This is Narita Airport
If you visit Japan, there's a good chance you'll end up going through here
And today we'll explore something different
We're taking the Narita Chibaraki Highway bus for an adventure
We're getting on the bus now
We'll be taking this to explore the area along the south coast of the Kasumigaura lake
It's the second biggest lake in Japan
It's a giant soy sauce barrel
We got off at this highway bus stop
Actually, in Japan, they usually have a lot of stuff in these little stops
Like local specialties
Japanese pit stops like these are usually pretty interesting
because you get to see a lot of local specialties
They usually have a convenience store and some kind of delicatessen store
with local omiyage, so travel gifts and local specialties
It's much more than a gas station in most other countries
His hands are like that because he's running fast
He's like Japan's Speedy Gonzales
except "Nanjamon" is his name
Can I have some of your gurt
No it's my gurt
Time to grab lunch
We're at a place called Araiya Automated Corner
And it's one of two restaurants in all of Japan that has only automatic machines
or vending machines
Moreover, this place is super old school
The machines are old
there's some arcade machines inside with old video games
And it looks super cool
And there's people walking into that place all the time
So it's actually getting (a lot of business) quite decent traffic
This place looks and feels so old and weird
If you saw it from a street I think most of you wouldn't enter
I think I wouldn't either
but it's good fun
It's really good
And they have Tetris on arcade, that counts
Wow
That's pure skill
Kasumigaura Lake covers about 176 square kilometers
And it's growing in popularity so it sees a lot of recreational uses in the summer time
And it's super windy today so there's a lot of kite surfers, or wind surfers? What are the called? Wind surfers.
So these are grapes
Wine is made of grapes
So it's a fruit beverage
They have this cool shop
with wine and wine accessories and everything
We're going to do some wine tasting
Smells nice
They have a selection of beers
Some wines
liquors
This is the first winery to be opened in Japan
It was opened in 1903 and there's a lot of wine history here
Let's go check out the wine museum
The murder, the murder must have been here
I found the murderer's secret passage
Wow
The family secret of the Tanaka's is buried here
Under one of htese barrels
This is the tabehodai-nomihodai dinner
The wine chateau has an All-you-can-eat deal here
all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink and I'm so excited
The serving size in Japanese restaurants is usually much smaller than in other countries
So people are used to bigger portions than they get in Japan
And the drinks are kind of on the pricey side just because I think Japanese people, they just drink less
So putting all this together, if you can pay for an all you can drink and all you can eat,
9 times of out 10 you're going to get a better value than if you were paying for everything seperately
Just cooking, just mistering my **** up
This is very nice
You don't get this type of atmosphere in Tokyo
It's like, we're in a park, in a garden, having barbecue
I feel like I'm in France
I'm also wearing stripes
I am
Coincidence? I think not
That was very good and this concludes the first day of our exploration of this area
Nice
This is the Ushiku Daibutsu and it holds the world record for the tallest bronze Buddha statue in the world
It stands at a 120 meters tall
This feels like a trippy spaceship
We're in the chest of the Buddha now, which is about 85 meters high
And it's got views every direction
North, South, East and West
It's so peaceful here
It leaves a strong impression to imagine that each of these Buddhas represents a whole family history
This is so impressive to me
This room is really, it's like a memorable sight
Yeah, it's like different from anything else I've seen
Not going to lie, I don't know the order of all of these strokes
So I'm just going to do my best
I think this is a scripture and all that I can really read is year, month, day
Have you ever heard the story about Kasia and the goat?
Is there a story about me and the goat?
Is it the one about my grandma's house and the goats that kept running away?
That's all you get
I like these squirrel houses, they're like góralskie haty (Polish highlander houses)
So we were just there, at that Buddha, and now we're going shopping
This place has a completely different vibe than shopping in Tokyo
The prices are better and there's much more space
And it feels like California a bit
Yeah, it's like a California shopping mall
If you're shopping for Japanese brands, this is a good place to have a lot in one place
There's also a good mix of foreign brands here
A lot of the sizes in the stores in Japan are a lot smaller than I've been used to in other countries
so it's worth trying clothes on here
If you're shopping, bring your passport because a lot of stores now have the tax-free option
which will make the shopping cheaper
Shopping makes me hungry
And since we're in Japan, there's sushi
Can I order a smile from you?
Japanese food is good for a shopping break because it's very light
so you can continue shopping afterwards without feeling bloated
I got to go catch Kris
This theme park is called Ibaraido
and apart from offering the French town part, it also has other things
So cute, you're so cute, so cute
Time for my personal favorite in the animal kingdom
Llama
Wow
This looks legit, we have pies like this in Poland
There's a bakery, because Europe
No complaints, I miss bread
So the main theme here is France
But there's also pizza because you know
Europe
Such a big piece
Look at these pastries
They look super tasty
This is actually similar to the Polish Uwaga Pies ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
This is really, really good,
It's like the most authentic, legit pie that I've had in Japan
It really feels like something made in Poland to me
It all looks familiar in a way
I mean Polish towns are a bit different than French
but the idea is roughly the same
It's true what they say, one man's everyday life is another man's theme park
As a foreigner living in Tokyo, I think this is a great spot to get away from the noisy city
and experience a different climate
And a pretty good spot to go on a date
Do you like pigs?
Ugh, I guess so
I like pigs
It seems like you're really getting something across
Nothing
So that concludes our vacation away from Tokyo city
All the places we've visited are within 1-2 hours away from Tokyo city
If you want to visit these places, in the video description you'll find information about the bus we've been using
The bus that takes you from the Narita Airport to the Kasumigaura Coast
Tanoshikatta (it was fun)
Owarimashita (we're done)
Uwaga Pies out