- It's our first experience with a Japanese toilet;
we've been waiting for years for this.
It's gonna be special.
- [@siyazarrabi] Oooooo!
(laughing)
Whoa, that tickles!
- How is it?
- There's water where there shouldn't be water.
Okay.
(more laughing)
(upbeat string music)
(upbeat sting music continues)
- Hello from Japan. We are here for the next ten days
on a G Adventures tour. We're starting in Osaka,
and we're gonna make our way to Tokyo.
- Yeah. If you guys haven't heard of G Adventures,
they organize tours all over the world,
on every single continent, including Antarctica.
And if you guys are interested in travel,
you like group travel, and you want everything
organized for you and you just fly to your destination,
go on a tour, G Adventures is incredible.
- The plan is right now we are gonna take the subway,
and then we're gonna be taking a bullet train,
and then we're gonna be taking a funicular
to our next destination.
Lot of cool public transportation.
(tribal drum music)
(subway door chimes)
- I have always wanted to come on this train
since I found out it exists, years ago.
Here we are. I'm ready.
- 299 kilometers an hour. That's wild!
That's pretty much how fast planes take off at.
So if this thing had wings, we'd be in the air right now.
(tribal drum music)
- We are taking a funicular up the mountain.
(tribal drum music concludes)
(water splashing)
(gentle flute music)
- We're at the Echo Inn monastery.
We're going to be spending the night,
and this is one of the traditional rooms.
The beautiful mural back here.
(gentle flute music softens)
And this is our bed situation, two futons.
I have to test it out.
Ooo, fluffy. Fluffy!
Oh. Oh.
Ah, that's really nice.
I already feel relaxed here.
And we just got here. (sigh)
So our plan here is (takes deep breath)
we're just kind of chilling out right now,
and then there's meditation,
that's gonna happen at 4:30 which I'm looking forward to,
especially in a place like this.
And there's a couple other ceremonies happening,
there's a fire ceremony happening tomorrow.
There's a communal dinner and breakfast,
and just to relax here and walk around the property.
It's beautiful.
(deep inhale and exhale) Zen.
This is the communal showering area,
so there's several different hoses,
you just get all naked and go on in.
I like it.
First you have to wash yourself here. But I like it.
Should be good times. Took me back to Europe.
(soothing music with flute and chimes)
This is breakfast here. I'm not sure what everything is.
It looks like it could be some sort of omelet.
That looks like banana in I'm not sure what,
some clear liquid.
That is...
watermelon? Perhaps?
That looks like a deep fried tofu.
That's tea. That's rice, I know that.
And miso soup,
and I think this is a plum from the area.
Breakfast in Japan. (laughs)
(upbeat string music)
That's tofu.
- [Woman] Yeah.
- Hm. Tofu. - [Woman] It's really good.
- With like a, almost like a tamari sauce.
This is banana.
By that reaction, I'm not trying to be rude
that was just a shock, because I thought
it was going to be banana
and it does not taste anything like a banana.
It's eggplant, but I just don't know what the sauce is,
it's like a (pause)
it's like something I've never tasted before.
It's salty, and something else I don't even know
how to explain.
(operatic singing in Japanese)
- We're in the Kongobugi temple
and it's very, very peaceful.
Very Zen.
(operatic singing in Japanese continues)
I love all these paper thin walls.
They're all like sliding doors, so you can access
all the doors, through each wall. They all open up.
It reminds me of a kung-fu movie fight scene,
where people are busting in through walls,
but I mean this is a temple, that's not gonna happen.
(slow string music)
(crowd speaking in Japanese)
- What everyone's doing, looking down on the ground,
is looking for a pine needle that has three needles.
So this one has two, and they're looking for
one that has a third, and if you find it, it's good luck.
- So I found it, but they're broken.
But there's definitely three there.
- [@hopscotchtheglobe] It's still good luck.
- That's still... there's three.
They're just not very long.
- [@hopscotchtheglobe] Whoa. Keep it, it's good luck!
- That's it.
- [@hopscotchtheglobe] Of course you would find it.
Of course you would find it, no one else
would have found it.
(laughing)
- Good luck. Good luck is headed my way.
And you are headed my way. You're my good luck.
- Is my name luck?
I'm gonna get my fortune told.
This box here has my fortune in it.
There's green, which is life fortune.
