K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about moving. And… would we ever?

C: Okay, good. I’m a little bit relieved.

K: (laughs)

C: I don’t think we’re moving. This is not a good time.

K: This is a pretty big place for just two people. Not big by American standards, but by Japanese standards, it’s huge. Like the White House huge for two people. But… for Japanese standards wise. For American standards wise, this is a comfortable retirement condo. 

C: Yeah. I agree with that. 

K: Yeah. So, do you think we’d ever move from here, or do you think this is our forever home?

C: I can’t see us moving from here to somewhere else in Nagoya, so I think if we were moving cities.

K: (laughs) Yeah. No. We are not – (laughs) Why would we move from here to somewhere else in Nagoya? 

C: I don’t know.

K: That’s so wackadoo. 

C: Yeah, I don’t know. And I don’t see us becoming snowbirds or… sunbirds or whatever.

K: What are you talking about? Why are we becoming birds?

C: Like, snowbirds are people who go to the snowy places in the winter for skiing or whatever.

K: Okay.

C: And I think they call them sunbirds for like people who go to Florida during the winter for the sun.

K: I think you’re making something up.

C: I am making something up, but I’m not sure which one. 

K: Okay. (laughs) Because we – we’re definitely still going to travel.

C: Oh, yeah.

K: You owe me a trip to New Zealand, man. 

C: I do.

K: Yeah. I want to go to New Zealand.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, for visiting, not for living.

C: Right.

K: But I – and, looking at New Zealand, and I think because I’ve been looking at New Zealand a lot – I’m kind of attracted to it. Like, it looks like a good – I don’t know – they’re really courting retirees. I feel like they’re courting us.

C: Yeah, I feel like they

K: We’re not retirees, but they’re still courting us.

C: I feel like they damaged their reputation a little bit.

K: Okay, how so?

C: Because, back near the end of March, they said, “our borders are closed. As of now.”

K: (laughs) 

C: “If you’re here, tough shit.” 

K: (laughs) I shouldn’t be laughing. Okay, here’s the thing: I do not think the pandemic is a laughing matter. It’s very serious, but I laugh when I’m surprised.

C: Yes. 

K: So, you guys just heard my awkward, inappropriate laugh because I’ve just been shocked by something. Because I don’t know how to feel about it, so I crack up laughing.

C: Yup.

K: (laughs) And it makes me feel so insensitive. It makes me feel so uncomfortable, but I can’t help it.

C: Mm.

K: So, now you guys have just experienced what Chad’s been dealing with for twe- over twenty years. 

C: Yup.

K: Poor, poor Chad.

C: It was a thing. They sent out a message. 

K: (laughs) I didn’t know which thing you were saying is a thing. Like, New Zealand or me laughing at your pain. Or me laughing at really horrible news.

C: Both are things.

K: Yeah.

C: But they sent out a message saying, “wherever you stay tonight, that’s where you’re staying. So, make sure”

K: Wherever you’re what?

C: Wherever you stay tonight, that’s where you’re staying. 

K: (laughs) What are you talking about? Wherever – what are you talking about?

C: So, let’s say you were having a sleepover with your friend. 

K: Uh-huh.

C: That’s where you would have to stay for the quarantine. 

K: No. That’s not real.

C: Yeah, that was real.

K: No, that’s not real.

C: Yes. Yes. It was a big thing on Twitter. I can’t believe you missed it.

K: I wasn’t on Twitter, really, in March. I think like mid- okay, so there was – so, like, at the height of all of it – at the hei- so, we’re not focused on Covid. It’s sad, but we’ve got to talk about it a little bit. So, the first – where it was like really bad at the beginning of March, I was writing the foundation section

C: Yeah, you were super busy.

K: Of my dissertation. And… just so people know, when I right a section, I write it, and then I send it to my chair for feedback. And then my chair sends it back to me. My chair had just given it back to me, and I was applying feedback that was deceptively light. Like, the feedback was like, “hey, does anyone disagree with this theory?”

C: (laughs)

K: And it was like… just one little sentence. “I wonder if there’s any other theories besides this one you could have applied.” 

C: So, did that make you think of moving chairs? Just like… “I’m going to move to somebody else who doesn’t ask that kind of deceptive question.”

K: No. I love my chair. We get along great. My chair is a really great fit for me.

C: Yeah, I know you do.

K: So, that was just like… man.

C: Rocked your world.

K: Yes. Like, just… two little sentences. And my chair has a knack for the understating deep question. And I was just like, it gave me – set my brain on fire. I was fevered. I was just writing. I was writing in between clients. I took a week off from work and was writing on it. Because I pride myself on the fast turnaround. 

C: Right.

K: I like to get things back to her within a week to two weeks. And I had scheduled a dissertation writing break. But then that writing break was taken up by working on that section when I was planning on working on a different section, which threw me off of my entire rhythm, so I wasn’t paying attention to anything – I want to say the first three week of March. 

C: You had scheduled that writing break back in December to coincide with the academic school break here.

