Podcast Episode “Staying Local in Japan at Rise's House” - Part 1

0:01

Speaker 1

Right after my guests reserved my place, we start talking about how to spend their time during their stay.

We are already friends when they arrive, we already know each other and then the feeling is quite different.

My guests can interact with locals and also experience 20 different very local activities.

0:19

That's what makes Reese's House unique.

People make friends and then they still keep in touch.

So people would come back to initial city to see the people.

0:38

Speaker 2

Thanks for checking in.

This is the Japan Travel Pros podcast.

Each week we bring you stories and fresh perspectives about the people and places that make Japan so interesting.

Along the way, you'll hear practical advice for planning your own trip.

0:52

Speaker 3

In this episode, we're heading to Nishio in IT Prefecture for a conversation with Reese San, the founder of Reese's house.

We talk about what inspired him to create it, why Reese San believes travel is really about human connections, and how an unexpected experience in Italy of all places, changed the course of his life.

1:11

If you've ever wondered what it means to experience Japan beyond the usual tourist trail, I think you're really going to enjoy this conversation.

Before we jump in a little context, So a while back I was watching YouTube and a channel called Only in Japan.

By the way, you may have seen it.

1:27

John Dobb is the host.

Great channel.

Subscribe if you haven't already.

Only in Japan.

And this episode was about a young Japanese entrepreneur in central Japan named Reese San.

Yeah, you guessed it.

Now he runs a small guest house in Nishio.

That's his hometown.

1:43

The video really stuck with me for a number of reasons.

It got me curious and.

1:48

Speaker 2

More.

1:48

Speaker 3

Importantly, it made me realize what people like Reese San are trying to build.

Well, he isn't just trying, he is actually building it.

It's really cool.

Reese San is creating opportunities for travellers to connect.

2:00

Speaker 2

With local people.

Local.

2:01

Speaker 3

Businesses and everyday life in a part of Japan that frankly, a lot of international visitors pretty much pass by.

When we launched the Japan Travel Pros podcast, I knew I wanted to invite Reese S on.

2:14

Speaker 2

Just to be clear.

2:15

Speaker 3

This wasn't a sponsored conversation.

We didn't know each other before I reached out on Instagram.

There was no agreement beyond having what I hoped would be an interesting conversation.

And my hopes were not dashed.

They were, in fact, exceeded.

You'll hear me learn a few things during this interview.

By the way.

2:30

I came in with a number of assumptions about Reese SAN's guest house and what he was building.

But as the conversation unfolds, I think you'll hear that I realize it was a whole lot bigger than I had first understood.

Even not to me.

This episode is about people who are helping visitors experience Japan in a more personal way, in a more human way.

2:52

With that said, I hope you enjoy part one of our conversation with Reese SAN.

Let's get started.

3:05

Speaker 1

My name is Reese and I was born and raised in initial city.

But growing up in this city, I didn't know much about initial city.

Like I just went to school and then came home every day.

It just repeatedly.

To be honest, my family couldn't afford traveling that much.

Traveling abroad was like kind of impossible.

3:21

But.

But yeah, I was one of those kids who are really interested in, have you ever watched Attack on Titan before?

I was one of those people got stuck in some places and then was curious about like, what's out there behind the wall.

So I was like that.

So I read newspaper like every day for an hour before going to school.

3:39

But I never had a chance to go abroad to see actually what's out there.

And I got really into economics by reading newspapers.

So I wanted to become an economist when I got into college.

During my colleagues year, COVID happened so a lot of things were quite stressful.

3:55

But thankfully I was lucky enough to get scholarship to study abroad in Michigan.

The first week of my exchange at the University of Michigan, I joined orientation hosted by the Japan Student Association.

Basically the association is for those who are interested in Japanese culture.

4:12

I was so surprised to see like there were 200 people who were really interested in Japanese culture and I was very happy about it.

I just started thinking about my future.

Maybe I can do something for them related to Japan.

Then after that, I visited one of my friends in Italy.

4:30

I visited his hometown.

It was a small village in South India.

The population there was like a 3000.

Yeah.

I stayed at his grandma's house.

