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hey guys
welcome to aizu wakamatsu this is
actually one of my
favorite spots in japan i think i've
been here about five times now i think
it's actually
the spot in all of japan that i've
visited
the most number of times because i love
it so much this
is the first hotel i will be staying in
tonight
i'll give you guys the full tour in a
second but let me just
explain why i've decided to come to
fukushima so because
no international tourists are allowed to
enter japan at the moment the government
is kind of encouraging
japanese residents who can travel and
are able to
work remotely to go out and stay at
ryokan hotels
so because i'm lucky enough that the
work i'm currently working on is all
done on my computer i can really do it
anywhere in japan so
decided to come to my favorite place
here izu akamatsu in fukushima
and support the local tourism industry
stay in a couple really cool ryokans
and just relax and get some work done it
beats sitting in my living room
so let me give you guys the full tour
this is my first time
staying at this hotel the room looks
really nice so far
so you come in the entrance here we've
got
a little shower and
washroom area off to this side
fancy toilet
looks like they've provided skincare
hair care all the little accessories
it's a little basket down there with
some bath towels
and over here is the little shower room
in here i think we have the futon
yeah extra futon i like to pile them up
and make my bed super comfy
so this is the main living area they've
got a little table and they always give
you
welcome snacks and they're always
different i'm really curious what they
are
they're always packaged so nicely oh
this one is
flower i don't think they're actually
like
from a flower but i think i know what
they are they're like the really sweet
beans they're famous here in
fukushima so they usually serve you
those
oh they're really big ones look at them
they're huge these are so
tasty with green tea i should probably
brew myself some tea but i'm so hungry
i'm just gonna eat them now
yeah so it's just a bean it doesn't look
like it would be sweet but it's actually
really sweet
which is why they're good to eat with
tea because
it kind of just tastes like eating soft
sugar
so the bitterness of the tea balances
them out but they're so good
but yeah a little table tv
my futon for the night an air
conditioner which i will need because
it's really hot and humid in here there
will probably be some new kata
that i can wear around the ryokan
it's totally acceptable to just put your
yukata on and wander around the hotel
look at the view it's so pretty
got really lucky with the weather it was
actually saying thunderstorms
a week so i thought it was going to be
super rainy but at the moment
looks really nice over there what's in
here
tea and coffee
and this is just a little sitting area
this is probably where i'll
relax and do my work have the pretty
view
of outside so that is my
first hotel for tonight while the
weather is not pouring and
thunderstorming i think i should take
advantage
of it and go outside so let me take you
guys outside and we'll kind of explore
the town together it's a really chill
town
it's not huge you can get around by foot
but i'll probably be taking
a taxi just because i'll have like my
camera gear and stuff with me
there's a couple things that i
researched online that i want to go see
so fingers crossed they're open and we
can get into them but let's go inside
so the first stop today is hazaido
temple i can't believe i've never been
here
coming to isiwakamatsu so many times and
never coming here is really strange but
i just never had the opportunity to so
it's a really cool wooden
buddhist temple it was built in the late
1700s
and it's the design of the place that is
really what makes it so amazing so
i'll explain more about that when we get
up there there's a little um
kind of tourist street
omiyage and foods and shopping
on the way up to the temple
they've got an escalator
if you don't want to take the really
long staircase
so it cost 250 yen to go up to the
temple
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it's a it's not an escalator it's like a
conveyor belt
it's really cool
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oh they're so pretty
so to get to the temple you go down this
pathway here there's such a good view of
the city from here
there it is i thought it was going to be
further into the mountains but it's
right here
wow that's really cool so the cool thing
about this temple is it's designed in a
double helix shape so the staircase
going up
never interacts with the staircase going
down so you never pass the people
in the temple you go up one way and down
the other apparently there's a french
castle with this design designed by
leonardo da vinci and they think that
this temple here was based
off of that design but let's go inside
so as we walk through the temple you'll
see that there's
different buddhist deities along the way
there's over 30 of them and the reason
they designed it the staircase like this
is so that
you can pray to them in peace and not
get interrupted by the people
coming down on their way back
so here's the peak of the temple here
and down
what a pretty little temple complex aizu
was actually already one of my favorite
spots in japan and i didn't even know
this place existed so
it was pretty amazing if you're looking
for a really chill relaxing
vacation out in a more countryside area
of japan definitely check out
aizuwakamatsu
it's gorgeous wow look at the wall
look at the variety of color it's so
cool
if you didn't know the color of
hydrangea depends on the ph of the soil
that they're grown in
and that concludes our adventure
throughout sazaido temple and so glad we
had a chance to come this time
i find something to eat i'm hungry i
have a shop right here outside the
temple actually that does
freshly made mochi
hey
wow so these are the walnut mochi i
didn't expect it to look like this i
thought the walnuts were going to be
inside
and she gave me some pickles as well so
i think these are going to be sweet
it's freshly made mochi she just made it
in the back there
wow that's really yummy it actually
reminds me of a hungarian dessert that
my grandpa used to make with walnuts
it's a walnut cake it's really sweet but
it's actually
kind of salty at the same time it's a
really nice combination
all right i'm gonna grab another drink
because it's so hot
oh that looks good hokkaido melon soda
