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From Homeless Nomad To 200K: How Robin Built A YouTube Engine On $11 Nights And Pure Grit

• vidIQ • Season 6 • Episode 51

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We trace Robin’s wild journey from a struggling skate channel and homelessness to a thriving English-language travel vlog built from internet cafes, $11 nights, and relentless challenges. Skating Japan, crossing Korea, riding a gifted moped through 47 prefectures, and now vanlife—each arc stacks story, skill, and momentum.

• why the skate channel rose during Olympics then collapsed in a niche market
• partner exit and the choice to livestream a seven-month Japan crossing
• super chats as temporary fuel and the need for durable formats
• creating Nomad Push and targeting English speakers with honest travel
• life inside Japan’s internet cafes and how to live on night packs
• filming for serendipity, editing for pace, and using quiet well
• budget Japanese food, prices, and practical tips for safe travel
• the 2M-view shoutout, riding the wave, and sustaining growth
• moped journey across 47 prefectures and DIY map graphics
• launching vanlife to prevent a post-challenge slump
• creative mindset: have fun, do something extreme, avoid burnout

Check out Robin’s channel, links in the description


SPEAKER_00:

So then you skated across Chipanic Ray, which is two of the craziest things I've ever heard someone say to me. What next? I was like, I think I can do it. It's like I'm all in. Like just do it. Hey, welcome to the only podcast that's here to get you more views no matter what time of day it is, whether it be 8 a.m. or 1 a.m. I know that'll make a lot more sense here in a minute. I'm Travis as always here to help you grow your YouTube channel, and today I have a super special guest, someone I'm super excited to bring on. Um, and I think you're gonna love him at the end of this. His name is Robin. Robin, welcome from Nomad Push. How are you doing, my friend?

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you, Travis.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so yeah, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much. I'm super excited to have you here because um I've been watching your channel over the last like I think week and a half, two weeks, and I've just become obsessed with it. And and in reaching out to you, I thought you'd be incredible to talk to on this podcast because you overcame something so life-changing, which is being homeless, being a nomad, to be a successful YouTuber, but you're still technically homeless, which I think is uh the biggest twist of all of this, which is insane. But let's talk a little bit about who you are beforehand. So, first of all, introduce yourself, um, and tell us what you did before YouTube, just kind of who you were.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. So, um, yeah, so my name is Robin Suzuki, and yeah, I'm born and raised in this uh island called Saipan. And yeah, and uh when I was 23 years old, I came to Japan and um I was doing this thing called, I mean, we say salary man, just yeah, full-time job in Japan, salary man, but I got depressed. I wanted to change my life, so I started YouTube and and but it didn't work out for like six years.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh, yeah. Oh, we're definitely gonna talk about that.

SPEAKER_01:

It didn't work out for six years, yes, six years, and you know, I didn't want it to quit. You know, I'm getting older, like I was like 36, 37, like it made me more not want to quit, you know. Like I I wanted to like keep going and then but I couldn't I couldn't pay my bills, so I end up becoming homeless, but still went for it, and then yeah, I got I got pushed from this big YouTuber, and then yeah, now I'm doing nomad push channel.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. Well, we we have a lot to talk about, and before we get too much into this, because I feel like you and I are gonna talk some of the lingo because I'm very familiar with your channel. I want to get people who are listening kind of in. So one of the things you do in your channel, which I love, is you speak to your audience and call them a specific name. And I actually um encourage creators to do this for the last couple of years to to talk to your viewership as like a family or a friend, which you do, you absolutely do. I don't know if you're doing it on purpose or if it's just something you naturally did, but you call them nomad san. All right, nomad sans, no mat sans, nomad san. So let's let's start with the san part. Okay, so you're in Japan, and san is uh well, you explain. What is san? What what why do you say san after everything? What is san?

SPEAKER_01:

So uh san is basically um in English, it's like Mr. or Mrs. Yeah. So we whenever we call somebody with respect, we put san at the end of their name. So usually you say that uh with name, yeah. So san and and then I just uh call everybody Noma Sons. I actually uh took like uh Paul, like what's the good name to call everybody, and then everybody chose the Noma Sons, and yeah, that's why. And yeah, and I actually in the video I call everything Sun, like like if yeah, yeah, so I do that. That that was just by accident, but um the comment pick it up, and everybody was like kind of laughing at it, like enjoying it, so like naturally, um, I just end up saying san all the time, like to everything, like even things, um, food, whatever.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so that's what I really put when I was watching, so and I'll explain like the first video I saw of yours, but um, that's something I picked up on, which I really I thought was really funny because I had a general like I've been uh a super fan of Japanese culture for many years. So I understood san and I'm like, why is he calling Coca-Cola Coxan? Like, what is going on? And it just became funnier at the more you did it in Bird San. And so, you know, for people listening to podcasts, whenever you hear anything san, it's it's being respectful, even if it's silly. Like uh when we talk about Coca-Cola, we say Kok-San. So uh I think that's phenomenal. It definitely um is something that's memorable about you. So let's talk a little bit about um your first YouTube channel and why it like failed. Like, what was your first YouTube channel about?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, my first YouTube channel, I I had a partner um and we we were doing the channel together, and it was a skateboard YouTube channel. Um we target Japanese audience, and the subscriber count went all the way to like 90,000 subscribers. That's pretty good. Yeah, we within six years, and yeah, and then um I don't know if you know, but Japan won Olympic two times, like uh gold medal in skateboards. So, because of that and the COVID situation, that really kind of boost our channel, so it kind of went good for just like a few few months, maybe, and we were able to like kind of pay our bills, but just that little month and after that, it just kept going down and going down, and um, when something trends, it's easy to go down really fast, and and yeah, and a lot of like skate shop is closing down, so like just skateboard became unpopular so fast, and our channel just went down so fast, and um, and you know, like of course, like right now I'm doing English viewer content, right? But Japanese were way less population, and and and skate skaters within that small population is of course smaller market, so yeah, I couldn't, yeah, I couldn't uh how'd I say it's I couldn't make it grow back up.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I can imagine. So you had a passion of and you still do for skating, skateboarding. And uh you have this YouTube channel, it seems like you have you have a friend or a partner, things are going well, and it's like, oh, this is cool. Like I can actually do YouTube and do something that I love and I'm passionate about, and then things start to slow down, and then your partner leaves or something. What happened there?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, he he left. Um, yeah, he left after like four years or five years. Um, yeah, because um, yeah, because everything was not doing good, like our relationships start to become weird. Like before we were having fun, like and enjoying, but because it went down, like we had more serious meetings, you know, and like and we're making like plan, which becomes like kind of rule, right? Like before we were like just um we we didn't really care about what we make videos, like we just like trust each other and whatever, but because it went down, we were like, okay, let's do this, let's do that, and everything became like rule, and for him, it it really got like it was stressful for him, you know, like because he was uh before he was able to do uh like like creating freely, but but yeah, toward the end it became stressful for him, and yeah, he told me one day, he's like I think I wanna quit.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, how did you feel when he said that?

