Tokyo Swan 1: Arrival, Eating, and Akihabara

[GarIicjr]

DBZ Ramen!

[tecboy209]

cool i live in dallas

[DestinyIslander2000]

Yeah I actually live in Houston, I been to Dallas and it's pretty epic.

RIP Rodger...

[hunterXasia]

Rest in Peace Roger Swan, I promise I shall name my son after you when I get married. may your soul rest good sir.

[deathwater4]

this is very interesting

[BananaPancake]

Roger's description of Tokyo is very accurate from what I've experienced.

[darkcloud1975aj2007]

HELLO tokyo swan I am living in Australia I can make money to get to tokyo and a few tousand Austraila can I stay with you and I will buy me own way but it woud be cool to hang with you .

[gpgpgp13322]

@darkcloud1975aj2007 sorry mate but Rodger swan passed away

[Nuzubaki]

man i will always remember u as tokyo swan nothing else

[animefreak1467]

how did u get so many subscribers?! I watch a lot of other people who do blogs in japan as well..but no with the kind of viewers as you?

[Kyo1676]

did rogerswan pass away?

[ganonforce]

@Kyo1676 yes.

[Kyo1676]

@ganonforce really what happend to him?

[ganonforce]

@Kyo1676 For those who don't know what happenend. Rodger died on jan 27th (jan26th in the states) in Hanamaki Japan of internal bleeding into the abdominal cavity caused by acute pancreatitis. Its on his youtube bio.

[animefreak1467]

@ganonforce I voted this up because thank you for that information. It's not up cause he died

[ShinyHunter45]

Which form of Japanese did you use more? Hiragana or Katakana?

[Silfverr]

Rest in Peace Rodger

[VidBrats]

Soooo weird watching this as if it was yesterday... Rodger, if you're still following YouTube from somewhere out there, we shared some good times didn't we dude ^_-

[wolf12890]

Messed up that he died... He seemed like a cool person.. RIP

[xLSDxUCSB]

RIP seems like he was a bright and nice young cat, I don't know why, even though I never met the guy I feel really sad.

[Zeemis]

Is this guy an idiot or something?

[DoctorMinatoArisoto]

@Zeemis Do not speak ill of the dead.

[DoctorMinatoArisoto]

@Zeemis It would be a waste of effort to even argue with an asshole who bashes people who he doesn't even know. But you cross the fucking line. If you don't like the person or his videos, then go fuck off.Don't watch his videos.But to "Thank god" he's dead is fucking pathetic. Go crawl back in your fucking hole, you piece of shit.

[Zeemis]

@DoctorMinatoArisoto Cry more bitch, cry cry cry.

Q_Q

[detolgearsolid]

@Zeemis Your a very bizarre individual :// ??

[hunterXasia]

@Zeemis have some respect, the guy is dead. don't go around video that you dont like and posting meaningless comments, so please, if you wants some Attention in your life do something else.

than being a Troll.

[Zeemis]

@hunterXasia Don't be an ignorant fool. Or rather a dumbshit. It's good he died for the sake of all of YouTube. We don't need anymore weeaboo's.

[hunterXasia]

@Zeemis do you you think his a weaboo? do you think every westerners wanting know about Asian culture are weaboo?, lol what would I call an "Asian" wanting to know about western culture? this guy just showed me the wonders of Japan and I rather have weaboo exist in this world than the likes of you, but I am just wasting my precious time talking to a troll, remember its not to late for you to have a life.

[AFunyun]

@hunterXasia Yeah really what's Zeemis' problem?

[hunterXasia]

@AFunyun don't know? probably some guy wanting some attention,because people ignore him in the "real" world and he rather troll in a video's than sort out his life, but that's just my observation.

[nesboy31]

ＲＩＰ

[CSPWestside]

He was truly a great man. He had the exact life that I would like to live.

RIP Swan

You will be missed.

[sykoson56]

i went to tokyo because of this man, i followed his life and watched every episode many times. god bless rodger swan

[Draidic]

I ahve been wanting to do this foreign exchange as well, but im not sure what degree or really how to start it off just to get my foot in that door

[TheMiddleman153]

I'm rewatching every ep.

[japanandtheworld]

Great guy :(

[EMPERORMIKI]

I think if Japanese food (via China, or the US or ANYWHERE) caused this we'd see a lot more deaths by what killed Rodger in Japan.

In any case, it is quite a sad thing that someone like Rodger died who obviously cared much of others to the extent of dedicating considerable time into something that he hoped others would appreciate.

That takes a measure of honesty, and an utter lack of arrogance.

