Instagram story viewer> @jeanpaulmca> Posts

JEAN-PAUL MCA

@jeanpaulmca

2.8K

followers

1995

following

From Everywhere and Nowhere
@thirdculture

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Posted this on my stories a while back, but felt like it should live on the feed instead.

We all have our own little chapters, our own places, moments, and memories that shape us. These are just a few snippets from mine. JP lore stories. taken in Tokyo 東京, Japan by @jeanpaulmca

11k

137

9 months ago

I quietly posted my first Third Culture YouTube video at midnight, last night. Still sitting on one view.. me 😂

As a teenager, I was always filming everything. No edits, no real purpose, just life, recorded. Eventually I put the video camera down
and picked up a still one instead.

I’ve wanted to start filming again and create a YouTube channel for years… But I kept worrying what people would think. What if it’s not good enough? What if no one watches?

But when I moved to Vietnam,
I promised myself I’d get out of my comfort zone. So… this is me doing that.

It’s nowhere near the cinematic quality of my favorite YouTubers or where I want it to be yet.
But every challenge starts at the bottom and every channel starts with zero subscribers.

But really it’s not for views, it’s just to document. To get me out of my comfortable bubble and to create a visual archive of life as it’s happening.

And maybe one day, my kids or even grandkids might watch it and say,
“So that’s what life looked like back then.”

…Or they’ll just think Papa was really cringe 🥴

Either way, let the journey begin.

Link in my bio 🫰🏼

#thirdculture #thirdculturejp taken in Saigon, Vietnam by @jeanpaulmca

375

84

a year ago

It’s funny how some of your strongest memories of your parents are attached to music.

This is my mum and I driving through Roppongi on a Friday night, sometime around the end of 2001.

Trance playing in the car from one of the CDs sitting in the 10-disc stacker that was permanently loaded with trance, techno and dance music. That sound is basically the soundtrack to my childhood.

My parents always had music playing in their cars, and even now, certain tracks instantly transport me back to Tokyo and being a kid.

But watching this footage now, it’s not just the music that gets me. Tokyo was a different world then.

Roppongi on a Friday or Saturday night was absolute chaos. The streets were packed. Yakuza were something you’d see openly. Their black and white Mercedes and vans lined the sidewalks and African touts lined the streets outside clubs. Salarymen in suits, hostess girls in heels, expats, tourists, club kids, taxis, neon, noise. All of it existing together.

Roppongi felt rawer then. A little more dangerous. A lot less polished. Alive.

The strange part is, it was so normal to me, none of it seemed unusual. It was just Tokyo.

Now I watch this old MiniDV footage and half the places in it are gone. Buildings changed. Clubs disappeared. People moved on. The city became something else.

A few minutes of a Tokyo disappeared for ever. And this random video I filmed without thinking twice somehow became a time capsule. Not of some famous moment. Just an ordinary Friday night.

And now, more than 20 years later, one of those memories I’d give almost anything to step back into for five minutes.

Turn the music up. Sit in the passenger seat. And just keep looking out the window watching it all pass by. taken in Roppongi 六本木, Tokyo Japan by @jeanpaulmca

12k

242

25 days ago

One day I’ll look back at this exact version of my life and give anything to live these moments again. How lucky I am to recognise that while they’re still mine. ❤️

One day I’ll look back at this exact version of my life and give anything to live these moments again. How lucky I am to recognise that while they’re still mine. ❤️

📹: @doanjulia taken in Saigon, Vietnam by @jeanpaulmca

239

10

17 days ago

For a few moments everything disappears. by @jeanpaulmca

142

5

a month ago

Proof of life ✌🏼 Someone left the gate open. by @jeanpaulmca

241

10

2 months ago

48hrs In Hong Kong 💥 taken in Hong Kong by @jeanpaulmca

171

13

5 months ago

Saigon Diaries 8 - 🔥🐎 taken in Saigon, Vietnam by @jeanpaulmca

152

4

5 months ago

Tokyo. Always. ❤️ taken in Tokyo 東京, Japan by @jeanpaulmca

260

11

7 months ago

Second Tết in Vietnam. Ready for more fire, Chúc Mừng Năm Mới fam🔥🐎 taken in Saigon, Vietnam by @jeanpaulmca

448

29

8 months ago

My latest Vlog, filmed end of last year, is finally online. A day in my life, morning to night. (Link in bio)

Still experimenting and figuring out my aesthetic style with titles, thumbnails, pacing etc. Let me know what you think of this one in the YouTube comments and sub if you like it 🙇🏻

The plan this year is leveling up. A proper camera setup, learning how to use Da Vinci Resolve again, and pushing out more consistent content. Exploring different formats, styles, and ways of telling stories.

Hopefully by the end of the year l’ll look back at this one and smile at how raw and amateur it feels. That’s the goal.

Growth through output. Creativity through repetition, always. taken in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by @jeanpaulmca

160

12

9 months ago

Saigon Diaries 7 - Wins, losses, lessons. Proud of this chapter and locked in for 2026☝🏼 by @jeanpaulmca

207

6

10 months ago