SPEAKER_01:

I felt a very short like sadness, but from there I was like I didn't want it to give up, so I was like, I just like how did I say this? How did I say this? Like, I just like just take it in, take it in like like like an adult, kind of like like I was just like I was just like okay, got it. Like that's it, like pretty much I was like kept doing the skate channel, right?

SPEAKER_00:

You still do the skateboarding channel for a while longer, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, so yeah, um yeah, I just told him okay, and then uh I said, let's do that last videos, him saying like he's gonna quit. And then from there, I was like, I went all in. I wanted to like try to make it grow more, so um I skated across Japan. Like, um I I yeah, I I thought that's like the only thing I can do, like you know, and I think it was important for me to like show that I'm serious and I'm all in. So so yeah, I started from the very top of Japan and and then I skateboarded all the way down to the the most south point, and it took me like seven months, and I to make sure that I'm not lying, like I I make sure I live stream everything, like every push I live stream, like so. It's like every live stream is like eight hours, me just pushing about 30 kilometers, like that's like 20 something miles, something like yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean, I want people to understand because they might have heard that and go, wait a minute, did he just say what I think he said? You took a skateboard, got to the the what the northernmost part of Japan, yes, and skateboarded all the way to the southernmost part of Japan. And like, I mean, obviously you took breaks and stuff, but you had nothing else with you but your your skateboard and of course your backpack of stuff, and that's it. Like that was what you did. And that sounds like a very big Mr. Beast type thing. It feels like something that's like that should you should be a million subscriber channel. So what happened?

SPEAKER_01:

So while I'm doing the challenge, I was able to like make about a little bit less than a grand, maybe. Um, and I was able to like survive while I'm doing the challenge because I get like super chats. I I never made uh no, I made a short, but never like a long form video, just uh live stream, and and I get uh mostly super chats, and so I was able to survive during the challenge, but once my challenge ends, my income goes all the way down to like maybe 200 bucks or like 150. Like so, like the super chat was important, but yeah, you know, I'm getting older, I'm like 37 at that time, and my knee was hurting crazy, my shoulder is hurting. Um, I'm like, I have to like do this big challenge to make less than a grand, and I was like, kind of made me dis depressed a little bit. I'm like, yeah, yeah, but I I didn't want it to quit still. So um next I said um I'm gonna skate across Korea, South Korea. Yeah, and I yeah, and then I went to South Korea. I don't know how to speak their language, nothing, but but I thought that's an entertaining, right? Like that that's one of my motivation. Like, um, I really love entertaining people. So when I think like, oh, this is very entertaining, then it makes me get excited, even though there's like so much risk of going to like a you know uh a country, and I only had like 40 bucks in my bank. Like I I used my last like few hundred bucks to buy the ticket, and then I just went. I was like, I think I can do it. It's like I'm all in, like just do it, yeah. And then and then but uh Korea is pretty short, so it just took me like three weeks, I think. Yeah, and and then of course that month I got a little bit less than a grand, but once the Korea thing ended, again, I I went back to like it died again, it died again, so yeah, that that that that's what I did pretty much. Um the last thing I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so then you you skated across Japanic create, which is two of the craziest things I've ever heard someone say to me. And uh you think, okay, so it works a little bit for a little while, but at some point it ends. What next? Like what what went through your mind? You have these channels that did pretty decent. I mean, there's people that listen to this channel that uh have not gotten 90,000 subscribers, be like, oh, I would love that, but you may not think, well, he's everything is in on this, like it's a thousand dollars a month uh before whatever taxes you have over there, and over here, you know, they're gonna take a third of that. So what what was it going through your mind? Like, am I gonna skate across America? Like, what's the next thing? Like, how did you get out of skateboarding into Nomad Push, which we should talk about?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I was already like I was getting few like strong fans from doing it, right? Not enough to pay my bills, but like I had like maybe like 30 or 40 people who's like on my membership paying like I don't know three three or four bucks per uh month, like that kind of money. Um, so I was like I was like, I have to do more of this challenge for them. Like that that was how I was thinking, you know, because they were giving me so much love and motivation. So I was like, I have to do it for them, and then someday this is gonna blow up. So yeah, like you said, I was really thinking, okay, maybe US is the next one. Or um, but there was already uh American guy doing skate across US already. So some people say like start from the Russia and then go all the way to the end of Europe or something like that, or you know, like go to China, or you know, like like so much idea, right? And I was like, I was really like kind of pumped. I was like, okay, let's do that. And so the Nomad Push channel idea was like, even though I'm doing this challenge, I need some money to like buy the ticket, or you know, like yeah, like I still need some money to pay some bills and stuff. So I was like, I was like, maybe I should start another channel and maybe maybe it might grow enough to give me like at least 200 bucks or 300 bucks because I was really broke, so any money is good for me. And I was like, maybe starting like another channel is good. But when I think about it now, I think it was kind of a stupid idea because I need the money now, right? And how can a new yeah, and how can a new channel give me money now, right? Because you got the requirements, you got the the you know the uh one point. Yeah, so if I think about it now, um it's stupid, but I think I was just desperate. I was like, just do anything I can do, kind of kind of feeling. Yeah. So that's how the whole nomad push channel kind of started.

