Wow!

Hello and welcome to the brawngapam podcast, probably the best way of learning about life in Japan,

without actually being in Japan. I'm your host Chris Broaden, and we're joined as always

by Top London Radio DJ and Certified Japaner File, Mr Pete Donaldson Pete, how you doing?

I'm good, last week I really, really wanted to be in Japan because it was very cold and miserable,

but today here in London's fine capital or rather England's fine capital, London, it's nice and sunny.

It's still cold up in Tohoku, it's the difference in temperature between different areas in Japan

is ridiculous. I was in Tokyo the other day and it was like 15, 16 degrees. You come up north

like an hour and a half on the bullet train, it's like one degree and it sucks.

Oh, it is bizarre. I remember sort of going from, like I've said it before on the podcast,

but I go from Tokyo, wearing a t-shirt, maybe a lighter cardigan, maximum, and then flying up to

Sapporo, and it was just, I had to buy thermals and just, you know, wear a, wear up and wear

up five different layers, it was blooming for a reason. This is the most British start to a podcast

has ever been. Two people talking about the weather. I remember when I used to have an office job,

that's all you ever did, you bring up people in different parts of the country and just talk about

the weather for like five minutes. Last week we read out a story from Shannon, a listener in the US.

It was a lovely story about how she'd bonded with, I'll say, bond, that's a strong, how she'd just

chatty to a stranger sitting next to her on the plane, who was also an abroad-Japanese podcast

listener, but she didn't get her details. So we read out Shannon's story with the hope that we

could sort of bait the other person to listen in and send in their details and it happened.

It happened, Pete. Debbie got in touch. The Abroad Japan podcast bringing people together around

the world. Debbie's email says, Hey Chris, I was listening to the podcast when I heard about Shannon's

...