His grandma was 90 year old and sweet enough to teach me how to make pasta from scratch.

4:45

And his family took me to the cafe or the church that they go to very, like, regularly.

And he introduced me to his, like, friends from childhood.

Yeah.

Basically I got to meet a lot of people there, and I had a blast.

5:00

So then there was like a click moment and maybe running accommodations in my hometown, maybe doing the similar thing that I experienced in Sardinia.

That can be that can be really fun.

But I didn't start it right after I graduated.

5:16

I work started working for Ocean Resorts to get trained and one year after that I found a vacant house.

I was very lucky to find a vacant house in my hometown.

I started renting it and renovated it.

I did crowdfunding, helped by a lot of locals and thankfully I started it like 2 years ago.

5:37

So far I've hosted guests from 30 different countries.

My guest house is very unique in that my guest can interact with locals and also experience 20 different very local activities.

So that's what makes Reese's house unique.

5:52

Speaker 2

A lot of travelers to Japan, when we ask, and I always ask this question first when we have a conversation, it's what brings you to Japan.

Why do you want to visit Japan?

The word culture comes up and the word local comes up, especially for the first time travel to Japan.

If they've chosen an itinerary that doesn't get them into enough really local situations.

6:12

And if they're going to stay in Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka in particular, even other cities, it's hard to have individual interactions with local Japanese people, isn't it?

6:22

Speaker 1

Absolutely.

So I mean, the places you mentioned, Tokyo, Kyoto or, or those places, those are the places where tourism, it's different from our daily lives, right?

Nisha's city is, is fun because you can only see locals like you don't find other tourists.

6:39

Essentially my accommodation is the only one in my neighborhood and it's all yours.

So that's why I think it's also special.

6:48

Speaker 2

So if there is a, let's say non Japanese looking person walking down the street in the town of Nishio, chances are people are going to look and say, oh, they're staying with Diceisan.

We know this.

6:58

Speaker 1

That's absolutely right.

So my guests are really happy about it.

And every restaurant they go, the restaurant's groaners, They, they already know that they are like Reese's house guests.

And I usually bring my guests to restaurants.

That's also how my guests get to know the locals.

7:15

They feel very special.

There's like sushi restaurants, a very local 1.

And then my guests went there alone.

But yeah, the restaurant owner pointed out my poster on the wall.

And then how are you from?

Are you a friend of Reese or are you staying at this place?

And then my guest said yes.

7:30

And.

And that makes it easier for them to make friends.

People in my city are very curious about how what brought them to initial city.

Actually initial city produces 60% of all the ship crackers in Japan.

And there's a one very local one run by a a very friendly guy and he's like 60 year old.

7:49

He still keeps in touch with my guest like through Instagram, like he sees my guest, he celebrates my guest's birthday or like have like Christmas or those things.

The other be around too.

Like my guests sometimes send me a like Christmas card or those like Happy New Year message or those things.

8:06

What I love about Reese's House is that people make friends and then they still keep in touch.

So people will come back to initial city to see the people.

If you have a friend there, if you have a like close friend there, you come back there, right.

I love that it's.

8:21

Speaker 2

So amazing recess and we, we live in a world in a time now where people are, I don't want to say led by machines, but they're certainly interacting with machines far more than they are interacting with people.

And if you think about what their travel journey is, for the most part, their travel planning has been very automated.

8:41

Certainly their travel experience flying and getting through the airport and everything else and through the, the probably the first hotel stay was somewhat automated throughout their stay.

The average person, the average American, for example, stays in Japan somewhere between 12 and 14 days.

And we can count really on, on our hands, really a handful of human interactions, especially if they're in the bigger cities.

9:04

It's a very momentary interaction and a very performed service type of culture.

And so how do you step out of that?

And what you're talking about is exactly that, isn't it?

9:16

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

I don't plan to, like, turn Nisha City into a very touristic city.

I just want to keep it, like, homey, personal.

Yeah.

The problem about those overtourism is that everything has to be efficient.

So like the host side, they also try to make everything efficient, like they follow like, like manuals.

9:36

And I want to keep it like something friendly where people feel more comfortable.