SPEAKER_00:

So at that point, were you were you, and you know, some people have a weird uh feeling about saying the word homeless, but you call yourself a Japanese homeless man. Like it's not even it's not an insult. Uh you also use the word nomad, which is fine. We're gonna use both interchangeably here, just FYI. Um, so at that point, you were homeless, you didn't have a home at that point, right? Yes, exactly. And I need to be clear, you still don't. What people are like, well, wait a minute, where are you? Uh we're gonna talk about internet cafes later, but I we're just gonna I'm just gonna say right now, I want to tickle you tickle you with a feather, uh, people that are listening. He's in an internet cafe. We'll explain what that is later. Uh that isn't that is that is his quote home and not really his home. He has 600 of them across all of Japan, but owns none of them. We'll talk about that later. But okay, so you're homeless, so you're like, I need to quickly, I need some money. So, what happened on this channel? Nomad push as first of all, let's talk about the word nomad push. What is what is the concept behind that name? What does that mean? Because people might not even understand what push is. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

So nomad is nomad, right? I think everybody knows what's a nomad. Um, um, yeah, because first of all, I don't have home and I'm all everywhere in Japan, so I thought nomad is a good word. And and and push, um, the the the skateboarding, like the kicking the ground, and like like when you're trying to move forward, that action and skateboard, we say push. And yeah, and you know, I'm pushing my life too. I'm like pushing forward. So I wanted to have that two meaning to that word push. So I said Nomad push, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So um, you know, and we're gonna talk about the specifics of Nomad Push, but so you start this new channel, Nomad Push. You well, I probably wasn't in car Nomad Push at that point, was it? Or was it just Nomad? What was it when you first when you very first uh uploaded your first video?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh the channel name was Nomad Push.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. So you had gotten the name from your skateboarding um uh viewership uh for the when you said you did a uh uh uh you know a poll to figure out what the new name should be. Okay, so you started the channel. You the concept was the concept already for to Moped across, or how did that come up?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Moped is like really um like later, maybe like okay. So what was Nomad Push originally going to be? So the the whole idea for me that time is I was already a nomad and homeless, and and I'm going around Japan and I'm going around unpopular place, okay, which is which I think it's interesting. And um because of the skate across Japan journey, I made so many friends around Japan because they supported me so much, and they're like, you know, stay at my place, they gave me free food, so much so much free food, sometimes like actual cash, and yeah, and so I made so much friend around. So I'm visiting everybody in different places in Japan. So I thought that whole thing, if I do it in English, I was like, you gotta be interesting. That that was like the first idea, yeah. So that was a concept, and it's still the same until now, I feel like.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, we'll get to that in a minute. But um, so then where did the moped? So uh you just completed the moped across Japan, which you know, when you talk about skateboarding across Japan, it almost sounds like it's it's less impressive, but it is still very impressive because of all the things you've had to deal with. Uh mopeding across, which we'll talk about some of the stories too. How did you get the moped since you were broke and everything? And and how did that work?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm so thankful to everyone who's been supporting me. So basically, um I just I was doing a like a little live stream, um, not on the no nomad push channel, but on the the skateboard channel, and I was talking to my fans, like my audience, and and and I was saying, you know, like um just me traveling with skateboard, it's hard to show around Japan because it really depends on my physical power, right? Endurance and and my knee is hurting and everything is hurting, so I'm like, oh that actually kind of like a little bit depressed, and I was like kind of maybe whining a little bit. It's like I want to do, I want to do more, but I cannot do. And then one of my you know supporters is like, um, you want me to give you um uh used moped? Yeah, that's how it started. He's like, he offered me, he's like, I I'll I'll get one for you, I used one. And I was like, seriously, and then right away I message him. It's like, are you serious about what you said on the live stream? And he's like, Yeah, I'm serious, and that's how it happened.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. So then you packed up what you had, you put it on the moped, and uh when did you so was it when you got the moped? You were like, Okay, I'm gonna write across Japan, or was did that come after you got the moped? Like, how did that that concept of riding all the way across Japan and going every single prefecture, which we should talk about too? Uh, how did that come up?

SPEAKER_01:

I maybe when the moped, when uh how'd I say when I know that I was gonna get the moped, I already had an idea of going around Japan. But um when the time of getting the moped got closer, closer, then that's when it kind of became solid, you know, like uh okay, I think I'll go 47 prefecture, you know. Like uh it's already oh, okay, okay. I gotta say this, like after skating across Japan, skating across Korea, I I start to become a little bit uh um addicted to this like adrenaline kind of challenge, you know, like yeah, like makes me feel like empty if I'm not doing something big. And so so when I when I knew that I was gonna get moped, I was like, I have to do something big, like that kind of mentality, and then and then so that's why I did I said, yeah, 47 prefecture. I yeah, 40 oh 47 prefecture challenge.

SPEAKER_00:

And prefecture is kind of like a state in the US, right? Something like that. Exactly. Yeah, which by the way, your audience is uh a lot of American, right? Is it a larger percentage of it that it's American or what?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, um, like about 50% is American. Wow, and yeah, Japanese I only have like 1%.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god. Yeah. Did did you was that purposeful? Did you target an American audience or did it just kind of happen?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it just kind of happened. I mean, I was speaking in English, so I was thinking English audience English speaking audience, but I didn't know this much American was gonna watch.

