Starting Life in Tokyo: What No One Tells You About Moving to Japan
Alun's settling into life in Tokyo but not before an unhealthy dose of bureaucracy, and an even unhealthier dose of convenience store food. We rank Japan's convenience stores, as well as discuss the things no one tells you about moving to Japan. How can a country famous for its efficiency be so inefficient?
Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, as we relive our favourite memory from the farm. Lovingly referred to as Peanut Butter, this story involves a dog with a weakness for lasagne, a block of butter, and quicker reactions than a wild west shootout. This might be the funniest thing we've ever witnessed. Did we mention Alun's a dog whisperer?
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
02:27 - Adam's dodgy supermarket meal
05:02 - Alun's convenience store confessions
08:16 - Ranking Japan's convenience stores
14:05 - Japan's bureaucratic processes & Alun's extensive medical exam
25:44 - Adam's life update
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Alun:
[0:01] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's the only backpacking show
Introduction to Tripology
Alun:
[0:07] where the hosts exclusively date people who work in immigration. I'm Alun and I'm here with the ever leukocytotic Adam.
Adam:
[0:18] What in the world does leukocytotic mean?
Alun:
[0:21] Good question Adam. Moving swiftly on.
Adam:
[0:25] Let's get into the show it's nice to see you again mate uh what's the week been like because you're still over in tokyo teaching music over there i'm still in the central otago south island new zealand it is the last day of the harvest tomorrow my back is in bits i uh i can't believe i'm still here to be honest with you but i'm very glad to be here talking to you in front of this wonderful audience i.
Alun:
[0:50] Can't believe you're still here either i didn't think after the performance that you put in last week in your little bobble hat all ill and mullied up that you would make it to this week so it is a surprise and a welcome surprise to see you that is what leukocytotic means it means someone with a high white blood cell count which i can only assume that you had throughout the week last week and that is why your immune system has bolstered and that you're with us here today.
Adam:
[1:15] Fantastic that's going straight into the vocabulary um i don't know how many white blood cells i'm going to have after after today i mean white blood cells are the ones that you what that you get when you are sick then.
Alun:
[1:26] They increase when you're sick so you.
Adam:
[1:28] The ones that you get like trading them like pokemon cards.
Alun:
[1:33] Yeah you'd have had leukopsychosis.
Adam:
[1:35] I'm gonna sound so stupid um good red blood red blood cells are good red blood cells i'm sporting the red jumper and white blood cells you.
Harvest Celebrations Ahead
Alun:
[1:43] Get if you've got very oxygenated blood or maybe you're a bit dehydrated.
Adam:
[1:47] Well like i said mate really big day tomorrow it's the last day of picking and then we've got a big harvest party the team the winery staff everyone involved we're all gonna have a big slap up meal uh and yeah we're gonna go out picking in the morning and then hopefully a big knees up in the afternoon and for that reason i want to make sure that i'm fighting fit i have a good night's sleep and i don't get sick and um i'm just looking peering down no way.
Alun:
[2:10] So you're gonna be picking grapes eating and drinking that's rare for you.
Adam:
[2:13] Isn't it if there's three that's a trifecta i tried every single one of my days in the rest of my life i wanted to involve those things which is very difficult i'm gonna have to move around a lot but luckily i've got a travel podcast haven't i now let me just introduce you to this thing on the floor so if you're not watching uh the video then you you may as well it's.
Alun:
[2:32] Probably going to be a grape some food or some alcohol.
Adam:
[2:34] Knowing adam um i i basically picked this thing up from the supermarket earlier i think i was drawn to it because you're in japan and it's called crunchy chicken on sushi rice, and it's uh it's some food yeah it's some food in a little plastic thing you know sometimes supermarkets they have just a little deli counter and they're basically packing up all the shit that no one bought throughout the day and then they reduce reduce to clear or whatever it is sell it off for for peanuts and i bought this earlier thinking i'm recording with Alun tonight he's in japan why not try some crunchy chicken on sushi rice the japanese love that um and i got like three mouthfuls into it before the recording and then had a panic attack that it was gonna to give me salmonella so i only ate three mouthfuls i thought if i'm going to be sick tomorrow i'll be really really angry because it's like the one day that we've all been waiting for for the last month um so i just popped it on the floor why.
