a small school in the U.S., there is no indication that there is even an English program at all.
4 - Even the outsourcing companies are now in danger of being outsourced.
Yesterday's 6:00 pm NHK news (Dec. 27) announced that the Ministry of Education (MEXT) would be creating a database which would connect colleges in search of teachers with under-employed corporate employees, most likely Japanese citizens. The main target classes? Shushokukatsudo (job-hunt training) ... and English.
The academic qualifications, experience, or skill-sets that make for a good college English instructor, or even as a viable job prospect, are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
Partially because of the pandemic policies and (connected or not) with a world-wide increase in nationalism and economic contraction ... and partially because of existing laws and a mind-set prioritizing employment of Japanese citizens, the institutional career path for foreigners in Japan is quickly shrinking.
This is not 'Japan-bashing'.
A prominent American political opportunist, who shall remain unnamed, ran on a policy of 'America First' and 'Make America Great Again'.
I would challenge that sentiment as neither morally fair nor meritocratic ... and therefore, not a sustainable economic model for society. Ancient Greece, China, and Egypt had their day in the sun, but that day would have been much shorter if they had closed down their trade routes and free movement of people.
I think that you made a good choice in going Eikaiwa rather than academia. I just bought a copy of Ivan Hall's 'Cartels of the Mind; Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop'. First published in 1998, I'd say it is as prophetic of 2021, as descriptive of the 1990's. www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Ivan-P-Hall/dp/0393347761/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Probably for most viable conversation schools, the working hours are necessarily rough on home life and leisure time. But as you know, making friendships and having fun through working and teaching in good faith, goes a long way in making the days goes fast, and the time for you two making a big move, all the closer.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May the wind be at your backs, and the uphill pedal as smooth as a downhill glide.
Cheers, Two Wheel and Thuong.
Thanks! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
It's definitely a mix of positives and negatives, but for us for the next year this solution works out perfectly.
Subscribe for more cycling videos in Japan th-cam.com/video/pJ9ZQpcVjy4/w-d-xo.html
4k Ralaxing Walk videos with Thuong - th-cam.com/video/VZW5pXfHCyM/w-d-xo.html
Thanks 4 the updates and happy New Year to all. I hope u started Thuong’s application for U.S. status already, given that process does take a long time, or you could do what some Americans were doing and apply for Canadian status. :-).
Canada or Portugal is more tempting at this point. We would like to apply, but from my understanding I would have to be living in or moving to the US.
Portugal? That’s odd as I don’t recall you mentioning them in prior videos, but I could be losing memory nowadays. That’s on the retirement bucket list, as I would like to try their version of “Feijoada”, after living in Brazil for 5 years. You might have to hire an immigration attorney for clarity. I got Canadian status first and finally got US notice for interview after 15 years. Yours should be quicker given husband wife status.
We haven't mentioned it in a video yet, but will be talking about it on patreon soon. It's a new consideration for us which is very tempting. More to come soon 😉