SPEAKER_00:

Which is good for the RPMs because the RPM should be pretty decent comparatively. Um so uh also let me rewind a little bit for for being, you know, you're still homeless and everything. What are your what does your mom think of this? And what do your friends think of this? Uh do they think you're crazy? Like your mom must be worried.

SPEAKER_01:

So I was raised as a how does it my uh as a wait uh single mom? Like it I think I don't have um father, so um, and because my mom is like a single mom, like she's to to me, she's like she's like like a dad. Like she she's very tough and kind of like old school Japanese strict dad kind of vibe from her. So so maybe she's worried inside the heart, but she doesn't say she she's very cool about it. It's like that's what you choose, just do your best, go for it. That kind of vibe. Yeah, so so my mom doesn't really say anything, and I know she's watching, I know she's checking my you know social media, but yeah, she she rarely says anything.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh. What do your friends say? I mean, or wait, especially when you first started uh becoming homeless and stuff, like even way back then, like what did they think? Because I would be worried. If one of my friends were like, Yeah, I'm just gonna become a nomad, I'm not gonna have a home anymore. I'm like, whoa, yo, do you need this, do you need to sleep or something? I gotta I got an extra bed. What do you need? Right.

SPEAKER_01:

No, but uh actually to all my friends, you know, I explain how how much I'm like, you know, all in to this YouTube, um YouTube journey, and and they understand. They they I tell them and they're they're like, hey, make sure you don't die. If you really need help, just call us. Like just that kind of vibe. They're just like, yeah, they're like really supportive. Yeah. So I I explain them properly.

SPEAKER_00:

That's good. It's really important because otherwise, like they're gonna think you're crazy. You've lost your mind. Robin Son has fallen and jump jumped over the uh the edge here. He's he's he's over it. I also want to mention something that uh, you know, I it kind of struck me when I was watching your videos. I'm like, okay, you're in Japan, you obviously speak Japanese, but you really understand the English dialect very well, and I and you also, to me, don't sound like you have just a Japanese like uh accent. It almost sounds slightly Hawaiian in a weird way, like it's it's something not just completely native. What's the deal with that? Why is it that you know words in English you probably shouldn't know as a Japanese speaker? What is that all about? Like you shouldn't know what that is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I uh yeah, I got I got uh t-shirt box right now on the side. I'm sorry. Make sure you have two, yeah, yeah, two, two is important. Yeah, uh no, uh so I'm born and raised in Saipan, um, and it's actually uh US territory. Oh but yeah, but but there's so much uh it's very mixed with like international people, so we don't speak um like you know a lot of us speak broken English. So that's why um I for me I I'm not really confident uh with my English. Oh my gosh, you're ridiculous. So good. Oh thank you. Yeah, yeah. So and then yeah, and it got worse because after I came to Japan when I was 23, and from there I usually talk in Japanese my most um my salary man experience. So um that that's why I feel like I'm more nervous when I'm talking English.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, the thing is, I feel like one of the reasons you have an English audience is because you you're you're not really speaking broken English per se, like at all, really. Like I've watched your videos, and I mean listen, I know people in real life that can't speak English as well as you do. And uh I feel like the the fact that you know colloquialisms and and different words that you probab again, you probably shouldn't know unless you're like a primarily English speaker, makes it easier for an English speaker to be like really connected to you and be like, I'm rooting for this guy, and like this is so cool, and it's so and then it makes uh us as English speakers want to understand more. And I've always, like I said, been really interested in Japanese culture anyway, makes us want to know more about the Japanese culture. So let's talk a little bit about internet cafes, which has got to be some one of the biggest video uh options that you have when you come up with a new creation and where you are today. So, an internet cafe in the US, I don't think is a thing anymore. Internet cafes when they first came out, I mean I used to go to them all the time, was literally a cafe that had internet. And this was back when most people didn't have internet at their homes. It would be the size of maybe a Starbucks, and it would be nice. I used to go to one in Seattle all the time. Um, you'd go there, you'd you'd rent the the computer. It wasn't at a station, it was in an open cafe, and you'd do your email, you'd drink some coffee, and you'd leave. Internet cafes I thought were dead because everyone has internet. I had no idea they even still existed, but Japan has something called an internet cafe, which is a little bit different. Explain to us what an internet cafe is, because it's not what I just explained.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, maybe the simple image for Japanese is uh a place where you can use the internet and mangas. Um, does manga make uh sense in English?

SPEAKER_00:

Um manga is like a comic, right? It's a Japanese comic.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, oh yeah, yeah, Japanese comic, yeah. So it's a place where you can read Japanese comic and use internet and just relax. So because there's like seats and booth and private room, and you just like chill in there and just uh um yeah, use internet or read Japanese comic book. That's like the simple image, uh but there's like plans, right? So there's like uh like for example, two-hour plan, three-hour plan, and uh like one night plan like that. So you can use it as like like a hotel kind of.

SPEAKER_00:

So a place to stay, which by the way, if you watch some of Robin's videos, you'll see these rooms are not very big. When when he says rooms, I think he's being generous. It is a Japanese room, it is not the room you would expect in America. It is it is very small, very cramped. But for for what Robin uses it for, it's actually fine. Like, you know, it's got a computer there, um, you know, it's got a little bit of privacy. Uh sometimes a door you can't see through, sometimes you can. It depends on where you go. Um so but I and like a matted floor. And then sometimes you go to karaoke places, um, uh, which you also can rent for hours on end and sleep. Is that common? Like people to use them to sleep and stay overnight and stuff, is that or is that less common?

SPEAKER_01:

Um for like internet cafes. Um, yeah, maybe for karaoke is not that common, but internet cafe, yes, so many people stay overnight. Um, especially even in Tokyo, too. Um, of course, so much homeless will stay in internet cafe without you know having like proper address. So, you know, so they're they're homeless. And even a lot of people who miss the last train. In Tokyo, we have this thing called last train, and it last train usually ends at like 12 midnight, and then and then people just stay at internet cafe until the early first train. So many people, so many people use it as like a staying place.

