Almost every weekend, Yuta Aoki heads to Tokyo's Shibuya Ward armed with a camera, a stabilizer and a microphone. His mission is to find and speak to Japanese people, but they must look happy or, at least, not busy — "I don't want any trouble," he says with a laugh. He's hunting for opinions: "Is 'gaijin' an offensive term?" "What do you think of tattoos?" On a good day, 1 in every 10 people will stop to chat.
Aoki then edits things down into a snappy video package and shares it on his YouTube account, That Japanese Man Yuta. The 32-year-old says his goal is to present English-speaking people with an even-keel view of Japan, compared to more traditional media outlets, which tend to highlight "exceptional" stories.
"Which isn't necessarily wrong, but when people only see that part of Japan, they tend to have very biased views of the country," he says. "I think my videos help to balance out what people imagine Japan to be like."