Alun:
[3:26] Are you worried about salmonella because you've left it unrefrigerated for a while.
Adam:
[3:29] Uh well i bought it and it wasn't looking sort of in the best shape and then yeah i just left it out for a couple of hours while i did some errands and then came home had a shower um and that was it mate i just got a little bit worried that you know i probably would have been fine but i cannot risk getting ill tomorrow because it's such a massive day
Alan's Observations on Japan
Adam:
[3:48] um and i've been looking forward to it for a very long time so well.
Alun:
[3:52] I'm glad that you brought up little deli counter katsu chicken style stuff because it's a little item i've been working on it's called Alun's observations about japan so far that is the theme music.
Adam:
[4:03] I've not been a.
Alun:
[4:04] Lot of my work on the item has been into the content as opposed to the jingle.
Adam:
[4:10] Adam so.
Alun:
[4:12] One of my observations about japan so far is that it does something to me which i'm not sure that i like and i'd be nervous about telling you about it but your presentation of that little crunchy chickens made me feel boldened to tell you about it, You love food and going out for lovely meals and exploring. So I know when I'm in Japan, your voice is echoing in my head saying, every meal is an opportunity to have the best meal of your life. I think of that a lot. Much like you imagine me throughout your life telling you to do certain things. I know because you've told me. I imagine you in my head when it comes to food. and I always think that but oftentimes because I'm working here because I'm dressed in a polo shirt because I'm going about my life I find myself frequenting the convenience stores an alarming amount I even have ingredients to cook for myself.
Adam:
[5:16] Yeah but.
Alun:
[5:17] Sometimes I'll get back from work and there's good food in those convenience stores it's so easy just to nip down the road to 7-Eleven get a pre-packed rice and chicken protein sort of pack for just a few hundred yen bring it back heat it up and it's a good meal for a decent price I've been going, I've been going to the convenience stores at least twice a day Adam.
Adam:
[5:39] Alun you're talking to the right guy mate because I know I can hear in your voice you're a little bit down about it you feel sort of guilty but the names in the title they are convenience stores the reason you go to them so often is because they are so convenient and i like the almost the ritual of going to i quite like interacting and walking around the store and i deliberately i deliberately only buy one or two things at a time so that i eat them you know in the near future and then i have to go to another one in order to get something else i don't bulk buy in a convenience store because i quite like going to them so i don't think that's i don't think that's an issue mate i tend to go to, convenience stores like maybe five times a day when I'm in Japan.
Alun:
[6:20] I find that interesting because you would bulk at somebody going to... In almost any other country, like if we were in India and someone said, oh, I've actually not been eating the Indian food, I've just been going to the 7-Eleven and getting sort of a sandwich, you would find that horrendous.
Adam:
[6:43] It's not the same, is it?
Alun:
[6:43] But you sort of have a pass. What's different about it?
Adam:
[6:46] The fact that convenience stores or konbini are a really important part of everyday Japanese life. They're very iconic in Japan and associated with it.
Alun:
[6:55] Okay, so in many ways, going to a conveni in Japan is the same as going to a chai guy in India. It's just like they're a part of the cultural furniture.
Adam:
[7:04] Absolutely, yeah.
Alun:
[7:05] Not that chai sellers are furniture guys. God, everyone's so sensitive these days.
Adam:
[7:12] If you go to Japan and you don't go to a convenience store, I would say that you've missed something. I do think that it's... I walk around for hours and hours and hours, whether it's Tokyo, Kyoto or anywhere else in Japan. And sometimes you need to just duck in for a little onigiri, one of those little, you know, rice balls or whatever.