SPEAKER_00:

What I found really interesting about your channels uh is this and food, which we'll talk about later. Um, pricing. So, how much does it cost to stay at an internet cafe generally?

SPEAKER_01:

So, generally, if you get this thing on night pack, it's it's like about 11 bucks per night. That's really cheap. That's crazy. Yeah, and what makes it more cheap is that you get unlimited drink with that 11 bucks, and you get and cox. I got my coxign, it's a cox sign, not the coxan.

SPEAKER_00:

Before we I want to hear more, hold on. I want to hear more about internet cafe, but can you tell us Coxan? Why are you so obsessed with Coca-Cola and Coxan? It's simple, it's very good.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so good.

SPEAKER_00:

It makes me so happy whenever you have Coxan on the video and you start kissing it, and then like the one that got me so happy, and so I was laughing was when you apologize to Coxan for cheating on it with like a lemon drink. Like, what was that about? Yeah, yeah. You know, Coxan gets mad if I cheat on Coxan. So don't want to we never cheat on Coxan, everybody. Everyone knows Coxan only. I don't know. Okay. So you were saying what else? So some of these internet cafes have different things. Like um, I think I saw one the other day that had uh well, they had like a pool table, and then there was one that had video games. What else was it? But what were some of the things you see in a in a internet cafe that like are kind of unusual?

SPEAKER_01:

So the usual one is Dart and Pool Table and Ping Pong Table, and you get this uh what do you call this? Slot machine? Like yeah, you get this slot machine thing. That's like the common extra thing. And yeah, of course, internet, and you can watch uh Japanese adult video if you want to.

SPEAKER_00:

How would you get around doing that? In those little rooms that people can walk by. Why would how can well of course you have headphones, so they can't hear it, but like we got the ninja skills. Oh, the ninja skills.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no, not the ninja skills. Yeah, we can use ninja skills in any any situation.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I forgot. Also, some of the internet cavities have showers, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, that's very important for especially homeless or even salary men, you know, when they need to go to work. Yeah, so they have shower, of course, and for salary men, they have like uh uh new button shirt they they sell, like a new cheap button shirt and socks and underwear if you need to change. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's very convenient.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and how how uh can you find them easily in Japan? Are they kind of easy to find?

SPEAKER_01:

So right now I'm in this uh internet cafe called Kaikatsukurabu, and that they're the biggest chain, so you can find them everywhere. Like I think there's no prefecture that don't have Kaikatsukurabu, this internet cafe. And if you're in the city, of course, there's a lot, like in uh um like Tokyo, right? You're gonna find it a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like Starbucks for us, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, basically, basically.

SPEAKER_00:

It's the Starbucks of internet cafes. I love that. Um, okay, so let's talk a little bit about some of the some of the things that I think when you're watching your videos, there's so much going on because it seems like you record just about everything. Do you how often do you do you just hit record and just go about your day? Like, how long are your recordings?

SPEAKER_01:

So especially if I'm moving, I'll be recording the whole thing, like maybe like six or seven hours. Like I'll have uh the DJI action camera on my helmet, and if it's not on my helmet, I'll put it on my neck. Yeah, it's all that yeah, and yeah, pretty much like I'll film the whole day. Because I believe the most interesting about traveling is like the how do you call this, like accidents, like unusual like happenings, like you meet random people, they'll talk to you, those kind of interactions, or you see like like deers or like you know, animals on the road. Like, so I want to try to capture everything, so I usually record everything.

SPEAKER_00:

That's crazy. I mean, you that the car accident you got in or the moped accident I was talking about. You you capture that, you wouldn't have probably caught it otherwise, right? Because it just kind of happened out of nowhere. Exactly. Yeah, that's insane. So I can only imagine. We're gonna talk about editing in a minute because that I can't even imagine what that must be like. We'll talk about that uh in a minute. I did notice you were talking about your GoPro and everything. You do have you've expanded your your camera usage over the time. I saw you have like the I think it's probably the Insta360, 3D or 360 camera, whatever you use on a stick, which is really cool, gives us some really great angles. Um and then I guess when you come to an internet cafe, one of the first things you have to do is charge all of your electronics. That's gotta be something, uh gotta be an undertaking. Like, how many things do you have to charge?

SPEAKER_01:

So much. I like yes, so much. Like my phone, um, my my battery too, my portable batteries. That that's the one that's important. It takes a long time, right? To charge a portable battery, and and then all my camera battery, of course, my little light, um, you know, portable light, and my PC, yeah, everything. So I'll I'll really I'll have those what do you call those? Those adapter that has like four like yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll yeah, so it it it goes crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So you don't just sleep in like internet cafes and karaoke bars and stuff that we you definitely have documented that, but you also camp. And I've watched a couple of those videos and they just seem scary. Now, the other thing is you have your moped, uh moped san, by the way, moped san. Um, with like the the green boxes on them with all the stuff in there, but you leave it alone. And every time I see that, I keep thinking, is someone gonna steal the stuff from there? But maybe that's just not a thing in Japan? Is that something you don't worry about, or do you worry about that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I don't, yeah, we I don't really worry about it. I mean, of course, even Japan, some people will like steal or rob. So, um, but as long as you park it at like a like a bright area or like safe area, then it's okay. And it probably the safe area in Japan is like most place, maybe like 80, 80 or 90 percent of the area is safe. So so you I don't really worry, and I there's like a little lock there and and like a little alarm. So if it's in a bright area, I think they'll get nervous if they see the they have they hear the alarm. So yeah, but it's yeah, it's it's safe, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so you feel safe about okay. The one thing that I don't know that you ever can feel totally safe at is when you're camping out in the middle of nowhere, where uh definitely bears are a thing in Japan. So, I mean, when you're out in the woods, which you've been many times, um and even when your moped broke down, which I tell you what an episode that was, and and the way that you did like um a cliffhanger at the end was fantastic, so well done. That's great storytelling. Your storytelling's excellent. Um, but that's gotta be kind of scary, and and I can't imagine that you get a lot of good sleep. Like, I mean, it's gotta be uncomfortable. What I think is really interesting is you'll pitch your tent on concrete. You don't typically do it, like if there's concrete around, you put it there, but not on grass where I think it'll be softer. Like, is your back broken at this point? How can you sleep well? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, um, actually, I'm okay. I I have this little thin mattress, and I'm actually okay with that. Like, my back is okay. And and then the reason why I don't do put it on the grass is because um it gets this like moist and humid, and and in the morning gets crazy wet. So I usually want to leave right away, you know. I don't want to make I don't wanna like dry it up and it's gonna take like one hour, two hours. Um, and plus I'm camping in a gray area usually, so I don't want to be there for a long time. I wanna I don't wanna cause problems, so I want to leave ASAP. And so if I put it on the concrete, it doesn't get wet and I can like leave really fast. That's why.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, that makes sense. So then let's talk about the logistics of uh things that happen with nature, which is what happens when you have to poop sign in the middle of the the nowhere, like the you're out in the middle of nowhere. Because there's there's times when you're you're riding and you can see in your time lapse that you're like look pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Um and there's not a toilet sign anywhere. So what do you what do you do? How do you how do you make this work?