K: Yes. I did. Because I thought all of my clients would be out of town.

C: Right.

K: (laughs) And they were not. They were not.

C: International travel is fraught. You might not make it back home. 

K: Yeah. It was – it was a really bad time for me to be on break, but everybody supported it. And then after coming off break, because I have lupus, and I’m doing – I did a series of amino boosting and all this stuff going on, I had to take two weeks after that. Not off, but I couldn’t do in-person. And, so, my client count was like cut by two thirds.

C: So, now, if you’re listening to this and things have changed radically, it’s just a reminder: we record about two weeks in advance because that gives us one week to get transcripts and one week for

K: This does not change what happened at the end of March.

C: No, it doesn’t. But we record about two weeks in advance because it’s one week for transcripts and then our patrons get the episodes one week early.

K: Yes.

C: So, I’m just saying. If something we say is so far out of date, like

K: But it’s my – I’m talking about my truth. How does my truth become outdated?

C: Because things change rapidly. 

K: Oh my gosh. Are you saying that you’re bored of me, and I’m outdated?

C: No, I’m saying my work was changed

K: Am I stale?

C: You are not stale at all. You are fresh as the day we met.

K: Thank you. You know I have a thing about not being stale. 

C: Yeah.

K: I’m really worried that one day I’m going to get stale.

C: You are as fresh as the day we met.

K: (laughs)

C: And, as you said to me

K: What?

C: “I take care of myself, so I’m never ashy.”

K: (laughs)

C: And you’ve kept up that promise.

K: Yes, I have. (laughs) I am not ashy. Our – oh, I can’t stop myself from saying it. Oh, son, I love you, but you are ashy baby boy. You are ashy. But maybe not now.

C: I had to ask you. I was like, “what is ashy?”

K: (laughs) I know because I told Rasta, “come over here. You can’t be ashy. Looking like you’ve been playing soccer with flour.” You were like, “what is that?” And – so, when you have pigmented skin – well, you have pigmented skin.

C: I do, yup.

K: (laughs)

C: Not everyone does, I am sympathetic to people with albinism, but I do not have albinism.

K: Yes. So, okay (laughs) And you’ve gotten ashy because you still have the tan that you got over like… nineteen… 

C: Yeah, like eighteen, nineteen years now.

K: Yeah. On your knees. 

C: Yeah.

K: They’re still tanned.

C: They’re permanently burned is what they are.

K: (laughs)

C: They are scarred.

K: And, so, like, I showed you because – and I did something that I had no idea would make Chad’s skin crawl for like three weeks. I took my index finger, I stuck it in my mouth, licked it, and then ran it across his skin. Without telling him. 

C: Yeah.

K: I’m not a fast mover, but that was just a reflex – like, “that’s ashy.” And he was like, “spitting on me is ashy?” (laughs) “Did you just spit on me?” And then to this day I contend, no, I did not spit on you. I rubbed my spit on you to show you the difference in color from your skin that was wet and your skin that was dry. If there’s a difference in color, then you have dry skin, and you need to moisturize it. Because what I’m doing is licking off the ash.

C: Okay. 

K: (laughs) So, if your skin dries out to the point that it changes colors, you ashy.

C: Okay. 

K: You ashy. 

C: So, to go back to your question

K: Okay, what was it? I forgot.

C: Did I think we would move from here.

K: Okay. 

C: I think the answer is probably no. Because I think that… like, saying we’re going to move when we’re older – we’re going to retire somewhere else.

K: Mmm. We live like – I don’t know, to me, if they move the grocery store.

C: Right.

K: If they move the two grocery stores and three conbinis that are around our house, that – I think that would influence me.

C: Those – those have changed several times. Like, the convenience stores.

K: Like, if there are no longer conbinis. Like, if they take away the fact that we have convenience stores right around the corner from our house. Right across the street

C: When we moved here, we only had one. They built the other two since we moved here.

K: So, okay, we have – for me – like the closest one is the one across the street.

C: Yeah, we’re across the street from 7/11

K: And then there’s one around the corner. 

C: Yeah.

K: And then there’s one, like, a block away from that one. And another one a block away from that one.

C: Yeah.

K: And then after we pass three convenience stores, we reach a grocery store. 

C: Correct.

K: So long as that grocery store is there, and so long as the other grocery store – but there’s no convenience stores in between our house and the main grocery store. Which, like, we could use a convenience store next door. 

C: I would rather

K: But they already built an apartment building, so.

C: Yeah. I would rather have the fire station and all that, so

K: Yeah, I like – I do like living next door to the fire station. 

C: Yeah.

K: The fire – like, we literally live next door to a fire station.

C: Yeah.

K: Oh my gosh, now people can geolocate us.

C: Right? Dun dun dun.

K: We practically gave our address right there with all that information.

C: Okay. 

K: Convenience stores, like, come on.

C: Our address is really easy. Just write to the Musick Notes, Japan, and it’ll get to us.

K: (laughs) It probably would. (laughs) You have to put the city, Nagoya. 

