Maydaysan and the Comedy of Life in Japan — An Interview

Originally from Canada, Maydaysan is an English teacher who has seen a steady rise in Internet popularity amount gaijin bloggers on social media over the last year. His self described brand of “making memes about Japan” started off with videos poking fun at Japanese education and work-life, but has since evolved to parody and exaggeration skits about all aspects of Japan-life for 200,000+ followers. I sat down with Maydaysan to discuss his time in Japan, reasons for moving, and struggles that come with living as a gaijin.

Walker: Hello, Maydaysan. Thank you for joining us today! To get things started, why don’t you tell us why you moved to Japan?

Mayday: Thank you for having me! To answer your question: escapism. I’m sure you know how it is. I couldn’t find a job back home worth my soul, and at the time my girlfriend was going back to Japan, so I came here as an English teacher for an eikaiwa (English Conversation School) for about a year and then I got a job as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) with Interac.

Walker: You had joked about moving to Japan for your girlfriend in your videos and I had always thought those were only jokes.

Mayday: No, that was real. I’ve seen it several times. Either that or just getting a useless degree like art or history and not knowing what to do with it.

Walker: That’s the reason I’m in Japan. I got an art degree!

Mayday: There we go! The memes become reality! Haha.

Walker: What was your experience working with Interac and working in public schools?

Mayday: I really enjoyed it (granted I had good schools). Because I worked at an elementary and a middle school, the 2.5 years I was there I’d see my kids graduate and go right into the middle school I taught at as well. It was really full-circle sometimes. However, there was one school that I attended only once a month that sucked. I always call it being the “human tape recorder” where I’m just asked to stand in the room and repeat a phrase for pronunciation. Wasn’t fun.

Walker: What happened after? Why leave halfway through your third contract?

Mayday: I got a job in sales for a media company, and I had my soul destroyed there. I quit after only a week, and now I’m back to working at an eikaiwa in Yokohama. The pay is pretty good (luckily), but I have little time off work. It’s bad for my mental health. Eikaiwa jobs are their own world, and no company is perfect. The one I’m working for knows their problems and is working to fix them, so I guess that’s always good.

Walker: What is your favorite video you’ve made so far?

Mayday: That’s really hard. One of my favorites would be “When are you going home?” It didn’t take off as well as others, but that’s because it was a darker video. It was meant to be a social commentary on how like “don’t worry about our problems. worry about your own” because every gaijin gets asked, “when are you leaving Japan.”

If I had to pick a non-artsy video then it would definitely be the one about ichi-nensei (first-graders). That video just cracks me up every time I rewatch it. They’ll ask some of the silliest questions like “Why did you become a foreigner?”

From my TikTok videos, it would definitely be Valentine’s Day. I love Japanese commercials that will give such a plot and then twist it at the end just to get a product placed in.

Walker: You’ve been making videos and memes poking fun at Japanese work-life and schools for over a year, now. Did you expect to have the following you got in such a short amount of time?

Mayday: Maydaysan was always an intended piece of art. I knew what I wanted going in. So I made content that I knew would be relatable. For years, maybe a decade, I was doing streaming, music, live skits, and none of it ever took off. Maydaysan was meant to have a brand and gain traction! I made jokes about my job back in Canada and did it at drinking parties here, so I thought “why not make jokes about life in Japan?”

My second video was the one considered to be the real debut. I was about to play games with friends and decided to make the whole thing in one take. I spent a lot of time on the voice-overs. With a 10-dollar coupon, I paid for the video to be sponsored content and target those in Japan. After about 3,000 YouTube subscribers I felt I hit a ceiling and I had done everything as far as ALT jokes went.

Walker: But then you started doing smaller things on TikTok!

Mayday: Yeah. I was in bed with a notepad just writing out random ideas one night and decided to put them on TikTok for myself. I didn’t even look at the comments or view count, but in two months I had over 100,000 followers. Now it’s 200,000. YouTube had been expected, but TikTok… I never thought I’d have 6-digit figures in a year. Mentally it’s great, because TikTok is easier for me.

Walker: You’ve been very open on social media between videos about mental health struggles. How do you think that reflects on living in Japan?

Mayday: I’ve seen a lot of people move here and act entitled to a lot because of their expectations of Japan. It’s a great country, still, but a lot of people don’t realize that when you’re here: you’re on your own. You need to be able to persevere through challenges, take care of yourself, and be self-sufficient, the same as Japanese people do here. That includes making friends and fighting off loneliness. Just get out there and be a part of Japan… and go study Japanese! Living in Japan is very different than just visiting.

Walker: What would you say is most difficult after moving to Japan?

Mayday: After getting over any culture shock, it would be actually living in the Japanese system, especially if you’re very outspoken. There is also a lack of job opportunities. If you lack language capability or other marketable skills then you won’t get very far beyond English teaching or sales department jobs. If you want to live in Japan long-term then the best advice I can give is to come here with goals.

Walker: That about covers up the work portion. Shall we move on to a few “just for fun” questions?”

Mayday: Sure. Let’s do it!

Walker: What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Mayday: Wow… um, that’s a hard one. The heck… uhhh… I’d run 10km! Yeah. In August. Tokyo summer marathon with no water. I’ll get the gold medal and the Nihongo jouzu medal!

Walker: If Pokemon were real, what six would you have on your team?

Mayday: Eevee, Sylveon, Pikachu, Charizard, and Staraptor, and Pichu just for the jokes.

Walker: And my forever final question is… when you die, if your ashes were pressed into a vinyl record, what song would you want on that record?

Mayday-san: One Summer’s Day from the Spirited Away soundtrack. That song for me is very special and I think it’d be the best representation as a send-off.