SPEAKER_01:

So we have so many convenience stores in Japan, even in rural areas, and and they have most of it, like maybe almost like 100% maybe have toilet. So really. So if I need to do pupusan, then I make sure I finish my pupusan first. Yeah, before you go anywhere, right? Right. And and and Japan's park, most of it has uh toilet too. So uh so if if I need to do it, then I'll do it at the park uh toilet.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's yeah, pretty much how I so you're in America, like the gas stations, uh most of them will not allow you to use the bathroom. So it's interesting that the culturally, like it's completely different. So what happens when you get sick? Like, that's gotta be terrible. I know you did get sick once um for a couple of weeks, which must have been. I mean, it's not like you have anyone to take care of you or or and when you're feeling sick, like you just want to be in bed, but you're not necessarily in a bed. Like, how does that all work?

SPEAKER_01:

I think I can count maybe two or three times I got sick, and I just stay in the internet cafe. That that's all I did. Yeah, stay in the internet cafe and get those um medicine you can get in the regular drugstore, and and then I just hope I hope that it cured fast. I can recover fast, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

One of the things you make a part of your content, which I think is really smart, is something that a lot of people watch on YouTube, which is food, right? You're eating food. So you're trying different food. One of the things that I like about what you do is you talk about like how cheap a lot of this stuff is. You you find really inexpensive food that looks delicious. Like I just watched one yesterday where you talked about this uh meal, it was like$1.30 or something, which is really cool. Um was that purposeful, or was it just part of what you were recording? You're like, oh, I'm eating, I might as well record and talk about this because it's now like a definite part of your videos.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like half and half. You know, um, I usually eat, I mean, I usually look for those cheap ones, and um, and same time I think like there's not much content about those stuff uh in in the YouTube. Usually when you know people make a video about Japanese food, they go to those fancy ones and yeah, yeah, you know, popular ones. So I I wanted to show that side, you know, because everything I'm showing is not a usual content in the YouTube world, I feel like. So I my whole concept is I try to show everything that's not popular, or I mean it's popular, but it's one side of Japan culture, and I I wanted to show that.

SPEAKER_00:

So, in doing this, and and you know kind of and again, it sounds like you weren't necessarily trying to be strategic, but you were being strategic in a non-strategic way. Uh Nomad Push actually had a very successful first year. So let's talk a little bit about that. How did it start off again? You you were desperate, you made the videos and stuff. How did those videos do initially, and then when did things start taking off?

SPEAKER_01:

I made first couple of videos, maybe five or somewhere around five to ten video, and I think it was doing good for uh you know zero subscriber channel. Like um, it was like I get like 1,000 views, um, like 2,000. Fantastic. Yeah, sometimes 2000. And and then I was using the word homeless, uh and homeless and Japan. Like that that two keyword was important, I felt like in the beginning, like just by instinct, not really like a planned strat strategy. Just from my five, six years experience of YouTube, I have my own kind of instinct, and I thought I thought homeless and Japan, that two keyword is good. And and and then yeah, I was getting a few yeah, 1,000 views, like that. And then after like 5 to 10 video, this big YouTuber, um, she she's uh channel is called Oriental Pearl. Um, she has 1.4 million uh subscriber, and and then she wanted to make like a homeless video, like uh like interview homeless people in Japan. And and then yeah, so she asked me. I I I show I I how this is I was on her video, she interviewed me, and that video went two million views, and from there, I think like 60k or 70k subscriber like came to my channel. Like, wow, like yeah, it grew up.

SPEAKER_00:

What did that feel like in that moment? What were you thinking? What was going through your mind?

SPEAKER_01:

I was really thinking, so I I said this in this other video, but it really felt like she created this big wave, and I was like, I need to write this wave super good because I want to keep doing YouTube, you know. I really love entertainment, and and this cannot be just like a like a little what do you call those one-hit wonder kind of thing. Like, yeah, I want it to continue, so I was like, I'll do my best, I'll use all the experience and knowledge I have, just to like put everything now. That was how I felt. Like, I really feel like I saw that wave coming, and I'm like, okay, I gotta write, I gotta write this. That's how I felt.

