Hey everyone, I'm Takahiro Maruyama, 22 years old, Japanese and currently a so-called "freeter,"meaning I don't have a stable job at the moment. Please call me Taka or TJ.
I spent 5 years in America growing up, from 4 to 9y/o, due to my father's job. Then I returned to Japan and have been living here for 13 years now. I studied in Toledo, OH for a year through the exchange student program in my university (Aichi University) to brush up my English skills in 2013. I then graduated and got my bachelors in March 2016. My goal upon graduation was to get in to graduate school and study linguistics and ESL in the same university in Ohio, but I failed to meet their admission requirements. By the time I heard from them it was too late to start applying for a job in Japan so I decided to become a freeter and save up money for the trip I've always dreamed of; cycling across America.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

As mentioned in About Me, I am serious about bicycling across America this summer. I will be starting from San Francisco, CA, in late August and make my way up to Boston MA. Since it's gonna be a long long tour (3500 miles!!), I want to avoid staying at motels or hostels for financial reasons. One of the blogs I found about long distance bike touring said that Couchsurfing is one of the best ways to travel for cheap and meet awesome people. I fell in love with the idea and the system.
I'm very excited for the trip of a lifetime and hope to share my experiences with my hosts!

Interests

• @barbrothersjapanofficial
• @tj_maruyama
• @barbrothersdc

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: EDM, House, Electronics, Dubstep
Movies: Wreck It Ralph, 40 year old virgin, MARVEL, Ghibli, etc
TV Shows: The Office, Kyle XY, Through the Wormhole, Ted Talks
Books: Harry Potter, Tuesdays with Morrie, Divergent series, Hunger games

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In my senior year of college, I was chosen to participate in the Japanese-Chinese University Presidents' Conference held in October 2015, as a student representative. I met many amazing, intelligent students from all over Japan and China and took part in several student conferences to discuss internationalization in universities. I had an amazing time, but this isn't the best part. A week after the conference, I was asked by the school to talk about my experience on the radio. I got to see and experience of "behind the scenes" of a radio station. It was aired on November 22nd, for 15 minutes from 8:15am.

Teach, Learn, Share

idk what to write here...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Basically anything. I value transparency so I will be honest with my hosts and be opened to share, teach, and discuss anything. But I do not want to talk to judgmental, biased, close-minded people.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Canada, China, Jamaica, Mexico, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United States