Alun:
[7:31] You can't say that anymore. But they are the only place in Japan where you can find, like, refuse as well. They don't have bins on the streets. So often you'll have to duck into a 7-Eleven to actually just throw away trash. And sometimes I'm doing a thing where I'm, like, working. but i turn up to work an hour early and go and sit and plan my lesson in a convenience store or i'll like um finish work and then go and sit in a convenience store and have a little bite to eat before i maybe go climbing with one of my colleagues so it's very exciting stuff it.
Adam:
[8:06] Is i like them a lot have you got a favorite yet because i imagine on let's say you're walking from the train station to work even if you've only got a walk of a few minutes you probably walk past three or four.
Alun:
[8:15] There's the big three mate there's 7-eleven there's family mart and Lawson those are the three of those three convenience stores I would say one is absolutely the superior I think there's one that wins hands down, Then I have a second best and a third best. I'm going to put those three in a ranking now in my mind. Do you want to, like, should we say them at the same time? How do you want to do it?
Adam:
[8:40] So what are we sort of talking about in terms of the criteria?
Alun:
[8:45] Preference, overall vibe and preference. Well, we can discuss it, mate. So three, two, one. Number one for me is three, two, one. Lawson.
Adam:
[8:54] Yeah.
Alun:
[8:54] Right. The reason is the food is superior.
Adam:
[8:58] Right. there's.
Alun:
[8:59] Often free wi-fi in the lawson's it's called lawson's free wi-fi the staff are sexy.
Adam:
[9:05] As hell yeah yeah really important isn't it.
Alun:
[9:12] And i just like it in there i think it's i think it's the best food actually is i think it's got the best food of any convenience.
Adam:
[9:17] Have you had the fried chicken in there oh yeah yeah because there's a fami cheeky which is obviously the family mart fried chicken which is pretty famous but some people prefer the 7-eleven i'm not sure anyone's preferring the lawson's so that's why i asked mate we've got to be a bit more specific and because you can do so many things in a convenience store i think you can even like, deposit money and send your post and all that print things can't you it's it's a.
Alun:
[9:39] Yeah you can go on a date.
Adam:
[9:41] In there as well it's.
Alun:
[9:43] Um number two for me three two one.
Adam:
[9:46] Seven eleven yeah oh.
Alun:
[9:49] Amazing this is interesting okay a seven eleven for me it's your middle tier they do a great egg sandwich.
Adam:
[9:55] Yeah, of course. um i don't mind family.
Alun:
[10:13] Mart is the lowest of those top three though.
Adam:
[10:15] Yeah there's also have you seen the other lawson's one there's like a lawson's natural sort of organic type green thing it's got a different um banner at the top i'm you know racking my brains out now we'll go to one when i'm over in tokyo and i'll say this is the s tier i've.
Alun:
[10:31] Not seen that that's really that's better than that's the best one is it lawson's organic.
Adam:
[10:36] Well i don't even know if it's organic it just seems to have sort of more natural products whether that be kombucha or something like that obviously you know better slightly better produce but it's good food and convenience store isn't it we just want a quick snack mate i've got absolutely um no qualms with you going to these things.
Alun:
[10:52] I mean really as well the food is healthy enough because the worst thing about the the food is that it's microwavable and i think that microwaving plastic getting microplastics in the food is probably bad but i just circumvent that i bring it home put it in a bowl microwave the ceramic bowl, um and i'm getting all the benefits of a lovely.
Adam:
[11:12] Healthy lawson's meal.
Alun:
[11:14] Without any of the microplastics so what can touch me really.
Adam:
[11:18] Yeah i mean would you think you would have picked that up off the shelf the crunchy the crunchy chicken on sushi rice no.
Alun:
[11:24] I'm getting like rice vegetables and meat maybe chicken.
Adam:
[11:28] Have you tried the fish tried the fish in convenience stores actually all right do.
Alun:
[11:31] You know i've got into mate the the the dried octopus.
