Good morning guys, welcome to the first of my vlogs
Documenting my journey through Japan. I'm currently on a cycle across the
Japan seaside,
The coast with my friend Chris, Chris Broad from the channel Abroad in Japan
I'm sure you guys know him
If you don't I will link his channel down below but he's doing this ridiculous 2,000 kilometer cycle starting in sakata up in northern
Japan and going all the way down to the bottom
Kagoshima and I've been joining him on the journey
I just finished my 4, I think I was with him for four days, four day cycle stretch now
I'm on my break. I get to chill in the car with the rest of the Tokyo creative team
we've got the the new guest Pete Donaldson is
Here with us now, and it's just been so fun
You guys I can't wait to start vlogging and show you like the behind the scenes and everything
It's so exciting for me because I've actually never been to this side of Japan
I've never seen any of these prefectures along the Japan Sea coast, so everything's brand new for me
We're currently
Chillin at Lake Biwa which is the largest two lake in Japan a largest freshwater lake in Japan and it's it's crazy
It looks like the ocean. Let me show you guys it's huge
Look at that look at the view our hotel was right in front of
The lake there was our hotel last night. We had a view of the lake
It's so nice
The weather is just perfect! A few people are asking why he decided to do the cycle and in like October and November
That's crazy. Isn't it cold but it's still quite warm in Japan
I think the average has been about 21 22 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. So I think it's perfect time to cycle really
This is Ian meet Ian everybody, he's the, he's the top member of the team we would all be dead without him
He's been taking care of us
Ian: And this is the greatest moment of the trip because I've met a little dog!
Oh, he's so cute, oh he's so happy
And you guys there's a
Pack of stray cats over here this one now. There's like eight stray cats
over here. Hello! Look at them all!
ridiculous
They're so pretty - that looks like a purebred! What the hell
That is adorable. He brought a little camp stove. He's cooking for those
*Dramatic music*
We're off to the conbini now to get some breakfast some coffee
Are we here that's where your hat is right? That's your hats around there somewhere right? That's where the fish stole my hat
We're heading to our first location now, which is Shirahige Shrine
It actually looks a lot like the one place
I've wanted to go to in Japan forever since I first started learning about Japan Itsukushima Shrine.
It's the torii gate that's in the water. I didn't realize there was one here at Biwa Lake. So that's pretty cool
We're gonna go see that now. Beautiful houses around here,
They're all the old style architecture that one back there looked like a castle black and white one
It's a lot bigger than I expected
You guys can't see it all we're just at the base of it, but the stairs here. There's lots to see up there as well
Wow it goes deep into the forest. There's more this is really cool
Let's hope we don't run into any more bears
Bears are quite common in Japan often when you go out hiking in the woods like this on little mountains and stuff
There'll be signs everywhere warning you about bears black bears, I believe.
Wow this is really cool!
It's so quiet, I feel like I should whisper. There's no one here. It's gorgeous
It looks like the paths keep going way up into the forest but, I'm going to head back down and
join the team
And you guys saw the torii gate the entrance out on the ocean as we were driving in it's so beautiful
Almost like I got Itsukushima, but I will be there very soon. I'm super lucky
I will be traveling there as part of the cycle trip
Finally, I'm finally going to the one place that I've always wanted to go to Japan
It feels kind of surreal took me this long to go there, but I'll be there very soon and in a week or so
Alright guys off to the next location
So dangerous the you've to cross the road a very busy road to get over to the
The gate and there's a crosswalk to anything. I'm not quite sure why they
Didn't make one of those be careful
Look who it is!
We're out in a field now to get some drone shots. Look at this place you guys
It's ridiculous
How beautiful it is and quiet and peaceful so nice. The Sun is just about to set we're gonna get some
really nice shots here I think.
Today is my first day not
cycling on this cycle and
It's been nice to just be able to chill in the car and take my time at each of the spots while we wait for
Chris and Pete to catch up to us.