C: Yeah, yeah.

K: (laughs) So, for me, everything that went on is really sad and really tragic. It’s been a really sad and really tragic beginning to the year. And we haven’t talked about it.

C: No.

K: And, so, the reason that we haven’t talked about it is because this is entertainment.

C: Yes.

K: And we want to keep it light not because we’re oblivious and not because we’re not affected.

C: It’s stressful and affects us, and if you want to see how, follow us on Twitter, but.

K: Yeah, if you want to know what’s going on with us real-time rather than a week delayed, or sometimes two weeks delayed – a week delayed if you’re a patron.

C: If you’re a patron, yeah. 

K: And two weeks if you’re not. Then… you really have to follow us on Twitter for, like, the day to day because it really did impact us. And if you want to know how, you can backdate – like scroll through our timeline and read what we were tweeting in March. Because, in March and the beginning of April is when it really impacted Nagoya. 

C: Right.

K: The pandemic. Um… I… really feel bad for everything that was going on – and probably still going on – in the United States, but I have done a blackout on the news in the United States.

C: Yeah.

K: Not because I’m insensitive, but because I just can’t take it emotionally.

C: You already take everybody’s emotional burdens on as your job, so.

K: Yeah. So, I kind of hear it secondhand through clients, but I don’t seek it out. And I actually had to stop watching Patriot Act because it just traumatizes me.

C: With Hassan Minhaj, not the Mel Gibson movie.

K: Yeah. Because that – the Mel Gibson movie’s actually really entertaining.

C: Okay, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, so I’m not vouching for it.

K: (laughs) And I’m off Mel Gibson because he’s a horrible human being.

C: Yes.

K: So, I don’t – I – I wouldn’t reconsume anything of Mel Gibson’s, and I don’t know if he’s always been horrible.

C: And I think it was called the Patriot – I don’t think it was called Patriot Act, but.

K: Yeah, no. And I – I think of Enemy of the State, with Will Smith – which is super entertaining – and Gene Hackman.

C: Yeah. Okay, so, her

K: And Lisa Bonet.

K: Here’s why I wouldn’t move.

K: Okay, why wouldn’t you move?

C: Because everyone I knew who moved when they were older

K: Uh-huh.

C: They moved somewhere les convenient.

K: What do you mean?

C: They would move, like, away from shops and everything to somewhere that they could get, like, some peace and quiet.

K: What are you talking about?

C: See, the idea is just so

K: Who has moved to get more peace and – name them. Like, just name them. Like, give them a name. Like “bearded man” – I’m looking at you, so I think bearded man. Um, “bald dude” like

C: There’s Fred and Wilma. 

K: (laughs) Okay, wait. Speak no evil didn’t move. And then you have Brockelsby. Brockelsby moved to get away from everybody and then moved back to civilization.

C: I’m not talking about people moving because they – they had a change in circumstances. I’m talking about people moving when they retire because they get to an age where they stop working entirely. 

K: But everyone you know is in tech, and they all went back to work.

C: No, not my generation. Not my friends’ generation.

K: No, the friends that you know that are in the sixties that retired all went back to work.

C: Yes. 

K: So, who are you imagining that’s moving away to someplace quieter?

C: Like, when I was a kid, people my grandparents’ age.

K: Oh my gosh. Where did your grandparents live?

C: My grandparents?

K: Yeah. Did they live out in the middle of nowhere? Because you were living in Alaska.

C: I was living in Alaska.

K: So, when you were young, you lived out in the middle of nowhere where there was peace and quiet.

C: My grandparents lived in Bakersfield and in Tacoma. Like

K: But your grandma that lived in Bakersfield has been there her whole life. When she retired

C: Only since World War 2. 

K: Right. And when she retired, she went to go live with your aunt in Mississippi. 

C: Yeah. I think Louisiana, but whatever.

K: (laughs) 

C: They’re not the same state.

(laughter)

K: Yeah, so what are you talking about, Chad? Literally.

C: I am talking about the idea of going somewhere to retire. Of people retiring to Florida. Which, we don’t know anybody personally who’s done it, but on a demographic level in the United States, a lot of people retire

K: What was that show we liked where… no, but she always lived in… there was a – Cagney & Lacey. One of the chicks from Cagney & Lacey. I’m so out of it, today.

C: You seem like it.

K: Yeah. I’m every – all over the place. Okay, so you don’t want to move is what I’m getting.

C: I don’t want to move because we’re really convenient to everything.

K: Yeah, we are. 

C: And we don’t live in a nice, residential neighborhood or anything. And we’ve talked before about Japan – how that’s kind of a different concept. 

K: We – well, it depends on which side of our… house you’re looking at it, from. Because from one angle, we live in a really quiet residential area that has a bunch of schools. And if you look at it from another angle, we live in a very industrial – at the hub of activity. And if you look at it from another angle… like, all four sides of our building feels like a completely different vibe to me.