Adam:
[11:35] The dried octopus what, Or is it like chips, like crisps?
Alun:
[11:40] Mate, there's no other adjectives involved or nouns or anything. It's just dried octopus. I know you might want to add something to it like, oh, is it a dried octopus skewer? Is it a dried octopus chunk? You don't get any more information on the packet, mate. On the faith of just those two words alone, you've got to pick that up and take it to the counter. That might be why you've never had it, because you're a man that's constantly seeking affirmation from a subsidiary adjective or noun. Me, I see dried octopus, and that's enough information. It's already gone through the checkout. It's back home.
Adam:
[12:11] Does it at least have the word authentic on it?
Alun:
[12:13] No other words, but it's got a picture of an octopus baking under the sun.
Adam:
[12:19] But what do they taste like? Describe them to us. It doesn't have to be a rice for breakfast. Jesus, Double's got that much time.
Alun:
[12:25] It tastes as if someone, through some sort of process, let's call it evaporation, has removed every molecule of water from the flesh of a cephalopod.
Adam:
[12:38] So it's like concentrated octopus flavour.
Alun:
[12:40] Yeah, and it's incredibly chewy. And just one tentacle takes 15 minutes to eat.
Adam:
[12:47] Harking back to that thing I had in Korea. Did you ever eat that, by the way? the live tentacle thing in korea.
Alun:
[12:53] No i never had it no do.
Adam:
[12:56] You think you would have done or you only dried.
Alun:
[12:58] Yeah if you told me if you'd given me a recommendation for it i would have no.
Adam:
[13:01] No we definitely spoke about that we spoke about it on the show as well do you not do you not go back and listen to old episodes in your own time.
Alun:
[13:06] No i find one of the hosts vaguely intolerable.
Adam:
[13:12] If you've never had this thing i mean i probably should just get the name up of the dish i think it's called sag and naki or something like that um.
Alun:
[13:20] Yeah you can't say that anymore but the dried octopus is really good it's become a favorite because i like foods that take a long time to consume so it is a load off my mind mate because i have been worried every time i've gone into a 7-eleven or a lawson's or indeed a family mart i've thought adam would want me to go to a little ramen bar on the side or a izakaya or something so i've been feeling a little bit of guilt but they are simply more convenient they.
Adam:
[13:46] Are and you can save all your pennies mate for the moment that we we get over there together and we'll go out and eat and drink a few times a day you got a bit of time in the morning bit of time in the afternoon or do i just sort
Navigating Japanese Bureaucracy
Adam:
[13:56] of organize some stuff for the evenings how's that going to work.
Alun:
[13:59] You've got it that's what it's got to be mate because i'm bang slap in the middle of the day working in the employ of someone else and that's one of my other observations about japan it's uh that being employed here nailed.
Adam:
[14:12] The theme music.
Alun:
[14:13] Requires a significant burden of administration yeah yeah and the way it's done, is via a drip feeding process which has left me it's not me for six quite frankly to use a beloved cricket expression you know that here on topology podcast we love the mumbai indians and we love cricket and one thing we like to say is that's really knocked me for six oh.
Adam:
[14:40] Nice call back yeah a nice reference there.
Alun:
[14:43] Thanks so basically what's happened is i've entered into this job and they've gone oh that's amazing could you um send us the your a picture of your residency card so okay i've got a residency card i've gone to the registration address so now i can send them a picture of the back of my residency card which has my address on then they're like um oh could you send me a, a full medical report oh okay so I've got to go to the doctors I go to the doctors I get a chest x-ray I get blood work done I have to urinate into a little cup have that measured they have to do an echocardiogram where they're getting a sense of what my heart's doing they've got to check my eyes oh.
Adam:
[15:30] Good luck fucking.
Alun:
[15:31] Hell all that sort of stuff mate I'm doing all that i'm in there for hours they're measuring every aspect of my being it turns out i'm a big fat prick with bad eyes did.