i just want to water though
right off to the next stop i want to
take you guys today there's a showa era
museum here they're really fun to look
at it's more like a shop than a museum
and lots of the time they let you
actually touch the stuff and like go
through it and it's lots of fun
so the showa era kind of covers uh quite
a long period but it's really cool
seeing the old antiques
from that period interesting japan
tidbit when you're in
areas like this historically important
areas of japan they kind of tone down
the colors of
the signage and the stores in order to
fit in
with the surroundings so you'll notice
that all the convenience stores in the
area are black and white
not their typical really bright loud
colors it's really cool
so we're in kind of the downtown area of
izuwakamatsu now
lots of little shops lots of kind of
touristy
souvenir type things tons of restaurants
all right we've made it this is the
museum here it's called showa
natsukashi it's right in downtown aizu
wakamatsu so it's very easy to find
it costs a couple dollars to get inside
but there's lots to see
this is cool it's like a little izakaya
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wow this place is really cool i've been
to a few showa
museums and often there's just one
little area that's kind of set up like a
room how it would be back then and the
rest is just kind of items laid out on
shelves and stuff
but this place the whole area feels like
you're just
back in time in a town or something
there's shops
and rooms it's really cool
they've designed it all so that you feel
you're just transported back in time
like a living room from the 1950s
we have in here pencils
wow even old tissues i've never seen
this brand before
washing machine it says they're just
toys there's a little
makeup mirror here you still have all
the products
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look at the toothbrush
why is it so big
and then downstairs underneath the
museum they've got an antique shop
all of this stuff is for sale
i could make my own mochi at home
they're also selling the old-school
snacks
and they've got a little tub here filled
with
ramune bottles this is how they used to
keep them cool
i hope you guys enjoyed that museum that
was really cool it was actually better
than i was expecting like i said it's a
lot different than
some of the other showa era museums i've
been in it was a lot more interactive
and just
really nicely designed i'll have all the
information of the places
i'm visiting on my trip down below in
the description box so you guys can
check them out
but i think i'm gonna go back to my
hotel for a little bit starting to rain
now
like i expected it would so i'll see you
guys in the morning bye for now
good morning welcome to day two of my
fukushima adventure
so i looked at the weather this morning
and it said it was cloudy until 5 pm
and i thought that's perfect i can make
it out to
the area i wanted to show you guys today
just in time before the rain starts but
no
it decided to start pouring already i
haven't even left the hotel yet
if the rain doesn't stop then i'll
probably just go
straight to my next hotel which is
pretty exciting though because i got a
really fancy one for
my last day here i have my own little
onsen bath in the room
i've never stayed at this hotel before
so should be really nice
so we'll see how the weather goes but we
might head straight to my next hotel
for our next destination we will see so
as expected it rained all day but
welcome to my new hotel room it's really
nice i'm so excited to show you guys
so i've got two beds the reason i got
such a big
room is because of the bath
they only have a couple rooms with the
private bath
in the room and it's usually like the
big family suite but
check this out this is probably the
nicest private
onsen bath hotel room i've ever seen
take my socks off i'm gonna get my feet
wet but um behind me they've got a
little
sink area here where you can prepare
and then check this out
not only is there a super spacious
beautiful bath
but i have this view
how cool is that i love the sounds of
the river
because the temperature oh that's hot
that's really hot
i might have to add some cool water to
that but how
cool is this i am so stoked
to get in this bath and relax
so here's our welcome snack let's see
what this hotel gives you
looks like manju
black sugar it's interesting how it's
beds and not
futon
what's in here a safe
and down here we've got the
shower area oh this one has a bathtub
cool so the little village that sudokan
is located in is called ashinomaki
onsen village and it's so cute it looks
like a really nice place to just
pop yukata on and wander around and just
relax and enjoy yourself
tonight i'm gonna have a bath obviously
while the light is still here so i can
enjoy those views
and then i'll probably just sit down
here and do some work
and enjoy my last day in fukushima
how awesome is this this must be the
best
private onsen i've ever rented in japan
i can't wait to get out and explore the
little town because it looks so nice and
i came here on a sunday so there aren't
that many people around if you do book a
ryokan in japan i do
recommend avoiding friday and saturday
because it can get really packed if you
come on a sunday most people have to
work the next day so they tend
not to go out to do fun so i kind of can
enjoy
the whole space to myself and have lots
of room there's a huge
lounge downstairs they've got a fancy
restaurant where i'll be having dinner
later and yeah i just can't wait to get
out and explore the town
it's so nice i've got pure cold water
running in the bath right now because
japanese people tend to be able to stand
temperatures that are like way above
anything
i could possibly dip my foot into
so every time i come to one of these
baths i find that i have to turn the
pure cold water on and let it sit for
like half an hour before i can get in
i'm gonna sit here and enjoy my last
hour of views before the sun starts to
set
i really hope you guys enjoyed this
video and maybe you got some ideas for
your next japan trip if you decide you
do want to venture out into the
countryside a little bit fukushima isn't
too far from tokyo if you hop on the
shinkansen
it'll take just over an hour to get here
i believe do make use of the bullet
trains and come out here for a few days
it's such a nice relaxing
change of pace from the big cities
thanks for watching guys
and i will see you again very soon
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you