C: They are, but it depends on how you define neighborhood. Because there’s like… twenty buildings. I think that

K: Down the main street, where that – where the bus goes. 

C: Yeah.

K: If you go from like our subway station to the next subway station, there are homes. 

C: There are homes yes, but they – they are comingled with businesses and things.

K: Mmm. What address isn’t? I guess, like, Nagakute isn’t. 

C: I was – that’s what I was saying that Japan is different. Japan is a different feel. Because where we lived in California…. Our side of Lawrence Expressway, there were like five hundred houses with no businesses.

K: Yeah.

C: There were schools but no businesses. 

K: Ohh. Creepy thing you can do. I shouldn’t say it, but I can’t stop myself.

C: I know you can’t stop yourself.

K: Oh my gosh, I am so sorry to the people who currently live there.

C: (laughs)

K: So, it – you know we don’t google a lot on this show, but the other day, I was up, and it was like three A.M. so what else do you do at three A.M.? You google yourself. So, I googled myself, and I found

C: That’s not a euphemism. She just means you use the search engine Google.

K: What do you mean?

C: Because before Google existed, saying “yeah, I was up three A.M. so I was just like hey I’m going to google myself” people would be like, “shh, private business.”

K: Who was saying that they were going to google themselves before Google?

C: Nobody.

K: You are such an old man. 

C: (laughs)

K: (laughs) You are such an old man. And you can literally find our old house.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, I was so creeped out by it. We don’t live there, and I feel so bad for the people that live there. Like, there was a photo of it. You can see the pool in the backyard. I was surprised they kept the pool. 

C: Mhm. 

K: But I guess that would be a major selling feature of the house. And I was really happy to see they kept the skylights, and that it was the same roof we had when we left. 

C: Why would they tear out the skylights?

K: I don’t know. 

C: And we bought

K: Yeah, I guess it would be a selling point of the house, right? 

C: Yeah, and we

K: The fact that there were three sky – skylights.

C: And we bought a 50-year roof. Because they rate them by

K: Yeah, I was surprised that it’s like the same roof – I was surprised that they did not put anything in the front yard.

C: Mhm.

K: They left it grass just like we did. 

C: Huh. Interesting.

K: Yeah. So, I was surprised that the house hadn’t – exteriorly – changed.

C: Yeah. Because we had to get a variance to have the front yard be just grass.

K: Yeah, we did. 

C: So

K: And they kept it. And they kept it Kentucky bluegrass. 

C: Yeah because they wouldn’t allow us to do zero scaping. 

K: Yeah.

C: But they did allow us to cut down the mulberry tree which was there.

K: Yeah.

C: Which, first, invasive species for that area of California. 

K: We cut down two mulberry trees.

C: Yeah. Because of severe allergies, so

K: Yeah, for me.

C: Yeah.

K: I’m allergic to trees.

C: So, we don’t have that problem here.

K: No, we don’t. 

C: There are trees, but they’re distant. 

K: So… I did – I could see their patio furniture.

C: Yeah?

K: Yeah. I could see their patio furniture. 

C: That’s pretty intrusive.

K: Right? And I felt really bad for them. 

C: Yeah because I see our place on google maps all the time because, like, when we get deliveries.

K: Our current house?

C: Yeah, our – our current house because when we get

K: Really?

C: Yeah. When we get deliveries, a lot of websites are like, “we’re coming to your house. Here’s a map showing your house.”

K: (gasps) What?

C: But it just shows it in the – in the diagram. Like a diagram of where they’re at. It doesn’t show the photographs. 

K: What are you talking about? Like a diagram of our neighborhood?

C: Yeah, okay. So, like – let’s say we get pizza delivered.

K: Okay.

C: It’ll say the driver

K: Which we’re planning to do after the show. 

C: Yes, we are. That’s why it’s on my mind. It’ll say, “the driver’s on his or her way” in Japanese, there’s not the distinction

K: Mhm.

C: And it will show the map of the area with a line showing their intended route. But it’s the schematic diagram where it has building names but not… not satellite photography of the buildings.

K: So, that’s one of the reasons why I wouldn’t want to live in the United States again.

C: Mhm.

K: So… knock wood, but since moving to Japan, I haven’t been stalked.

C: Yeah.

K: And I was stalked living in the United States until we moved.

C: Yeah.

K: I had like – even after our marriage, I had stalkers. 

C: Yeah.

K: And you had stalkers. So, people that would just show up at our house unexpected, and

C: Un, yeah, yeah.

K: And like invade our space and our emotional space and our physical space. And that happened the entire time we lived in the United States. Since moving to Japan, nobody has just showed up unexpected at our house.

C: No, they haven’t.

K: And, so, that’s one of the reasons why I would never want to live in the United States again. I just don’t feel safe. Because I can, like, google people’s names and get… their home.

C: Yeah.

K: And a picture of homes they’ve lived in. Like… every home they’ve lived in. Like five or six addresses for them and pictures and directions to those addresses. 

C: Well, and those have been security questions. 

K: And that’s just what I can get without a paywall.