Adam:
[15:45] You when they said a full medical report is that like a a level of service that the doctor knew what you were talking about you're like look i've just started work my employers asked me for a full medical.
Alun:
[15:56] My employer sent me a sample form that i then had to show the doctor like this is what i want okay i thought it was going to be height weight is this person dying of anything but i didn't realize they were going to be like hmm you need to this is the tips they gave me this the doctor said and i'm quoting them in perfect japanese here but then i'm translating it so just know that when i'm telling you this is going through several layers of translation he said you're overall healthy perfect you seem to be a little dehydrated you should try and relax more and you've got a crooked spine.
Adam:
[16:38] I feel like the last two are linked aren't they.
Alun:
[16:41] Well it's difficult to know try.
Adam:
[16:43] And relax more and you've got a crooked spine maybe you should relax less.
Alun:
[16:47] Yeah basically from my urine they determined that i was dehydrated which in fact i was because i just woke up and had to rush to the medical clinic before i started work um and then as for this i think i was just do you have that thing where a doctor's taking your blood pressure and pulse and you get nervous about whether the result's going to be good so your blood pressure and pulse go up very slightly well.
Adam:
[17:13] I'm sure that's universal isn't it well maybe some people just don't.
Alun:
[17:16] Care i could feel it happening i was like all chilled i was like boom boom boom boom and then the nurse comes out, it's time to take your blood pressure she puts on the scanner she drops her stethoscope one moment And I can feel it as the blood pressure coil goes on me. I'm like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And she's like, hmm, Konichiwa, you seem stressed out as fuck.
Adam:
[17:43] Could you see the dial going up?
Alun:
[17:46] Yeah, I could see the dial going up. Yeah, exactly. And then he sent me in for a chest x-ray. And it turns out, based on one image, he's like, your spine's a little bit crooked. but here's the clincher I don't think I was standing straight when he did that x-ray I was looking at something over there I was looking back at the nurse she dropped her stethoscope again.
Adam:
[18:13] Oh and you were bent over double to try and hide the those are your spiners.
Alun:
[18:18] Everyone who has nurse Mayang Lee seems to have scoliosis since we hired her rates of scoliosis in the Koto region of Japan have gone through the roof and the blood pressure readings aren't too hot either oh.
Adam:
[18:32] Dear oh dear so you had to present these then back to your employer yeah, And you mentioned fat. You're not fat. We can see you're not fat.
Alun:
[18:41] I just put them in someone's, would you call it a cubby hole or maybe even a pigeon hole, depending on whether you're more into aviation or furniture. I just threw the medical certificate in someone's hole and I'm just letting them deal with it.
Adam:
[18:55] But you weren't happy with the results? Because I know they're pretty harsh. I mean, you do have to report back to your employer. And aren't there some sort of regulations that could come in if you get a little slap on the wrist if you're not as healthy as you could be?
Alun:
[19:06] No, I'm happy to say that I passed the medical test for employment purposes. And it's an amazing thing in Japan, if you turn out to be like, if basically your medical result comes back, and it turns out that you're fat, which is a terrible surprise to some people, a lot of people go their whole life, not realizing, and then their result comes back, and it just goes, you are obese. And then they look down, and they go, oh, my God. um and if that does happen your employer is obligated to like subsidize some like gym memberships or something like that so that's quite a good little bit of social uh health care so i was i was relieved to discover that i wasn't obese um thank god because if i had been i don't know what i would have done um you'd.
Adam:
[19:51] Have only gone to the convenience store once a day.
Alun:
[19:53] Yeah can you imagine it would have been awful so then i submit my medical certificate and then they're like oh you need a germino which is again you've got to go to an office and now get a piece of certificate that proves that you are in fact living at the place that's on the back of your residency card which you were given because you went to the registry office and register your address i'm.
Adam:
[20:15] I'm already confused hang on what's.
