Speaker 1: Welcome to another happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 2: All right, so today we have really something very special
and exciting. I want to introduce to you Lindsey from
All Years English. I'm sure you all know the All
Years English podcast. Let me tell you a little bit
about Lindsay. Lindsay McMahon is the CEO of All Ears
English and is the co host of the All Years
English podcast. The All Years English podcast teaches English communication
and global business skills to one point nine million followers,
Oh my god, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify globally, and
it's downloaded three point five million times a month. Oh
my god. And that podcast, All Ears English has been
ranked as high as number one in US education language courses.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: Lindsay and her team have been featured in Podcasts Magazine,
Language Magazine, and Forbes and their podcast is awesome. And
I am so happy to have Lindsay here on the
program of Lindsey Welcome on.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for having
me on. Great to collaborate with you again.
Speaker 4: Yeah yep.
Speaker 2: And I have to tell my listeners that Lindsey is
the person you can blame for me having a podcast,
because way back in twenty fourteen, yeah, you know this,
this All Years English podcast popped up and I thought,
that's kind of cool a podcast. I've always liked radio.
I'm going to do a podcast too. So she was
a very influence on me, and she's the reason why
I'm here with you introducing her to So.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did not know that, Michael.
Speaker 3: I did not know that All Ours English was the
inspiration for you to start a show.
Speaker 4: I'm so glad to hear that. Very cool.
Speaker 2: And today Lindsay is in the States and I, as
you probably already know, am back in Japan, and I
thought we could have a little chat today about that
experience or lindsay experience here in Japan. Yeah, so welcome,
love the program.
Speaker 3: Yeah, excited to be here, Excited to talk about Japan.
I lived in Japan in two thousand and five and six,
and though it was twenty years ago, the memory and
just the experience is still very visceral for me, right,
just just the memories that just was a very formative
experience in my mid twenties, and so excited to get
into it and see how things have changed a bit
over the years.
Speaker 2: So what are you know, what are some some experiences,
are things that you remember about from in those days.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one thing that I remember about living in Japan
was that it was a one hundred percent cash based society.
So nowadays in the US, now this is not two
thousand and five, so things are a little skewed a
little different now in the US. But I don't really
use cash right just credit cards. But I remember at
that time in Japan it was cash based and in the
US people were using credit cards. So I'm curious if
that's still the case in Japan.
Speaker 2: So right now I'm living in a really really small
town and some of the local shops are still cash only. Okay,
basically e money is the thing now. And so like
in the States, there's like a venmo or you know,
you pay with your phone, right and you yeah, you know,
it's the same thing. Here. There's a there's a very
popular app called Paypay and you show the barcord bar
code and they scan it and then you hear you
and then you know you've paid. So Japan has really
come into the twenty first century in terms of you know,
the cash lists society.
Speaker 3: So it's not credit cards, it's the cash apps. Do
people also use or the credit card on an app
maybe for example.
Speaker 2: Well if if if a store takes credit cards, they
also take you know, the phone.
Speaker 4: Out Okay, got it, got it? Okay?
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I do remember, like when I was here
in the nineties, it was just yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what year did you leave Japan the first
time when you lived you, I was.
Speaker 2: Here a ninety four to ninety.
Speaker 4: Eight, okay, okay, So still when I.
Speaker 2: First started working as an English teacher here, the first
couple of months, my when I got paid, they paid
you once a month.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I think for me, I got paid once
a month in direct deposit, I think is what it was.
It was a direct deposit into my bank account in Japan.
But yeah, once a month's payments is another thing that
was different for me at that time. I think the
standard in the US is to be paid twice.
Speaker 2: A month, right, right, And I think that's a that's
a law, right, like probably with in fifteen days of
when you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, probably, yeah, that's I mean, that's how a
lot of companies do it.
Speaker 4: So differences around payments.
Speaker 2: For sure, absolutely, absolutely, and here's still it's you get
paid once a month.
Speaker 4: Okay, got it? That's interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And then you know probably when you were here,
you know, you might have gone out with your coworkers
after work to a restaurant or something or a bar,
and you know that has completely changed these days.
Speaker 4: Really yeah, so tell me more.
Speaker 2: I'm the younger generation of workers. And when I say
the younger generation, like you know, people in their twenties
and thirties, they're they're interested more in a work life balance. Okay,
so going out drinking with your boss senior co workers
is you know these days the workers would say, well,
am I going to get paid for that? Is? That?
Is that part of the over time because I'm working?
Speaker 4: That is a dramatic shift in twenty years.
Speaker 2: That's a very dramatic shift.
Speaker 3: Wow, And would you say so, here's a more detailed question.
So people in their you know, new young professionals are
not doing it. What about people in their forties fifties,
like senior more senior people. Are they still doing that?