C: Right. And those have been security questions, too – I forget the last time that I… had to do it. It was dealing with some U.S. company. They were like, “we need to verify it’s you. Which of these addresses did you live at?” 

K: Yeah.

C: And read me off addresses. Like, okay, yeah, I lived at that one. 

K: Yeah. 

C: And sometimes I’m like, “I didn’t live at any of them.” And they were like, “ha! We throw in some with no right answers just to be sure.” Like (laughs) okay. Be proud of yourself. 

K: Yeah, but… like, if I’m not me, you just potentially gave someone my address. 

C: Right? 

K: That’s… someone who is actively – someone who is in the act of committing identity fraud.

C: Right.

K: You’ve now given them a selection of addresses to choose from.

C: Only past addresses, not the current address.

K: Right? And I don’t like Google Earth. 

C: Mm.

K: The way Google Earth operates in Japan is so much different.

C: Yeah.

K: Than how it operates in the United States. 

C: Well, and it’s different place by place. Like, in Europe, it operates very differently, too, because of privacy laws. 

K: Yeah.

C: So, they were just doing it, and then they got sued a whole bunch of times – like over and over and over in Europe.

K: Yeah.

C: And changed their practices because they were like, “maybe we should just change our practices to be legal instead of getting sued over and over.”

K: Yeah. So, for me, in Japan, I feel really safe. And I don’t think I would feel – ever feel safe in the United States.

C: Mhm.

K: Because of stalking, because of lack of healthcare, and because everything wrong with me is now a pre-existing condition.

C: Right.

K: And… in the public domain, that it’s a pre-existing condition because I’ve tweeted about it, and I’ve spoken about it. Dental and vision care and

C: I think that’s a big one because the pre-existing condition stuff, as of this moment, they haven’t yet stripped the ACA of the requirements, but it makes healthcare super expensive even if you don’t use a super lot of healthcare.

K: Yeah.

C: So, part of the way that the healthcare works here in Japan is that we pay every month

K: Yes.

C: Due into the social insurance. And then we get a statement every month or every two months of how much in benefits we’ve used. So, we know that we’re not, at t his point, using more benefits than we’re paying in.

K: Because I only go to the doctor once every – I got to the doctor twice every three months because I have two different doctors that I see.

C: Right.

K: But I only see my doctor’s every three months, and they give me three months’ worth of prescription, which I was really, really happy for in March. Because I felt really, really lucky – and I tweeted a lot about how bad my privilege was messing with me during the height of the pandemic here in Japan. Because right at the beginning of March, I was preparing for doing a deep dive into PhD work.

C: Right.

K: So, the first week of March, I went and saw all my doctors and got all my dentistry done, and that led to me needing dentistry throughout the month of March, but I got all my ducks in a row for me to hibernate and hunker down and did what I consider to be “big groceries.” So, I stocked us up for like three months.

C: Mhm.

K: And then I felt really guilty because that’s just what I do every three months.

C: Right.

K: It’s just my normal way of living. And I felt like, “well, what if I’m taking something that someone needs?”

C: Well, there were no shortages at that point in time.

K: Yeah, no, there weren’t, but it still – well because the week after I did that, there was shortages on toilet paper and sanitation wipes.

C: Right.

K: And I felt bad because I had – well, I didn’t feel bad I had toilet paper because I obsessively stock up toilet paper.

C: Well, I’m worried. 

K: (laughs)

C: When they had toilet paper back in stock and there was a two-pack limit, I only bought one pack.

K: Yeah.

C: Because they didn’t have our preferred brand

K: Right.

C: And the shortages were over before we used

K: And our preferred brand is not fancy. It’s single ply with no core.

C: Yeah.

K: Because I like to do what I can to help the earth.

C: Well, plus, you know that I never throw away the core, so when we’re using toilet paper with cores – this is going to be super interesting for people.

K: Yeah. (laughs)

C: Everybody’s like, “this is the content I come for.” 

K: This is going to be the thing that – this is going to be the episode that gets them hooked.

C: Right?

K: Yeah. They’re going to be addicted after.

C: They’ll be like, “I need to donate every month so I can get this early.”

K: Yes.

C: I would just leave the toilet paper roll everywhere.

K: Yes. (laughs) And sometimes you would take it out of the bathroom.

C: Yeah.

K: And I’m like, “Chad, why are you taking the core?” Like, why is this here on the kitchen table? Why is this here in your office? What are you doing?

C: Well, like, five years ago when you had a lot more young kids at your practice

K: Yeah, I would take the core

C: You would use them for art.

K: Yeah, I did.

C: And you said, “I don’t have that anymore.” 

K: No, I don’t. I don’t. Um… I switch – I changed gears because kids are hard. Kids are hard because the only kid you can save is your own, and I was dealing with a lot of bad parents. And… having to tell the parent that, “yo, your kid’s messed up because you’re a bad parent. And you need to change your parenting in this way.” It’s really, really hard. And, so, five years ago, I made the decision I’m not going to work with anybody that I have to scream at to get them to listen to me.