Alun:
[20:17] Going on here so i've gone to the office i've registered my address i've shown my employer the registered address but they now need a certificate to prove that my address is in fact the address that i proved that i registered but in just certificate form.
Adam:
[20:31] Okay. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a waste of time.
Alun:
[20:34] No, no, it's certainly not. So I'll be doing that post haste.
Adam:
[20:38] When are you going to be out in the clear then? When are you going to just be able to just do your job and not have to worry about all of these different forms and bureaucracy?
Alun:
[20:47] Before retirement age, I'll have finished all the onboarding processes.
Adam:
[20:52] Can you see a long-term future in Japan? And by that, I mean at least the remainder
The Joys and Struggles of Life in Japan
Adam:
[20:56] of your visa and so forth.
Alun:
[20:57] That's what i will say adam like honestly i'm not a negative guy and i never so so like i know it sounds negative when i talk this way but in actual fact i think there's so much to love about japan like obviously we talked a lot about the food uh i went up to a stand-up comedy night in tokyo and it was so much fun it was amazing i went to a shinto shrine and it was so beautiful and i was learning about cami and animism and i think it's like so beautiful, the bureaucracy is crazy to me they're like the the amount of forms and signs that need to be done to like rent an apartment or or like get a bus card or get a phone number or a bank account or indeed like medical certificates and residency addresses and stuff like that like that stuff gets me down yeah.
Adam:
[21:52] Yeah is it um is it maybe worth mentioning to anyone who's listening to this who's eyeing up a life in japan like just be prepared i mean it's a slog it's something you should definitely be prepared for and if it feels you know like a lot then you're in the right place sort of thing.
Alun:
[22:07] Because because like you love japan you consider yourself a japanophile although you shouldn't say that anymore but it's um, But you've obviously never had to deal with that bureaucracy because you've always just been... here briefly like on holiday little did you know that if for a moment even for a brief lapse in judgment you started living in japan as opposed to being on holiday there there'd be thousands of people lined up in suits ready to hand you a different form sir have you are you living here no no i'm holiday are you are you sure you're not living in here just briefly.
Adam:
[22:45] Yeah we've seen the shape of your spine um no i did go to japan for was it the first time it was either the first or second and that was mid-covid as well and even that was you know well it was at the very beginning of covid i think it was february 2020 um and that was maybe not a taste of what you're going through but but certainly i could see the signs that it was um probably less efficient in some ways than people would imagine.
Alun:
[23:15] Yeah, it's so funny, isn't it? Because it's such an efficient country in every way. But the reason it works efficiently on this level is because all the bureaucracy is handed down just to the laymen. They know everything about me. They literally know the density of my piss. Like, it's on record.
Adam:
[23:40] Yeah. there must be pretty wide margins though surely you know what do they think you're passing past a convenience store and picking up a large bottle of pocari sweat before you that's what you should get lots of electrolytes my favorite drink apart from i should.
Alun:
[23:55] Have done that before i uh went to the medical exam it turned out but yeah so so there's just there's an awful lot of information about everyone all the time.
Adam:
[24:03] Yeah i wonder actually whether you've noticed this i know you've only been in japan for a relatively short amount of time and only working well working for even less but i have heard through some other very talented and fantastic youtubers that i follow who live in japan that sometimes at work you are almost better off staying late and just looking like you're working just to try and make up the time even if you've got nothing to do just being present at work is almost expected um yeah and sort of everyone kind of does it even if the work's dried up or you finish your tasks for the day if you were to leave early or even on time it's kind of frowned upon have you felt anything like that.
Alun:
[24:46] No adam because in the interests of this being in a public forum i actually don't mind all the bureaucracy when it pertains to my employer and i would.
Adam:
[24:56] Never be.
Alun:
[24:56] Seen to work if i wasn't actually working.
Adam:
[24:58] So so.
Alun:
[25:00] Two things there i think it's totally fine i was actually very happy to submit the medical form I'm just joking on a show for fun and also it when i'm at work i i'm actually working, more than 100 as hard as.