9:41

Speaker 2

Speaking of hotels and following manuals, one of the complaints that we get from our clients is I want an early check in or I want a late check out.

Either my hotel won't do it or I have to pay.

What happens when it, when it, when a guest asks you, Hey, do you say something I want to check out at 11:30?

I'm not, I'm not taking the train until whenever.

9:58

Hey, I'm, I'm my train gets in at 1:00.

Can I, can I get into my room?

Or how do you, how do you go about that?

10:03

Speaker 1

I'm in that scene as I'm very flexible.

As long as the room is ready, it's ready.

If there is no previous guest, I let them check in like at 10 AM or whenever they can arrive.

If they have to stay at like until very late, maybe the the next morning, they want to stay until like 12.

10:20

I mean the checkout is usually 10 but I always keep it like flexible as long as it's possible.

That kind of things is impossible for like a big hotels.

10:29

Speaker 2

Right.

You mentioned working in a hotel, which which hotel was that?

10:32

Speaker 1

Reasonary Yatsugatake In Yamanasi Prefector you get to see Mount Fuji of course, but also we can see Yatsugatake and Minami Alpus.

It's such a nice feeling to be surrounded by all those beautiful mountains.

10:44

Speaker 2

And did you join Hoshino Resorts and then they they sent you there?

10:49

Speaker 1

Yeah, I got an offer from like Hoshio Resorts, and then they sent me to that place.

I like my company, so I didn't mind working for the hotel for the next three or five years.

It's just that I found a really nice property in my hometown.

So I quit, right?

Three years before I planned.

11:05

Speaker 2

Yeah, when, when the opportunity presents itself in life, there are times when you you just have to jump, take a leap of faith and, and jump and, and you did.

11:14

Speaker 1

Right.

The manager was really shocked, but he understood it.

Like I convinced him to let me quit.

And you know, like in Japan, like quitting companies can be sometimes like stressful and you want to keep it like peaceful.

But yeah, thankfully my managers or my Co workers, many of them supported me through crowdfunding.

11:32

So and I still keep in touch with them.

I traveled with them.

Yeah.

I had such a good experience at Houston resorts.

11:39

Speaker 2

I'm glad to hear you say good things about Houston resorts.

We tend to like their properties as well.

11:43

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think I got some inspiration from Houston Resorts too, Like they're designed to what they do is not provide a place to just sleep, like they provide experiences.

So in that sense, I learned a lot, a lot from Houston Resorts.

11:59

Speaker 2

One of the things that people are looking for even in Tokyo, even in Kyoto or Osaka, is elements of Japanese culture or Japanese history or Japanese tradition or something that feels Japanese.

Oceano Resorts is actually doing something like that.

Oceano Resorts did not pay for this podcast.

12:15

They are not a sponsor.

Don't worry.

But since you say son used to work for Hoshani Resorts, I wanted to talk about that.

Hoshani Resorts goes out of their way to incorporate certain Japanese elements of design, for example, and functionality into their their rooms and suites, correct?

12:31

Speaker 1

What's unique about Hoshani Resorts is that every hotel, they have their own uniqueness.

And I think Hoshaniya, they don't have like, TV or anything in the hotel.

Yeah, they try to make you like immersed in the like moment.

12:46

Like they want you to appreciate the moment, like every single moment during your stay.

And I like that part.

12:52

Speaker 2

That's right.

And Hoshinoya has experiences and it very immersive and normally you'd have to go on to TripAdvisor or via tour or get your guide or one of those to find local experiences.

Hoshinoya is doing that for their guests.

Clearly you learned a lot about not only what a successful hospitality group in Japan is doing, but also what travelers from, we're going to say, outside Japan and around the world, but particularly from North America and Europe and certainly other countries as well, what those travelers are looking for and what you might be able to.

13:23

Speaker 1

Offer.

So yeah, every conversation I had with people from North America or European guests and those conversations makes things special.

I think experience is what what they looking for.

13:38

Speaker 2

If you're looking at a trip to Japan and everything is just starting to feel a little much, we can help.

You know there comes a point when more information just makes your head spin.

13:48

Speaker 3

We get it.