I for one am saddened that there will be no more videos from Rodger and am glad for what was.

[heats1]

how do you know?

maybe a lot of ppl day in japan because of the food but no one hears about it.

[ShinyHunter45]

@EMPERORMIKI Do you know how he died? I'm sorry, I know this is a personal question. However, I was considering going to Japan soon. So... yeah.

[EMPERORMIKI]

@ShinyHunter45 He died from internal bleeding caused by acute pancreatitis in January ... very sudden. I suggest you watch the rest of Swan's videos, they get progressively better. Also, you should check out TokyoCooney's channel (he has a tribute to Swan that is quite explanatory) for other Japan related videos.

Well, hope that answers your question. Good luck in your quest to go to Japan.

—Miki

[ShinyHunter45]

@EMPERORMIKI Thank you for telling me this. As I am only 14, I'm a long way to go before Japan. However, I have just started studying Hiragana out of my inspiration from these videos. And I will keep watching them. I am only on Episode 8, but they do get better and better. And once again, thank you for your help.

[ALuckyDonkey]

@heats1 harsh. don't joke about someone's death or use him as a vessel for a hit at japan. that is if you meant it like that. but be at least be polite when a death occurs. =/

[heats1]

what are you even talking about? I'm only saying that because everyone is saying that there is a disease in the milk products in japan

[pinkflower7783]

never knew him personally but I can tell he was such a good person who left this world much too soon. We'll see you next time RodgerSwan....

[RoninDave]

And this is where the adventure all started and what a journey it was! R.I.P.

[pinkflower7783]

@RoninDave and also where it ended started in Japan and ended in Japan.

[52chidori88]

R.I.P thank you for all your inspiring vid. You will be missed

[BlkUnk]

ocotpus balls....Otakuizm....luv em both....

[PortfolioManager1987]

RIP

[AMVshinigami]

R.I.P thanks for every inspiring us all

[wachmekillu]

on his first video he recommended kevin. its weird knowing he's gone.

[redmuzam]

Rest IN Peace

[animefreak1467]

@redmuzam who died?

[redmuzam]

@animefreak1467 The person in the video has passed away about 8 months ago. He was from Michigan and went to Japan as an english teacher.

[animefreak1467]

@redmuzam oh my gosh! I hope he had fun in Japan then!

[pf91rodman]

You were so young...

[winkiiV]

now i know why cooney is so touched by swan.....they must of had a great relationship

[mikey197]

R.I.P

[heyhey20202020]

ur place looks chill i could smoke a phat blunt on ur balcony waving to the japanese ppl ^_^

[dedede1324]

weed is super illegal in japan.. douche.

[TokyoAro]

Ahh this takes me back to some goods times watching your videos during christ mas :)

[del787b]

dude my friend lives in kawasaki and i was in akihabara and i stayed in shinagawa going next year again love japan

[hamadHHA]

wow i like tokyo

[goodbyememphis]

did you ever imagine how big your video blog series would become after uploading this first video? it's an amazing accomplishment - here's to many more years

[FreshaDenFabreeze23]

u are my idol tokyo swan!!! i cant wait to go to tokyo!

[TrOyGm]

lol I feel stupid I see Pepsi product hehe. Like Shenmue II arrive in China but you in Japan.

[okuni5]

u look so young in this 1!! but its ok

[Axmovieman]

Wow, it's been two years already! I remember being slightly dissapointed by this episode, because you didn't film that much in this one! Haha! But still awesome!

[rodgerswan]

haha yes, the videos certainly got much better as time went on. Though, this has a certain charm to it I suppose. Not a bad video by any stretch of the word...but the best was yet to come...

[Axmovieman]

Yes, exactly as you say!

[electrix10]

@Axmovieman the guy is dead....

[shimonxpudding]

Does the Japanese anime convention Comiket happen to be around the area? o.o

Also, I am interested in applying to Keio as an undergraduate, but I'm not sure how to apply to there.

[idontknow78]

Thanks so much for making these videos! I'm looking forward to watching all of them since i am planning on being an exchange student in Japan for my 2nd year of college. :)

[MyMoonlite]

It would be my dream to go to japan, but I'm afraid I won't have enough money...

How much does the anime/manga would normally cost in Akihabara?

[rodgerswan]

it's actually quite cheap. graphic novels are about 4 or 5 bucks there if i recall.

[1heartless1]

lmao, it's the same with philippines. They're like only 4$ or something. And no tax xD

[AzureEyesD]

If you go to BookOff and buy used stuff you can get a lot of manga for just 100-150 yen per book.

E.x. FMA Volume 1=150 yen etc.