But it's just people in their twenties and thirties or
just not not there or is it not happening at all?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, So there is a there is a drinking culture,
and I think it is the older generation is still
doing that. But like back in the day, when I
say back in the day, like when you were here
and when I was here, you would you know, after
work you go to a pub they call it an
eza kayak and yeah, yeah, thanks, have some food, have
some drinks and some food, and then after that go to
kadao okay, yeah, and then maybe after that go to
the bar. And so I think they don't have that
culture of those two or three parties a night. Yeah,
let's go to the pub, have some food, have some drinks. Okay,
see you tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's a big change because a big part of my
life was was that. That That was how I got
to know my coworkers, you know, that was how I
kind of built those professional relationships. Right, And I'm not
surprised because we're seeing that in the US too, Right.
It's a big shift towards work life balance, towards employees
reclaiming their time and reclaiming their independence.
Speaker 4: It's a good thing. I'm just surprised it's changed so much. Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's it's interesting. Sorry, it's interesting
to see that that you know, people are they'll work hard,
but they're not willing to you know, spend their private
time with the boss drinking at the pub.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So do you think as a result the relations like,
is business suffering? Because I think the thesis was always
that that made business smoother or better or more efficient
because we knew each other outside of work.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't. I don't really know, Like I've
only been for four months. I work just me, you know,
I have yeah, the English here, So yeah, I don't know.
But I think that since there's a decline in the
population and it's you know, it's it's a worker's market, right, like,
companies need people to work, and so I think that
kind of pressure to go out drinking with your coworkers.
I guess you can build your relationships, you know, during
the course of the work day.
Speaker 4: Yes, that night, Yes, for sure makes sense. Really interesting.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of what else is different? Smoking?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, tell me about that, right.
Speaker 2: So I live in a very small town here, and
there are a couple of restaurants that have a smoking section. Okay,
I put that in air quotes because for me, if
you go into a restaurant and there's a smoking section,
you can still smell the smoke no matter where you are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, it's like an airplane smoking section of
an air or an airport or something.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But the majority of restaurants that I've been to here
in the last four months is no smoking.
Speaker 3: That's also a big change, because in two thousand and five,
all these zakayas were still very much smoking, And I
think that's a I think we had already made the
shift in the US to less smoking, but it was
still smoking in restaurants in Japan in two thousand and five,
So I'm not surprised about that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I asked, like, it seems like it's not
a law, Okay, it's more of a cultural trend, right, right,
So the government doesn't say, you know, you must have
a smoking section or there's no smoking allowed, blah blah blah. Okay,
it's just that these restaurants and the customers are deciding
they don't want to they don't want to do with that.
Speaker 4: Interesting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that makes sense in an organized society sometimes,
cultural like respect for others can say more than the
law or is equal to the law, and away.
Speaker 2: Right, really group harmony. Here is the is the is
the theme? I guess?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: What about One thing I always loved about Japan was
the convenience stores and how you could buy essentially a
full healthy I thought it was healthy meal at like
a Lossons or I think there was seven eleven at
that time.
Speaker 4: I don't remember. Is that still the case or yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yeah, So they call that a dento and it's
you know, there's a mice, there's approtea, like some grilled
meat or grilled fish, vegetables, some pickles, there's a whole
variety of in a box. Yeah, around like you know,
five or seven dollars US.
Speaker 4: That's amazing.
Speaker 3: What a good deal, What a good deal for quality food?
I mean right now, Michael, I mean you know you
were just here. What you can get in the US
for five dollars. Maybe you could get a candy bar
or something. It's definitely not going to be healthy. It's
not going to be how much eggs now, a dozen eggs?
Speaker 4: It depends.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've seen it anywhere from five to like twelve dollars.
Because things got a little off the rails they have
and the mean things are kind of insane right now.
In the US politically speaking, But there was a shortage
of eggs, and I think that the prices went up.
I think they're coming down now, but we could see
them go up again. It's really touch and go right
now in the US. Yeah, but yeah, anywhere between five
and twelve, gotcha.
Speaker 2: I know, I lived in New York and New York
is an island, and I was living in a place
called Long Island, which is also an island, very close
to the beach in the Avantic Ocean. Yeah, really hard
to get fresh.
Speaker 4: Fish, really really Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm here. I'm not too close to the ocean actually,
but the fish is if you like fish, this is
a fish lover's paradise, Yeah, because you can. You know,
the fish is really an expensive. A nice piece of
salmon is like two or three dollars.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I miss that. I will say. I love
good seafood. I mean, right now, I'm in a landlocked state.
Speaker 3: I'm in Colorado's where I live, So I don't eat
a lot of fish because I'm assuming it's not going
to be that great. But actually I resonate with what
you're saying in Long Island because my parents are from
the Boston area. And no, there was a fish market
in that town. Sometimes I feel like at the grocery
store we would get old fish and it was a
seaside town.
Speaker 2: Right, It's very ironic, yeah, right, But traditionally the culture
here is they eat It's an island, so they eat
fish more than meat. I think eating meat happened like
within the last one hundred and fifty years. Okay, So
you know, and so fish is plentiful, and it's it's
a good deal. And you know, we were talking about
those you know, one meal pento box. You can even
get those at the grocery store now.