13:49

Speaker 2

Now that's where Japan Travel Pros comes in.

What we do is we help you sort through your plans, focus on what actually matters to you, and then you can make decisions with more confidence.

Go to japantravelpros.com/plan to book a session.

That's Japan. travelpros.com/plan Connecting the dots Starting, let's say the light bulb goes on when you're in Sardinia and Nona is teaching you how to make pasta.

14:16

Continuing through your time at Hoshino Resorts, you're learning all these things and you're thinking, I can offer this.

There's got to be a way that I can offer this, but in a local way and maybe even showcasing my hometown.

14:29

Speaker 1

When I grew up in my hometown, like I knew little about my hometown, but I searched about my hometown literally, and when I was in Europe, I found that there are so many unique things about Nishio City.

14:41

Speaker 2

Where is Nishio?

What's the population?

What kind of town is like?

Give us a little bit of description, sure if you will, about your your town of Nishio.

14:49

Speaker 1

Nishio city is located in in the middle of Japan.

It takes 15 minute training from Nagoya.

The population is 170,000.

It's speciality.

It's Mata IO and shrimp crackers.

We also have Miso brewery and sake brewery too.

15:06

But yeah, like when people hear matcha, probably a lot of people instantly think about Kyoto.

But I mean, that's true because they're famous.

But when it comes to both quality and quantity, like Micho is has been always one of the top place in Japan.

15:22

And we also have eels and like the best eels in Japan and also shrimp crackers.

But also, we are called Little Kyoto, actually, because Nishio has a lot of long history.

And then there are some streets that have old houses.

Like some of them are like 250 years old, and it's still there.

15:40

And people live there, like not just for tourism, but they're still there.

15:44

Speaker 2

A lot going on in the in the city of Nishio, relatively small city, somebody arriving, let's say somebody is on the train, they're coming from Nagoya and as they leave the city, by the way, Nagoya, 4th, 4th largest city in Japan.

15:59

Speaker 1

Like usually Nagoya is notorious in that people skip it.

People would go to Tokyo and then Kyoto and they on the way they stop.

Sometime they stop by at Nagoya but usually skip it.

It's easy to skip, but at the same time like you won't see as many international tourists as as many as like other touristy cities.

16:19

Speaker 2

I would say this, if I was putting together an itinerary for one of our clients and they had an opening in the middle of their itinerary for let's say 5 or 6 days, I would say, OK, you're coming in.

You maybe you started in Tokyo, maybe you're in Hakone after that and you have this hole, you know, in your schedule of five or six days before you go into Kyoto.

16:37

Why don't you do this from Hakone?

Get on the bullet train, get on the Shinkansen and ODAWA, change trains in Nagoya, go up to the Nakasendo for a couple of days if they're a nature oriented person, or maybe go to Takayama or someplace like that.

Come back to Nagoya if you do nothing else.

We always say even if you're only just changing trains at Nagoya station, for example, from the bullet train to a regional train, please go to the Kishi Men shop on the platform.

17:01

Even if you do nothing else, you've had the local food specialty Kishi Men in in Nagoya, of course, but but if you stay, you'll be rewarded because in Nagoya there is the Ghibli Park, which is open year round.

Anybody who has an interest in Ghibli should should go there.

Seasonally, there is the annual sumo tournament or maybe you're going there during F1, for example.

17:19

The Grand Prix is usually the end of March.

When you've done that or before you do that, maybe better yet, before you do that, before you do all the things I just mentioned.

Why not change trains in Nagoya station?

Get on the it's the May Tetsu, isn't it?

And go to Nicio and go see Desai Sun and go and go stay at Reese's house.

17:37

And tell us a little bit about, about your house, 'cause I've seen it on YouTube and perhaps some of our, our listeners as well have.

But please describe what this house is, what it was when you acquired the house, what you did over the years to to bring it up to standards, if you will, to, to host international guests and, and what you're doing there now.

17:55

Speaker 1

Before I renovated it, it was the House of a 98 year old lady.

I think it was She was closer to 100.

But yeah, she moved out and so I, I started renting it and then renovated it.

And Rich's house has a tea room where you can, you can enjoy those tea ceremony.