Manga is way overpriced in the states.

If you buy it new it does get pricey, also depends on how rare it is etc. You actually get to shop around a bit more for that kind of thing in Japan because a lot more stores sell it so the prices vary a lot, whereas here you have a couple of small shops, retail stores, online, and that's it.

[Taurus702B]

Yeah you do have to slurp the ramen, shows that you enjoy it.

[naps1saps]

Any tips for those looking to be international college students like yourself? Student visa, trip planning, yada, yada, yada... What does the local college take care of and what did you need to take care of? Thanks!

BTW, what are you studying?

[DevylArmy]

looking back to the early episodes you really changed a lot in personality and fisically japan did a good job whit you, good thing you are going back and we get to watch more episodes ^^ arigato gozaimasta rodger kun!!!

[johnnydeppfan89]

why dont we drive the way everyone else do?!

we shouldnt say in this country their driving on the wrong side cuz really we are

usa has to do everything different

for example..the clock.

everyone is military time but nooo we have to be different.

[rodgerswan]

yeah that was the wrong wording on my part. embracing the differences in a different culture is key.

[jumbocrunk]

。。。Very few countries go by 24 hour time.　Japan uses 12 hour time, as does the rest of the English speaking world. The only country I know that uses 24 hour time is Germany, the nation of people who are anal retentive.

[Wyria]

sorry, but almost every European country go by 24 hour time

[IsaakHunt]

But it's only a convention to write. People don't say meet me at '22-100', that's stuff the military does. But when look at tv-schedules or stuff like that, you'll find '22:00'. It's just a convention like adding am an pm, that's it.

It's the same with driving on the left side. I can imagine, though, that decades ago driving was much harder that way, because you needed much more force to switch gears. I don't know why they still keep this up, because cars might be pricier because of this.

[Quintaxos]

Haha

[raydredX]

@johnnydeppfan89 Actually USA kinda is on the "right side"(the pun is not on purpose) and japan in the wrong side, because the great majority of countries have right-hand traffic.

[aishiteruyo2009]

japan is adventure place for me... mata japan ikitai na!!!!

[cwj415]

btw is it true you have to slurp??

[cwj415]

octoballz

[teleostomi]

You dont' have to slurp, it's optional.

[aaronranmafan]

Its considered polite it means that your enjoying the food that they cooked its just another way of saying "Thanks for the awesome food!"

[teleostomi]

No way that's overanalysis.

Some not if many feel dirty just like the people of different cultural background.

[LynxCoding]

I wanna live in Japan!!

[Saru4life]

ahhh pocky!! lol i love pocky!

[OsakaBomb]

I just went to londonkaleb's account to check his age. Usually, when someone makes comments as ridiculous as that, I have to know how old they are for some reason. But I was brought to the main page, and saw a message that said his account his suspended.

To me, that is beautiful.

[Nzboy908]

Dude you got to go back to Japan :( your vids were awesome

[DavePerry2012]

2:33 LOL (see below)

[DavePerry2012]

I didn't know octopus had balls. XD

[mvp99nj]

swan did you go to segapolis?

[rodgerswan]

yes, i sure did. good stuff, as i've always been a sega fan haha.

[londonkaleb]

im going japan in november/december =D

[ClothoidDoll]

what was the trains like? I take the train to work everyday. I've also ridden the subway in DC....but that system is more complex than taking the metra.

[rodgerswan]

trains were amazing, so easy to figure out and almost always on time. i miss riding them already!

[ClothoidDoll]

lol! on time? That's good. The trains here are usually late

[JQob]

So you had a scholarship that payed for everything and you got to study Japanese for 4 hours a day and mostly have fun exploring?

Having not gone to college yet, what steps would I need to take to do what you have?

-JQob

[RoyalReality]

What are you there to study?? ^-^

[rodgerswan]

i was there for a year studying just the japanese language.

[JQob]

So you had a scholarship that payed for everything and you got to study Japanese for 4 hours a day and mostly have fun exploring?

Having not gone to college yet, what steps would I need to take to do what you have?

-JQob

[BOOMcoldX]

HAHA IVE SEEN THAT GUY IN HARAJUKU TOO! I visited Japan 3 days after this video was posted and the 2nd day we were there we went to Harajuku and saw that guy singing. haha good times

[Freiza890]

im visiting japan sometime soon, and im strongly thinking of living there, its amazing and a million times better than america >.>

[londonkaleb]

dream on bitch, japans for the rich not the poor....stay in shitty america asshole

[Freiza890]

ROFL! I'm not poor. And if I was I could get a poverty scholarship to go to collage there. But since I'm an A+ student I get a scholarship from academics so I'll be there for collage for 4 years. Also america is shitty thats why I wanna leave retard.