Adam:
[25:16] Possible to work.
Alun:
[25:20] So if anything, if you pay me an hourly raise, you're getting a 50% discount.
Adam:
[25:29] You've got to love it. You've got to love it. I don't suppose anyone at your business listens to the show, do they, mate?
Alun:
[25:35] I'm working for 7-Eleven, the second best convenience store in all of Japan. Adam, tell us a little bit about you, mate. You've got three minutes to tell us what's going on in your world.
Adam:
[25:49] A little update from adam i'm on the brink of selling my van you'll be pleased to know some people listening to this will be like what how have you not even why have you still got that thing you said like two months ago you were going to sell it.
Alun:
[25:59] The reason you have is because every time someone tried to buy it from you you kept on giving them the addresses.
Adam:
[26:04] Of a bunch of beaches i remember um no so i've i've driven all the way down to the middle of the south end of course i've been kind of half living in it half living in this cabin i've got a heater in my cabin now so that's great that was a very new addition even though i'm going to be leaving in a week what's her name of the heater sorry.
Alun:
[26:22] Silly scratch that joke from the.
Adam:
[26:25] Record um and yeah i've been picking for the last couple of weeks i'm really enjoying it we've got that big meal that i was talking about i don't know what i'm going to do afterwards so you know watch this space guys watch this space Alun maybe i'll be sending you a couple of messages thinking about ideas because if i want to be with you at the end of may sort of early june that gives me about three weeks to go and have some fun i've.
Alun:
[26:50] Been greasing the proverbial wheel of your arrival with my landlord.
Adam's Update on Life
Adam:
[26:56] Oh, really? Okay, how's that going?
Alun:
[27:02] Well, when I say I've been greasing the proverbial wheel, there's a series of complaints that I have about this room that I was withholding because I thought it seemed a bit much. I've got them in quickly now so that there'll be like a few weeks of space before I say, can I have my friend over for multiple weeks?
Adam:
[27:21] Yeah, I like the way you do this because this is quite similar to where you were living in Shargao. than you were living in the Airbnb. And you'd basically, the coffee machine wasn't working and something else was broken as well, wasn't it? You didn't want to just bombard your landlord with loads of things to fix. So you spaced them out.
Alun:
[27:37] Yeah, I'd broken three things and I like waited, yeah.
Adam:
[27:40] So I appreciate that, mate. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm, maybe I'm going to, refrain from eating any japanese or east asian food certainly ones that have been bought from supermarkets so that i can save up all my pennies squirrel my money away and then come and um we'll go and have a have a ball and i'll take you out and all that sort of stuff.
Alun:
[28:00] I'm excited mate speaking of consuming forbidden food food which you shouldn't really put in your mouth, we're about to go now to the lost and found section and listeners of this show know that that exists only and exclusively on patreon we teased in last week's patreon that we're going to tell a story on this week's patreon it is one of the most defining anecdotes of mine and adam's friendship it's at the time and i'm not willing to say whether this is still the case by the time it was the funniest thing i'd ever seen and we experienced it together it was one of one of the things that glued us together as friends um it was very very funny and we're going to tell it in this episode's patreon section so if you haven't already click the link in the description in the show notes that says patreon go sign up for as little as the cost of a box of tissues you can get access to the lost and found section um and it fits seamlessly into your podcast if you listen to the podcast on Spotify, you can still just listen on Spotify every week. It will just come out and you'll just have the Patreon version. It's not even going to disrupt your regular scheduled viewing or programming, okay? So just do it for a little bit of money and then you can hear the story. It's called Peanut Butter.
Adam:
[29:26] That's it. And if that doesn't tick you over into the Patreon section, we don't know what will. But go and join us over there, guys. Thanks ever so much for listening for another week. Hope you have an amazing time and we will see you on the next one.
Alun:
[29:39] Yeah, with that, we'll bid you adieu.
Transition to Patreon
Adam:
[29:42] Ciao.