18:12

And also, I mean, it's basically it's a house like somewhere Japanese grandma or grandparents live.

So you definitely get to experience like local everyday like house, not a hotel.

What I do like I play many roles, Interpreter, I am a driver and also I'm the local guide.

18:32

I'm actually the official ambassador of Michelle City.

Yeah, I mean you have me.

So everything is easy.

I introduce you to many people, not only people, but local dogs as well.

My guests always enjoy interaction with one of the neighboring dog called Sarah.

18:49

She was a 7 year old flat cottage retriever.

And what's amazing about my place is that my guests see the same people or it's the same dog every day or every week.

You definitely feel like you're living here instead of just staying here.

Like casually Ioffer 20 different activities and those activities, many of them are like exclusive to recess house guests.

19:12

There were no activities like that before.

But for example, I went to a shrimp cracker place and the shrimp cracker owner, like he said it's OK.

Like he will let let my guest do the hand baking experience.

And he he offered us fish auction tour at 4:00 AM in the morning.

19:30

It's, it's, it's crazy, right?

For example, the miso brewery, the miso brewery owner, he's the 9th generation.

And then he said like he wants to do the like special miso dinner with my guests because he's so wealthy that he doesn't have to work, but he just enjoy interaction with international people.

19:47

I did it like last Friday, like with my Canadian and South African guests.

So yeah, they always enjoy like our time, their time with vocals.

Yeah, like so many different activities that are only possible through Reese's house.

I think they are very unique.

20:03

I don't think I can find those activities anywhere anywhere else in Japan.

20:08

Speaker 2

I want to say it's unheard of you're doing this comprehensive offering for your guests.

You are the host wearing many hats.

20:16

Speaker 1

There is no duration for my activities.

Maybe like some people say, oh, I've done like psyche brewery tour before, but usually there's some duration like what to do or what to talk about.

But the experiences I offered, none of them have like durations.

And so my guests can ask as many questions as possible.

20:32

My guests can talk about like non related stuff too with, with the locals.

Yeah, those those things are very special, like even if they sound similar, but they they are always different from like other touristy experiences in other cities.

20:47

Speaker 2

Very different, whether it's Nishio City, for example, or some other place, most of the time in Japan or pretty much wherever you go in the world, you book a hotel room or maybe you book an Airbnb or something like that, but you're sort of left to fend for yourself and figure out what the experiences are.

21:03

Or you can go on a site like get your guide or via tour or TripAdvisor, etcetera, and you can kind of piece meal, put things together.

But what you have at Reese's House is everything in one package, and it's customized to what your guests say.

They they're interested in what they want to do, right?

21:20

Speaker 1

Absolutely.

So after, like right after my guests reserved my, my place, we start like talking about how, how to spend their time.

Like during their stay, we are already friends when they arrive, we already know each other.

And then the feeling is quite different.

21:35

Like if you can stay at a hotel, like you don't know like their personal life, that personal life of like the Staffs or anything and you don't know their Instagram or anything, right?

So, but I, I don't want to make it too busy.

Like I usually let them do 2 activities or three activities at most because I want them to spend time slowly and and everything is flexible.

21:57

After I hear their what they want to do like I suggest like a few activities and then I contact my business owners that I know and I check their schedule.

After they confirm it, I confirm it with my guests and those business owners they are not there for the activities.

22:13

They have other things to do, but they are always very flexible.

The spare time for my guests because they enjoy it.

Not necessarily because they make a lot of profits out of the activity, but because like they are really happy that my guests are enjoying like what they do or they appreciate the value of what they do.

22:33

Like MISO or Sake or every like EOS or everything.

Business owners don't take it for granted that international people would be interested in what they do.

22:42

Speaker 2

Since you mentioned some of the specialties of Nishio, Nishio, the city in the area, you mentioned the shrimp crackers, you mentioned the miso and miso production.

And so when we when we're talking about eels, we're talking about unagi.

And we know that the best unagi in Japan comes from IIT Prefecture.

23:03

And some of the best of that is going to be actually from Nishio.

23:06

Speaker 1

That's right.