And red, which is love fortune.
I already know my love is perfection.
My life is too, but I'm gonna do my life fortune.
I'm going to give it a shake.
(container rattles)
My life fortune is stuck.
(mumbling)
Oh, okay, apparently it doesn't come out.
I got eight. Let's see what it is.
My fortune is in my hands.
It could be good, it could be bad.
Let's find out. I'm kind of nervous.
I have no idea what that means, it's all in Japanese.
I'm going to need assistance. Can I get assistance?
- The you, good direction, is west, southwest.
- That's my good direction?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- Your lucky direction. - Southwest, okay.
- And it's okay to move, if you want to move to other place.
- Ah, hey!
- And if you make an effort, the wish comes true.
- Okay.
- Also, if you think to take a risk,
then you can risk it, you can challenge.
Okay? So, not bad.
- Okay, apparently my fortune is between good and bad.
But I think that sounded pretty accurate.
And if it was bad, I would fold it up
and actually tie it on a fence I'm going to show you,
So it's leaving my bad luck behind.
So no matter what, you win.
This is all the bad luck that's been left behind.
So you don't have to bring it with you.
You're in charge of your life.
In charge of your love life, in charge of your life life.
I like it. You don't need to bring it with you.
Remember that.
(haunting flute music)
- I'm about to do something I have always want to do.
Kind of like a childhood dream, to take a samurai class.
So, I'm here in Japan, I saw a class,
and I have to do it.
(flute and string music)
(kiai)
- [Instructor] (inaudible) into the stomach. Yes.
Then just a little bend.
(inaudible)
(frantic string music)
- Alright, day two in Kyoto and we finally
spotted a real geisha. Very fast.
She was in one door from a building to the other.
We got her!
Alright I'm about to get dressed up in a kimono.
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes apparently for women,
and I've gotten a large kimono so the baby fits.
I'll see you in 15 to 20.
(gentle string and drum music)
Here I am, all ready!
Very pregnant.
- This is the outfit. - You look fantastic.
(woman laughs)
You look great.
- You look awesome!
- Thank you.
(gentle string and drum music continues)
We're going to be learning how to cook Japanese.
- Japanese cooking class, thank you so much.
In this lesson, you make your own Onigiri.
Two, two onigiris.
(happy string music)
- [Man] Good?
- It's good. You did okay. (laughing)
- [Man] It's okay. - [Woman] It's okay (laughing)
I don't know if she's telling you the truth.
- It's okay. It'll do, it'll do. (laughing)
(happy string music)
- We're doing Japanese calligraphy.
So this here means "dream".
I'm always about dreaming. Dream big.
Make things happen.
(gentle string music continues)
(lively flute music)
- We're now walking around a cemetery.
It's pretty beautiful. This forest looks ancient.
The trees are massive.
The trees are hundreds of years old.
I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if some of these trees
are upwards of a thousand years old.
They're just so thick, so lush.
I've never seen a cemetery like this
just in the middle of a forest.
And the forest is almost untouched,
there's moss everywhere.
There's moss growing on the tombstones.
Some of these graves are over a thousand years old.
And then some of the names that you can see
are ancient samurai warriors.
(lively flute music continues)
(slow electronic music)
We have made it to Miyajima island.
It was a quick ferry ride, maybe 10, 15 minutes.
- Very nice ferry ride.
- Yeah. There's a bunch of stuff to do here on the island.
We've already seen deer walking around when we pulled up.
So I know this one's probably going to try to hug a deer.
(slow electronic music continues)
- I have a green tea and vanilla ice cream,
it is so delicious.
- What I like about these organized tours is
there's always an activity planned.
So there's always things that you can do,
but you can also opt out of doing some things
and just go explore on your own.
The rest of the group right now is taking a gondola ride up
and doing a little hike.
We're gonna explore more of the market,
we're gonna go shopping.
Gonna get this pregnant lady some food,
and just explore on our own.
(slow electronic music continues)
I have a Miyajima beer, it was started on the island.
And this is their caramel blonde.
(slow electronic music)
- Take two on okonomiyaki.
Except this is in Hiroshima and they make it
pretty much the same, but they add noodles.
(slow electronic music continues)
(grill sizzles)
- I've already seen the teacher.
He's a little intense, as a samurai would be.
Yeah, he's going to be my Splinter.