[londonkaleb]

excuse me dick face im an a* student at school and i also have 1 other thing that u clearly dont,MONEY! and i can speak fluent japanese aswell,besides...japanese dont like ameficans for what they did back in pearl harbor all those years ago

[Freiza890]

I'm not poor, nor am I some stuck up rich bastage. Most of these Youtube Gaijin are adverage with money. Just because you're some stuck up prick I'm not furthering myself in you'r attempt to make me not come to Japan. Also I didn't do anything involving the pearl harbor thing. The shits who use to run this country did.

[londonkaleb]

im not an outsider, but you are! GAIJIN!

heres another word to add to your dictionary

OKATOKA.....

[Freiza890]

Hence the !!!LONDON!!!kaleb. Retard.

[londonkaleb]

being british is a good thing because more and more japanese girls wanna go out with british guys =D

jealous bastard?

[Freiza890]

No. I like my teeth nice and white. Also, ROFL if you went to Japan for girls.

[londonkaleb]

you must be gay then.....

[elitechrstn]

wow londonkaleb another one of your stupid ignorant comments you sound so dumb you ignorant little macaque sit down and shut up and let your dad rape you

[fgv112]

@londonkaleb yeah right kaleb

[wiltsu]

What do you mean by american's doing something in pearl harbor? wasnt the japanese the ones who attacked pearl harbor? :O

[londonkaleb]

no dick face learn your history pearl harbor was attacked and that place contained JAPANESE aircraft that got destroyed! so why would japanese destroy there aircraft etc? idiot

[wiltsu]

You are so rude person, and what do you mean learn your history? im not even american so i dont have to learn american war history.

[MrHiberto]

lol how can you say learn your history when your obviously wrong, pearl harbor was an AMERICAN base and the JAPANESE attacked it i think you need to learn your history Mr. Im supposedly rich and british so I rule the world

[elitechrstn]

Look here Londonkaleb you attack people with false claims and things your to ignorant to know yes the japanese did bombs us therefore we bombed nagasaki . (why would we bomb some one that didnt attack us thats like us attacking japan for the 9-11 attack and they had nothing to do with it )!

[Fayceee]

Chill out, man.

[fgv112]

@londonkaleb your the idiot, btw people londonkaleb has a new channel known as ashenclone! he lies about the rare items that he reviews

[elitechrstn]

History of Londonkaleb (he was born a jackass with a braintumor that his dad hit when he was a baby therefor making him completely retarded he was born in london getting picked on by older kids making him suck balls and made him do their homework ) We all feel sorry for you londonkaleb

[Jtgurl123]

Lol you are definitley living my dream right now!^^ Thanks for uploading this and good luck!

[Swerty25]

Ha me too

[hopelesslyinlovedu]

was it hard to get a dorm?i've heard most of the international students can't get a dorm because there are not plenty? what did you do to get one?

[planetsound2004]

wow i just cant wait to experience all of that ;) i'm jealous my friend

[eatandtravel]

Love it. Thanks for sharing.

[mackhine]

Originally found your channel from the horror reviews, but the videos of Japan are really great! I'd love to go there someday, but probably won't ever get a chance to. This is kind of like the next best thing. Thanks!

[pinkpuddlz101]

I would've been SO scared but so unbelievably ecstatic to first arrive there. How were you with that?

And thanks so much for the videos by the way. It's holding me over until I go there and keeping the insanity at bay :3

[rodgerswan]

actually, the move was fairly easy to be honest. I think I just a fairly stoic personality though heh. thanks for watching!

[bolivianinjp]

Keio? wow. youo must be very smart!^^

If you are in kawasaki i recommend going to Yokohama China Town(Chukagai). (But maybe you already did?)

Anyway, its about 15min by train. its fun just walking the street watching the colorful gates and restaurants.And see the people selling food on the street.

[rodgerswan]

hey thanks, i have gone there actually... never made a video there though. really cool place, lots of neat stuff like you say.

[Eriqzzzz]

arg i evny u. i really want to go to japan lol.

[Thunderchips12]

Noo,you have Pocky! There was this one stoore we went to and it Had Pocky, but Then we moved...So we don't have Pocky anymore...

[haseo9231]

it looks like its about to storm.

[Archronos1]

Howd u end up in jp dude? Student exchange or u just decided to study there? Anyway, a student in Tokyo...You're livin my dream man! Rock on!