When it comes to the quantity, 15% of Japanese unagi comes from Michio City.

People say it's the best quality.

The wholesale prices of EOS, they're always highest from Michio City.

They care a lot about quality.

23:21

They are run by families, so they cannot do like mass production like companies in Kawashima do.

The biggest competitor is Kawashima, but Kawashima is really good at like mass production both in like Matcha and EOS.

But we are now have no choice but to focus on the quality.

23:39

Like, I took my guest to the EU farm over 20 times already because it is one of the most popular activities in my house.

But yeah, every time I go there, I always learn some secrets about eels and they definitely have a lot of fun.

Yeah.

If you come to Reese's house, that's a highly recommended activity.

23:57

It's only possible through Reese's House because there was, there have been many times initial tourism organization asked the EU organization about the tour, but they always reject it.

But I had a one of my friends from kindergarten, her mom was a friend of the owner of the the EU organization and then he was the one who made it possible.

24:18

All those connections network paid off, thankfully unexpectedly.

24:23

Speaker 2

We're doing this podcast to have conversations and, and tell stories about Japan.

But just to make it clear, if you're lucky enough, if you can plan it into your Japan trip and you're lucky enough to go to Nishio and stay in Adise's house, these are the kinds of experiences you're going to get.

What you're doing.

Adise son is, is pretty unique.

And that's why we wanted to have you on here because it's, it's not like this is just an example of something you'll get everywhere.

24:43

It's like this is an example that it's hard to replicate what you're doing.

Like, Oh yeah, they're with these days on.

OK, it's great.

Come on in, have the eel experience come on over, do the matcha experience.

Or you mentioned the 4:00 AM fish auction.

And I think it's a great insider thing because first of all, the most common fish market experience among visitors to Japan isn't even a market.

25:05

It's that people go to the Tsukiji outer market, which used to be a fish market, and it used to have the fish auction.

It no longer does.

The only thing that's really left are the tourist stands.

If you do want to see a fish auction in Tokyo, it's basically going to be 4:00 AM in Toyo SU up on the 2nd floor or the third floor behind the glass, double pane glass window.

25:27

You won't hear what's going on.

You'll see some forklifts going back and forth.

You won't really have a first hand look at the auction.

However, coming to Nishiyo City and going with Nishisan, who you're very generous to wake up to go to these 4:00 AM places, but somebody might have the opportunity to go to see a real live fish auction the old school way early in the morning.

25:50

Speaker 1

Absolutely.

I thought it was impossible, like this kind of activity was impossible, but the shrimp cracker guy offered it.

He goes there.

The shrimp cracker guy goes there for the auction four times a week.

Yeah, he always tries to buy some shrimps, but so we can actually see them trying to win the shrimp.

26:06

It's not just for the display.

We get the kind of like AVIP batch like and then we are allowed to get in and yeah, we get very close to the auction place and then we can hear the voice and then the Schimp Kaka guy tries to buy something with hand sign.

26:21

It's really exciting to see the what actually is going on very closely. 2 weeks ago, I brought one of my guests today there.

She was from Singapore.

It was 3:30 AM in the morning.

Yeah, when I tried to pick her up, like I got stopped by a police.

26:38

And then he asked.

They asked me, like, what the hell are you doing at 3:30?

And then I told him, like, oh, I'm running this accommodation and I'll take her, take her to the fish auction.

They understood it.

That's how unusual for people to go there.

Like, it's impossible for Japanese people to join it as unless they have, like, a special access to it.

26:57

Yeah, that kind of like exceptions were very special.

27:01

Speaker 2

It is special indeed, it and just for our listeners who might be saying at this point, yeah, that's great, but I'm not a morning person.

So here's the thing.

Well, maybe not for your guests from Singapore, 'cause there's not much time difference.

But if you're coming from Europe or if you're coming from North America, you might be up at 3:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning, whether you like or not, because jet lag is wreaking havoc with your system.

27:20

Well, here's a great way to go through push through that jet lag and actually go see something very cultural and very local.

27:26

Speaker 1

Oh yeah, there was a family from Texas who managed to wake up at 3:00 and then we went there and they loved it.