SPEAKER_00:

This is so important for the listeners here. I want you guys to really understand that the shout out helped, right? I mean, it gives you the push, but for sure, for certain, because I've coached a lot of people over many years, it is temporary, it is very temporary if you do not take advantage of it, which is what Robin just said. And Robin just said something else which is really important. He knew it was coming and he used all of his experience, everything, the failures, the successes, everything that came before that was able to take that big push, which may have lasted a month or so, into now, over a year later. Like now he's he's crushing it over 100,000 views per video, like it's crazy. He's doing fantastic. Uh, and was able to take this channel from nothing to what over 200,000 subscribers in like eight or nine months, right? Like something crazy, ridiculous, which is insane. I mean, a lot of people just have will never hit 200,000. So, um, in looking back at that journey, what were some of the things you learned that you could tell creators now? Like the things in this channel between both channels. I mean, you know, you had the the success and fails of the first one, and then just going all in, like, what are some of the things that you wish you could tell Robin Sahn from years ago and any creator that's starting now?

SPEAKER_01:

I I can really say that the most important thing for me is really try to have fun. This is like the most important thing for me because you know it's uh it's a long marathon, and and if you sprint all the time, you you're not gonna last forever. And for me, um enjoying like having fun makes me you know run long time, and I think that was the most important. And right now, my fun level is like I think at the highest level right now. So so right now I'm just yeah, it's so fun right now doing YouTube. And I I really wanna say everybody try to enjoy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because you'll burn out. And you know, this comes from a guy who's he doesn't know where he's sleeping a week from now. Like he doesn't know it, he don't know what's gonna happen. Um, so you were talking about earlier that you record everything. So one of the things you talk about in your videos is like, okay, tomorrow's gonna be editing day. And editing means different things to different people. It can mean a couple minutes for some person, it can be a couple hours for others. But like you said, you have literally hours of content to go through. When you start to sit down for an edit, do you know like what type of things you want to put in? Or are you like, I think I remember like four o'clock yesterday, something interesting happened. Like, how long does it take you to edit one of these videos?

SPEAKER_01:

So, editing, I take about maybe like average five to eight hours, depending on the content. Yeah, maybe overall average eight hours. And this I can say it's because I've been doing this for six, seven years. Now I can already kind of edit in my head while I'm filming. Uh yeah, and yeah, and I know that I cannot do this on my first year for sure. Right. Second, third year. It's because I did this six, seven years, it's already natural. While I'm filming, yeah, I'll just film the necessary stuff. For example, I I'll go to a castle, right? And and like there's so many Japanese castles and natural thing, maybe beginner like to film everything because everything looks nice in the castle, so you film a lot of stuff, but from my experience, you end up not using most of it. So I usually don't film anything until I go to top of the castle and I film. So so so that's because from experience, and that makes my editing efficient, and and yeah, and before I edit, I already have a good idea of how I'm gonna do it, and and um so even though I film the whole driving scene, which is like it can be like eight hours worth of footage, but I already know like because I I I edit really fast, right? I upload one video every three days, so I still remember what I filmed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I know what was a good part to use, you know. I know which part is boring, and I know which part was interesting. Like I'm like, oh yeah, this old guy talked to me at this convenience store, and I kind of know where is that, so I just go straight to that and just cut that. And then I'll just use the random area for like B-roll. But yeah, so that's why it's very um fast.

SPEAKER_00:

This you so you have these things you're recording all the time. Um, do people the public what do you think about shooting in public? Do people have problems with it in Japan? Because in America, if you do it with your phone, people seem to be less weird about it. But if you go into a store with like a camera, they're gonna be like oh you can't record here. Is that is that something you have to contend with in Japan at all? Or do you just wear it and people don't even know that you're recording?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I think it got better um because there's so many YouTubers around. Um so but still, yeah, people will get um you know like annoyed maybe if I'm like talking so loud. So I I kind of choose where to talk and not to talk. And if I'm if I'm inside the castle, maybe I'll be a little bit quieter. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But generally, people, especially in the countryside, maybe they they don't really care. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I never ask.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I just do it. One of the things I noticed is that so, and it's interesting because you're I don't even want to call it an aesthetic, but your video uh editing style and kind of your production quality, and as also like the storytelling is interesting because there's moments that are just quiet. And in YouTube, like where you're not saying anything, in YouTube, sometimes you think that's death, but I think for the type of content you're doing, it makes it interesting. So uh some of the videos I saw because they were out of order as they came to me through my feed, um, where you were doing um voiceovers over parts where you didn't talk in the video, I was like, Oh, that makes sense because you're explaining what's going on in like internet cafes where you can't really talk and stuff. And I like that. And then I saw some of your older ones where you didn't say anything, and I'm like, Oh, I wish you had the voiceover here. But in the moment, as I'm watching it, I'm like, there's something kind of intimate and interesting about you not saying anything and being kind of quiet and kind of like you know, whispering to the camera. So I'm like, as much as I like the voiceover, so you can tell us what's going on. Uh the not talking was cool too. Like, there's something to each, and um, I wouldn't even know which one to tell you to do. Like, as a viewer or as a coach, I would be like, they both work because it seems like you have this innate ability to understand what makes sense in that moment. Do you ever feel like you need to do more, but doing less is is actually better?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I actually have um I can explain that part. Like, I I mean I I feel like I know uh um from experience if you are doing something extreme, like you're you're pushing yourself and your situation is uh like a serious situation, I think less can be more really easy. If you're like for example, if I really say in a bad way, like if you're a boring person and if the content is less, then I don't think people will be interested. But if you're pushing yourself, you're I learned this from the skate across Japan because I'm doing something extreme, and I notice when I do like some simple video, people still watch it because they know that I'm doing something extreme. Like even I'm just eating, like during the skater across Japan time, I'm just eating, people will still like feel something. I I think there's like a like an intense vibe there, like people, it's like uh aura there. So that's something I learned. So as long as I know, if I know that I'm doing something extreme, I'm very confident to put out like a like a less kind of content and and it end up becoming more, I feel like.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. Uh, a couple more things before we end. I I'm having so much fun talking to you. Um when we when you edit, what's up, first of all, what software do you use to edit your videos?

SPEAKER_01:

I use Final Cut.