[rodgerswan]

yeah, my school had an exchange program with Keio so I am on that program. It's been awesome!

[grammygutter]

can you speak japanese? i know its a dumb question.

[rodgerswan]

yeah, not fluently yet though. Took it for 2 years at college before studying the language at Keio. I'm hoping to improve even more by the end of next semester.

[Freiza890]

Slurping air into the noodles gives sopa noodles its full flavor

[DearFamily2008]

Hi, interesting video ^^.

It's so nice to see how a student has it in Japan.

Do they play music in the city? Like in the beginning when you were walking on the street, I could hear some faint music in the BG, or maybe you just edited the music there?

Anyways, thanks for sharing! ^^v

[rodgerswan]

no, that is actual music on the street. All the sections of tokyo have different tunes, you can especially hear them around the train stations. Also, at certain times of day various songs play. It's pretty interesting haha.

[DearFamily2008]

Haha, wow, well, that sounds and looks very interesting indeed ^^v

[maxgo111]

YOU ARE LIVING MY DREAM!! How much Japanese did you know when you flew over? And what are you studying in Uni?

[vanillascream]

Wow, u are living my dream(partofit).

I'm so jealous =],I really want to go to Japan in an Exchange program. Can I ask u a couple questions, if u have the time?

1. I'm trying to learn japanese, is Pimsleur the best way? (would u suggest it?)

2. Have u learned to read? Reading seems to be the most difficult thing about moving to Japan. ..well, what I think is.

(if I'm asking old questions, u could just refer me to other videos of urs.)

Thank u so much for reading this!

Happy Holidays!

[atsukomaeda]

hey i know you didnt ask me but i thought id comment, if you want my opinion the only way to learn the language is either go to school, or go to japan, the discs like pimsleur teach you the basics that you need so that is a great way to start. but to learn the language its gonna take years and dedication :)

[vanillascream]

Oh no, not at all, thank you for replying =]

I understand what you're saying, I'll keep doing my best and hopefully one day I'll be able to visit Japan ^__^

[metalandanimeyes]

DBZ nice!

[nilergirl109806]

YAH! YOU HAVE POCKY!! I love pocky =)

[TwigiiAgain]

[the guy at the end of the video] I see him all the time hahaha.

i love it when he sings seal, one of his favorites.. bwahaha.

[Prezsama]

akiba!!!! hehehe nice

[sexymdlman]

wow I'm glad I found your videos! I'm moving to Tokyo on Nov 20th, and just wanted to see what it was like for someone to be there for the first time ^_^

[rodgerswan]

cool yeah, glad to hear you are enjoying the perspective of a first timer living in japan. nov 20th is when i'm seeing elton john live in tokyo haha, it shall be a good day for all!

[sexymdlman]

haha oh man my mom loves that guy! haha! Well I'll watch more of your videos soon lol I'm at work right right now ^_^

[umiumil]

damn your a lucky guy I will look at this whole series thinks for the uploads

[laurenceb232]

Hey dude, great video! I decided to start watching your videos because I'm coming to visit my friend Luke in Febraury who is studing there at the moment, so i thought I'd get an insight to what it's like in the area near Keio. Turns out you were sitting in front of him when you were slurping your noodles! Small world. Keep up the good v-log work!

[Idbanghinata]

ah-ki-ha-ba-ra

[terrellb]

it is a amazing place, i've been there three times, i plan to shoot my show there. Have fun the place is excellent and clean and the people are welcoming!

[budnme123]

Wow - looks like a great adventure. I'll be wathcing. (I'd love to go there; so for now I'll be seeing it through your eyes or camera!

thanks

[rodgerswan]

thanks, I'm glad that you are enjoying the videos! I will try to have episode 5 up in a few days :)

[leixialong32]

They dont drive on the "Wrong side" of the road they drive on the "other side".

You gotta stop with they dont have this and that lines and realise your in Japan, but you like your doin well and best of luck with your studying in Japan.

[rodgerswan]

Thank you for the kind words, and I agree!

[21mic06]

RODGER!!!!!! Greetings from Home! Hope everything is well. I almost, well I did, lose my top when I saw that CLUB SEGA. That is bitchin as shit! Please keep updating!! JB

[xXoOfallenangelOoXx]

hey congrat on your schoolarship in japan, but i wonder how did you got therei mean im actually studying in japan with the monbukagakusho program (im doing a 7 years study with 1 year of japanese only)

[rodgerswan]

wow, that's a really impressive program you are in! Mine is more like a student exchange program, my home school (western michigan university) is the only school in Michigan to trade students with Keio, so it was quite nice. Thank you for the comments and subscription!