C: Mhm.

K: Because they’re going to jack up their kids. Because dealing with kids that are suicidal, and you’re telling a parent, “hey, your kid is suicidal.” And they’re like, “no, they’re not.” And their kid had just tried to commit suicide, and that’s why you’re sitting in your office.

C: Yeah.

K: I’m not proud of it, but I did end up losing my stuff and just “blagh” and I was like, okay, I need to change. This isn’t healthy for me. 

C: Mhm.

K: So, I feel like, in Japan, I can make that choice to not specialize.

C: Right.

K: And I can make that choice to run my business the way I see fit. Whereas in the United States, I would have to specialize, and in the United States, I wouldn’t have the option to be a generalist. Because the U.S. doesn’t recognize the… generalist in the way that I feel Japan does.

C: Yeah. 

K: I feel like Japan is… does a lot of transdisciplinary research and does a lot of transdisciplinary work, and, so, it’s not strange to – like, the Child Guidance Center – child protective services – I also work with the Criminal Justice System with adults. 

C: Right.

K: Neither one of those are confused that I can do both. 

C: Mhm.

K: Because they’re like, “if you’re an expect, then you better be an expert.” And the Japanese Psychological Association – the reason that they certify me as an expert generalist is because of all my education and all my continuing education. And I feel like, in the United States, they don’t care what continuing education is. They don’t care what I’ve done. They’re like, “but why should I come to you specifically for this specific thing?” And it’s just such a specialized mentality that I would be forced into a place that I don’t want to be.

C: Interesting. Because I was thinking about this the other day in a different context – not in terms of your work but in terms of mine. How

K: Your work travels.

C: Yeah, my work travels. But… there are

K: Because Chad works remotely.

C: Yeah. But there are some jobs that are really specific in what they want you to know. “We want you to have used these technologies for the last five years doing exactly this” because they want you to be able to step in and immediately know what you’re doing, and it’s very limited.

K: Yeah.

C: There are other jobs that are like, “we want you to have a broad range of experience to be able to pick up new stuff because we don’t know what we’re going to need.”

K: Yeah.

C: “A year or two from now, and we want you to stick around long-term.”

K: Yeah.

C: So, I feel like that difference… hearing it repeated back to me for psychology is interesting. Because… it mirrors how things are done here in Japan where, for the most part, you come out of school, and then you go to a company, and they decide what you’re going to do.

K: Mmm. Yeah.

C: So, no matter what you study – and we’ve talked about this before – no matter what you study, they decide what you’re going to do.

K: Yeah because we know somebody who’s an economics major, and they’re doing sales. And I also know somebody who’s an education major, and they’re doing sales. And I’m like, “what?” I know somebody who has their – they went to school to get their teaching license who’s doing sales for a travel company.

C: Yeah.

K: And I’m like, “what the what?”

C: (laughs)

K: Like, “but I just have a bachelor’s.” And I’m like, “but… you also took the two city tests to be a city worker, and you’re certi – you can work for the board of – the board of education cleared you to teach.” 

C: Mhm.

K: And they’re like, “yeah, but I’m doing sales for a travel company with all of this.” I’m like, “okay. Why?” I don’t get it. I don’t get it. It’s so weird to me.

C: Yeah.

K: like, did you not fall in love with teaching?

C: Interesting.

K: And I feel like – so, for me, moving means changing jobs. 

C: Yes.

K: Rebuilding my practice.

C: Yes.

K: Um… getting rid of all – like, having to Marie Kondo my life because there’s so much (laughs) things in the house that don’t spark joy.

(laughter)

K: What does moving mean to you?

C: Moving to me would mean getting rid of a lot of stuff. Because I wouldn’t – I absolutely would not want to move into someplace bigger.

K: No. I would want someplace smaller.

C: So, it’d mean getting rid of a lot of stuff because our place is not jam-packed, but I don’t want to move someplace smaller and have it be jam-packed.

K: Yeah.

C: It would mean giving up my familiar routines.

K: Mmm. Yeah.

C: So, like, redoing all of my routines because I have a routine where, you know… environment allowing, a couple times I go to the convenience store; a couple times a week, I go to the grocery store and do all the shopping

K: Yeah, and your nice little walks that you take your walk abouts.

C: Yeah, my walks where, if I need to go to the doctor it’s in walking distance. If I need to go to the government office, I know how to get there – my whole routine

K: (laughs) It’s not walking distance. 

C: The government office?

K: Yeah. It’s not walking distance.

C: I didn’t say it was. I said I know how to get there.

K: I’m saying it’s not.

C: Yeah. 

K: I don’t think your doctor is walking distance. What you describe as walking distance is so different than what I consider walking distance.

C: Yeah, my doctor’s a mile away. To me, that’s walking distance.

K: Is it a mile?

C: Yeah, it’s a mile.

K: I think it’s more than a mile.

C: It’s a mile. I know how fast I walk, and I know how long it takes for me to get there. It’s a mile.

