i'm okay oh my god look at this place this is amazing and quite romantic
oh chris we have outdone ourselves tonight it has everything that you need ah tabasco
salt and pepper and the rough guide of london perfect for otters traveling in sightseeing
and oh my god look at this okay i love bean bags i haven't used one in like 27 years
don't mind if i do oh this will be our home for tonight let's kick back and relax
early the next morning we begin the second leg of our journey heading three hours north east
to furanol a region in the centre of hokkaido famous for its rolling hills and picturesque
landscapes and for some reason i've left pete in charge of tonight's accommodation he hopes to
surprise me with his choice because allegedly it looks like kansas i just hope it doesn't involve
any wizards or yellow brick roads so back on the road 200 kilometers to foot in all
from ottawa oh i'm excited i am a little bit dubious because it's quite snowy today
a lot of snowier than it was yesterday and uh it's quite stressful driving in the snow yeah i can i
uh no but how far is it if i don't know 200 kilometers actually you thought so but you'd
be wrong it's going to be about 230 kilometers because i have found us a nice little detour
oh god now look i know we're going to my kansas theme accommodations and while
you were checking out of the hotel i found a nice little taste of the uk
right here in hokkaido a taste of the uk picture it now stonehenge right no i'm serious in the snow
there's stonehenge in hokkaido we're going no there isn't yep put it in your
map here we go there is a stonehenge in okido i think i'll bloody know about it
millions of years ago in england people dragged rocks to a hill and stacked them for what
purpose we don't know and now in japan it's been faithfully and exactly recreated behold stonehenge
of hokkaido this is ridiculous what is this pete it's a cemetery a cemetery with a replica to scale
of stonehenge look eerily like the real thing albeit a lot newer and also if this was the uk it
wouldn't be under a meter of snow i guess another thing that gives it away that we're not in the uk
are the two dozen easter island heads just over there this is a really trippy cemetery
now i've always wanted to see the moai heads of easter island albeit under
slightly different circumstances still it's not every day you can see
40 replica heads to scale covered in face masks and buried beneath the mountain of snow
but pete has inadvertently led us to makomanai taki no cemetery which is half burial ground half
our exhibition and on the other side of the field through the blizzard from hell lies
the jewel in the crowd an impressive if not slightly intimidating
13 and a half meter buddha statue encased in what looks like a postmodern missile silo
wow this is easily the most impressive buddha statue i've ever seen really yeah
what makes it so impressive for you i think that the path all of three of the buddhas have like a
reveal when you're turning the corner or something but going through this concrete kind of pathway
through the snow and then seeing this this is one of a kind man designed by legendary japanese
architect tadao ando who amongst other things helped design the tokyo skytree the second tallest
structure in the world ando's minimalist design philosophy focuses on making his works blend
into their natural environment and the buddha is masterfully concealed by an artificial hill with
only part of its head poking out like a sleeping giant the hill is also covered by a hundred and
fifty thousand beautiful lavender plants which are now completely dead thanks to the snow with
so many daibutsu buddha statues across japan uh that date back hundreds of years all this history
if you are going to build a contemporary buddha like this it needs to be something impressive it
needs to have a real wow factor to it and this most certainly does this is well that's one of
those incredible things i've seen and the snow is definitely a big part of that the way it sort
of blows across the buddha and the sunlight it really is quite incredible no sarcasm required
driving through the snow at night is never much fun and i'm relieved when we finally
make it to pete's so-called kansas style accommodation just as the night rolls in
so after a long arduous drive involving easter island statues stonehenge we're finally here
at uh our destination right pete and what is it what is this place it's a little slice of middle
america it looks like a bond a ball of some sort you are correct sir kansas kansas style barn wow i
it looks pretty cool it's got a bit of a bit of a stephen king vibe going i'm not going to lie but
i'll take anything over being in the car any longer wow this is this is pretty good look
well i think you've you've outdone yourself this time it's minus 12 tonight guys minus
12 degrees celsius so it's very very cold and i can't wait to get inside it'll be nice and warm
welcome to a classic kansan home complete with everything to capture the majesty
and quaintness of cans and beauty inside the master bedroom two beds again we're sharing it
well we're closer this time that's nice over here you fool watch out for the table
nice kitchen table with perfectly lacquered and original wood a nice stove and a
knife we won't need that i think and over here we've got
please please chris please have a bathtub well yesterday where we stayed well last night
didn't have a bathroom no the standing shower please guys yes yes yes we've got one buddy
oh i'm excited all right more for me and in here i'm assuming it's the toilet
it's quite small that's right looks good you have very high expectations for toilets
yes so this is it this is the classic american home right out of the little house on the prairie
i find it cozy i find it very comforting chris what do you think of this place i need a drink
at last a much needed drink thank god what do we got we've got cider yes and we've got beer like
alcoholic beverage beer like alcoholic substance what what the hell is that it's for you do you
know what this is right it's the i've heard it's tales of it it's this uh it's it's like tax
cheaper so they don't have to make it officially beer what is this yeah so in japan there's a tax
loophole if you've got a low amount of malt you can call it a beer-like substance but not a beer
right so it tastes like beer it does and so this is about 110 yen about 1.10 but real beer costs
about 1.80 180 yen okay why is like 70 cents what are we hurting for money on this trip you've got
the thrills of beer at a race at a reasonable price oh very crisp ow yeah it tastes like
dog piss that's awful what do you recommend on the kansas kansas cabin personally i love it
it does kind of give me the vibe of going crazy like we're in the shining or something but
other than that it's like i've never i haven't been home in like nine years
this is a long time oh no i'm broke so oh no i hope we find the shop where you bought this god
forsaken mug the moment we arrive in wakanaway if god forbid we arrive in wakanda you're gonna call
natsuki and you're gonna find out which shop he got this mugger yes i'm worried i'm terrified but
i'm hopeful that this trip will all be worth it so good luck chris and on to one hell of a journey
tomorrow all right here we go well it's now day three and we're on the home straight to japan's
most northern point but we're just 200 kilometers to go to wakana and cape sawyer pete is feeling
rather worse for wear this morning i wonder why i have to say that red barn was pretty magnificent
especially in the morning like we arrived there at night so we didn't really get to sit but woke up
this morning went outside and the red barn kind of contrasting the white snow is absolutely beautiful