The family had a like 11 year old boy.

He loved those fish.

So he touched them and they allowed us, they allow us to touch them.

So yeah, we had such a fun experience.

27:44

Apparently like he in his school maybe like he he's doing some like presentation about initial city now and that they just sent me some video or it or those like what he do.

And yeah, we did it.

It was fun.

27:56

Speaker 2

That's really cool.

So here you have these connections, DC son, going all over the world, a school in Texas, right?

A a grade school, an elementary school in Texas doing a presentation connecting that that town or that city in Texas with your city, Nishio and and you personally, DC son, what a connection, what an amazing thing that is.

28:14

Speaker 1

Similar things have happened a few times so far.

There was a Australian guest to stay at my place for two weeks and he would come back to my place this year too.

But he was related to a newspaper company in Australia.

So then that newspaper company covered recess house and initial city.

28:31

It's such a local information, but those kind of a small like those those kind of encounter sometimes makes a huge difference only in Japan video too.

But so yeah, I really appreciate each like, encounter.

We call it like Ichigo Ichi, but it's been really fun.

28:47

Speaker 2

Explain that concept a little bit for our listener Ichigo Ichi.

What does that mean and how is it manifesting in in your life now?

28:54

Speaker 1

Ichigo Ichi means like there's a lot of ways to explain it, but for example, it's used in tea ceremony.

Each moment happens only once in a lifetime.

Each encounter like meeting new person on, let's say, for example, today is July 8th, 2:00 PM on July 8th, it's it's never going to happen again.

29:11

And that meeting this like these people are on this day will never happen again.

So we just appreciate the moment, like to be able to spend spend time together because maybe like it can be the last time we can see each other.

The focusing on the moment is is the very core of like Ichigo Ichi.

29:32

Speaker 2

That's right.

And so you've had these moments with these guests, even though it's just a moment, it's a moment that you're going to remember for a long time, and they're certainly going to remember for a long time as well, in a very special way.

29:45

Speaker 1

Yeah, there were have been so many member of a moments with my guest.

I mentioned the Australia and the US, but also like I had a guest from again like 30 different countries.

For example, there was a guest from Norway that stayed at my place last year in April, and I visited him in Oslo in September last year, stayed at his place.

30:05

He showed me around.

Basically, he did the same things that I did for him in Michio.

Yeah.

It's like renting A recess house is like making new friends every week, like from all over the world.

So that's, I don't know, I don't feel like I'm working, like I'm just having fun with my friends.

30:23

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to make a living out of it.

Those kind of like special moments are priceless.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this.

30:32

Speaker 2

They are priceless indeed.

They say, son, and you and I are in the people business and specifically in the frontline travel people business in Japan.

It's cliche, but it's true.

They say that if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

And it is true.

30:48

As cliche as it sounds, it is true.

It's visible to me.

This is a podcast, so it's it's audible to me and I hope it's audible to our listeners.

How much enjoyment that you have, do you say, son, how much passion you have for the business, how much energy and drive and vision and certainly time and sweat energy and everything else that you've put into this business.

31:10

And it is a business and it's work, but at the same time it is and it isn't, right?

Clearly, it's so much more than that.

31:16

Speaker 1

I think I would keep doing this for the rest of my life.

Let's just say I win a lottery.

I win like a $1,000,000.

But still, I think I'll keep doing this because I it's fun.

And yeah, this kind of things is I can't imagine my future with without Reese's House.

31:32

Speaker 3

That wraps up part one of our conversation with recess on.

Next time we'll continue the chat and go beyond the guest house itself.

We'll talk about old homes, local neighborhoods in Japan, community, and an idea that's really been planted in my mind ever since this interview.

31:47

I'll give you a teaser here.

It's about being a.

31:50

Speaker 2

Forever local, enjoying what you heard so far.

We'd be grateful if you subscribe to the.

31:55

Speaker 3

Podcast or follow us in your favorite podcast app, if you will.

And bonus, leave us a rating or review wherever you listen.

That's really gonna help more people discover the show.

Hope you'll join us for Part 2.

Until then, thanks for listening.

32:10

Speaker 2

Safe travels.