📌 What you’ll learn from this post
- Why I quit my corporate job 2 years in, and the doubts I had at the time
- One year of searching for a home base after quitting (Miyazaki → a loop around Kyushu → Tokushima)
- Why I chose the local promotion cooperation program, and the turning point where SNS took off
- 3 things I learned after leaving the salaryman world (environment, risk hedge, the “regret of not trying”)
- 🏢 Why I quit the company
- 🚗 The year after I quit — the search for a home base
- 🏡 Moving to Anan City — the local promotion cooperation program
- 📈 The moment SNS finally took off
- 🎣 How the fishing guide was born
- 💼 What I do now
- 💡 3 things I learned after leaving the corporate world
- ✏️ Closing thoughts
- 📦 Gear I still use today
- 📩 Booking & contact
- 📖 Related reading
🏢 Why I quit the company
Joined a beverage maker straight out of university, quit after exactly 2 years
I joined a beverage company as a new graduate, and quit after exactly 2 years. The reason was simple: “I want to grow my YouTube channel! I want to make a living from fishing!” 🔥YouTube wasn’t growing, and I could feel myself getting stuck as a salaryman
Even while working the corporate job, I kept fishing and posting on social media on the side. But my YouTube subscribers? 100 after 1 year, 300 after 2 years. A total SNS underdog, nowhere near monetization 😇 Still, I knew if I stayed a salaryman, I’d never live off fishing — ever.
🚗 The year after I quit — the search for a home base
I spent the year after quitting fishing and looking for “the ideal environment for fishing.” First stop: Miyazaki 🌴 A college friend runs a tea farm there. I stayed on-site helping out for 2 months, fishing every chance I got.🍵 The Miyazaki tea farm that took me in
🍃 On top of their own tea, they run a takeout café with matcha desserts and tea drinks that are genuinely excellent. If you ever pass through Miyazaki, stop by ☺️
🎣 I didn’t own this back then — but a packable rod like this would have made the whole car-camping trip way easier.
🐟 The seabass lure I used the most during this stretch was the Snecon 130S.
🏡 Moving to Anan City — the local promotion cooperation program
Right around that time, I got an invitation to join the local promotion cooperation program (a Japanese rural-revitalization scheme where you get paid a modest salary to help promote a town). Honestly, I wasn’t particularly passionate about the program itself. My real reason was “I want to put myself somewhere I can grow my fishing activities” 😅 But it came with a steady income and 3 days off per week. For someone trying to go all-in on fishing, those conditions were unbeatable — so I signed up. In year 1, I completed the main mission of launching a guesthouse (Guesthouse NAMAZU). In year 2, I started planning and running local fishing events and tournaments 🏆 Every other waking hour went into fishing and posting on SNS 💪📈 The moment SNS finally took off
Year 1 of the program, the follower count was still small — I was just grinding posts. Monetization had started, but it was still early days. Changing environments had clearly raised the quality of my fishing content, though. I kept at it without overthinking it, and then —🎉 April of year 2 in the program — 4 years after I first started on social media, my SNS numbers exploded.
🎣 How the fishing guide was born
Once SNS started growing, I got a flood of comments and DMs saying “I want to go fishing with you!” 😊 Why not turn it into a proper paid fishing guide service? 🎣 I launched it properly right around the 4-year mark since quitting the company.📖 Full review: Bombada Agua Amazon Spook review
💼 What I do now
These days, I run three lines of work.
💡 3 things I learned after leaving the corporate world
For anyone else wrestling with “I want to turn what I love into work,” here are three things I’d pass on from my own experience.① Changing your environment is the shortcut
No matter how hard you work, if the environment doesn’t match, you won’t grow. For me, SNS only took off after I moved to Anan City. Putting yourself somewhere you can focus on what you’re chasing — that’s priority number one.
② Have savings or an income source to carry you through the “runway”
Going full freelance out of the gate is brutally hard in practice. I kept a steady income through the local promotion cooperation program and used my 3 days off a week to grow SNS. Hedge your risk.
③ “Regret of trying” beats “regret of not trying”
The older you get, the higher the bar to make a leap. Being single with no family of my own made it easier to move. If you’re on the fence, weigh the damage of trying and failing against the weight of never having tried — and decide from there.
✏️ Closing thoughts
For the salaryman version of me, the idea of earning a living from fishing would have felt like a dream. I still don’t take it for granted. Fishing nearly every day, doing what I love for work — I’m glad I made the call to quit back then. I’m still nowhere near where I want to end up, but I’ll keep pouring everything into fishing from here on out 🔥 If this post gives even a little push to someone else who’s thinking “I want to live off what I love,” that’s more than enough for me.
📦 Gear I still use today
The gear I mentioned throughout this post that’s still in my rotation, all in one place.🎣 Bombada Ladrao 52 — my travel & road-trip packable rod
🐟 BlueBlue Snecon 130S — a seabass staple; one you want in the box
🐊 Bombada Amazon Spook — a versatile pencil that covers catfish, seabass, snakehead and more
🎥 DJI Osmo Action 6 — what I currently shoot fishing video with
📩 Booking & contact
If you’re interested in a guided fishing trip or a stay in Anan, reach out any time!🎣 Uchii’s Fishing Guide
Based in Anan City — catfish, seabass, inshore fishing and more. First-timers welcome!
🏠 Guesthouse NAMAZU
A guesthouse in Anan City — perfect for Shikoku pilgrims and anglers.
📖 Related reading
- 🔗 Bombada Agua Amazon Spook review — the essential catfish pencil
- 🔗 Gamakatsu Treble SP / RB series review — 5 years on the same hooks