Speaker 4: Really, I love that.
Speaker 2: A long time ago, I love that.
Speaker 3: I remember going to the Sukiji fish market a couple
of times where they still have the tuna auctions open. Right,
you could still go and watch that auction. I think
it's closed now, is that right?
Speaker 2: Moved to a different place. They still have that auction
going on.
Speaker 3: Okay, and tourists can still see it, can get in
there and watch.
Speaker 4: Okay. Nice, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and avct of me. That seems to be a big,
big part of the tourism here. Every time I look
in the news, it says that, oh, the number of
inbound tourists last month is a world record for Japan.
Every month there's more and more and more tourists coming.
So yeah, yeah, maybe the list some of the listeners
of this podcast might be out there just thinking, I hope,
so come to Japan, come see me.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: We did a couple of live events in Japan in
twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen for all theirs English and
it was fantastic to be able to go there, you know,
for work and bring my coworker there.
Speaker 4: I just relive the days. It was so cool, so cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know the other interesting thing about Japan,
you know there there always was a good train network,
and it's even better now of the high speed train
called the Bullet Train. They've got new routes to go
to all different places. So it's really you don't really
need a car as long as you can get on
you hop on a train, you can get to pretty
much everywhere you need to get Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, in two thousand and five, used to be
able to ride the local train, not even the bullet train,
because for me, the bulletrain was too expensive at that time.
Speaker 4: Right as an English teacher.
Speaker 3: But I could ride the local train from Tokyo out
to the Sea of Japan, out to what is it.
Speaker 4: Not Kuma Molto what is it?
Speaker 3: Can't remember the name of the town, but anyways, early yeah, Kamakura, Yes,
And that was my vacation and I could just get
on the train, a local like I don't know, a
thousand yen or something.
Speaker 4: It was crazy. You could never do that in the US.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, it's interesting like that. We had in
America really advanced for the time train system in the
nineteen twenties. Yeah, and that was a really popular way
to travel, like New York to Boston or in New
York to Chicago. Yes, and then you know, the automobile
came and it was affordable and because Americans have a
very independent spirit and you know me culture, right, you know,
if I have a car and I can afford a car,
I can go at my speed, my schedule, my time
stock when I want to take a break, when I want. Yes.
And also America is physically large, right, so to connect
every place with one train system would be tough.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's such an interesting glimpse into American culture as
the car, right, I mean, Henry Ford, Right, he kind
of made the car relevant in the US, and then
there was no going back from there once they built
the highways, they introduced the car. It's that independent spirit.
The American road trip is one of the most iconic
experiences you can have in the US, right, Michael, have
you ever done that?
Speaker 2: I've driven from New York to Florida, New York to Chicago,
New York many times, and we have this. I mentioned
this a few weeks ago in the podcast here, the
road trip, especially in the summertime. Right, you pack up
the family and you get in the car and you go.
It's not the destination that's the key point. It's just
the journey itself is an exciting part, right everything.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean I built an entire course, an
English course actually, which is still still still available at
all our English where I took a loop around the
country Michael, in twenty sixteen, twelve thousand miles around the US,
and I interviewed people that I met along the way
in bars and festivals, in the street restaurants, and then
we have all of those interviews as part of activities
and learning listening vocabulary. So it is kind of the journey, right,
I had so much fun building that course.
Speaker 4: It was amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeh.
Speaker 2: And so that that I think I'd like to wrap
up here with that. So I'm sure everyone knows where
to find All Ears English, but can you tell us
exactly where to find you and your podcast? And also
what you know, what else do you guys do there
besides just podcasts?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so absolutely so we do. We do publish courses
at All Ours English. We have an app, we do,
we have a YouTube channel. But for our listeners here
on your podcast, the best way to find us would
be to just open their search bar. If they're listening
with an Apple Podcasts or Spotify, just open your search
bar and type in all Ears English.
Speaker 4: You'll see the.
Speaker 3: Yellow pop up and hit that follow button. So the
big thing that we are, our whole thing is connection,
not perfection. So we bring every podcast episode back to
human connection. We figure out what is the piece that
will help us connect to live a happier life, and
that's what we pull out of.
Speaker 4: What we're teaching for that day. We publish five days
a week on the show.
Speaker 2: Right, And you know, I've always admired your podcast, and
I've always admired your catchphrase connection not protection, because contact
with other people. I think that's what language is all about, right, huge,
you have to be perfect.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, it is so freeing when you realize that.
Speaker 3: When you accept that, you can breathe, exhale, and now
we can get to the business of really connecting and
truly learning.
Speaker 4: Thanks.
Speaker 2: Yes, all right, well Lindsey, thanks for taking your time
today to chat about this. That was very fun.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you Michael for having me on. That was great.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: To all the listeners out there, make sure you type
in all years English, look for a little yellow and
you'll find them. Man. Then yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4: All right, Thanks Michael, see you next time.
Speaker 2: You next time.
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