K: (laughs) You think you know. You have never timed it with an odometer. 

C: No, you don’t time things with an odometer. 

K: But, no, you time it with your watch and then mark it with an odometer.

C: Okay, yes, that’s true.

K: So, then you would time it with the odometer.

C: Yeah, I guess te- I could see how you get there.

K: Yes, exactly because I am right about everything.

C: You are right about everything. But my point is that it would disrupt all of my routi

K: Because I’m naked. (laughs) I’m not naked.

C: You’re not. (laughs) Why are you lying?

K: I’m not naked. (laughs) I’m not naked, but I am in bed. But that is so funny because we have a thing in… a joke that we say – well, a joke that I say – that if Chad wants to be right, he has to be naked. Like, if he’s wearing clothes, he’s wrong. (laughs) He j- (laughs) The look on Chad’s face right now. Oh my god. Oh my god.

C: I’m just going to leave you hanging out there.

K: (laughs) He’s just looking at me like, “you just do you.”

(laughter)

C: Yup. 

K: “You be Kisstopher.”

C: You be Kisstopher.

K: Yes, I am. Thank you very much.

C: I love you. Yes.

K: I know you do. (laughs) But what are we talking about?

C: We’re talking about moving or not.

K: Yeah. I would also have to change offices. 

C: You would.

K: And I love my office.

C: Yeah. So, 

K: Not everybody does, but I do.

C: I wouldn’t want to leave Japan.

K: Absolutely not. I don’t think we can get a better deal than Japan.

C: And I wouldn’t want to leave Nagoya. And, so, unless this neighborhood changed radically in… in fundamental ways that I don’t think it’s going to change.

K: Like, what ways? Like there are more street gangs?

C: No, like if they tore down the subways.

K: Japan doesn’t have, really, a lot of street gangs or any of that.

C: Like, if they tore down the subway stations or something like that.

K: Yeah, I don’t see them doing that.

C: If they tore down the brand new – not brand new – but if they tore down the mall that’s only like ten years old. Like, that kind of thing. Where…

K: Mhm.

C: It completely changed the nature of the neighborhood. Because when we

K: But if we just go like a quarter of a mile, there’s another mall exactly like the mall that’s

C: I’m saying to even consider moving.

K: Okay.

C: Because, when we moved here, we lived between a tobacco warehouse and a wood yard. So, it’s not like

K: Those were the days, man.

C: Yeah. It’s not like we were anywhere super fancy.

K: So, there used to be this clock that sat outside our window that said the temperature.

C: It was like three blocks away, but we could see it.

K: Yeah, then they tore it down, and that was really sad. And we live around – we live walking distance from the parking lot where they do Cirque Du Soleil every two to three years.

C: yeah. And they didn’t tear down the building. They just

K: They just took down the sign.

C: Right? It was – it was the most generic name. It was a sign for Software Corporation.

K: (laughs) Literally. It said Software Corporation. 

C: It had the time and temperature. And it wasn’t like something, something Software Corporation.

K: No, it was just

C and K: Software Corporation. 

K: Like, what’s going on Software Corporation? With a name like that, you need to keep your ad game on.

C: Okay. Mitsubishi bought the building; they took down the sign. They could’ve put their name on it.

K: They could have.

C: And we could look out, and we could se the time and temperature.

K: Which I really – now I have to Google it.

C: Now I have to look at my phone to see the time and temperature. Who wants to look at their phone?

K: I don’t have a smartphone. 

C: No, you don’t.

K: I have a flip phone, so it will tell me the time, but it will not tell me the temperature. 

C: Yeah. I was reading the other day that flip phones are super popular in Japan. I mean, I knew it.

K: Yes. I knew it too.

C: I know you knew it, too.

K: Yeah.

C: But it was an article written for Americans explaining why flip phones are super popular in Japan.

K: you can SMS and everything.

C: Yeah, you can watch T.V. depending on y our phone.

K: Yeah, my phone, I can watch T.V., I can listen to the radio, I can send messages – it can do most of the things

C: You’ve got a web browser. Yeah.

K: Yeah. I can do most of the things a smartphone can do.

C: Yes. Except for temperature. 

K: Yeah, I can’t tell the temperature – well, I could if I bothered.

C: Yeah, but it’s got the time on it.

K: Yeah. And it’s – I can get the temperature and all of that on my phone. But it’s a whole thing. It’s not just like, flip it open, and there it is.

C: Yeah. 

K: Neither is yours. 

C: No, mine is. It’s got a weather thing.

K: Really? Like, when you flip over your phone, once you put in your password.

C: Yeah. So, I don’t have it set on my lock screen because it’s not usually relevant, but I could set it to have the temperature on the screen as well.

K: Really?

C: Yeah.

K: Because you’re fancy.

C: Because I am fancy.

K: (laughs) So, I know that this is a really lighthearted during rough times episode, and I know all of our episodes in March and April have been on the lighter side of things. And I just want to reiterate: the reason that we’re doing this podcast is to have fun and sit down and have – invite you in to a conversation that we’ve been having for over twenty years.

