A Day in the Life of a Dad Working Abroad (Vietnam) | Behind the Scenes of Being a Digital Nomad

Xin chào! We're Yuki, a Japanese husband, and Ngoc, his Vietnamese wife, living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. On this blog, we share information about relocating to and living in Vietnam, as well as travel information from all across the country. If you come across an article that catches your interest, please start by following us ♪ This time, we're taking a close look at a day in the life of Yuki, the Japanese husband. Papa used to work as a freelance journalist, and now he's what you'd call a digital nomad—someone who can handle his work with just a laptop, no matter where he is (^^ Let's follow along with a day in Papa's life ♪ A day in the life of Papa living in Vietnam: His routine in Ho Chi Minh City

Dad is a night owl, so his day starts a bit late. He usually wakes up around 9 or 10 AM and starts working then. He finishes work around 2 or 3 in the morning, working 6 to 7 days a week. Including small chores like handling customer inquiries, he lamented that he didn't have a single day off in 2025 (-_-;) When I said, "Well, why don't you rest a little?", he replied, "Because I still have the fear of losing all my work during COVID.I'm grateful to be busy," says Dad (´;ω;`)… 9:00-10:00: Wake up. Breakfast is a health drink. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is drink my homemade health drink. Recipe: I mix 250ml of oat milk, 10g of gelatin, 1 tablespoon of roasted soybean flour (kinako), 1 tablespoon of okara powder, and 1 tablespoon of ground black sesame, heat it in the microwave, and drink it every morning. Apparently, "a healthy gut extends your lifespan"!   10:00–12:00: Writing one article Dad barely does any reporter work these days, but it seems he still gets requests from a company he's had a long relationship with and writes articles for them. He spends about two hours in the morning working on writing the article. 12:00–12:30: A swim in the pool

For lunch, I go for a swim in the pool inside the apartment building where we live. You might think, "Wow, having a pool in your apartment building is amazing!" but in Vietnam, mid-range and above apartment buildings pretty much always have a pool as a matter of course ♪ 13:00–16:00: Working at a café

The other day, I think I saw it on Japanese Yahoo! News. I was surprised to read a news story about how staying at a cafe for a long time with just one cup of coffee was causing problems because it was being considered bad manners. When you come to Vietnam, you understand this, but Vietnam has far more cafes than Japanese convenience stores, and at any of them, you can stay from morning until closing time with just one cup of coffee.Of course, people study and work, but recently we've also been seeing plenty of people filming videos to post on TikTok and Instagram. Vietnam has had that kind of mindset rooted in it for a long time, and honestly, isn't that what cafes are for anyway? (That's why a cup of coffee is expensive.) 4:00 PM - 4:30 PM: Picking up the kids. I (Mom) drop the kids off at school in the morning, but bringing them back is Dad's job.Papa has been living in Vietnam for a long time now, so riding a motorbike is second nature to him. By the way, since I work outside the home most days of the week, Papa handles a larger share of the childcare and housework. Also, this might be something common among international couples, but basically when we eat at home, we eat separately, each of us eating on our own timing as we please. It's really only on special anniversaries or when we go to a restaurant that we all sit around the table and eat together.     16:30 to 2:00 the next day: Work & childcare & housework & games After picking up the kids and getting home, dad's activities include ① making a meal for the kids, ② continuing his work, and ③ driving the kids to and from English cram school twice a week, among other things. Since I get home between 9pm and 10pm, I have him take care of the kids until then.After that, my child and I go to bed around 10 to 11 PM, but it seems papa keeps working until around 2 AM. On some days of the week, his work finishes around midnight, and when that happens, he apparently spends about 1 to 2 hours playing games as a hobby. Papa can handle work all across the country and even overseas with just one computer!

I guess Papa's strength really is being a nomad. He usually works from home or a café, and even while traveling he always brings his laptop, typing away at the hotel late into the night. But from what he tells me, making a living from just one laptop—writing articles and doing IT-related work—seems really tough. He sometimes checks job listings too. When I bring this up, he says, "Well then, why don't you just work as a regular employee?I think most people probably think that way, but even for Japanese people, it seems that being hired locally in Vietnam means a lower salary, so your income ends up dropping. Digital nomad life isn't a lie. But is the reality tough? You often see catchy phrases like "living abroad as a digital nomad" online, don't you?You're right, recently there aren't just traditional jobs like writers and engineers, but also work involving video editing and using AI. However, if you live in Southeast Asia like Vietnam, you'd need about 150,000 to 200,000 yen per month. It does seem quite challenging to make a living as a freelancer with just a computer.