RA vs the World

unsent letters, movie recommendations, and everything life may throw at me

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This is the April 2026 cover for the Japanese culture and entertainment magazine CUT. It will feature interviews with voice actors Atsumi Tanezaki (Frieren), Kana Ichinose (Fern), Chiaki Kobayashi (Stark), and Nobuhiko Okamoto (Himmel); and with singer-songwriter milet, who gave us the ending theme songs for both seasons so far. 🥺👉👈

I'm going to find a way to grab a copy of this magazine, even though I won't be visiting Japan until much, much later this year. 😭

これは、日本のカルチャー＆エンターテインメント雑誌『CUT』2026年4月号の表紙です。フリーレン役の種﨑敦美さん、フェルン役の市ノ瀬加那さん、シュタルク役の小林千晃さん、ヒンメル役の岡本信彦さんの声優インタビューに加え、これまでの両シーズンでエンディングテーマを担当したシンガーソングライターのmiletさんのインタビューも掲載されます。🥺👉👈

今年のずっと後になってから日本に行く予定だけど、それでもこの雑誌を手に入れる方法を見つけたいと思います。😭

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In Masbate, women are tackling problems they didn't cause—from hauling water from long distances to recycling waste. Their efforts are vital, but how long can communities like theirs carry the weight of lack of basic services in a warming world?

Masbate town women seek solutions as water, plastic woes strain environment - RA vs the World

In Masbate, women are tackling problems they didn't cause—from hauling water from long distances to recycling waste. Their efforts are vital

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Late upload, but I finally found time to edit my trip to Taiwan last year. Here's the first part of the series about what I did in Taiwan. In this video, I'll show you how to withdraw money from a Taiwanese ATM without fees. We'll take the Taiwan High Speed Rail (TSHR), which is kinda like the Taiwanese shinkansen. We'll also drop by Ximending shopping district before we head to the Raohe Night Market in Songshan, where Anthony Bourdain ate a hujiao bing, which we will also try. We'll also grab some convenience store pasta. I'm sorry, but we have to. I was hungry af. I'll also show you one of the best ways to get around the city: the YouBike.

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Long time, no upload, friends! Here's the fifth installment of my RA vs Japan series. This time, we'll make our way to Nikko, where we visit the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, the Rinno-ji Temple, and see the Shinkyo Bridge. At the Toshogu Shrine, we'll look for the monkey sculptures outside the sacred stables, admire the Yomeimon Gate and Sakashitamon Gate, and say hello to the Nemurineko or Sleeping Cat. I also take a peek at Tokugawa Ieyasu's mausoleum. But, on the way to Nikko, I'll first show you how to reserve a seat for a shinkansen ride using your JR Pass and we enjoy a train bento, also known as ekiben.

Please watch my other video about my goshuin collection (see link below). In that video, I talk about the history not just of the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, but also of the Nikkozan Rinno-ji Temple and the Toshogu Inner Shrine, which are all in this video. Enjoy!

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It's like we were kids again when, last year, we spent a morning appreciating science at The Mind Museum at the Bonificio Global City in Taguig. Special thanks to Kuya Andrew for treating me, Kuya Carlo, Ate Jessa, Ate Henor, Kuya Jason, and their kiddo to a day at this science museum. In this video: the ocean, sharks, harvesting pearls, the human brain, inventors and inventions, light, optical illusions, music, languages and symbols, dancing robots, and more!

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In this episode of RA vs Japan Ep. 3, let me take you to Chiba, where we will ride the longest suspended monorail in the world. I'll show you once again how to withdraw money from a 7 Eleven Bank ATM before we visit some shrines and start our Katsushika Hokusai Pilgrimage. I'll also show you masshas at the Chiba Shrine Myoken Hongu. A massha is an auxiliary shrine dedicated to another kami or other kamis related to a shrine's main deity. At Chiba Shrine, there are a lot of masshas.

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Spend a short day in Angeles City, Pampanga and learn about its history through the Museo ning Angeles. I also tried the sisig and estafado at the small food place called Annie Bea's Eatery. Lastly, I spent the afternoon drinking beer at The Historic Camalig Restaurant.

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RA vs Japan Ep. 1: Going to a temple + basic stuff like IC cards, JR Pass, withdrawing money, etc.

In episode 1 of the RA vs Japan series, let me show you how to ask for directions; how to get your JR Pass and how to use it; how to get an IC card, specifically, a Welcome Suica card and how to use it in vending machines; how to take advantage of the the cheapest conversion rate when you are withdrawing cash from a 7 Eleven Bank ATM; and more!

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Apparently, it is okay in the postcrossing community to send postcards from a different country even if you're sending them from your home country. These are New York City postcards, which have been in my possession for over a decade now. So, in this video, I again attempt to design my outgoing postcards to be sent to Serbia, The Netherlands, India, Germany, and the United States of America. The recipients of these postcards agreed to receive these postcards. I still have some left. At the end of the video, I'll show you which ones are still available. You can send me an email if you'd like to swap postcards! :)

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Scenes from the morning of the first day of the Bicol Loco 2025

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Take this journey with me and enjoy the train driver's view of the Chiba Urban Monorail in Japan. This is part of the longest suspended monorail system in the world. This video only includes the Line 1 stations Chiba Station to Chishirodai Station. I'd be happy to upload a separate video of the Line 2 from Chibaminato Station to Kenchomae Station.

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I have over 600 postcards in my collection. Here are some of them.