While I was cycling,
We were just more focused on not dying finding our way
And like having enough water. We didn't really have enough time to thoroughly enjoy each spot that we stopped at
So today's been really nice. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this trip
I will be joining Chris for the cycling portion of the trip one more time when we go through the Shimanami Kaido
Which I'm very very very excited about because it's probably the most amazing part of his entire trip
It's the 70 kilometer long bike road
It was specifically made for bicycles that connects
Four or five islands and starts at the bottom of Honshu and goes through about four or five islands
I really hope we have nice weather for that part of the trip because if we do
I think it will be one of the coolest things I've ever done in Japan in my entire time in Japan
So look forward to that that will be about a week or two from now
I think I'm gonna take this week to just relax chill in the car
Enjoy the sights along the way and share them with you guys. So I really hope you enjoy these vlogs
Welcome to Kyoto we've arrived in Kyoto we've checked into our hotel. We went out we got some really delicious
Tempura for dinner we've reenergized ourselves and now that it's nice and dark. We're going to go explore
Fushimi inari shrine in the dark, which is something I really really wanted to do this last time
I was in Kyoto with my family, but we didn't get a chance
So now that it's Halloween season, and I'm in Kyoto at nighttime. I thought I would take this opportunity to do it
I'm here with Ian and Pete Donaldson from
Chris's podcast if you watch Chris's brought in Japan podcast, this is his co-host Pete Donaldson
So the three of us are going to climb up the mountain in the dark. It's probably gonna be creepy as fuck. I can't wait
We're here guys we've made it fushimi inari at nighttime, let's go
I'm stoked. I love
Creepy stuff like this. There are actually more people here than I expected there to be
But nothing like when I came here in the afternoon my god
Swarms swarms of people usually so this is really cool. This might actually be the best time to come see
fishimene, honey
Wow, that looks gorgeous
don't know if the camera is gonna
Do it justice, but it's beautiful guys
I've never been to a shrine like this at night. I'm so much more peaceful. It's lots of stray cats here
This looks like something straight out of a horror film.
Temple isn't lit at all. So I don't think you guys can see anything. There's a huge building here, but
No lights
The only Fugees my fortunes
A horse? Never seen that before
What
The fuck?
It looks like
The gates the part that everybody comes here for that part isn't lit up at night time
So the main entrance area is nicely lit up. You could take some pretty photos here through good at night photography
But the gate area looks creepy as fuck
Wow, that's eerie
Imagine walking this alone. Nobody else was here. I don't know if I could do that! I don't think I could.
That's creepy!
It looks like they might have closed off
Going any further. Let's see. It says they're working on it so you can't go through
Huh?
Come back well, that's too bad
I really wanted to go in further and show you guys some more of the creepiness of fushimi inari at night
But I did get a good feel for what it's like here
It's really peaceful. And it's lit well enough that you don't feel totally creeped out as long as there's two of you
I don't think you would feel too scared coming at nighttime, and there's barely any people here. It's wonderful
It's so different from when you come in the day and there's crowds and you just have to kind of file yourselves
Up through the the gates. It's not it's not enjoyable. This is lovely come to fushimi inari at nighttime
It's currently I think it's like 9:30 p.m. 10:30
Might be something to add to your list next time you're in Kyoto
*whispering* There's something up in the bushes.
I don't know if it's an animal or if there's people up there, but it's blocked off from people. So
Fucking creepy.
There's something up in the bushes up there
By the torii gates.
There was something like
Rustling around up there and people can't go up there right so it sounded big like it sounded like it could be a person I
rustling around up there, but
Alright guys, we're gonna head back
Because it looks like we can't go any further and also that rumbling and the bushes kind of freaked me out
We've got a problem guys we have lost
Pete
We don't know where Pete is he abroad in Japan Podcast might be canceled. Sorry, Chris
We've lost your friend and business partner
We have no idea where he is. We last saw him when we were up looking at that pile of creepy gates
At the top there and neither of us has seen him since but there was nowhere else for him to go
So I'm very confused
Maybe that was Pete in the bushes. So earlier we were with Pete and somebody air-dropped him this random picture about what was it?
Oh
So we're in the middle of nowhere and somebody just air drops me that picture of a shed and I thought was one of you guys
That's fucking terrifying!
I'm gonna end I think I'm gonna die there
We don't have any way to contact him either
Up there, but I circled that area like a good six times
Is he coming? Is it him? Pete?!
Pete we thought we'd lost you
We're so glad you're alive. Don't worry guys. The approach you've had podcast will continue. We have not lost Pete
I've gotta hang out with Chris for three days. We'll see how you feel about him after that
This vlog ended on a positive note
We will head back. He's not dead! Woo! thumbs up for Pete not being dead
We will go back to the hotel now and rest so that we can do this all over again tomorrow
So I hope you guys enjoyed my first vlog of this trip. I'm having a lot of fun. I hope you guys will enjoy
Coming along for the ride. So I will see you again very soon
Probably tomorrow or the next day. I try and post as many videos as possible while I'm out here
So keep an eye out on my channel. Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you again soon. Bye