SPEAKER_00:

Final Cut 11. And in using that, I noticed you do this really cool, and it's actually really well done, very professionally done. Um, graphic when you were writing moped across Japan of like your logo going across the screen. Like, how do you do that? It's so good.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, thank you so much. That's that's just uh uh so in Mac there's that uh software called Affinity. Affinity photo. Yeah, I just I just used uh affinity photo and yeah, just so you taught yourself all that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I never learn and nobody teach me, I just do it on my own. It I mean, in a weird way, it's almost like you outsourced that to someone, they made it and then sent it back to you. That's really kind of incredible because it's a it's a detail that actually it tells the story of your travel because you're showing where on the map you are, and it has your logo and it's spinning, and it's such a cool little detail that I'm like, I wouldn't even have thought, and I love that you go boop, boop, boop, when they're flashing. Like it's so it's such a vibe. I love it so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this is where the the having fun comes. I think every time I'm doing that, I'm really just like having fun, and I'm I'm even laughing at my own like like weird like sound effect and stuff, and I love it. And I think that's that's important, I feel like. Yeah, but yeah, everything I just yeah, did it using Photoshop or Affinity Photo.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so cool. Uh, a couple more questions. What is something that may have happened either off-camera or something you that didn't make the cut that you kind of wish we either got to see or or I mean you do seem to record everything, but there's gotta be something that you didn't record. It's like, oh man, that's crazy. I wish I had recorded that. Is there anything that happened over these uh couple years?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, not much, but there are a couple of times when I'm just sleeping outside in in you know, like in the street, and you know, like maybe I hear like footstep coming close to my my tent and then just the footstep going you know away. And and I'll be thinking, like, is that a real person or is that a ghost? You know, kind of feeling because because we have so much scary ghost stories in Japan. So so yeah, that's one thing I I really focus not to think about when I'm sleeping in the street, because if you start to think a little bit about ghosts, you feel like ghost is everywhere, like you know, like all around your tent or something. Um, and yeah, those kind of stuff, but most of the time I'll have the camera on, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's I mean, it's great that you do. We get the capture of so many cool moments. Now, um, the moped across Japan just completed kind of recently. So I do encourage anyone who's interested in this to watch that because I'm still going through that series. But that whole goal actually had another goal, which I think is so smart, and maybe you again didn't mean it to be this way, but the entire time you were doing the moped across Japan, there was still another goal, not just to get there, but to start van life, which is interesting because now, because the thing you know, you talked about before was like once those um skateboarding across Japan ended, all of a sudden everything died. Well, you have a natural jump-off point already, like it's like you already set it up. Now you're in the van life. You just purchased a van very recently. I can't wait to see the newest video to see what's new and exciting about that. Um, tell us about that because that you know, if it wasn't for the van life thing and you just finished a moped, it'd be like, okay, now what? But now you do have something, which is the van life. Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01:

So, like I said, I really love entertainment and I want to do this as long as I can. And I and I think the important thing is people not get bored or tired, you know, like um people get excited for the next. So I thought it's important to have another thing after moped. So that that's all I was thinking, basically. Like, I just wanted to keep everybody entertained and excited for what's gonna happen next.

SPEAKER_00:

And you did, I mean, this took like a year to go to go across Japan, right? It did, it's it took me one year. So this but so the other cool thing about this is the payoff is like over the course of watching an entire television series series or season, even it's like, okay, now it's season two, which is Van Life, which is kind of crazy. It's like a new, it's the sequel movie or it's a sequel television show. So it's it's such a cool thing. I'm excited to see what you're gonna do with that and what the next thing is. I don't I don't want any spoilers, I'm gonna watch it just like everyone else. I don't want to know any secret sauce, I want to just watch it as it comes. Um, but uh to to the creators out there, I mean, you just said that uh earlier that you know to have fun is really important. Um if you introspectively look at uh your YouTube kind of journey, and now that you actually make pretty good money, I imagine. I don't know, I'm not gonna ask anything. You did share one time you got like a$5,000 check, which is I can only imagine what that must have been like in that moment. It must have been like, oh my god, that's insane, right? Exactly. I mean, uh you must be so proud of that moment, but I'm sure you've had more of those and you will have many more to come. But looking at like your entire journey, what's the biggest takeaway for you personally that this journey has taken you on? Like, what's the thing you're like, if I if I, you know, you retire and you have a uh a wife son and you have little baby sons, uh, what do you tell them about this journey? What did you learn?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, what did I learn?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And not even about YouTube, but like about life. Especially after skating across Japan. I feel like if you do something extreme, you really I think you you you will be like how this is, you will be covered by this like aura, I feel like. And that's something it's not like logic, I feel like. It's it's kind of superstitious, but I feel like it's there because I'm usually like this my character is like this, right? I'm usually happy, but um, after I was doing the skate across Japan, people told me like I I'm kind of scared to talk to you, like it feels like you're like a legend kind of vibe, like or like a like a little bit intimidating kind of vibe, like yeah, and and I feel like that thing leads me to nomad push, I feel like, because all that extreme challenge, like people want to see more, you know, like so I think I feel like if if you want to be like successful, maybe this is definitely not not the only way, but I think one way is to really do something extreme, and and I think you get this momentum and this aura, and it it helps you do whatever next. So that's something I really learned.

SPEAKER_00:

That's amazing. Well, Robinson, thank you so much for joining us in today's episode. There will be a link to Robinson's channel, Notepad Push, and his video and Coxan, of course, Coxan. We all praise Coxan and Tissue Sign and Tissue Sign again. You gotta go to his channel, you have to watch, and you'll understand, it'll all make sense. It's the greatest content I've seen this year. I have so much fun to watch. We thank you so much for joining you, uh joining us, uh Robinson. So, with all that being said, make sure you check out his channel, links in the description. And for those of you to join us for the first time, of course, we're here doing not only helping you grow your YouTube channel, but sometimes talking to YouTubers that are just crushing it. And uh, Robinson, you are crushing it on YouTube. Thank you so much. And we will see y'all in the next one.