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I recently got into postcrossing. Postcrossing is when you send postcards to random people from wherever in this sad, sad planet. In exchange, you'll also be receiving a random sender's postcard! 🙂 There are websites like postcrossing.com, where they have a nice system of tracking who's sending to whom, but I like direct exchanges so most of the recipients of these Mayon Volcano postcards are people I found through a social media platform and who will also be sending me postcards from their countries. We're swapping postcards, in other words. This Wednesday, I will be posting a 50-minute video of my postcard collection, so please watch out for that. Please follow this channel. It's totally free! T_T

How to send a postcard:

1. Choose a postcard.

2. Never ever write anything on the illustration side (front side). On the back side, you will put a stamp on the upper right corner. You will also write the receiver's address on one side, usually the right side. Some people like putting postcards inside parcels or envelopes alongside other stuff. In this case, maybe it's okay not to put stamps and the address, so you can write more on the back side. The envelope will have stamps and the address on it anyway. If you're only sending the postcard, then you definitely need the stamps (this is your postage payment) and write the address (so it reaches it destination, of course).

3. Always write the date. Then write your message. The message can be anything about the place, a life update, a poem, whatever you wanna say. In postcrossing communities, you will get reported if you write anything inappropriate, so be nice.

4. Optional: Design it. Stickers will do. Magazine cutouts, too. Any ephemeral stuff from your drawer would be nice, too. Maybe like movie tickets? (Oh no. I collect movie tickets, so I would never.)

5. Drop the postcard off at the postal office.

More details are in this video.

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Still not able to edit full videos, so please enjoy this train ride via the Nankai Airport Express from Shin-Imamiya Station to the Kansai Airport Station or the Kansai International Airport in Osaka. The airport is at the artificial island Kankujima. Fun fact about Kankujima and Osaka: Before that island was constructed, Osaka was the smallest prefecture in Japan. Now, Kagawa Prefecture is the smallest. Osaka's land area is now 1,905.14 square kilometers. Kagawa's is 1,876.72 square kilometers. Not included in this video is the trip from Namba Station to Shin-Imamiya Station. I stayed really close to the Nankai Line station at Shin-Imamiya, so my apologies for not including the Namba Station in this video. As with all Japanese train drivers, you will notice the driver here doing the shisa kanko or pointing and calling, a practice that makes people working in train stations and airlines focus more on the task at hand. At around the 40-minute mark, after the train departs Rinku-Town Station, the train will cross the Osaka Bay to get to the airport. Kansai International Airport's Terminal 1 is the longest airport terminal in the world

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This is how the puto from Oas, Albay are made using coconut shells as molds, a steamer, and a grill.

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Still can't upload a full video here, so I'm uploading a preview of my time in Japan.

📌 Hiroshima's Miyajima Island (also called Itsukushima Island) - ate curry oyster pan and got harassed by a sweet deer. Also tried Hiroshima Cola.

📌 Uji, Kyoto - before visiting The Tale of Genji Museum, I ate my lunch at the Matcha Roastery in Uji. Got to try my poor Japanese while ordering what the lady at the counter recommended and a Uji shimizu.

📌 Toshogu Shrine in Nikko - one of the many shrines and temples I visited. I got myself two goshuins from Toshogu, one from the main temple and another one from the inner temple. I'll upload a video about my goshuin collection soon!

📌 Senseki Tei in Obuse, Nagano - ordered kuri kanoko, tempura, and kuri okowa after a recommendation from the tourism officer Yukiko-chan. Kuri okowa is chestnut rice while kuri kanoko is a dessert also made from chestnut but paired with matcha. A video on that soon, too!

📌 Senso-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo - Tokyo's oldest established temple and arguably its most significant. In this video, I am tying my fortune because the belief is that when you get a bad fortune, you must tie it so that your bad fortune stays in the temple's or the shrine's (whichever you're visiting) vicinity and not follow you around.

📌 Okonomiyaki in Osaka - I stayed in Osaka for a while and one midnight, I was just so hungry and I realized I haven't really tried okonomiyaki there (Osaka and Hiroshima have two different versions of okonomiyaki). This was at the nearest okonomiyaki place close to where I was staying.

📌 Scallop bone ramen in Matsuyama, Ehime - Ehime is in the Shikoku Island, the smallest of the four main islands of Japan, separated from Honshu by the Seto Inland Sea. This scallop bone ramen is honestly one of the best ramens I have ever had until now. I cannot wait to have another bowl of this again!

📌 Botchan Ressha, Matsuyama - still in Ehime! Matsuyama is close to my heart because it is the setting of the 1906 novel by Natsume Soseki. The titular character in the novel lent its name to this lovely train that makes an interesting turnaround. Check out a video of that here:     • Botchan Ressha in Mats...  ​

📌 Kitsune Soba - still in Matsuyama. Of course aside from ramen, tsukumen, gyudon, and udon, I have to try a soba, and what better type of soba to try than kitsune soba.

📌 Himerakuen in Matsuyama - I stayed in Himerakuen and the lovely owner showed me around the second floor (I think I had the entire building for myself because I heard no sounds other than myself practicing Japanese). He then asked me where I planned to go that day so I told him I was going to visit Dogo Onsen, see Botchan Ressha, and a local shrine.

📌 Ishite-ji Temple - I didn't just visit a local shrine (Isaniwa Shrine), but I also visited Matsuyama's most famous temple, Ishite-ji Temple, where a sweet orange cat greeted me after getting my goshuin and before I exited through the sanmon. I find it cute that I befriended an orange cat in a prefecture famous for their oranges (mikan).

📌 Train bound for Osaka, but with a video of the Seto Inland Sea

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Named after the titular character in the Natsume Soseki novel, the Botchan Ressha or the Botchan Train is fascinating because of its unique turnaround. Watch it here.