Thank you Malaysia, we'll promote you to the world, say Japanese YouTubers iChang and Jimmy

PETALING JAYA: Japanese content creators iChang and Jimmy want to return the kindness of Malaysians for welcoming them with open arms and allowing them to stay in the country.

The couple who received their DE Rantau Nomad Pass on Wednesday (Feb 15), said that they would focus on trying new things in the country and promote Malaysian food and culture with their longer-term visa.

“I want to create more content since we have more time now. We don’t have to worry about the 90 days or 180 days’ limit of stay annually.

“I’m more relaxed now,” Jimmy added in a video on their Youtube channel.

The heartfelt video showed the couple receiving their Digital Nomad Pass from the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) office.

The pass is given to "digital nomads" to boost digital adoption and promote digital professional mobility and tourism across Malaysia in MDEC's quest to make the country the preferred digital nomad hub in Asean.

The couple also said they were touched by the love and support from Malaysians including MDEC’s staff that have been helping them acquire the passes.

“We got to talk to the MDEC people today and they’re going through difficulties in handling (applications) at the moment.

“They have to process a lot of documentation from a lot of applications made by people from different countries,” iChang said, adding that she was grateful for the hard work of MDEC.

The couple also thanked Malaysians for their warm welcome since arriving in the country a few days ago.

On Jan 10, the couple uploaded a tearful and touching video that gained the attention of Malaysians to say they had no choice but to leave Malaysia as their tourist visas had reached their limit.

A week later, the couple uploaded another video saying that their application for the special Nomad visa has been approved.

The duo, whose real names are Ai Nishida (iChang) and Yusuke Nishida (Jimmy), are big fans of Malaysian food and document their foodie exploits via their YouTube channel, which has over 356,000 subscribers.