Daisuke: “We met through a dating app at the end of 2021. I had just been living in Amsterdam for three months, because I had found a job at a Japanese-Dutch import company. I was a manager, did marketing, everything. Before that, I was a steward at Finnair. But there was no more work there during the corona period. I am now a train steward at Eurostar.”
Rik: “At the time, I had a consultancy firm in the field of security and area development. And then the ‘soft’ side of area development. For example, how a neighborhood deals with noise pollution from companies. I had a large telecom company as a client and they asked me to become a permanent employee. I did so.”
Daisuke: “We both travel a lot. I often go to Brussels, Disneyland and Paris, usually back and forth in one day. I work in the bar of the train or provide meals and drinks in the premium class. A few times a month I spend the night in France. One day I hope to fly again, preferably with KLM.”
Rik: “I travel on average twice a month, usually for three or four nights. We are also very fond of travel in private. We try to visit Daisuke’s family in Japan every year. Last year we went to Costa Rica and the year before that to Vietnam.”
Daisuke: “And we regularly take city trips. To Barcelona, Madrid, London, Dublin. We sometimes try to combine work and a private trip.”
Rik: “No, we do not suffer from flying shame. When people say that we fly a lot, we say with a smile: ‘We have no children and they have a much larger footprint’.”
Daisuke: “We both work full-time. I work two weekends and have two weekends off. I think a full-time job is fine, I still want to discover so much. Moreover, working a lot is good for my Dutch. I have taken various language courses, about two years in total.”
Rik: “I just have a weekday job. I see around me that some friends are working less, but I don’t have that need yet. I enjoy my work. I don’t miss entrepreneurship. I can now do business within the company where I work and where I have a lot of responsibility. It may feel like a bit of freedom, but on the other hand, I now have more financial scope to implement plans. And a permanent job is nice in terms of retirement, of course. That I will retire much earlier than Daisuke, I never really think about that. Daisuke always says he feels like he’s much older than me. I’m still a bit of a child, haha!”
Rik Hoogendoorn (54) studied management, economics and business in Boston and at Nyenrode. He now works at telecom company Liberty Global, where he focuses on security and risk management. Daisuke Yamamoto (28) is a Japanese national and studied English literature in Tokyo and Dublin. He is a steward at Eurostar.
They live in an apartment in Amsterdam and together earn about four times the average.
Japanese twist
Rik: “Our work-life balance is excellent. Of course, it makes a difference that we don’t have children.”
Daisuke: “Our free time is well filled. We love eating out, having drinks with friends and we both play tennis. In the Vondelpark, a very special place. Yes, I feel at home in the Netherlands, I find it fun and challenging to build a new life here.”
Rik: “We never considered living in Japan. But never say never. Japan is a beautiful country, nice people, delicious food.”
Daisuke: “We both cook about twice a week, but I almost never cook Japanese. Although I do use a lot of Japanese flavors. When we are in Japan, I always take a large shopping bag full of spices, broth and noodles.”
Rik: “He cooks Western food with a Japanese twist. Food, drinks and travel are our biggest expenses. Not so much the mortgage, because I bought this apartment eighteen years ago.”
Daisuke: “I regularly spend money on jewelry, I love it. I often buy it second-hand.”
Rik: “When we are in Japan, he goes into his mother’s jewelry box and takes something with him. She is fine with that.”
Daisuke: “On the beach in Costa Rica I found a green stone, my favorite color. A silversmith took two small stones from that stone and made two necklaces from them.”
Rik: “We wear them as a kind of friendship necklaces.”
Daisuke: “Every year on September 25, I buy a piece of jewelry for myself, as a reminder of the fact that I arrived in the Netherlands on that date.”
Photos Mona van den Berg
Dog
Rik: “We still have a long travel wish list for the future. Latin America is high on the list, just like New Zealand.”
Daisuke: “We also sometimes consider getting a dog. We regularly look after the neighbor’s dog and we always enjoy it when he is there. But of course it is not convenient when traveling. So maybe a share dog is an idea.”
Rik: “And we are going to try to turn our roof terrace into an extra room and bathroom and then build a new roof terrace on top of it. That will be useful for Daisuke’s parents, who come to the Netherlands once a year, and also for my host family from Boston, where I studied a long time ago.”
Daisuke: “Rik’s bonus father unfortunately recently passed away. He also visited Japan and made an etching of Mount Fuji on location.”
Rik: “All things considered, we are very happy: with each other, with family and friends, with our house, with the pleasant neighborhood, with our work, we really have nothing to complain about.”
What is your last Tikkie sent?
Rik: “A friend had borrowed our car and parked it in the wrong place. Then I received a fine of 129 euros.”
Weekly shopping or going to the supermarket every day?
They go to the supermarket several times a week, sometimes to their friend Eveline, who sells vegetables at the Zuidermarkt. Rik: “I love offers.” Daisuke: “The other day he brought me three packs of green tea. I thought: ah, how sweet! It turned out to be a bonus offer.”
What is your latest major release?
Two plane tickets to Thailand, for later this year.
Second-hand or rather new?
Usually new, although Daisuke’s jewelry is often second-hand.
How often do you clean the house?
Rik: “Every day. I like living in a tidy house. Daisuke: “After I cook, Rik always wants to clean up the kitchen right away, while I want to relax for a while and then clean up.”
What was really a bad buy?
Rik: “Every year we go to the Parade a few times, so this year we thought: we’ll buy a passe-partout. What do you think? We didn’t go to the Parade this summer.”
Who decides what you eat?
The one who cooks.
What do you spend money on with guilt?
Rik: “We have thought about that for a long time, but we can’t think of anything.”
What are you saving for?
For holidays and ‘the future’.
Tip for household or finances
Rik: “Keep an eye on supermarket offers. That really makes a difference.”
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