C: Yes.

K: Because we look at it as us having one long conversation since the first day that we met. Is the way that we view our relationship. And… if you want the heavier – we do talk about heavier content on Twitter.

C: Yeah.

K: And it’s not just to promote our Twitter that I’m saying this. I’m saying it because if you’re going through it right now, it’s not that we don’t care, and it’s not that we don’t want to lighten things for you. It’s that we do want to lighten things for you.

C: Mhm.

K: And we think there are so many resources out there right now tog et the heavier things or to get the fast-breaking news or all of that, and we’re not either of those things. We’re not the heavier side of things, and we’re not breaking news.

C: Right.

K: So… I just feel like we’re staying in our lane of being a conversational podcast of two expats living in Japan. And, you know, really this podcast is just whatever I’ve been thinking about lately. 

C: It is whatever you’ve been thinking about lately.

K: (laughs) And whatever digression I take because I feel like I was the digresser this episode. 

C: I feel like this podcast is mathematically smooth. 

K: What do you mean?

C: So, for a function to be mathematically smooth that means you can take the derivative an infinite number of

K: What’s a derivative?

C: A derivative is the

K: I literally don’t know what a derivative is. What’s a derivative?

C: So, a derivative geometrically is a slope of the line tangent to the curve

K: Oh my god, what are you saying?

C: It’s a calculus thing. 

K: Okay. 

C: It’s the rate of change.

K: Okay. 

C: For any particular moment in time. But

K: What do you mean by the rate of change? Like, the rate that thing changes?

C: Yeah. The rate the thing changes.

K: Okay, so like my hair. The rate of change for me running my fingers through my hair. Which I’m sorry if you guys can hear that on the episode.

C: Okay, that’s a different thing because we could treat your hair as a one manifold three-space. 

K: Okay.

C: Okay, but I’m not trying to lose anybody. Including myself.

KL: (laughs) Too late. Too late. So, what are you saying? Like, just speak plainly. 

C: Okay, what I’m saying, plainly, is that there’s functions that you can take the derivative of

K: (laughs) Oh my god. This is what teaching me math is like.

C: twice. 

K: Okay.

C: Or not at all.

K: Okay.

C: And there are functions that you can take the derivative of an infinite number of times. If you can take the derivative an infinite number of times, it’s called a smooth function.

K: Okay.

C: So, I feel like we can go on an infinite number of digressions.

K: Yeah, we can.

C: So, we have a smooth podcast.

K: Oh, nice. We’re smooth. This is a smooth podcast. Although my hair’s not smooth. I have really, really fine hair. Blagh. My hair’s color. But if I put it in a braid, it straightens out.

C: Mhm.

K: It changes the texture to be kind of frizzy-straight. I don’t know how to describe it. And if I run my fingers through it, it tangles. So, now I have this big afro puff of a tangle on the top of my head. (laughs) That I need to comb out. And, so, I keep trying to smooth it, but the ends just keep tangling. So, I have to comb my hair because it’s super hot on my back, and I need to put it up in a braid or a twist or something. 

C: Uh-huh.

K: I’m so fidgety right now, I have no idea. My skin is just so uncomfortable. I’m having a porphyria attack, so that makes my skin really sensitive sometimes, and, yeah, so… I’m not doing well, today.

C: Yeah. But we’re having fun, though.

K: Yeah. 

C: You can have fun

K: I’m not sick, but I’m not well. 

C: Okay. 

K: Paranoia, paranoia – oh, but they can get us for like if we sing it, right?

C: Are you saying that everybody’s coming to get us?

K: Yes. 

C: (laughs)

K: I am.

C: Well, don’t let them.

K: Right? We are not singing any songs. We are saying disconnected phrases that have nothing to do with any sort of musicality.

C: Non sequiturs.

K: Exactly. 

C: We’re the Musick Notes because that’s our name, not for any other reason.

K: Yes. And it’s spelled with a K – although – I can’t make up my mind, we need to make a decision

C: It’s spelled with a CK.

K: Is it CK?

C: It is a CK>

K: Sometimes I just put Music Note, and I don’t put the K. It needs to have the K?

C: You’ve got to – it needs to have the K. 

K: So, it’s M-u-s-i-c-k

C: Yeah.

K: Capital N-o-t-e-s Musick Notes.

C: Yeah.

K: Yeah. There you go.

C: Because if you just say it’s with a K, then everybody’s like – oh, like German. M-u-s-i-k.

K: Nobody’s saying “oh like German” Chad.

C: You didn’t grow up with that last name. 

K: Oh my gosh. Nobody’s saying that. Nobody’s saying that.

C: I’m not moving from the position that they are.

K: (laughs) Thank you for listening to this ramble. The long and short of it: in summary, we’re not moving. (laughs) 

C: We shall not be moved. 

K: (laughs) I hope we catch you next week. Bye.

C: bye-bye.