Trash Taste

Trash Taste (トラッシュ・テイスト) is a weekly audio and video podcast hosted by Joey Bizinger, Garnt Maneetapho, and Connor Colquhoun – three Tokyo-based content creators primarily focusing on anime and Japanese pop culture. The podcast generally discusses Japanese culture and life in Japan.

History
The podcast was started in February 2020 by GeeXPlus, a subsidiary of BookWalker, who helped the three hosts relocate to Japan, helping the three have more access to Japanese culture. GeeXPlus and BookWalker also promote their products on the three's channels. Since the three were brought to Japan, they decided to start a podcast that had already been planned for some time. The first episode of the podcast was uploaded to YouTube on 5 June 2020. Since then, new episodes have been released every Friday, with exceptions for the release of specials.

On 26 January 2021, the first live show called Trash Taste After Dark was broadcast on Twitch. This was followed-up on 19 February when they co-streamed the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

On 26 May 2021, the hosts moved out of the studio in which they had recorded the first fifty-four episodes, dubbed season one, and relocated to a new studio that officially kicked-off season two. On 17 June 2021, the hosts were invited for a live 'podcast' event about Japan-based YouTubers by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan; discussions range from living in Japan to how Trash Taste got started. Trash Taste also appeared in the Foreign Correspondent Club Japan's Number 1 Shimbun Magazine June 2021 volume.

On 19 March 2022, they hosted a 24-hour long charity event for Doctors Without Borders on Twitch, raising a total of $181,000 in donations.

In May–July 2022, Trash Taste podcast recordings were done outside of Japan for the first time. This included three episodes in London, eight episodes in Los Angeles, and one Trash Taste After Dark episode at the Twitch Australia studio in Sydney (aired 17 July 2022). These episodes were released on 10 June through 9 September 2022. Also during this time, the hosts held Q&A/discussion panels and special events at MCM London Comic Con, Anime Expo, Florida Supercon, and SMASH!   In October 2022, during the Trash Taste 2022 Tour, the hosts participated at the New York Comic Con and had an impromptu podcast recording in Tampa, Florida (aired 25 November 2022).

Format
Discussions in the podcast are about more than just anime, and delve into various topics, including otaku culture, life in Japan, and topics varying on the episode's theme. The show will occasionally have a special guest that will have an entire episode devoted to. Past guests included:


 * Akidearest
 * Aleks Le
 * Anthony Padilla
 * Boy_Boy
 * Chris Broad (six appearances)
 * Cold Ones
 * Daidus
 * Emirichu (two appearances)
 * Geno Samuel
 * HasanAbi
 * Ididathing
 * jacksepticeye
 * Jessica Nigri
 * Kaho Shibuya (two appearances)
 * Ken Arto
 * Kevin Penkin
 * Kson
 * Lachlan Power
 * Ladybeard
 * LazarBeam
 * LilyPichu
 * Ludwig Ahgren
 * Meilyne Tran (two appearances)
 * Michael Reeves
 * Mori Calliope (two appearances)
 * Mudan
 * Nano
 * Noriyaro
 * NileRed
 * Penguinz0
 * PewDiePie (two appearances)
 * Pokimane
 * PremierTwo (two appearances)
 * ProZD
 * Reina Scully
 * RinRin Doll
 * Sally Amaki
 * Shindo L
 * Shu Uchida
 * Super Eyepatch Wolf
 * SushiKebabGuy
 * Sydsnap
 * Sykkuno
 * William Osman
 * Yoshihiro Watanabe

Generally, each episode is between one and three hours long, and is broken up intermittently with sponsor spots and a list of all Patreon subscribers near the end. The intro and outro title card both feature the copyright-free song "Soul Searching" by Causmic.

The podcast's producer is Meilyne Tran, with video editing by Toomas Lismus (MudanTV).

Tours
On 23 September 2022, Trash Taste podcast embarked on its first live tour, with a total of 23 stops in North America, beginning in Los Angeles, California, and ending on 30 October in Portland, Oregon.

Announced on the 5 May 2023 podcast, the second live tour was from 30 August to 11 September, with eight stops in Europe, beginning in Dublin, Ireland, and ending in Cardiff, Wales. On 26 April 2024, a one show event of the Trash Taste Tour was held in Australia. Hosted by DreamHack Melbourne, the show was held at the Rod Laver Arena.

YouTube
The Trash Taste podcast has four channels on YouTube. The main channel, Trash Taste, was created on 14 February 2020 and includes all podcast episodes and specials. Trash Taste After Dark (originally called Trash Taste Streams) was created on 23 August 2019 and features the recorded livestreams from the podcast's Twitch channel and behind the scenes videos. Trash Taste Highlights, created on 14 February 2020, and Trash Taste Shorts, created on 11 March 2022, both provide short clips from each podcast episode that are significant or interesting. All four channels have received a silver YouTube Play Button for surpassing 100,000 subscribers; while only the main channel has received the gold YouTube Play Button for surpassing one million subscribers, which it achieved on 17 July 2021.

Specials
Typically debuting on a week in which no episode of the podcast is released, the specials, available exclusively on YouTube, feature the hosts of Trash Taste outside the studio.