@Dogen on pitch accent & his creative process

For our 100th episode we are joined by one of Japan's most recognizable foreign content creators, pitch accent specialist, and writer, Dogen! In this long awaited interview, Dogen talks about his creative process, inspirations, and challenges he has faced through his journey in Japan, in creative writing, and content creation. -- Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 0:53 Meet Dogen 1:27 Dogen's introduction to Japan 6:37 First time in Japan 8:32 Deciding moment for staying in Japan 10:27 JET Program experience 14:42 The most challenging part of learning Japanese 18:54 Discovering pitch accent 23:56 Defining pitch accent 29:58 Why is pitch accent ignored in Japanese language learning 38:33 Being mistaken as Japanese because of fluency 42:59 Discovering talents and passions 53:11 Taking ideas to YouTube 56:48 Work process for creating skits 1:01:38 Emojis are bad for articulating emotions 1:03:26 How much work goes into YouTube Skits 1:06:29 Dogen's target audience 1:12:32 Deciding to do YouTube full-time 1:21:18 How being a full-time content creator changed things 1:24:28 Audience expectations and creative freedom 1:28:49 Accidently losing focus on storytelling 1:31:09 Hospitalized and being re-inspired by Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 1:37:31 Dogen's future plans -- Liked this episode? Check out our interview with Luna, who works a maid cafe in Akihabara! https://youtu.be/AaTRM-PB4OQ?si=sTma2xhKTv5pc1i_ -- Follow Dogen: https://www.youtube.com/@Dogen https://www.x.com/dogen https://www.patreon.com/dogen Follow us on our social media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx3XoY5gyyPvCe4FdwdFJQA https://www.buzzsprout.com/2158416 https://www.instagram.com/@unpackingjapan https://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapan https://www.x.com/unpacking_japan https://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapan Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan! Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/